The World of Tom Stafford by D.A. Sanford - HTML preview

Chapter 3: Making a home fort

For some reason, both of us fell asleep in each other’s arms all night. I woke up, smiled when I saw Nadean coiled around me almost like a snake. She was not going to let me go.

I give her a kiss and she groans then opens her eyes. "It wasn't a dream" she smiles then starts to move.

"I'm going to be sore today." she tells me.

"I can be gentler or just abstain until you feel better." I jokingly tell her.

"Don't you dare!"

I was able to get some water from her cellar water tank to heat on the gas stove. With a pot of really warm water, soap and wash cloths, we were able to take a sponge bath. I helped her with her back and she mine. Remembering that we had important things to do, we could not get frisky but it was hard to resist.

"Do you still want me to stay?" I joke.

She slapped me on the arm as if, non-verbally saying, did you even have to ask.

"We need to get water and some power to the house. I'll use one of the generators. I'll disconnect the meter from the outside lines hooking directly up to the main breaker. We will have your well water, the water heater, heat and lights. We will be good for now."

"There are houses around that have solar panels so I will need to install them here so if the gas supply runs out, we will have power."

Nadean seemed happy about that. Again, hot showers, laundry and a warm house.

Laundry will be second to the shower, well at least the bedding will need frequent changing, I hope.

"Before that, we need personal protection.”

With a sly smile she says, “I told you I had my tubes tied.”

“That’s not what I mean. Do you know of any local houses that would have side arms?"

Nadean gets up without saying a word. She walks out of the room and comes back with a pair of well-kept Colt 45 1911 type military issue semi auto pistols, each with their own holsters and extra clips."

She places them on the counter. Goes back and returns with a full ammo box full of rounds.

"Is this what you are looking for?" she says with a smirk. "My husband bought these but never let me use them. He would clean them regularly but for show. Since he passed, I have taught myself how to shoot them."

My surprised look pleased her.

"This one is yours and this one is mine. I mainly used this one" she said. We are now equipped with what will become the standard travel permit.

"You wouldn't have any semi auto rifles?" I ask.

"I don't but the house two doors down was home to a gun nut. If It was made, he has it."

"That's our second stop."

Nadean asks "Second stop? What's the first stop?"

"A 1957 Chevy Nomad of course. I have the truck and you said that you wanted that so let’s get you on the road."

Since this is the second day, we take the chance on her eggs and bacon. I peel and chop some potatoes. Fry them up with the bacon fat. Everything was good. Unless we find some chickens and means of refrigeration, breakfast will be going back to whatever we have on hand. We need to make a cold cellar and maybe an ice house.

"My vision" I start, "is that we make this house as our main base. We will need to figure out a defense perimeter. For now, I figure some sort of chain link fence. A true stockade wall is out of our abilities for the moment. We need to get a back hoe going for digging the holes and the lifting of the logs."

I ask "Which of the houses next to us do you thing is more suitable for storage and defense?"

"Defense? There is no one around."

"Yet." I answer "We survived so it is a good assumption that others have also. You ever see two domestic cats feeding from separate bowls? Invariably one will think that the other one has a better bowl of food. Even though both bowls are the exact same food, one cat will try to force the other out of the bowl. Sometimes the other cat will peacefully go to the bowl the greedy cat left. Sometimes fights will break out."

I continue, "The people that we meet or that find us, may be reasonable and eat out of their own bowl. I will bet that more will fight to get our bowl. We will need to be on guard at each encounter."

"It's going to be a hard life for a while, isn't it?" Nadean comments.

"That's why the fence."

"The Slater's house, sorry I forget, the house on the right is the better one and closer to us."

"After we get you your car, we need to explore the other houses and salvage what we want from them. Lumber being the top priority. Sheds can be towed over here. Once we get what we need out of the far outlying houses, they need to be burnt to the ground.

That way they can't be used by someone trying to kill us."

Nadean comments "If we are going to burn them, we need the town fire truck. The fire house has that large tank behind the station. I once went to an open house there. They showed how they could refill the truck's water tank quickly. Water is pumped into the tower but it has a gravity fed outlet. We need the truck so we can control the burn"

"Nice thinking. How's this, we take the house on the left, gut it and use it for the lumber storage on the first floor. The second could be used for things that we may need."

She says that it sounds like a plan but "I want my Nomad!"

We go to the house that has the old cars. The house wasn't anything special but the very large, well-kept garage showed where the owners’ priorities were. A quick search of the house turned up the keys to the garage.

It was like a journey into the man's soul. It was a show case for his six cars and trucks.

There were displays of gas signs, pumps and other car related items, including some vintage 50's painted girly service station calendars.

There were two modern muscle cars there, fried circuit boards. They would be gas eaters anyway. The only use I can see would be escape vehicles. That would be only if we could find replacement circuit boards.

In the middle was the Chevy looking better than when it rolled off the factory line. I look at Nadean. She has stars in her eyes. Not wanting to rain on her parade, I go over and raise the hood. I breathe a sigh of relief. He must have been a purest. It has a V8 but it is factory original. That means plugs, points and condenser. Old school. The key is in the ignition.

"Nadean" I ask, "would you please start your car"

She gets in, "It's automatic, I was hoping for a stick but I still like it."

I joke "Well you have a stick now any ways."

She groans as she turns the key. It starts right up and purrs.

"Okay, shut it off and I'll check the fluids. How's the gas?"

"Full tank."

Looking around, this man even had his own working gas pump with an underground tank. Propane fired generator which was running. I filled up my truck and then turned off the generator. No need to waste the propane.

"We won't need to scrounge gas for the car and pick up. If my pick up breaks down I'll take the 68 Chevy pickup."

It was next to the Nomad.

"Let’s go to the gun nuts house and do some scavenging."

I open the garage door manually; she backs out the Nomad. I close the door and lock it.

Nadean has almost the same look as she had this morning. Sheer bliss. She had the wagon she dreamed about but never thought that she would get the chance to own. I like the feeling of seeing her like that. In a short span of two days, I know that she is right for me. I always want to see that same look.

Something to think about. After a few years, gas starts to lose its flammable qualities. It turns basically into varnish. We will need to start looking into diesel. Most non electric heater houses are oil fired with tanks in the cellar. That fuel oil is comparable with diesel fuel. Not urgent now but we need to look into it.

The gun guy was everything I had hoped for with one exception, he had display cases.

No gun safe, good for us to grab what we want but, next trip to Gentry, I need to get as many safes as I can find. This stash needs to be busted up so it does not get damage, destroyed or looted.

Right now, we load up as much as we can into both the wagon and the pickup. The wagon ones go to our house. Nadean suggested that we store the pickup ones in the church basement. For now, no one would expect them to be in a church.

When we return to the house and after we unload the wagon, I started the task of connecting the generator to the house. Pulled the meter because I did not want to waste the power on empty lines to empty houses. I used the meter connection to wire in the gas generator. Once I installed it, I showed Nadean how to start it and showed her how to fill it.

We will only run when we need to use water and or heat but if I can't get solar to work, I will get one of the propane generators. There are plenty of the propane trucks out there.

Just get a few in the back yard. that may be a better winter solution. Blizzard conditions may last longer than the battery power.

For now, with the generator working, we had water, both hot and cold. We had lights but as I expected, we would need to make our own entertainment. TV and DVD players are toasted. I think we can find different ways to entertain ourselves.

Next, we made a run to the grocery store, she drove, I rode.

Nadean is a good driver. A fast driver, but she could handle it. I’ll learn not to put finger dents in the dash.

We picked up most of the perishables in the vegetable section. Canned meats, grains, and such. It will be my next trip to the hardware store to make sure we have seeds for planting.

Since I got the electricity going, we had refrigeration for food. I cracked a few eggs and found they were still good. We took all they had. I remember seeing a dehydrator in the hardware store. I’ll use that to make powdered eggs before they go bad. The bacon packages were factory vacuum packed and Nadean has a freezer in the basement.

I say to her that we need to find out how to can to preserve perishables.

Much to my chagrin, after I announced my plans on canning, she silently grabbed my hand then led me down to the cellar. Opened a cupboard door revealing a large quantity of canned produce and meats. Pickles too.

"Well, I guess I solved that one" I say out loud.

She punched me in the arm and walked away. That hurt.

Nadean made a wonderful supper. I haven't had home cooked since the last time I visited home. She cooks better than my mom.

Now finally, after a few days without, I strip and get into a nice hot shower. She was right. This shower is huge. It even has the rain shower on the ceiling. I'm so absorbed that I don't hear the bathroom door open.

As the shower door opens, I behold the glorious figure of a nude Nadean. I gasp as I smile. She acts really flirty. I was finished with my shower but with soap, hot water, I washed her making sure that I did not miss even one spot on or in her. I can see how handy that shower seat is.

We had decided that the generator needs to be shut off for the night. It's summer, we are the only two in this area so I go out to shut it off after our shower. No need to put anything on. I go out the back door and turn off the generator. Again, lost in thought, I turn around to go inside. I run into an equally naked Nadean. Natural in nature, something I now can hardily endorse.

Again, we are the only ones here and it is like camping. Falling asleep on a fine lawn with a fine woman, it's good. We did wake up and felt that another shower was in order.

The sun was just coming up. So, I started the generator.

After breakfast, I had her put on the pistol and I did so with mine. I was making a run to Gentry. This time to get what chain link fencing I could find. We need that protection. I also can clean out the rental place's tools. With our generators we can use the power tools.

The biggest thing is to see if there is any evidence of others.

I figure that I would swing by the local emergency clinic. We really have a need for meds. Thornton does not even have a pharmacy. Whatever antibiotics is a plus. Almost anything that wouldn't be carried at a supermarket is what I look for.

Finding out where to get what will be needed is top priority. We need to be self-sufficient before winter sets in. I did locate some wood stoves on our first trip into Gentry but they will be a fall trip. That reminds me, chain saws. Now that there is canned mixed fuel for them, I, on every trip, will take each and every can I find.

The trip was a little lonely. Funny how quickly I have gotten used to company. The truck has the original radio. It seems to work but there is nothing but static. I soon enter Gentry. I have decided that I want to try one of the box trucks in the rental yard. Not all are newer models. Over half are ones before all the electronics. I wouldn’t bother with the newer ones.

Pulling into the parking lot, I use the key for the front door that I found the time I needed to climb through the window. It was not difficult to find the box truck keys. I grabbed a few sets. Go figure, the first set start the truck. There is about a half a tank of gas so it will make it back home. I'll make this trip with a full load.

After emptying the entire set of tools, chain saws of different lengths, post hole diggers and such, I then spotted a lumber yard. Looking around I found quite a few rolls of eight foot high chain link fencing and posts. Those got loaded with their propane fork lift.

I drive over to the super store. More clothes, shoes but I thought I would try to fill the remainder of the truck with canned goods as well as spices, sugar, in other words, anything that I could fit. The truck has a hydraulic lift so with the pallet jack that was with the box truck. I was able to make short work with the loading.

One thing I wanted to try while at the super store. I grab a few of the electronics that were still in their boxes. It’s a long shot but if they work, we could have tv and movie nights. If they work, maybe I’ll take her to the adult store in Gentry.

I haven't seen any resent evidence of people but I knew that it would be inevitable that we will see people. I only hope that they don't want to eat out of my bowl. I really need

to get the fence up around the two houses. I'll come back to get the lumber needed to make a watch tower.

After exploring Gentry for future resources, my last stop is at the lake. I look around finding some things I can take now and others that would be subsequent trips.

What a view. Clear sky reflecting in the almost flat lake surface. I rub my eyes. For a second it looked like there were a few people swimming in the lake. It even looked like they were waving to me. I blinked and then there was nothing but the reflected sky.