The Last Tribe (64 page)

He walked over to his boots.  “When
did you plan on moving over here?  Was it when my Uncles arrived?  I bet you’ve
been thinking about coming over her for months.”

“You know I’m a girl with a plan.” 
She flashed her confident smile.

“It would be a hard winter here,
but not too bad a spring, summer, or fall.”  He laced his second boot.  “I know
how you work.  You can’t fool me.”  He grabbed his coat and gave her one more
hug and kiss before opening the door. 

“I’ll never lie to you, but that
doesn’t mean I’m looping you in on all of my decisions.”  She gripped his hand
as they walked outside.  It was cold.  The wind shifted from a southern breeze
to a northern gale.  “Brrr.”  She said.  “I told everyone it was going to get
cold again.”

Patchy black clouds blew across the
sky at a rapid pace.  The sun was shining, but the temperature was dropping
despite the sunshine.  Greg and Rebecca planned a leisurely walk back to the
house.  Their plan changed to a quick trot. 

There was no one at the Choate Road
house.  Greg and Rebecca went to the Cottage.  Everyone was inside, crammed
into the small building.  Screams came from kids upstairs.  Bernie was talking
to Karen in the living room while Jamie and Peter sat next to each other on a
couch.  The older kids were playing cards in the dining room.  The kitchen was
full of adults.

“Welcome back.”  Matt said to both
of them.  He sat at the table, a smartass grin on his face.  “I hope you two
had a nice afternoon.”

“I appreciate that, Matt.”  Rebecca
said to him.  She was not embarrassed or ashamed of her alone time.  “What are
you up to?”

“We’re playing spades, trying to
pass the time.  It’s freezing outside.  It cut our tennis game short, but not
short enough that Avery didn’t crush me in humiliating fashion.”

Now it was Rebecca’s turn to
smile.  “She didn’t tell you she played?”

“Must have slipped my mind.”  Avery
winked at her friend.

“The jokes on the two of you.” 
Matt told them.  “I had fun anyway.”  He stuck his tongue out at Avery.

“Why are we all inside?”  Greg
asked.

Tony put his cards on the table,
making sure no one could see them.  “It got cold and everyone freaked. We ended
up in here.  Hank had plans for some big pan on the grill, but now he’s in
there making dinner on the woodstove.  I think everyone wants to eat so they
can get out of here and go back to their own places.”  He picked up his cards. 
“Now can we get back to me winning at cards?”  He looked around the table.

“Thanks for the update.”  Greg gave
Antonio a pat on the shoulder.

“Dad was looking for you.”  Matt
told him, still grinning. 

Rebecca noticed Avery was not
playing.  She was just watching the card game.  “How was tennis, really?”  She
asked her.  Avery got up and walked over to Rebecca. 

“Forget tennis, where were you
two?  It was the talk of the house for a little while, you two sneaking off for
the afternoon and not telling anyone.”

“Really?”  Rebecca feigned
surprised.  “I guess.  You know how it is.  We lived alone for months, then we
only had Paul and Hank, who gave us space for the next two months.  I’m not
used to sharing a house with twelve people.  I needed a break.  It’s my fault,
I asked Greg to sneak off with me.”

“Hey, don’t apologize to me. 
You’re right.  I’m not in your boat, they gave me my own room, well, sort of, I
do share it with Meredith, but she’s cool.  We have a house we can go to.” 
Avery gave her a small punch in the shoulder.  “Nice work, girlfriend, raising
some heck in the house.”

Rebecca blushed, “whatever.”  She replied. 
“Can you keep a secret?”

“You know I can.”

“I fell asleep and napped the
entire time.”

“What?”  Avery said loudly, getting
looks from the spades game table.  She said it softly. “What?  You sneak away,
and all you did was fall asleep?”

“Yes, honestly, it was the best nap
I’ve had in a week, but that was it.  We went to this little coach house we
know about, lit a fire, ate the steak sandwich, and I passed out.  How sad is
that?  I needed some space, some alone time, and I blew it on a nap.”

Avery laughed.  “Tennis was fun.  I
like Matt.  He’s funny, and pretty easy on the eyes.”  She looked over at him. 
“I’m going to see where it goes.  I met him like a week ago.  I don’t have many
options, but still, I don’t want to start seeing a guy on the first day at a
new school, right?”

“I think you have some time.  You
know his Dad is seeing Solange now?”

“Get out!”  Avery said loudly
again.  This time the conversation in the living room stopped and people
turned.

“Subtle.”  Rebecca told her. 
“Anyway, yeah, they are staying in the same house.  I saw him go into her place
last night, and he told Matt about it after dinner.  Wild, huh?”

The girls gossiped while the other
teens played cards.

 Greg’s conversation with his
father did not go as Greg expected.

“Look,” John said.  “You are your
own man now.  I stopped being your boss when I hung up the phone last August. 
All I want you to do, and this is a request rather than an order, is to tell
someone, anyone, Cameron if you want, where you are going and how long you’ll
be gone.  You can even grab a radio, just give us a way to connect with you if
there is an emergency.”  John sat at the kitchen table with Paul and Ahmed. 
They each had a glass of wine. 

Hank cooked dinner in a
fantastically large pan he found at a restaurant in town.

“Okay, you’re right.  Rebecca, and
I won’t lay blame on her because I went on my own, wanted some alone time, a
few hours without a crowd.  I know you care, and I should have told you.  It
won’t happen again.”

“Where did you go, anyway?  Did you
two keep some spot secret from me and Hank?”  Paul asked. 

Greg smiled.  “You know we did.” 
He blushed.  “There is a coach house behind one of the big houses on Balch
Street.  It’s like an office or something, but it has a fireplace and a couch. 
We considered it for a living space, but it’s just one room and a half bath.”

“That half bath would have been
nice in the winter.”  Paul mumbled, more to himself than Greg.

“Alright, so if we can’t find you,
will it be safe to assume you are there?”  John asked.

“It would be the first place you
should look.”  Greg answered.  “And it’s not that we don’t like everyone, we
love everyone, we like that everyone is here, but,”  He paused, “well, I’m used
to being on my own, not sleeping in a house with twelve people, most of them
under the age of eleven.  Matt, Rebecca, and I are the only older kids in the
cottage.”

John looked surprised, not because
Greg was wrong, but because he had not thought about it.  “You’re right.  I
lumped you in with the kids, and you three aren’t kids.  Whatever you want to
do is fine with all of us.  Let me know, let any of us know, and we can help
you find a bedroom with a fireplace, get you set up.  You’ve earned it.”

“Well, this conversation didn’t go
as I thought it was going to.”  Greg admitted.  “I knew I was in the wrong when
I snuck away, but sometimes, you know, kids do things.  I didn’t realize I
wasn’t a kid anymore.”

John smiled.  “Yeah.  I was mad. 
Your brother set me straight.”  He stood up and walked over to Greg, wrapping
his arms around him.  “I’m your dad, that’s never going to change, but now I’m
your friend slash dad.  That doesn’t mean I want to know specifics of what you
were doing at your coach house, but it means I am not your boss.  You are an
equal in this tribe or group, or whatever the hell we are.”

They released their hug.  Greg
turned to his Uncle Hank at the stove.  “What is that?  It smells incredible?”

“Lobster risotto with roasted red
pepper.  Tastes better than it smells.  I’ll admit, it’s turning out damn
good.”  Sweat beads dripped down Hank’s forehead from the heat of the
woodstove.  He wore a look of pride as he stirred his masterpiece. 

Paul asked Greg a natural follow up
question.  “Do you and Rebecca want to move over to the coach house?”  The
question was met with silence from the room.  Paul looked around.  “Hey, we’re
all adults, and he’s earned it, you just said it yourself, John.  I am opening
the door for him to walk through.”

“I appreciate that, Uncle Paul, I
really do.  Here is my honest answer.  If we plan on staying in Hanover for a
long time, yes.  If we are here for another two or three weeks, no.  We don’t
want to fracture the group, have us start pairing or even singling off until
we’re at our final location.  Rebecca and I talked about it.  She has a plan.”

Paul and Hank laughed. 

“What?”  John asked.

Paul clued his brother in on the
comment.  “Well, as you spend more time with Rebecca, you’ll realize she always
has a plan, typically she is several steps ahead of you with her plan.  Also, she’s
always prepared.  Your son was making a joke.”

“Okay Mr. Jokester, why don’t you
feed and clean the animals this afternoon, since you decided to take the day
for yourself.”  John threw his thumb towards the fenced in back barnyard.

“I collected firewood this morning. 
It’s not like I slacked off.”

“Greg, it’s filling a trough with
water and making sure they have food, maybe shoveling some crap into the
trashcan.  Man up.”  Ahmed spoke for the first time.  “You know what?  Dan
wants to see how it is done.  Grab him from upstairs.  He’s reading books or
playing nerf basketball up there.”

“I’ll just do it while there’s
still sunlight.”  Greg shuffled out the back door.  Ahmed was right, it was not
a hard job.  The tough job was milking the goats in the morning, and even that
was not difficult.  Greg slipped on the pair of communal rubber work boots and
barn coat they kept by the back door, and made quick work of the chores. 

The converted barnyard had a fence
running around a small perimeter, and a ramp running into the screened in porch
on the side of the house.  There were nesting spots for the chickens, and hay
beds for the goats to use at night.  The afternoon animal shift was easy and
basic.  Clean up poop, make sure the animals have clean hay for the night, check
their water, and spread food on the ground for the chickens.  Not much to it,
but essential to keeping the animals happy and producing.

Greg heard the back door shut.  Dan
stood on the small landing.  “Hey, Greg, I wanted to see what the job was back
here.  Okay if I help or watch?”

“Sure, I was just shoveling poop. 
If you want to put on some gloves, you can spread the feed, maybe check the
water?”  Greg pointed towards a box of work gloves by the back door. 

“How was your first day with us?” 
Greg asked. 

“Let’s see,” Dan started as he
walked over to the feed pail.  “I slept until noon, came out and enjoyed a
steak sandwich, played tennis.  Living here isn’t too bad.”

Greg chuckled.  “You should try it
in December.  Not as much steak and tennis, and it feels like it gets dark at
noon.”

“I was down the road a few miles, I
know what you’re talking about.  From what I’ve been told, we are kicking back
and enjoying a vacation before we move to Hawaii.  New Hampshire in April is
our vacation before we start our life in Hawaii.”

Dan looked around the small yard. 
“I threw the feed.  The water looks cleanish and full.  Anything else?”

“If you open the door, at the top
of that ramp?   See if I need to clean up in there, and make sure the goats
haven’t eaten their beds and the chickens’ beds.  If they have, just throw some
more hay down from one of the bails on the other side of the fence under that
tarp.”  Dan followed Greg’s orders.

A few minutes later they were
sitting on the back porch steps watching chickens eat feed off the ground.  The
goats milled about. 

“You and I are lucky people.”  Dan
said to the boy.  “Not because we survived the rapture.  That wasn’t lucky, it
was torture.”  He put his elbow on Greg’s shoulder .  “This is lucky, living
like this, having potential again, having possibility again.”

“What do you mean?” 

“I was living with two people that
were driving me crazy.  I was going to leave and try to survive on my own.  How
long would you give me?  A year?  If my car breaks down and I don’t find
water?  A week?”

“Maybe.”

“Yeah, well, I give you and Rebecca
a year up here.  I’ve heard you developed some fantastic trapping skills, and
she is whip smart, but seriously, two more winters?  If one of you gets sick,
gets hurt.”  He looked at Greg.  “We were rescued.  That’s damn lucky.”

“Did my Dad send you out here?” 
Greg gave Dan a sideways look.

“No.”  He held up his hands. 
“Honest, I am just making conversation.”

“We did get lucky.”  Greg looked
back to the goats.  “Do you think they wonder how they went from North
Carolina, where it’s warm, to New England, where it snows?  You think the goats
are like ‘What the heck is this?’”

“The goats aren’t from here?”  Tom
did not know the back story.

“I guess it makes the joke hard to
understand if you don’t know where the goats are from.  No, my aunt and uncle
had them in Raleigh, along with two thirds of the chickens.  Rebecca and I had
ten this winter, well, we started with ten, went down to five, but that was
more than enough to keep us in eggs.”

“We had fish and lobster, lots of
lobster.  I would have killed for some eggs or meat.  Once the snow flew, we
didn’t do much by way of hunting or fishing.”  He put his hand on Greg’s leg,
gave it a pat and stood up.  “Like I said, we are two lucky guys to get rounded
up like we did.”

“I’ll tell you the story of my
month in my school dorm, or the two weeks it took me to find Rebecca.  I was
one meal away from eating cat food.  It confirms your belief that I am lucky.”