With A Whimper
by
oldmudrat


Chapter 9 

Monday, February 29, 2016


As usual I awoke the next morning with the sunrise.  Kathy was buried under the covers still deep asleep.  I was tempted to stay in bed and snuggle until she woke up - wake up sex is great - but the livestock would not wait.  

Today and everyday would be filled with things that must be done.  The winter corn was almost ready for harvest. Planting season was only a few weeks away, if the weather cooperated.  Between now and then we had to get everything ready, supplies stowed away, equipment checked, the land patrolled and a myriad of other tasks.

I eased out of bed and took a quick shower.  While I was shaving, I wondered how much longer this particular habit could last.  A can of shaving cream and a safety razor were not things that could be replaced.  Present supplies at the farm would last maybe a month.  We could salvage cans of shaving cream and razors blades from local stores.  Sooner or later blades would grow dull and could not be sharpened.  We could fall back to homemade soap to lather the beard.  That still left the problem of a shaving blade.  Maybe beards could come back in ?style?.  Where did one look for an old fashioned open-blade razor and a leather strop?  

I got dressed and Kathy was still sleeping.

I walked down the stairs and I could smell fresh coffee and hear someone moving about in the kitchen.

Sarah was at the counter kneading biscuit dough.  A pot of coffee was on the stove.  Doc had already gotten himself a cup and was sitting at one of the smaller tables.

"Good morning," I said and poured my own cup, "biscuits for breakfast this morning?"

Sarah started to pat the individual biscuits and lay them on a greased pan.  "We?ve got the instant mix, so I figured why not?  Oatmeal, biscuits with jelly, coffee, and there is still plenty of the powdered milk Kathy mixed yesterday.  If the cow Tim told me about would hurry and have her calf, we will have fresh milk.  When do you think she?s due?"

"I have no idea, Sarah.  We will just have to keep a close eye on her and wait."

I joined Doc at the table.

"Is breakfast going to be your job from now on, Sarah?" I asked.

She shook her head.  "I just woke up early this morning.  Sam should be down in a bit."

"James," Doc said, "I hope you don?t mind me bringing the others.  They had been staying at Mary?s place and were having a hard time getting out for food and keeping unwanted men out of the place.  I?m ashamed to see how some of our so called friends have behaved.  Those women have had a very hard time."

Sarah turned from putting the biscuits in the oven and said, "They're not the only women to have problems.  They were living separately for a while and decided to move into one house, hoping there would be safety in numbers.  That?s one reason Sam, Kathy, Jennifer and the rest of us decided to stay at the hospital.  As long as Doc was there, no one was willing to risk making him mad and getting cut off from whatever medical care Doc could offer."

"I saw some of that in Tupelo," I said.  "Rapes, shootings, you name it.  As if the Flu wasn?t bad enough.  At the end we were all staying inside the hospital.  When the last died, I had to get out of there."

Doc said, "Same here, on a smaller scale perhaps.  I would guess it was the same everywhere."

I nodded.  "Probably."

"Do you know how many survived in Tupelo?" Doc asked.

I shook my head.  "No.  There was one that I know for sure.  He took a shot at me the day I left.  I didn?t really want to hang around.  Assuming survival percentages from what Captain Hill told us about Florence and Huntsville and what we know happened here, I would guess somewhere between a dozen and a hundred survivors at Tupelo.  I think the high numbers are not very likely.  Nation-wide less that a quarter million.   That?s my wild-assed guess, anyway."

Sarah had by now sat the table with her own cup.  "Do you ever wonder,?Why?? ?"

There was a certain desperate emptiness to the tone of her voice when she asked that question.  I had heard the same question thousands of times over the last year or so and asked it myself many more times.  

I fought to keep myself from stepping into that black hole which had consumed so many.  While everyone around me sickened and died, I never got even the slightest sniffle.  All of my knowledge and skill had been useless.  The same treatment that saw one patient improve would have no effect on another patient.  It seemed so random.

I had even tried infusing patients with my own sera.  That did not work.  Still they died.

"I quit asking that question months ago," I said.  "There is no answer."

"I know," Sarah said.  "It?s just . . . still I ask.  Maybe one day I won?t."

Sam walked into the kitchen then and Sarah ran to him.  She buried her head in his shoulder and quietly cried.  Sam led her down the hall into one of the front rooms.

"It hits us all at the oddest times," Doc Caldwell said with a sigh.  "Even me.  In the middle of the night I?ll awake and for just a second I?ll think it is before.  Then I?ll remember and sleep is gone for the rest of the night."

"She?ll be alright," I said unconvinced.  Would any of us be ?alright? ever again?  "She has Sam to lean on."

I had never been one to lean on others much.  Even when I was with Jules I kept a certain distance.  My family life did not exactly teach me to be open with my emotions.  Granddad was probably the only one who knew my secrets and fears.  It turned out that I knew none of his secrets.

Wanting to change the subject, I said, "I'm off to the barn.  Morning chores."

Doc lifted his bulk from the chair.  "Wait a minute.  I'll walk with you."

It was a clear, cloudless morning that greeted us.  Already the temperature was warm and would probably reach the upper 70's by noon.  Doc and I slowly walked to the barn.  He did appear to be moving pretty spry [moving pretty spryly or appear to be pretty spry] for a fat man in his eighties.

He pulled a folded envelope from a pocket.  "I found this last night under the pillow.  It was unsealed, so I took a look.  I figured it was probably meant for you."

I opened the envelope and found a small key.  I took a close look at the key and saw that it was for a padlock.

"Yeah, I think I know what it is for," I said slipping the key in my pocket.  "The basement door."  

I wondered why Granddad had locked the door leading down to the basement.  There wasn?t much there the last time I took a look about a year ago.  It was used mostly as a place to put stuff he did not want to throw out.  At any rate, I decided to wait until I could look without a lot of folks around.  Just in case.

"Under his pillow seems a strange place to hide it."

"Granddad probably expected me to be sleeping there."

"I?ll change bedrooms if you want, James.  I don?t really mind climbing the stairs."

"No.  Stay where you are.  The image of you hauling your fat ass up those stairs three or four times a day is downright depressing," I said with a smile.  

"You?re just jealous because all the women love this big, black Santa," Doc returned the grin, "and you don?t want me upstairs where they sleep."

"It is nice to see that you are getting back your dirty-old-man persona.  No, seriously, stay in Granddad?s bedroom.  It is much more convenient for you."

Doc nodded.  "O.K.  We need to get everyone immunized today."

"Huh?"

"I emptied the hospital?s med locker.  Everyone needs new immunizations.  Just to be on the safe side," Doc said.  "Tetanus, diphtheria, hepatitis, smallpox, polio, anthrax, HPV, AIDS, everything.  Working around a farm with manure, Tetanus is a real danger.  

"If we can keep the vials cool, they may still be good in three or four years.  That will give the next generation a leg up.  You are too young to know just what a toll childhood infections can take.  I know that infectious disease is your specialty, but I?ve lived long enough to remember children dying of diphtheria and measles."

"Children?  I have not even thought that far.  I?m just worrying about this year, not the next decade."

"There will be children, James.  Whenever the women decide the time is right, you can rest assured there will be children."

"God.  Bring up kids in this!?"

Doc grabbed my arm and pulled me to face him.  "Why else are we doing all of this?  Why struggle to make it through this year or the next?  Why not just put a gun to our heads and get it over with!?  I've thought about doing just that, damn it!  But not now!"  He jabbed his finger into my chest for emphasis.  "No more!  We are alive and we're going to stay that way.  That means Kids!  So you had better get you mind wrapped around the idea!  Got it?"

I rubbed the spot on my chest that Doc had been pounding.  "O.K., I've got it.  Damn, Doc, that hurt.  What brought that on?"

Doc grinned sheepishly.  I . . . well . . ."  He looked around a bit embarrassed.  "I had a wet dream last night."

"Huh?"

"A wet dream," he whispered.  "Don't give me that dumb look.  You know what I'm talking about and if you tell anyone else that you will regret it."

"A wet dream?  You mean like..."

"Yes, damn it, and not so loud.  Sticky underwear and dried semen.  My cock hard as iron."

"Well.  Well.  I don't know what to say."

"I felt like a damn teenager."  Now Doc looked like the happy black-skinned Santa Claus that he was.  "You know the last time my cock was That hard?"

"No, Doc, I don't.  Don't really want to know.  I've got this image of a naked, horny Santa waking up the little girl for a special present."

Doc laughed.  "Frightening?  Ain't it?"

"That's one way to describe it."  I joined in the humor.  "It's a good thing you are sleeping downstairs away from the women."

"Distance is no barrier to True Love or Lust, my boy.  Obstacles are there be overcome." 

I slapped Doc on the shoulder.  "Pace yourself, old man.  You're not a teenager, by a long shot."

"This is just between you and me.  Keep your mouth shut about it."

I nodded.  "No problem, Doc."

We started walking again.

"Another thing, you know I'm a diabetic?"  I nodded and Doc continued to say, "Well, since I had my little bout with the Flu, my insulin requirements have been decreasing.  For the last four days, I have not needed any insulin.  This morning I woke up, not only with a wet dream, but with my arthritis not bothering me for the first time in decades.  Explain that."

"Just how sick were you?"

"With the Flu?  A couple of days of sniffles and coughing.  My appetite has been terrible until here lately.  I didn't get very sick at all.  People dying around me left and right and I just got a touch of it.  I thanked my lucky stars at the time and kept on working."

"I did not get sick at all and physically I don't feel any different now from the way I felt before this whole thing started.  I don't have an explanation for you, Doc."

"Well, I'm not going to look a gift-horse in the mouth.  Just thought you should know and that we should bring up the topic with the others."

I nodded.  "Might be a good idea to ask each when we can get them alone."   By then we had reached the barn and I opened the door.  "You want to shovel manure, Doc?"

"I shoveled shit until I went to college and it became manure.  In one form or another, I've been moving shit from one pile to another all my life."

With a short laugh I said, "Well, you take this bucket and dump a load of feed for the horses.  The feed bin is over there.  I'm going to let the cattle out of the corral into the pasture.  After the horses have eaten we'll do the same for them."

A half-hour of work saw the animals fed, watered, and run out to the pasture.  I decided to come back later and muck-out the stalls.
 
We returned to the house and washed up.  By then everyone was up and about, everyone except little Faith and Captain Hill.  Kathy greeted me with a kiss when I stepped into the kitchen.  She and the others were setting the table for breakfast.  The smell of fresh baked biscuits was wonderful.


We sat at the tables and ate.  

About half-way through the meal Hill came down, dressed neatly in a woodland camouflage BDU that look like it came right from the laundry.  He said ?good morning? to the room and took a seat.

Sarah stopped eating and looking a bit put-out went to the stove.  She made up a plate of food and a cup of coffee then brought it to Hill.

"If you?re late, Captain, serve yourself," Sarah said evenly.  She sat down and resumed her meal.

Hill did not look chagrined at all.  "I will indeed, Mrs. Miller.  I had a hard time pulling myself from that comfortable bed this morning."

Conversation moved to what would be done today.  Doc Caldwell let everyone know that he wanted to see each of them and update their immunizations.  That brought a series of groans.  

Sarah said that today was laundry day.  Twelve people, bathing daily, did seem to produce a lot of dirty clothes and towels.  I told them the washer and dryer were in the utility room and a clothesline between the house and the river.  I even offered to help if they waited until this afternoon.  That offer was shot down fairly quickly.

"I really don?t mind helping," I said.

Sarah said, fairly firmly, "There?s plenty for you to do around here without washing clothes.  Believe me, you and the other men will be drafted as needed."  

I shot Doc a glance and he returned an ?I told you so? grin.  

Sarah continued, receiving agreeing nods from the other women, "I don?t know anything about running a farm or caring for the cows and horses.  I will learn, just as all of us will.  Right now, though, I think we should each stick with what we know.  For instance, I can clean the stalls just as well as you can.  There?s no reason for you to take that job on every day.  We women are not going to have to be coddled from the hard work, but it will take time for us to learn.  

"Who do you think did the real work of settling the Wild West?  Men?  I don't think so.  They were too busy hunting gold, getting drunk, pushing cows from one place to another or getting into gun fights."  Sarah smiled to show that she was not as serious as her words make out.

I held up my hands in surrender.  "O.K.  O.K.  I withdraw the offer."

"Good.  Then the men can wash the breakfast dishes," Kathy said with a grin.

Doc laughed and patted his ample belly, "I don?t think I can reach the sink."

"Then you dry."

"What did I tell you, James?" Doc said still grinning.  

"Women run the world.  They just let us men think we are in charge."  I smiled at Sarah and Kathy, and then looked at Sam.

"What?  I am a married man," Sam said, "and I'm keeping my mouth shut."  He winked at Sarah and started chewing on a last bit of biscuit.

Sarah patted his hand.  "Such a nice man.  So easily trained.  All I have to do is lead him around by his . . ."

"By my what?" Sam asked.

"Heart?"

That answer got Sarah a quick kiss from her husband.  "Good answer."

Everyone laughed at that, though Hill's laugh seemed a bit forced to me.

Conversation turned more serious and we decided to unload Captain Hill's truck this morning.  What we [take out] could would be stored in the barn's upper level or one of the storage buildings.  Uniforms, MREs and such would be brought to the house and put away.  Weapons and ammo would be temporarily stored in the garage after we moved Granddad's trucks. Explosives -- Hill had some C4 and claymore mines -- would be stowed in one of the outbuildings. 

The day was a busy one.  Unloading and stowing the contents of Captain Hill's truck took all that morning and most of the afternoon.  


Hill's trade goods showed some forethought; six cases of whiskey, cases of cigarettes and cigars, hundreds of pounds of pepper, salt, sage, sugar and other spices.  I had to give the man credit for some brains.

We took a lunch break and I spent a few minutes using Granddad's radio setup.  Granddad had a CB radio and a multi-band short-wave transceiver.  One set of antennas were atop the barn, it being the highest building on the place.  I discovered some time later that another set of antennas were on a hill south of the house.

I listened to the 10-meter and 20-meter bands hoping to pick up something recognizable.  

Moving the tuning knob I did pick up a weak, static-filled Spanish signal.  I fiddled with the RF gain, but the signal still faded in and out.

My college Spanish was so rusty that I was able to understand only a few words.  Truth be told, my college Spanish was already rusting when I took the course.  I had a teacher who had very little interest in teaching and I was taking the course only to satisfy the degree requirements.  All exams were open-book or crib sheets.  Cheat sheets were used by everyone in the class.  The teacher made it clear, without actually coming out and saying so, that as long as we were not too blatant about it he did not care.  His teaching style was well known among the students and faculty and was the reason I tried to get in his classes.  

I was still listening when Hill came into the room.

"Picked up something?" he said pulling up a chair.  

"Yeah.  It?s not a very good signal though.  It?s from Havana from what I can make out."

"May I?"  I nodded and Hill turned the tuning knobs, but he was unable to get any clearer reception.  Finally giving up, he said, "Yes.  Havana, Cuba.  A woman named Dolores .  She is using a radio at the Cuban Air Force base there.  She is saying that she is alone and cannot find any other survivors in Havana.  A lot of what she is saying is drowned out in the static.  We might get better reception after sundown.  She is calling for help from anyone who hears her.  Now it?s starting to repeat again.  I think it must be on a continuous loop.  

"I suggest we listen again after sundown.  The reception should be much better."

"Not much we can do for her in any case," I said.  "Did you hear any date mentioned?"

Hill shook his head.  "No, no date.  Maybe tonight I might be able to hear it clearer."

"You have a good ear, Captain."

"It comes from years in the field, Doctor Greer, and a talent for languages."

"Oh.  How many languages, Captain, and call me ?James?."

"Spanish, as you have seen, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Kazakh.  I know enough French, German and Russian to order a meal and find my way around.  And I can whip up a curry that will bring tears to your eyes."

"That?s impressive."

Hill shrugged his shoulders.  "I just tried to pick up the language of wherever the Army sent me over the years."

"Sorry, I understood from talking with Doc that you were based in the U.S."

"Yes, The last five years or so.  But I have been stationed all over the world.  I can build you a road through any terrain.  You get me the materials and I?ll build a dam or levee anywhere you want.  I?ve build office buildings, power distribution networks, bridges and just about anything else an engineer would do.  Give me the explosives and I can destroy the same structures."

"So, you?ve been at Huntsville the last five years?"

Hill paused, as if remembering, then said, "The last seventeen months.  Other projects at other sites occupied me before then."

Sam and Sarah Miller came into the room.  I nodded for them to pull up a chair.  I had wanted to talk to Sam about something all morning.

Hill continued to speak, "You great-grandfather built himself a haven here, didn?t he?  It is a rather large investment for a retired old man."

"Granddad was always adding on, changing things," I said.  "It seemed there would be something different every time I visited."

"I wonder how he could afford it?"  Hill looked at me as if the question wasn?t all that important.  Somehow, I sensed that to him it was important.

Local traditions die hard.  One thing that simply was not done in Mississippi was to ask a man how much money he had or how he came to make it.  An outsider certainly did not ask.  Sam started to say something, but apparently decided it wasn?t his place to speak up.

I started to give Hill a short, angered reply; but changed my mind.   "He never said and I never asked."  

"I didn?t mean anything by asking," Hill said with a thin smile.  "Just impressed, that?s all."

"No problem."

"There is something else.  I would like to ask another couple of questions, if you don?t mind?"

"You can ask, Captain.  I may not answer."

"O.K.  Fair enough.  There is a lot of tech on this farm that we will not be able to replace easily and will not be able to make ourselves for years, probably not within our life times."

I nodded.  "You?re right.  None of us can even make a light bulb."

"So, what we have has to last as long as possible," Hill said.  "How much to you know about all this?"  Hill waved his hands to encompass the entire farm.  "About repairing and maintaining what you great-grandfather was able to build here?"

I did not have to think long about that question.  It had been in the back of my mind ever since I arrived at the farm.  

"I?ll admit that I don?t know much about the technical side, Captain.  I know enough to keep the farm going, keep the livestock alive and the tractors running.  Other than basic wiring the electric system is out of my league, as are most of other specialized systems.  Plumbing I can handle.   Even if we are reduced to hauling water from the well, I can rig up a manual pump to do that.  I think there is a windmill kit in one storage building that we can rig."

Hill nodded.   His face betrayed no emotion.  "Then, with your permission, I would like to really look at everything here and take over the responsibility for keeping them working.  That is the duty for which I am most qualified.  It is not that I unwilling to do farm work, for I am and expect to do so, but you can make best use of my talents as an engineer."

"Sam, what do you think?" I asked.  "That was your job at the hospital and I was kind of hoping that you could give us a hand around here."

Sam seemed surprise that I was asking, but he thought about it a couple of seconds and said, "I won?t be much help to us, James, messing with the solar panels or the water rams.  Most of the other stuff I figure we can handle.  Besides, and no disrespect intended, Sarah and I want our own place when the time is right."

I glanced at Sarah and she said, "We can?t thank you enough, Jimmy, for this place and letting us come, but we don?t want to live here forever.  Sam and I . . ."

"I understand, Sarah," I said.  "I expect that everyone will be moving on sooner or later.  I may even move off myself.  This place is just too isolated for long term living by any group, especially if we start having kids."

Sarah blushed lightly.  "Thought about that have you?"

I shook my head and smiled.  "No.  Doc did.  We talked about it this morning.  O.K., Captain, you and Sam work it out between the two of you.  I had rather have cross capability by us all.  What Sam learns from you, Captain, he can use on his own place and teach his kids."


End Chapter 9

Author's Note:  Any errors in this chapter are strictly my own (as is the case of any writer).  There was such a long delay between Chapter 8 and Chapter 9, I was actually a bit embarrassed to ask my previous editors to review this.  
