The Gatherings by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

What happened?

At the middle of the next day, the opening is now big enough to crawl through but now that outside opening is not to be seen.

It is then I realize that our clock is off. It was close to summer when we entered. This still is summer outside so our clocks are definitely off. I do see the occasional flash in the sky. Like a shooting star. Curious but the light from our flash lights may be a beacon to our location. Covering up the new opening we made, a watch was set to make sure no one tries to get in.

By what is our new morning, no one has tried. Going back in, the way up is actually very comfortable. The small opening gives me a view of the valley that my cabin is in. There is wreckage where my cabin is supposed to be. From what I can see, it appears to be some sort of large passenger jet that crashed.

There are a few craters around. I think we need to go out to investigate. That crash looks like it is from when we closed the door. I have each one go and look then we sit down and discuss what we need to do.

“After looking outside and finding no radiation, that plane crash must have been that big quake but what are those craters? Anyone have any ideas on what we should do?”

Korry tells us that there should be one person to go just outside our door. That would only be for a quick look around then duck back in. I tell them that I will do that because this is my land and I am most familiar with the area. I’ll take the camera and make a slow sweep then zoom in on the wreck.

They agree but I warn them that if I am attacked, close and lock the door. I pull Jonus aside and make sure that he knows why I am the one. “You need to stay and be the one to close the door if I am attacked. You must defend the family. Defend our hide. I will come back and haunt you if you let something happen to them.”

No time like the present. I grab the camera and do one last check for any trace of radiation. Everything is ready, including my side arm. With Jonus at the door, I step outside. I must say that it stinks out here. As I am stepping outside. I see the reason for the stench. There are three decaying bodies with their weapons still in their hands. They will be the first we need drag off.

I look at the terrane and slowly pan. There is no hint of anyone alive around here. I stop on the plane wreck. Bodies are all over the place but it looks like the wings were torn off in the wooded crash. With the fuel in the wings and no ignition there was no fire.

There is baggage all over, we need to scavenge all we can. We do have that new space, fill it then go over what we need. The rest may be good trade. I do see that my shed is still intact. That is a good thing. The final pan is the hill the mine is in.

We are safe. I go inside and the door is closed again. I plug the camera into the laptop and they now see what is out there. “We are safe, as far as I could see. The first thing we need to do is get to my shed. I have a quad and trailer in there. We need to haul the three bodies away from the front and then all the ones from the plane. There is a lot there we can scavenge. We really need to get to those craters. I want to go outside tonight. I think something happened to the things in orbit.”

Just to be safe, it was the group decision to try to open the new cavern’s hole so someone could stick themselves partially out the hole. This way we could observe from a relative safety. I suggested that I take Korry and retrieve the quad and trailer. “There should be a piece of the plane, maybe even with a window that we could use as a cover of the new opening so it just looks like wreckage.”

I could see that Korry wants in on that. They agree, we get ready. “Korry you are going to see decomposed bodies at the door and around the plane. Now is the time. If you don’t feel right, no one here will think anything of it”

He goes to the door and it is opened. He steps around the bodies and throws up. Straightening up, he tells me he is ready to go. We take our time walking. I had already asked his parents. We stop past the clearing to the mine. I pull out my side arm.

Showing him what is what. I hand it to him and point to a tree. “squeeze the trigger once and release.”

He fires off a round and actually hits the tree. I have him aim at the same tree and this time pull the trigger multiple times. He hit a few more times but not all hit.

“That was to give you a quick lesson. We will have real lessons on how to shoot. This is just in case I go down. If that happens, grab the pistol and run back inside.”

Korry knows that I mean what I say. He just hands the pistol back to me. We start back down the hill.

The car his parents drove up in is in the same condition that it was when they drove it here but it is blocking the path. Korry, much to his delight, started it to clear the trail. He did move it to a cleared portion off the trail.

I did tell them later that part of the plane must have struck it because the tail light lens on the passenger’s side is broken. His parents just laugh. Jonus says that must be what happened.

The quad and trailer still work. We did find a window with metal around it that will work. Korry found some things that all will enjoy. We loaded all our bounty on the trailer and made it back safely. The door was big enough and deep enough for us to drive in.

Everyone was happy for us to be back but what Korry found was the biggest hit. There in our cavern was the stowed beverage and snack carts. Evidently the plane was taking off but had not started to serve. We were able to load the three.

Soda, nippers and wine coolers. All the snacks we did not have with us in lock down. Korry told us that the remainder is still there along with the pillows and blankets. Those would be needed for the winter. There is a bounty just sitting there. Ripe for the pickings. I told them that most of the luggage has survived. We will bring those back and sort through them in that back room.

Jonus asked if I saw anything that could be used as stove pipe. We could heat this hide with wood this winter. He did say that we could cobble something up in the back room. That way we are not so dependent on the solar array.

Over the next few days we hauled all the bodies to a central area away from the area we live in. The packaged food is mostly still good. The gally meals however have faded into unrecognizable dried up slabs. The table ware, plates and glasses along with the bottles of wine from first class are still in their sanitized packages.

The luggage is a bonanza. Clothes in many sizes. More than we will use. With what we have, we may just have enough to maybe start a trading post if things settle down.

There now are fire streaks visible during the daytime let alone the night time sky. It is now obvious that all the impacts are all those satellites. Something or someone triggered a cascade collision in orbit and now we are back in the prespace era again. That plane and others had to be taken down by space debris.

All in all, we now are going to be very comfortable here. We can hunt now but only in pairs that are both armed. Those weapons the three at the door had are now cleaned and stored. A rifle and holstered pistols for each hunting pair.

Our food supply is back to the full two years that I had planned. With the wreckage of the plane, we were able to get the gally water heater working. A makeshift water tank over it, all that was needed was to open the tank valve, fill the water heater up and there was hot water on demand. Well after it did warm up.

It is a big hit because five people taking sponge baths has a hot water shortage problem. Jonus has a plan that depends on finding another tank, some hose and making multi small holes in the bottom of a metal can.

I really would like even a quick shower.

Since we know that the surrounding area is relatively clear, I ask Jonus and Calest if they would like to see what condition their house is in. They tell us that they may in the future but this is our families home. “This is where the five of our family live.”

I feel a tug on my heart. To hear the way he put it, to see the look in the four sets of eyes as they look at me tells it all.

“I agree. We are family.” Is all I could get out. With what we have gone through, we are family. Chelsae although breaks us up. What she says has us all laughing.

“Since we are family, I am going to call you uncle Hector. Uncle Hector, could my father take the wood he can salvage from your cabin and the other buildings you have and make them a room at the back of the new cavern. Some of us do like our sleep undisturbed.”

The way she said is was in a tone that I will only say that we could not tell if she was joking or serious. Korry and I knew that it was both. That day, Jonus, Korry and myself were able to salvage more than enough lumber to build a small one room cabin including the insulation.

The two parents were happy but we returned once more with enough to make two small capsule type sleeping pods. I stated that I would like their old room but the sad puppy dog eyes of Chelsea made me do a polite bow and let her have it. “A lady needs her privacy.”

If you could not guess, Jonus can take anything and make it into what he needs. From my wrecked cabin, he took the small water heater, cut it open and it is now the heat for their room. The vent was some pipe he scavenged from the plane. There was enough to protrude through the ceiling. The draft of the enlarged hole lets the smoke vent out but did not look like fire smoke from the outside.

Now we each have some privacy but Chelsae found the there is echoes coming from that very loud acoustic cavern at night. Her room is next to that now doorway size opening. We two, on the other side of this cavern do not hear a thing.

Our first person sighting

It has been a month since we first opened the door to find our new world. After a while, we have made tables and chairs outside. There is still some summer left but also the nights are getting chilly out here.

Daily tasks now include sawing wood for the winter. In the smaller cavern, I have made a fire pit towards the middle made out of my long empty beer keg cut open. The draft draws the smoke into the larger cavern and again out the vent. This will now be the main source of heat.

Plans are being made for the winter if those solar panels get covered. My cabin has almost disappeared. The rest of the salvage wood is in the large cavern in storage. Those hikers never came back for their stuff. The unnecessary things they brought were things that we figure we could actually use for trade when needed. Those items are also stored in the cavern.

That was and still is the original purpose of that room. Storage but the side effect is that it has cut down the echo drastically. Chelsea says she sleeps better.

I and my family came in here in the very beginning of summer or very late spring. Now fall is knocking at the door. Hunt and harvest. Again the back room is now the root cellar. There has been shelves made against the walls.

The old small shed had sacrificial skids made and the quad dragged it up almost to the entrance landing. A few holes in the sides towards the roof, a lot of pole rods and we now smoke all the kills.

Life is resilient. We no longer hide the fact that we are here and now all five of us wear side arms. All are well trained, I had bought enough ammunition to have my own army. We could hunt and at a moment’s notice fight.

Smoke and smells travels, so does the noise of firearms. The latter is most important as we found when we spotted someone at the bottom of the trail with a white flag. While we make it a show of each of us having firearms, I yell down,

“What do you want? If that flag means anything to you, come up but know that any wrong move, you will just be in the same pile that those passengers bodies were placed.”

He yells back that he is going to remove his shirt and turn so we can see that he has no hidden. He does and we see no weapon so we tell him to start up.

When he gets here, we make sure that he gets the proper cautious tones.

Jonus asks him why is he here.

He states that there is a group of people in this area that are living in peace with each other. “We all have things that we need but there are things that we have excess of. We would like to gather for a day and trade surplus with each other. All know that you have weapons in excess of what any others have. We hear you hunting. We hear what sounds like practice.

We ask your permission to have the gathering in your meadow. I will tell you that all are in need of that planes parts, especially the skin. Trade for the metal, you could set a large price. People need it mostly to make things to use as heaters for the upcoming winter. Some could use the seats, insolation and such.”

Jonus now asks what do the others offer. We are told that they have had a good summer growing and have surplus. Others have scavenged the box stores. Flour, spices, coffee and such.

They got me on coffee, we are not low but we could be towards the middle of winter if we do not ration. I ask him what security do you offer. “This could attract the wrong people.”

He put it simple, steal, attack, try to cheat, those will be added to the pile you warned me about. “No questions needed, you try you die.”

Now I understand. I tell him to have a seat while we go inside and talk. “Do not touch the door while it is closed. There will be water on the ground and let’s just say you will be shocked to find yourself standing before the gods. Amperage kills.

The door is closed. All seem to believe that he is telling the truth. I make the comment that he has related, whether he meant or not, that they feel that we are the big guns here that they do not want to cross.

Calest says that we could use some of those basics. “We need more soap, more flour and other things. That plane is just sitting there. One thing, just because we have it we should deal fairly but a few may not have enough to trade but need. That whole plane will not go. We even have pieces scattered around that they do not know of. Those who genuinely need, we tell them to come back the next day for left over scavenging of some metal.”

All agree and we open the door. The man is still sitting.

“When do you propose to have the gathering?”

“It would be in two weeks from today.” is what he informs us. We tell him that it is good. He leaves. He is almost running. We do not know if it is to spread the word or clean his drawers. He put on a strong front but you could see some trepidation in his demeaner.

He is now out of sight so I say that we need to make a few clothes racks for all those clothes we do not want from the plane. There are quite a few things from those excess lockers that may sell.

Korry wants to hunt some more. “We have a good supply of meat now. If we could bag a few deer some now for smoking and some the day before, I’m sure that there are quite a few unlucky hunters that only hit dirt or trees.

We all realize that there is more benefit for us. Now the women sort, I make the racks and rudimentary tables while Jonus and Korry hunt. By the time people start coming, we now have a very large display. We do have a sign that says look but no trading until most have shown up.

Chelsea keeps on telling people that we will not gouge. Fair for fair. Some of the men are already looking at the plane. I have a sign that tells them the same thing.

Things are going good but Chelsea sees that some of the women are looking, they really look like they could use the clothing but you can tell that they would have to trade food for them. She calls over her mom and explained what she saw.

Her mother starts going to those ones. “I have a deal for you. IOU for five percent of next year’s harvest will get you what you need for clothing. Fair trade?” She got a piece of paper, wrote that and had the women sign then pick.

Most got clothes for their children so Calest took them over to their size and told them that she did not say how many, “You signed for what you need and you also need clothes.”

That alone cemented that we may be powerful but we deal fair. That cannot be said for everyone. There was one person that wanted a few pieces of the plane. He said that he went to a big box store and he offers a box of soap bars thirty six count for the metal. We accept and he goes to cut the two pieces.

Our two women see soap and open the box. Top layer had six bars, bottom layer had six bars, the remainder of the space in between those layers had cardboard layers as fill. Korry and Jonus grab the guy and drag him screaming. They stand him in front of me.

I yell to all, “WE CAUGHT A CHEATER!” That brought almost all over here. All the while he is protesting his innocence. “I sold him a box of twelve bars of soap not thirty six.”

“You heard it from his own mouth. Did I say how he cheated?” I put the box on the table. “The box of soap, that he traded for two panels, says thirty six count. He traded me thirty six bars for two big pieces of metal. How many of you traded for sealed boxes from him?”

Almost half raise their hands. Who has traded for this size box of soap?

Five come forward. All see that the box is the same. I have them open them. Those boxes are exactly twelve bars. Now he is accusing all for hiding the extras. I confront him,

“You just told them that you sold only twelve bars. We will confiscate all of your goods both traded and offered. Jonus, Korry take him to the edge of the field.”

They do. “The charge is being a swindler. We established only one penalty for all crimes.”

I pull out my side arm, put it to his head and pull the trigger. The man drops. Jonus and Korry show no emotion even though each have seen their first execution. I will explain to them on the side.

Now to shore up our community position. “This is my land. I was approached by your representative to hold it here. You all know that theft is not allowed punishable by death. Each of you that traded with him will go to his stall. My two here will verify that you traded. You will get your trade back. We will divide what is left.

I need to point out that my family has given some families credit in the form of five percent of next years harvest. You can see them, they barely have enough to trade. I ask you if you would allow them to take some of those items of his again for the five percent. I will back this with as much metal as you want. You will be free to come back at a schedule we agree on and take two large pieces. That is what he traded the soap for with me. Help our neighbors out. I front their trade.”

It is an overwhelming agreement. Those that traded were made whole. Those who could afford little went away with a lot. That may or may not help them through the winter but it will allow them room to forage and hunt.

The gathering asked us if we could store the rest as a bank of sorts. People could come and barter, trade or if necessary give that IOU. We tell them that we will be honored. At the end of the day, I saw some of the people throwing extra on the carts of those who had little. It was a good day.

The door is now shut and I have everyone sit.

“When the man showed up to ask if they could use the field, that was because all think we are the most powerful in this area. That cheater, swindler, had to be executed. That is the first human I have ever killed. Jonus and Korry stood stoic. I think they know why but I will explain.

Before this went down, we had laws and such. Almost no one that committed a crime cared about the consequences because they had become almost nonexistent. Politicians said to other countries, don’t do that or there will be repercussions but they never went through with the threats.

Being the most powerful, we cannot allow to make the threat but not carry through with what we said would be the sentence. Now that we showed that we will carry out what we said we would do, there should be no need to do it again.

We showed them that we do not threat, we promise.

Now look at what the crowd did. They showed the same compassion that our two ladies did. Help the neighbors that need the help. A hand up. Those with the IOU’s they signed, we will only accept a few pieces, not the five percent. The few pieces show that it is not a hand out. That is what we would make it if we destroyed that list. They get to hold their heads up. Now we got twelves bars of soap. What do we have in our stores?’

I am told that we only have twenty. Now we have thirty two. The rest of his stock is in the storage. What is a fair trade for a bar of soap? How would you feel if we add to that stock and when they come, which they will, we give a few pounds of smoked meat each.

The deer traded out. We now have all that was on our list. We will make it through the winter just fine. We can hunt a few more deer for the trade. Will an extra twelve bars of soap get us through? That only would be an extra forty eight pounds of smoked meat.”

It is now understood why I acted like I did. They know that a quick show of force that is ugly in nature will ensure that what we say goes on our land.

Subsequent gatherings have increased in size due to execution enforcement. No one now deals with sealed boxes. All wares are displayed and all are fair trades. Even after those came to get what they needed off the plane. It is still an eyesore to me.

I think in the spring that we will finish breaking it down for the spring gathering. A pile will be easier to trade away.

Do we trust?

There is now the chill in the air that says the snow is not to far away. Our stock is extremely full of meat and vegetables. Now our only task is to cut and store fire wood. This is a double cavern. The vent hole has been mostly sealed. Jonus has made a trap door of sorts.

The vent will remain open during the winter but if the snow is blowing in that direction, the vent can be closed. We would only need to go up there and open it occasionally to let out the smoke from the fires. We tried it out and found that we only needed to open it every six to eight hours. It only took an hour to completely clear the air so we should be good.

The front door opens outward. That design was so it could not be battered in from a blast or rammed by people. Snow, we will need to open that enough to be able to get out and shovel so it can be opened fully.

Planning and testing whenever possible is just fundamental for survival. Snow preparation is necessary for ventilation and the need to get out once in a while.

As I said, wood is now our top priority. There is always three out gathering the wood. The car had a full tank of gas. The quad can go most of the day on a tank because we are in the forest. Clearing around our home is necessary for our own peace of mind, so we really do not use that much gas. I have cases of that fifty fifty gas to oil premix cans so the chainsaws are in full use.

Jonus is not the only one that is inventive. Korry has been working on his own time. He has a few pieces of plane skin that he has made into sleds. Wire for ropes to pull them back up the hill. He has trimmed the top surface with a wood bed to lay on while sliding. He told us that the wood covered the sharp edges so we would not get caught on them. We all look forward to snow days.

Soon. Very soon.

You could smell that snow was within a few days from falling. We were bringing in what we felt was the last few loads of firewood when the quad comes up but this time it was not wood they had but a woman.

She appears to be mid twenties. Not really dressed for winter, she had multiple layers of what could only be called rags, You could tell that she has had it rough. Obviously not eating very well. By her skin and bones appearance she may not make it.

We got her inside. The two women asked us if we would please go into the other cavern. “We are going to cut off these rags, bathe her and get her new clothes. Chelsea says that she will give up her room for now to nurse this one back to health. Then she goes into the stores then comes back with some good clothes.

They cleaned her up and called us back. The woman has not stirred but her breathing is no longer shallow. They have made up some soup and were able to get her to swallow quite a few spoons full but the woman did not fully wake. In a warm room, in what has to be a softer bed then she has been on, she now is in a deep sleep.

Not out of danger yet but a far sight better than she was when they found her.

I was told that they found her face down but it looked like she was heading this way. “I think she was trying to get here to throw herself on our mercy.” Calest said, “What we saw when we cleaned her up said a lot. She was very close to death. She still could die. We will need to set watch bedside to at least be there if that happens. If she lives, we cannot cast her out. We women out rule you three. As long as she is not hostile, she will stay at least until spring.”

I must interject, “If she wants to leave, we will not stop her. If she gives any sign of being a danger to us, I will put her down.”

They know that I mean it. They agree.

She did make it through the night. More warm soup broth but this time small pieces of meat and vegetables. Spoon full after spoonful almost sleep eating her appearance is getting better. By that, I mean her color no longer has a death like pallor. She now has some natural color but she is grossly underweight. She is like those people who are anorexic.

A person of her stature should be at least forty more pounds more than she is. She appears as if she had been on her own, wandering, for at least a month. Most of that time, she must have had little or nothing to eat.

Our two are getting more and more hopeful about her. They have told us that she has both urinated and passed some liquid feces. After a few days of sleep, the woman is waking.

Very disoriented she almost tries to back away from us but was calmed down once we said that she made it to us. We let the women talk to her so she was able to relax somewhat. She says her name is Sharon.

“You were my last chance” she said. “I have been scorned and cast out because of my husband’s acts.”

I know in my gut what she is going to reveal. So do the others. She is box store guy’s wife. “You need say no more. We know. That was not you. We hold no grudge against you. Are you willing to live in peace with us? If so, you are welcome to live here.”

Sharon is crying. She has not heard anything like that since she found out. She tries to tell us about him but we stop her. She is told that that was him. He broke the rules set by the gathering.

“You never need to apologize or vilify him. You are to live with us. In the spring, if you want to leave you can but by then you, in all probability will want to stay.” I tell her. She seems very happy at that but sleep takes hold of her again.

The next day, they get Sharon out of bed and to the table, She is given a small portion of cooked meat and more soup. Calest tells her that she needs to eat it all. “We cannot let you gorge yourself. You need to eat small portions but frequently. We need to put some weight on you.”

After a good start and a small but good meal Calest takes her into the toilet room. That is where we now shower. It is only a few minutes and she now is feeling very warm and a change of clothes. She comes out and they have her sit. Now we can talk with her.

She tells us that people came by her house and they kicked her out with nothing. They said that she must have been in on the scam her husband was running. This really pisses me off. We take out an area map. She lives near where Jonus and Calest lived. Only a few streets over.

It has not snowed yet. I have Jonus and Korry join me. Jonus knows that area and he drives. The three of us are armed to the teeth. We get to that house and find that it now is occupied. I knock on the door. Much to my dismay, it is the one that contacted us in the first place. We barge in and find that there are two more that we recognize from the gathering.

At gunpoint, I have them sit. “How did you come by this house? Be warned, we know that you did not live here before the world went to hell. The woman is in our home. We found her barely alive and you sit in her home, eating her supplies. These two I also recognize. We gave you basically credit so you could make it.”

The first one tells me that she was part of the scam. I demand that he shows me proof.

“We caught her husband in the act. Show me the proof that she was in on it. Did you catch her making those fake boxes?”

“She was his wife, that is all we needed.” One of the two agrees. I shot him in the knee and now aim at the first’s knee. “What proof do you have?” I press the muzzle to the knee. He now is panicking, “We have none.” I shoot him in the knee.

Now I turn my attention to the only one not shot. “I’m leaving you to spread the word. We will not tolerate theft. You are only spared because of that. I do not care what excuse you give, the contents of this house and the wounded men’s houses are to be at the mine’s entrance tomorrow. Jonus, Korry search this house and make note of what is here.”

Turning back to the three men. I grab the firsts injured leg and jerk it hard enough to break what is left of the knee. “That is for fucking with me. You are worse than the box store man. You put someone out to die. That wound will in a short time go gangrene. That is a slow death sentence unless someone cuts the leg off.”

I look at the other and say that he may live but he will never be able to walk without a set of crutches.

By this time, the three wives come over because they heard the shots. The two wounded ones were told by me that they threw the owner of this house out to die. That she is in our protection. “Feel lucky, they have not implicated any of you. I have ordered all the contents of this house to be delivered for storage at my home. If you have anything they brought to your homes, bring it back here. If you do not, I have ordered the entire contents of your homes brought to us tomorrow.”

They are crying but I tell them “The reason for that is because your husbands put that woman out to die because she was wife of the man I caught cheating. These men came here with no other proof than she was his wife. I now accuse you, before these men that since they are guilty, you are also guilty by their justification of attempted murder. My two are taking a quick inventory of what is in this house. All will be at my home tomorrow or we will be back to carry out your portion of the sentence.”

The first is begging me not to do this, “My wife had nothing to do with this.”

“By your own words, by your very own word. You have just proven my point. You have just confessed to your guilt. Sharon may have been his wife but you tried to kill her by throwing her out.”

I tell the wives, “Sharon told us of how others here drove her out. Have these things delivered and that will be this neighborhoods punishment. Don’t and my advice is to be gone by noon tomorrow. We will be back to burn down this whole neighborhood. Do you understand me!”

The two are standing behind me. Jonus states just what I said after the gathering. “We do not threaten, we promise.”

I tell the firsts wife that she needs to think about this seriously. “That knee will fester and rot. It will be a slow death but if you bring him tomorrow with the goods, we will cut the leg off above the knee and cauterize the stump. He will at least live. He actually could make a peg leg.”

We leave. It is a silent ride back other than me telling them that I will explain to the family and Sharon.

After a dusting of snow overnight. There was almost all those that were here for the gathering, are now here transporting the contents of the house here. All know of what transpired. All know why I dealt out that justice and these demands. I have Sharon come out to show that we were not lying about her being here. I have them take her back in.

I find that one of them is a doctor. He comes up to me and told me that my feeling was right. He had to amputate the leg above the damage. The man may survive. The other wounded had more of a flesh wound that hit some bone but he will live. The doctor did not say but he knows what I was doing. He knew my aim was not off. He did ask if he could check Sharon out.

I had Celsea go in and ask if it was alright. She came back and showed the doctor to her. “Watch him.” is all I said to Korry, I made a display of patting my side arm.

Now I need to talk to all here.

“I know that some of you feel that I am being brutal, unjust. Those three threw Sharon out just because she was married to the cheater. She was his wife was their justification. When I said in front of the man whose leg needed to be amputated, that his wife was just as guilty. He shouted, with the prospect of me throwing his wife out to die, pleaded with me that she had nothing to do with the crime. He sealed his own guilt. Sharon was not even on that field. There is no definitive proof of her being involve yet the same argument he gave to me about his wife, he denied that man’s wife the same courtesy.

We are not going to be the police but we will not tolerate this behavior. These types of crimes were allowed in our old world to go unpunished. We were held hostage in our own homes.

This family hosted the gathering, this family gave to those who needed and one of those who was in that house were one of the ones that we have an IOU on. Courtesy given then rubbed in our nose by his action. His IOU is torn up. That was a hand out not a trade. The shame if on him because the gathering in the spring will be for his family bring trade or don’t come. At least for what we have to offer.

Now as each of you bring those things up here to the entrance. Since you all realize what wrong has happened but are trying to correct it, please live with each other. No witch hunts. Do you think that I like being a prick?

Sharon’s things are here. Each person here will get, for my thanks, a two pound smoked piece of deer meat. This is not a hand out. This is fair trade for your labor.”

Jonus and Korry verify that more is here than they saw so each got their meat, including the wives of the three men. They had no part in their husbands crimes. There were some who did not like what I did but they accepted my reasons. They told me so.

The doctor came out and told me that Sharon was doing good but she needs to gain around thirty pounds. A little less than I thought but he’s the doctor. He got four pounds of meat. Two pounds for Sharon and two pounds for the other wound. I told him that the amputation was on him.

“That man deserved to die slowly.” is all I told him.