The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken (6 page)

Cleaning
supplies filled the area under the sinks.  Julie didn’t want to think about the
headache they would have trying to keep things clean.  They bought extra dish
soap, laundry detergent, and window cleaners.   

Toiletries and
feminine products took up a lot more space than they had considered.  In the
end they decided to stock the toy hauler with such things, and use it like a
mini warehouse, rather than trying to keep everything in the RV.

For towels and
sheets, they went to a specialty shop and forked out what would have previously
seemed to be big bucks on very high end items.  Somehow it didn’t feel as much
like hoarding that way.

For the final
stop of the day, Julie found a discount wine and liquor store and cleaned them
out of their favorite brands.  Maybe the end of the world wouldn’t be so bad,
thought Julie.  They picked up the SUV, loaded it with food at the supermarket,
and carefully drove back to the ranch, pulling in after 10PM.

Uncle Jim
looked like he was going to stroke out when the girls told him that they wanted
to set up the fifth wheel and a storage trailer around the corner from the
cabin, close enough but far enough out of the way for a little bit of privacy
and quiet.  Aunt Susan intervened and said, “Jim, it’s only reasonable. You
know the view over there.  And what's one more water and septic system to set
up?  You like this stuff, remember?”

Helen picked
out that time to pull out two bottles of 18 year old scotch. “And we found
these for you.” 

“I don’t
know…” 

Julie pulled
out a box, and said, “Dad sent these along for you, too.” 

Jim looked at
the box.  “
Cuban cigars
?”

“Oh, is that
what those are?” Julie said, looking as innocent as she could manage.  Julie
and Helen both leaned up and each kissed him on a cheek.

“I can see I
don’t have a chance with this much estrogen around,” Jim said.

With a laugh,
Susan said, “Wow, you’re figuring it out this soon?  You must be gaining wisdom
with age.  Who knew?” 

Jim groaned,
but held the cigars protectively.

NOVEMBER
5
^th

The crew to set
up the steel RV garage arrived just before nine in the morning.  Helen and
Julie had leveled the site the day before and were on top of things from the
start.

Jim told Susan,
“I feel like I’m being outmaneuvered here.  They must have ordered that at
least two weeks ago.  And how does she know how to drive a big rig?”

Susan kissed
him and said, “Get used to it, you now have two nieces and double the trouble. 
Now go brush your teeth. Next day, stale cigars smells are difficult to get rid
of.”

“But I did
brush them.”

She leaned into
him, sniffed twice, and raised her eyebrows.

“Okay!  I get
it,” said Jim.  He stormed off grumbling something about, "Can't flippin'
win around here!"  Susan enjoyed a good laugh.

November
6
^th

The girls’ RV
is sweet, Jim thought, and I can't believe I'm actually feeling a little
jealous!
 The fifth wheel had more slide outs than his and the girls had
bought a toy hauler and set it up as a supply vehicle.  They essentially had a
well organized little store in there for all things female.  They even had
various candles and scented soaps, or so he was told.  Susan loved it and they
wouldn’t let him in to look, so he knew they had not held back.  He could tell
when he was outgunned.  

They did let
him help with the water tanks and septic system, though. 
At least I’m not
completely extraneous around here
, he thought. 

The RV garage could
hold two RV’s easily.  Layers of thin wire mesh covered with rubber mats made
up the flooring, and there were no windows.  A second green semi tractor was
taking up the left bay.  When he asked Helen about it, she said, “It’s for
backup.”  He couldn’t argue with the sense in that.

What he wasn’t
prepared for was the revelation that they had rented a warehouse in Flagstaff
and had even hired 24 hour security to protect it and accept deliveries.  Helen
explained it to him, “Look, we can have truckloads of deliveries offloaded at
the warehouse, load them up into trailers, and drop them in parking lot at the
ranch.  Anyone tracking deliveries will have to actually work to determine
where it’s going, and that means spending resources which, for them, are scarce
right now.  Some of what we’re buying will be tracked, but they’ll get an
industrial address connected to a bogus business run by a Kim Kwan out of
Phoenix.”  Jim just shook his head in amazement.

If Jim was a
little annoyed at how many trees he had to take down and how much area he
needed to level to make room for them, but he knew he would be glad for the
supplies later.  It had reached the point at which he stopped asking what they
were buying.  He couldn’t help but think,
My God, Rob must have sent them
with a fortune
.

The girls
drafted Susan for a run into Flagstaff to pick up a fifth wheel for Rob and
Denise.  They went to the same lot again, and picked out a similar Fifth wheel
that Julie thought her parents would like, then a second older one with twin
beds for her brothers when they arrived. 

They outfitted
both of them much as they had their own, with some adjustments for the tastes,
or lack of tastes, of the intended end users. Naturally, a lot more care went
into Rob and Denise’s fifth wheel than the boys' RV.  Julie suspected that the
boys wouldn't even notice anything beyond the videogame consoles.

Julie loved
their fifth wheel RV when they bought it.  Compared to living in a small
college apartment, it was downright palatial.  She asked Helen, "So what
should we do next?"

Helen thought
for a few seconds and said, "What would you think of a bar?"

"What?" 

"You know,
a village pub.  If we're going to have a community, we really should have a
place to let off steam," said Helen.

Julie was
cracking up.  "You have got to be kidding me!"

"Hear me
out."  Helen started drawing on a pad of paper."  We put two large nine
foot high shipping containers next to each other, cut out sections of the walls
here and here to make a large room.  Maybe have another for storage of booze? 
Build a roof across the top and put in a bar and couches.  Maybe even a pool
table and darts."

"It's
completely crazy.  Let's pull in Aunt Susan and keep it a secret from Uncle
Jim.  It will make him nuts!"

They brought in
three shipping containers and placed them about 50 yards from their RV with two
next to each other and the third offset by a half.  They bolted the three
together next to each other and Helen went to work cutting out sections of
walls with a plasma cutter while Julie welded supports into place.  By the end
of the day they had sprayed the first layer of sealant inside and had started
on the roof.

When Susan
looked at it she said, "I love it! What would you two think of adding a
gas grill?"

Julie said,
"I don't see why not.  We can add another forty foot container to
accommodate the grill, refrigerators, and freezers, but we're going to have to
vent it well."

"It's a
piece of cake as long as we do it now," said Helen.  "It will be a
royal pain if we try to do it later."

"We'll do
it," said Julie.  "This will be fun!"

The next
morning Helen went out to purchase a twenty foot long, nine foot high shipping
container while Julie and Susan continued to work on the skeleton of the roof. 
Once Helen arrived with the container on a sliding axle trailer, Helen and
Susan stopped to assist with removing the doors and placing the container to
connect with the others. 

The three of
them dove into finishing the framing of the roof and put in several layers of
insulation before adding plywood. 

They were all
exhausted by the time they finished the raw roof.  Helen opened a bottle of wine
and they shared the first drink in the unfinished bar.

"I never
thought being a construction worker could hurt so much," said Susan.

"No
doubt.  My blisters have blisters." said Julie.  "But we'll wrap up
the roof tomorrow."    

Helen said,
"Everything else will be fun.  Really."  The others just moaned.

The next
morning they worked to lay down the tar and shingles.  They finally agreed to
let Jim help with bringing up the bundles of asphalt shingles, but still
wouldn't tell him the purpose of the building.   The roof looked beautiful when
they finished, but by then, the women were all so exhausted that they decided
to spend the rest of the day doing as little as possible.

Jim cooked up a
delicious barbeque meal.  Susan said, "Now I remember why I married you. 
Throw in a massage and I think you might just get lucky."

Julie and Helen
both thought it was hysterical, but Jim looked as awkward as could be. 
Finally, Helen said, "My God, man.  Give the woman a massage and go get
laid already.  We'll clean up here."

Jim finally had
to laugh and he and Susan left for their RV.

"You can
tell those two never had kids," said Helen.

Julie said,
"Now that was funny."

"I'm
thinking we need a hot tub."

"How the
hell are we going to pull that one off?"

"I don't
know yet, but I'm thinking," said Helen.

"All I can
say is it better not need a stinking roof!"

Helen just
laughed and said, "No promises!"

NOVEMBER
11
^th

Jim knew Susan
and the girls were enjoying their secret and he was trying not to ruin it, but
he was starting to get very curious as to the function of the new building. 
Susan had sent him to Phoenix to buy more supplies, and he was sure it was to
get rid of him for the day.

He arrived home
just after dark with a full cargo trailer.  Stepping out of the truck, he found
himself surrounded by the women and was soon blindfolded.  They led him into
the new building and pulled off the blindfold. 

He looked at
the building made from shipping containers and was stunned.  It was huge
inside.  There was a large bar with bar stools on one side, a pool table on the
other, and sofas throughout.  There was even a Franklin stove on one wall. 

When they
showed him the kitchen, he was stunned.  The facilities were completely
professional and top of the line.  "How the hell did you pull this
off?!"

Julie asked, "Do
you like it, Uncle Jim?"

"I love
it!"

Susan said,
"There's still a lot of work to do, but I think we can have it wrapped up
in the next couple of days."

Jim laughed. 
"So much for survivalist mode."

"We're
thriving," said Susan, "not just surviving!"

It took another
two days to finish windows, interior insulation, sheetrock walls, and 12volt
lighting system, but the final product was perfect. 

Jim really was
amazed.  Julie and Helen put in a juke box and a flat screen TV to test as
well.  It was incredible.  Jim hugged all of them and thanked them.  "But
what do we call it?"

Helen said,
"
The Village Pub
, of course!" 

Julie clapped
loudly.  "It's perfect!"

"
The
Village Pub
, it is, then," said Jim.  "Bartender!  I need a
beer!"

Jim took great
pleasure the next day in helping to fully stock the bar and grill.

NOVEMBER
15
^th

Julie and Helen
came to Jim and Susan and told them, “We’re almost out of money, but we did get
everything on Dad’s list.” 

Jim thought, Thank
God!  He grinned and said, “Are you sure you didn’t miss anything?  No gold
toilet seats or shower rods?”

The girls both
laughed.  Helen, said, “No, Uncle Jim, we only bought essentials.  And we kept
a reasonable sushi and mad fund, just in case.  We’re just done with really big
things for now.” 

“I don’t even
want to know how much you two went through.” 

Susan said,
“Oh, I helped, too.” 

“The statement
stands.  Well, let’s get some work done before Rob shows up with more cash and
ruins everything.”

Susan said,
“Don’t worry, Jim, we still have about nine hundred fifty thousand from the box. 
Girls, take what you need.” 

To his
surprise, both the girls groaned.  Maybe shopping isn’t as much fun as it used
to be.  That’s not a bad lesson for them in itself, thought Jim. 

NOVEMBER
16
^th

Jim watched gleefully
as the truck backed up on the cement pad he’d placed at the edge of the pond
and dumped out hundreds of channel catfish.  A previous truck had dumped a load
of trout.  He knew it was silly, but he felt very proud of this little pond.

Helen and Julie
had taken an interest in the project and had helped him install pumps powered
by batteries charged daily with solar panels or generator.  The pumps ran to
run an artificial waterfall that would help to aerate the water.  There was
also a commercial aerator machine that was fairly loud, but was built for a
pond that size and should do the trick if run even for a few hours a day. 

The fish would
have to be fed so he had installed a simple mechanical automatic fish feeder on
one side of the pond and purchased a few years’ supply of fish food.  If the
pumps got fried, he had many more pumps and batteries stored along with another
aerator.  Hopefully they could use plants to help filter the fish wastes.

The girls also helped
Jim had collect plants from Lake Mary to place around the edges, and had
purchased other water plants that were appropriate for the climate.  He stocked
the pond with minnows and yellow perch initially to get things started, and
dumped in lake water to introduce normal bacteria to the water. 
What a
pleasure this has been,
he thought.