Gaia Dreams (Gaiaverse Book 1) (42 page)

John frowned at his sister. "Perhaps it doesn't
sound optimistic, but we have to be realistic. The coming days will probably be
filled with danger. We're all going to have to be careful and stay aware of our
surroundings."

ALWAYS HAVE AN ANIMAL WITH YOU

EARLY WARNING

"You're right, cat--er--Perceval, was it?" Black
said. "And anyone leaving our immediate area should probably have me along. I
thought I heard that Harmony girl saying last night that she was going out
today to Branson to get more supplies. Where is she?"

"Yes, has anyone heard from her? I thought she
knew we'd be meeting here this morning," Mrs. Philpott said worriedly.

Max told them, "She said she wanted to get an
early start at that discount center, and then she was going on to the giant
sporting goods store. You know that huge one that has tons of fishing gear?"

"Fishing! I knew I'd forgotten something," Mrs.
Philpott said.

"That's right," John said. "Anyone like to fish?
Because we'll probably all become fishermen--and women--before this is over. The
lakes around here have all kinds of warm-water fish--bass, crappie, bream--and in
Lake Taneycomo, which is cold-water, you can fish year round for trout. People
come here to visit just for the fishing."

"That's great!" Andy said enthusiastically. "I've
always loved to fish. What kinds of bass?"

"Large-mouth and spotted bass for sure," John
replied. "Oh, and there's white bass out there too."

"Mark me down for fishing--anytime, anywhere,"
Andy offered. "I'll keep us stocked up on fish to eat whenever you want."

"Fishing?" Lisanne asked querulously. "You like
to fish?" Then she muttered, "Could we be any more different?" Merlin just
meowed at that.

Clay had a big smile on his face as he said, "I'll
be happy to join you for some fishing, Andy. Haven't had as much chance as I
would like to get in some time fishing lately."

John looked around the group. "Has anyone got
any math ability? I think that would come in handy when it comes to the power
plant. I guess we don't have any electrical engineers in the group," he said
regretfully.

Headshakes went around the room, and then
Lisanne spoke up a little cautiously, "I could help you with the math. Although
I don't know anything about power plants. But I majored in Math and Astronomy
in college. And then I had more math and physics when I went on for the
doctorate. Didn't finish the Ph.D., but I could probably make some sense out of
what you'll be dealing with."

John's eyebrows rose at this little speech.
Lisanne had dark circles under her eyes this morning, and he couldn't tell if
that was leftover makeup or what. She looked fragile and very pale, with big
eyes that looked almost purple, which had to be a trick of the light, he
thought. In a bright purple t-shirt and black jeans, she looked more like a
teenager than someone who could have worked on a doctorate already. But still,
giving her something important to do, to focus on, that could help her, give
her some confidence and maybe help with the drinking problem.

He nodded decisively, saying, "Okay, Lisanne,
you got a deal. And if Merlin will come with us to the power plant today, that
would be great."

Lisanne stared into Merlin's eyes for a moment,
and then said, "He'll come. He just wants to lay around and sleep today, but if
I carry him, he'll be all right."

Sam giggled, and Perceval snorted, if a cat can
be said to snort. Lisanne just glared at the two of them. "That's what he said!
Pretty much--not in those exact words but--oh, forget it!"

"Where is Harmony?" Mrs. Philpott worried. "I
know she said she'd be here."

"She'll turn up," Jessica assured her.

"Like a bad penny," John mumbled.

Then they all went back to figuring out what
they had to get done in the time left before the quake.

Downtown Cape Fair

Harmony wandered in and out of the little shops
on Main Street. She'd already stocked up on crystals and candles, so now it was
time to get back to her official list of supplies. It was very strange for her
to buy so many things over such a short period of time. She'd never been very
materialistic, never much into having lots of stuff, but she'd turned into a
savvy shopper over the past week. After being good and adhering to her official
list for four days, she'd started adding little items as she ran across them,
things not on the list, but things she thought might come in handy or might
just be a nice surprise when they were unearthed in a box after months of the
same old thing. Specialty teas, in addition to cases and cases of regular tea.
Band-Aids with cartoon characters in addition to gauze and bandages. Candy
bars, not just baking chocolate. Bubble gum.
And I don't want to forget where I
put the balloons and birthday candles
, she thought, stepping into the hardware
store and running right into a man coming out the door.

"Mr. Johnson! Sorry, I didn't see you there. Are
you okay?"

The bearded man looked startled, and then
recognized Harmony's long, wavy, golden-blond hair with its many braids. "Oh--it's
okay, Harmony--just leaving--I mean, just getting a big wrench for--well, it doesn't
really matter what for, now does it?" He looked all around. Lowering his voice,
he said, "Young lady, you need to get out of here."

"What?"

"Yes, the end is coming. There will be fire and
floods and hailstones and probably brimstone."

"Mr. Johnson," she began. Only to have him
interrupt.

"I know you won't believe me. But you can see
some folks have already left town. It won't be safe anywhere, but I'm heading
out to Wyoming. Got some land there with a cabin. It may be far enough away
from the hooligans and criminals."

Harmony looked puzzled. "But, Mr. Johnson, you
already have a cabin here, you know, the one on the lake? You have five cabins
there as a matter of fact that you rent out to people. Why would you leave?"

He grabbed her arm. "Because it's not safe! The
end is coming! I'm gonna be somewhere that I can protect myself. All these
resort folks, these people that come from the cities to visit here. You think I
want to deal with them and their evil ways?"

She looked at him carefully and noticed his eyes
were wide and his face flushed. "Mr. Johnson, you need to calm down. Cape Fair
will be safe! You should stay here. I know about the dreams and what's coming,
but here--"

"You know?" he demanded. "What do you know? What
part do you play in this?"

"Nothing, no part, I've just had some dreams
lately, that's all. And I think it's safer to stay here," she said, pulling
away from him a bit.

He relaxed his grip on her arm. "Young lady, you
need to listen to me and get out of town."

Harmony was thinking rapidly as he talked. She
realized he was determined to leave town. "Tell me, did all your guests check
out already? Are you just leaving the place empty?"

Mr. Johnson frowned. "I told them to leave and
got them out of there. I don't have any choice but to leave it empty. It won't
matter anyway, what with the end coming and all."

Harmony gave him a dazzling smile. "Well, Mr.
Johnson, how would you feel if I lived in your cabin while you're gone? I'd be
willing to buy it from you...all of the cabins in fact."

"Are you crazy, girl? I'm telling you the end is
coming--the end of the world. And it ain't gonna be pretty!"

"No, I'm not crazy, but I just feel like I have
to stay here. Cape Fair is my home. So how about it, would you let me buy the
place?"

"Money won't do me much good now, but I could
use some cash to buy supplies on my way to Wyoming. You got any cash, young
lady?"

Harmony reached into her multi-colored purse,
the fabric one with the spangles and sequins on it. "How's five thousand
dollars sound?"

"What are you doing with that kind of cash,
girl?"

"Like you said, the end is coming. I figured the
banks wouldn't last long. But I want the papers for the cabins, the deed or
whatever it's called."

"Okay, okay. Come on out to the cabin with me
and we'll get it all fixed up."

"Great!" Harmony replied. Just wait, she thought
happily, wait until they hear how I got five cabins for five thousand dollars!

The Samuels' House

John sat at the rectangular-shaped old mahogany
table that he used as a desk. He looked over his list from the meeting. Things
were shaping up now that he had more people to work with. He scowled at the thought
that kept coming back to him--no electrical engineers or plumbers in the bunch!
Two cultural anthropologists, an astronomer, a meteorologist, a chemist, a
computer analyst, a secretary--he'd never known before this that Abby had been a
secretary for a number of years--an ad executive, a security specialist--now that
was a godsend, having someone who could handle weapons--and of course a
veterinarian, that was also a huge help. The good news, he thought, was they
seemed to be a pretty smart, capable bunch of people. Capable of learning new
things.

He leaned back in his big leather chair and
looked out the French doors that opened onto a view of the apple orchard.
Blossoms were on the trees now. Well, they'd have apples to eat later this
year. That was for sure. He smiled thinking about Sam bobbing for apples last
Halloween. Bobbing for apples in a big round metal tub filled with clean water.
Clean, abundant water. Such a simple and vital thing. Thank goodness Andy and
Nathan seemed to be looking forward to figuring out the water situation, since
John knew only the basics, and besides, he didn't have time!

Lisanne would work
with him on keeping the power flowing. Mrs. Philpott would talk to Dr. Shapiro
about the medical aspect and hopefully convince him to join the group. Clay
would be in charge of caring for the animals, with Janine handling the horses.
And Clay would also fish, John thought with a smile. Abby still seemed
shell-shocked by all she'd heard, but her husband seemed excited by new
possibilities. Jessica and Abby were going to take on the cooking duties, to
keep them all fed for the immediate future, and also start cataloging what food
supplies they had on hand. Max would continue helping Harmony buy supplies for
now. Rachel had taken on making appointments for everyone to be immunized and was
working on the optometry problem.

Alex had surprised him by coming up with an
idea he'd not thought of...to check out the local library, and then work with
Black on making sure it didn't get damaged in any way as things got more
chaotic. She'd been quite passionate about the need to preserve knowledge--something
they all realized was important, but she'd been the only one to think of an
action to take to insure survival of knowledge. Even Perceval seemed impressed
by her. And Sam had already gotten Alex to promise to show her how she did the
fancy French braid in her hair.

John sighed. Sam. She knows more than she's
saying, he mused, and I don't know whether to push her for more information or
just hope she gives us what we need in time. He'd noticed that Samantha
cornered Black and was having an intense conversation with him as the meeting
ended. Black kept looking surprised and Sam kept nodding her head and they both
ended up staring quite a bit at Rachel. Now what the heck did that mean?
Fortunately, Rachel hadn't seemed to notice as she chatted with Janine, since
John was sure she wouldn't have taken the scrutiny well.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see
Gracie leaning over the table to look at his list. Tapping a manicured and
polished nail on the paper, she pointed to a blank space under the words
Farming/Agriculture and asked, "So you don't have a farmer to organize this for
you, son?"

"No," he said, chagrined. "I figure we're all
going to end up helping with planting and harvesting, dealing with weeds and
pests, but we don't have anyone with experience. None of us grew up on farms! I'm
hoping when more people come here we'll get someone with that knowledge."

Gracie cleared her throat and suggested, "Perhaps
you should turn over the agricultural side of things to me for now."

John started to laugh, and then stopped when he
saw the nervous look on her face. "Gracie--Mom--what is it?"

She took a deep breath and then blurted out, "I
grew up on a farm. I know all about growing food. I know how to butcher a hog.
I know how to make soap. I can wring the neck of a chicken and pluck it clean.
I've put up more jars of vegetables than Jessica ever thought of doing. I've
picked bugs off the leaves of lettuce growing in the field. And it's been a
while, but I could still probably drive a tractor."

Her son just stared at her for a minute. "Gracie,
what the heck are you talking about? You've never said anything about growing
up on a farm! My whole life I've never heard you say anything like that!"

Gently, Gracie spoke, appealing to John. "I'm
sorry for never telling you about that part of my life. But once I married your
father, well, it was like a fairytale to a girl who grew up dirt-poor on a
little farm in Indiana. I was perfectly content to never have dirt under my
fingernails again." She paused. John was still just staring at her, his mouth
open.

She continued. "I don't think you ever really
forget those things you learned growing up. Since yesterday when we heard what
was happening, I've been thinking about it. Remembering. There's still quite a
bit of knowledge up here," she said, knocking a few times on her head.

John opened and closed his mouth a few times,
then said, "But, but, you're--Gracie, you can't be serious!"

"I'm not saying I wouldn't be happier planning
to have tea with my friends in a fancy restaurant," she replied tartly. "But
the truth is that I love my family, and I can be happy here too. I want to see
my little grandchild grow up healthy."