A New Home (Chasing Destiny) (5 page)

“Rule nine:  We are a team and will work as such.  If you have a problem with someone within our team, or with a rule, you will report to the council.  You will not fight amongst yourselves or gossip about others in a way that will bring down morale.  We are all cogs in a wheel that will fall apart if any
piece
fails.  You will not be the
cog
to fail.

“Rule ten:  You are not a prisoner here.  If you choose to leave, you are welcome to do that.  If you leave, you will not be welcomed back.  We need everyone here to work from now until the pandemic to make our community function.”

Mr. Ryder paused looking out over the stunned faces in his audience.  “I know many of those rules may seem harsh.  I promise you, we will be adding more rules as we go and see what more needs to be added.  If you have any questions, I’m happy to entertain them.  Raise your hand, and you will be heard.”

A hand was raised from the front of the group.  “When do we get our video game time?”  Hannah recognized the boy as a ten year old named Steve.  He was from California, and had a typical me-generation attitude.

Many of the kids laughed at the question.  Mr. Ryder took it seriously.  “You will have two hours per day to have fun.  You can have fun any way you want, as long as it doesn’t harm anyone else.”  He paused for a moment.  “Don’t get too attached to those video games, though, son.  Once the electricity fails, you won’t be playing them anymore.”

A girl a few kids down from Hannah raised her hand.  Hannah thought hard to remember her name.  Ashley.  She was from New York, Hannah remembered.  “Why can’t our parents do all the work?  As kids, isn’t it our job to learn?”

Mr. Ryder smiled.  “It is your job to learn.  You have to learn to be a productive member of our community, and you have a short time to do it in.  You will learn by doing.  The work you do will be related to your future job.  For instance, if you decide you want to spend your life fishing, you will be an apprentice to our community fisherman.  You will go out every afternoon and fish.  You will learn everything there is to know about fishing from someone who does it well, and then when he dies, you will be able to do it.  If you just sit in a classroom and read books about fishing, you will never learn it in the way you will by actually doing it.”  He looked around.  “Any other questions?”
 

When he was met by blank stares he nodded.  “You’re dismissed then. 
You need to report to school for the next two hours.
  You’ll be given a list of jobs available during school today
and where to go to report for those jobs
.
” He pointed in the direction of three women who had the younger kids corralled under some trees.  “Your school day is short today, because you all had to meet with me.  The rules will be presented at dinner this evening and you will each sign the paper stating you agree to the rules.”

Hannah stood, trying not to groan.  “I’m already sore,” she whispered to Justin. 

He grinned.  “Me too.  It’s going to be an interesting few weeks until we get used to the physical activity.”

She nodded, walking slowly in the direction of their “school.”  “Do you know what you’re going to apprentice for?”

He shrugged.  “There are several things that interest me, but I have a feeling I’m going to end up with my dad.  I’ll probably check out some of the other things before the month is up, though.  I’ll go work with the farmers today.  I want to see how everything works together to make up the whole.”

“That’s why you’re going to make a great leader,” she whispered.

They arrived at the school and sat down.  Their
schooling
wasn’t going to be anything like what they’d had before, and they all knew it.  The teacher for the older group took them to a separate spot and had them all sit on the ground. 

“I’m Katherine Simmons, and I’ll be your teacher.  After talking with your parents, we’ve decided that school will be limited to just four subjects.  We’ll be doing English, which will include both reading and writing, math, social studies and science.  And of course, you all know you’ll be getting physical education from the general.”  She smiled as she watched several of them wince.

“I only have you for three hours every day, so each class will be forty-five minutes long.  There will be no homework.”  At everyone’s cheers she laughed.  “That’s only because your on-the-job training will be so intense, you’ll have no time for it.”  She looked around.  “The youngest students here should be fifth grade.  Is anyone below fifth grade level?”

No one responded so she nodded.  “Good.  Most of what you do is going to be independent study.  I’ll be here to answer questions and grade papers.  It would be impossible for me to teach eight grades otherwise.”  She picked up a stack of books.  “Who is in
fif
th grade?” she asked.

Every student whose hand was raised was handed a math book.  “Start at page one.  Do the front and back.  That should take you the full time.  If you finish early, come to me, and I’ll give you your next subject.”  She paused.  “Please be sure to see me if you have a question.  I’m here to help you.”

She went through the grades, and handed out the books.  Each of them opened the page and started working diligently.  Hannah smiled to herself.  This was the way school should be.  You work at your own pace and don’t have to wait for everyone else to finish.

Lunch was a loud boisterous affair.  The entire community met at the same time under a large canopy.  Picnic tables had been set up, and they were told to sit wherever they wanted.  They walked through a line to pick up their meals and carried them to the tables of their choice cafeteria style. 

Once again, Hannah found herself with Justin.  She grinned at him as she dug her fork into the first bite of food.  Today they had chicken and dumplings, green beans, and chocolate cake for dessert.  Everyone was served a glass of milk with their meal. 

Once everyone was seated, Meredith Grant, one of the stay-at-home moms who would be helping with kitchen duties stood up.  “Attention please!”  She waited a moment for the group to quiet before continuing.  “We’ve
been discussing meals as we’ve
spent the morning cooking for you.  A decision has been made regarding seating arrangements.” 

Hannah looked at Justin surprised.  “Seating arrangements?” she mouthed.

He shrugged, looking back at Mrs. Grant. 

“For breakfast every morning, you’ll be expected to eat with your family.  For lunch, you can eat with whomever you choose, and for dinner, we’ll mix things up.  Every night, there will be place cards on the tables.  Come in and find your seat, before going through the food line.  We’d like to make sure everyone gets to know one another quickly, and think this will be the best way.”  She sat back down.

Hannah shrugged.  “I guess that makes sense.  I’m sure they don’t want us forming cliques and not including others.  We have to work as a team, and it’s hard to be a team without knowing everyone.”

“Yeah. 
I guess.  It’ll be fun meeting everyone and getting to know them.  We have a really diverse group here.”  They ate quickly as they talked, knowing that their lunch was limited to forty-five minutes.  “Who are you going to work with this afternoon?”

“You know, I’m not sure.  I want to get to know all the jobs.  My job, after the pandemic, will be to advise the council.  I think I need to learn about all the jobs to do it right.”

He nodded.  “I agree with you.  So today?”

She sighed.  “Today, I think I’m going to wash dishes and help with dinner.  Find out how the moms and the chef are getting along.  I’ll work my way through the different groups.”  She forked up a bite of cake, closing her eyes as the flavor exploded in her mouth.  “This is good!  What are you going to do this afternoon?”

He grinned.  “I’m going to go work with the farmers.  I heard some of them talking last night about building fences and getting everything set up for the livestock.”

“Could be fun.  You’re going to be really sore tomorrow, though.  After a morning with the general and an afternoon building fences, you’re going to be dying.”

“Probably.  But sore muscles won’t be an excuse for slacking.”

She grinned.  “Your dad would not like to hear you making fun of his rules.”

He shrugged.  “The rules make sense.  For our little society to work, we have to have order and rules.  Maybe I’ll work with the policeman tomorrow.  That could be fun.”

“I think we need to call him Sherriff now.”

“It’s like we’re building an old west town!”

She giggled.  “I know.  I’m so glad we have running water, though.  I’m looking forward to a hot shower at the end of the day.”
  She reached back to rub a spot between her shoulder blades.  She was surprised at how sore she already was.  Even though she’d put a lot of hours into her swimming, this level of physical activity was new to her.

“Me too!”  They took their plates up to the basins and scraped them into the trash as they saw the others doing.  They set them on a pile.  “I guess I’ll see you at dinner.”  He eyed the mountain of dishes.  “Have fun!”

She nodded.  Walking over to Mrs. Grant, who seemed to have been designated the spokeswoman for the kitchen staff, she offered her help.  “You don’t need to be here, Hannah.  You should be learning your future job.”

Hannah shook her head.  “My job will be advisor to the council.  I need to learn all the jobs to be a good advisor.  I know how to wash dishes, but I’ve never done this many.  It’ll be good to get to know everyone.”

“Okay.”  Mrs. Grant pointed her to a
large plastic basin that had been filled with hot water.  “No dishwashers here yet.  Hopefully we’ll have them soon, but for now…” 

Hannah walked over and stuck her hands in the steaming water.  After an hour, every dish had been washed and dried and stacked for dinner.  Hannah already felt exhausted, but she couldn’t let it stop her.  She noticed no one else had come to help with the dishes.  Hopefully tomorrow there would be more kids here helping out.

“What now?” she asked.

Mrs. Grant pointed to a small mountain of potatoes.  “We’re having scalloped potatoes and ham with broccoli spears for dinner.  Start peeling.”

Hannah’s hands were already wrinkled from having them in the dishwater so long.  She longed for just a short break, but knew there wasn’t time.  They all needed to help out and learn what they could.

Every time she finished a potato, she put it into a bowl full of warm water.  There was a woman across from her peeling and putting the potatoes in the same bowl.  Two other women took the potatoes out and sliced them thinly and put them into a large pot.  Once each pot was full, Mrs. Grant added the flour milk and other seasonings, then took the pot to one of the trailers to cook it. 

“We’re going to have to get a trailer to cook out of,” one of the women, Sally James, said as she watched Mrs. Grant trudge to another trailer carrying the huge pot.  “The work won’t be quite so hard that way.”

“Is it better to do that, or to build the cafeteria right away?” Hannah asked.

“They’re going to start the cafeteria right away regardless.  We have enough workers for two construction crews.  One will work on the greenhouses, while the other builds the cafeteria.  We’ll need something for the meantime, though.”  She sighed.  “Even with us planning a huge old fashioned barn-raising type day, there’s no way we can have it ready to cook in before a month is up.  They’re going to get the foundation laid and the cement poured this week, we hope.”

Hannah blinked.  She’d known the buildings would take a lot of work, but she hadn’t really considered how much.  The crews would be working non-stop to get them cooking inside before winter.  Would they still use the cooking trailer at that point?  Or would they sell it?

By the time
everything was prepped for dinner, the others were wandering back from their jobs.  Everyone washed up, and Hannah stayed in the serving line to help.  She really felt for the women who had gotten up before sunrise to cook their breakfast, and had stayed cooking all day long.  She was exhausted after only a few hours and one meal.

Finally, she was able to take her seat with a group of other kids around her age.  She had interacted with other kids some throughout the day, but usually she and Justin had been together.  She was surprised at how reverently they spoke to her.  As if she was some kind of savior.  She didn’t want that.  She wondered
again
if all the effort was really worth it.  Maybe she should have ignored the vision and let everything happen as it would.

Then she saw her younger sister laughing with a group of girls at a table across the room.  No, she couldn’t let everyone die out just to get out of hard work.  Sure, it was a huge change, and their lives wouldn’t be the fun and games they’d expected of their teen years.  But they’d have a life.  And that would make it all worth it.

After dinner was their recreation period.  Hannah found she didn’t know what to do with herself when there was a large group of people.  She’d never been good at mingling and getting to know others in a group, but this was much worse than ever before.  Everyone here knew she was the girl who “saw things”.  It made her uncomfortable.