Nathan Jones - Shortage

Trev had a feeling he knew what his cousin was up to. “You’ve got to be kidding me, another cache?” he asked as he came within earshot. He shook his head incredulously. “Although it is you, so why am I surprised?”

Lewis smiled tightly. “Not exactly a cache. More like a last ditch hiding place for all my most important valuables in case I lose literally everything else.” He used his shovel to thump an object in the hole, which made a dull plasticky thud . As Trev got closer he saw Lewis had dug down to some sort of large pipe, nearly a foot in diameter.

Lewis gave it another thump as he continued. “It’s all in vacuum sealed bags in there, then the pipe itself is airtight and I used plumber’s tape to water seal the end caps then taped around the seams with duct tape just to be safe. In our dry climate and with how I positioned the cache I doubt water was a problem. Here, want to take a turn? It’s about four feet long, so it should almost be uncovered enough that we can lever it up.” He turned to Aaron with a smile. “Then you can fill in the hole if you want.

Trev accepted the shovel and got to work. “So what’s in there?”

“Some savings in gold and silver, a small but high quality HAM radio just in case EMP knocked out my bigger one, an SP101 and some ammo in case I lost all my other firearms, an emergency pack with medical supplies, a water purifier, firestarting equipment, and a few rations, and hundreds of packets of heirloom seeds.”

“Seeds!” Trev said excitedly. “So that’s why you’re digging it up now. They’ll be worth their weight in gold!”

“You’re crazy if you think I’m selling them,” Lewis protested, looming protectively over the pipe and almost getting whacked by the shovel as Trev continued working. “You and me are going into gardening. I’ve already talked to the Mayor about a perfect plot along the Aspen Hill Canyon stream south of town. We’ll be right next to the plot Matt’s family is using for their own garden, and Catherine is letting us use what little lawn and gardening equipment they had in their store. I figured we could use our wagons to haul some manure from the pens where the livestock were held.”

Trev found the other end cap his cousin hadn’t already reached and dug around it until he could get the shovel under the edge. With a bit of pushing on the shovel handle the entire pipe popped partway out of the hole, and Lewis grabbed it and manhandled it the rest of the way. He handed the shovel to Aaron, who happily got to work trying to wield the bulky tool and awkwardly push dirt back into the hole, while he and Lewis carried the pipe down to the shelter with Paul toddling along behind.

“Why the south end of town?” he asked once they’d gotten it to the ramp, where they set it down and his cousin got to work opening it up. “Someone could steal the food we grow, or destroy the crop for some messed up reason.”

“The ground’s better there, and us and the Larsons aren’t going to be the only people growing crops along the river. The Watsons, the Tillmans, the Childresses, and a dozen other families will also be there with us. We can help each other, but more importantly we can organize a full time watch to make sure nobody tampers with the crops or tries to steal them.”

It took a while, but they managed to get one of the end caps unscrewed. Lewis spread out a clean tarp and they carefully poured the contents onto it. Aaron and Paul were interested in the precious metals and the small but powerful revolver, but Trev’s eyes were all on the seeds. “Will they still be good?”

“They should be.” Lewis picked up one of the sealed bags and looked at the stack of packets inside. “They’re only a few years old and the water shouldn’t have got to them.”

Trev picked up another bag. Tomatoes, carrots, various squashes, radishes, and beets. His stomach rumbled just thinking of them. “How long until we can plant?”

His cousin lost a bit of his good cheer. “That’s the question, isn’t it? The cold seems later in coming during the fall these last few years, but it also means it lasts later after winter, too, sometimes into May or even June. We have a situation where if we plant too early the crops can die, but if we plant too late the people relying on those crops will. I know a lot of people in town are going to try to plant early and pray for a good outcome, but even at the earliest it’ll be weeks until we can plant, maybe as much as a month.”

“Until then we can prepare the plot and focus on other things,” Trev said.

“Exactly.” Lewis set the bag he held back on the pile. “I talked to Jane, and she’s agreed to show me where she’s been having the best luck finding game. Now that things are warming up animals are going to be heading back up into the mountains, so with any luck the foothills will be teeming with deer.”

Trev did his best not to feel jealous. He supposed now that Jane had shut him down he should be cheering his cousin on. Besides, although Lewis had joined him on a few double dates and wasn’t exactly a loner, his cousin had never really sought out a relationship. Trev had a hard time seeing sparks flying between the two.

“That’s pretty generous of her,” he said, trying to keep a neutral tone.

Lewis shrugged. “I wouldn’t exactly say that. She partly wanted to pay us back for the food we gave her and Tom on the way down. Also she’s expecting ten percent of any kill I make in a location she recommended.”

“What if she just recommended every single canyon and stream in the area?” Trev asked, frowning.

His cousin grinned at him. “Believe me, she didn’t. I’m more than happy to pay a finder’s fee for her advice.” He leaned down and scooped up an armful of stuff from the cache, and Trev hurried to grab his own armful and followed him inside.

The next day Trev got back from an uneventful shift at the roadblock to find Lewis off on patrol and the Larson family mostly gone, scattered around the town doing various tasks. Sam and Mrs. Larson, or he supposed they were both Mrs. Larson now but it was hard to get used to the idea, were up in the observation post sharing the watch and taking care of the boys.

Trev wasn’t sure how he felt about that distraction while doing something that important, but then again boredom could create its own distractions and two pairs of eyes were better than one. Or three, since it looked as if Aaron had been deputized as lookout and was solemn and serious in his duties. The newly-turned six year old even challenged Trev as he approached and demanded he identify himself. Trev endured the interrogation good-naturedly as he waved to the two women, continuing on into the house to get some food before setting back out to make himself useful.

It turned out he didn’t need to look for ways to do that, because halfway through the meal Matt came into the shelter with his nephews swarming around his legs and Sam holding his hand. His friend shooed the boys off into his wife’s care while he made his way over to Trev’s cot.

“I need your help digging,” he said, and his expression and tone of voice said it all.

Trev nodded and stood. “Who?”

“Betty Thornton.”

The news hit Trev hard. He hadn’t seen the older woman or her daughter at the roadblock that morning, but he’d just assumed they were on another shift. Maybe the gossip circle had talked about it but he hadn’t been listening. “I just saw her yesterday,” he said. “I won’t say she looked healthy but I wasn’t expecting this.”

“It can come pretty suddenly when people are weakened with hunger. Especially if they’re getting on in years.” Matt shook his head grimly. “I’d hoped the funerals wouldn’t be coming so often with the weather warming up, as if spring would magically solve all the other problems plaguing the town.”