The Solitary Man’s Refuge (23 page)

“Hey, guys now that I think of it, I got some copper
sulfate in the shed, or as we call it out here in the country
and down in the south “blue stone”. That is what some
farmers keep around to add a small amount of it to the
poultry yard water for the chicken’s health and wellbeing of
the flock. We could throw some of that blue stone in the
post holes also, because I don’t have an extra barrel to
soak the ends of those beams in with a mixture of blue
stone and water for a few days though or I would treat the
wood proper. It ought to help preserve them regardless
don’t you think?” Donald said, figuring out the next’s day’s
plan of action to start on the field fortifications’
construction. Or he might take the time and delay it a few
days so he didn’t have to worry about the supports giving
way a few years down the road from rotting before their
time.

“Do you have any black locust trees growing around
here? A fence post made out of that kind of tough wood is
supposed to last two years longer than the hole you put it
in.” LowBuck said adding to the questions conversation
and bringing up an old country saying about a wood that
was supposedly legendary because folks said it could
outlast cypress or cedar and it damn sure beat green oak
for a fence pole even if it wasn’t bark peeled.

“Good question Bubba; I have always heard about
that type of tree and wanted more info on them. I have
never seen one before in the wild. Michael why don’t you
ask Old Max or somebody else that grew up around here if
they can identify one or knows where some are that we
could harvest or trade for. These old country guys and
gals around here got a whole lot of wisdom and country
lore in their memories that we are going to need soon and
we best be asking about it now while we got the chance.
The problem we are facing is going to be keeping them
older people alive long enough to bestow those centuries
of wisdom and learning to us while they have some will
and energy to share it.

I hate to even think about the situation we find
ourselves in, my friends, but every one of them old-timers’
is on some kind of medication or another and is short on
stored food and most likely in a position of no water
supplies soon and being not well physically enough to go
collect it, let alone carry it any distance at all from a source
home.

Let’s be honest here guys, we need to talk a bit
while we are away from the ladies on some important
matters that we need to address and not burden them with
doom and gloom of the moment. We now have on our
plates some hard nasty plans and decisions we got to
make regarding our neighbors wellbeing and quasi
friendships with others around here. The thing is, we got to
start planning now for the present, as well as the future.
We need to begin establishing some kind of relationship
with them because that super pooper of a solar storm has
basically cut us off from the town, the world or whatever
you want to call it for an indeterminate amount of time. No
supplies, gas, medical, you name it. I doubt we will ever
see sheriff, trooper or any other flavor of legal officialdom
come around here for, how long do you think? It will be
least 8 months or more, if we are lucky, before we see any
kind of world that is ruled by a law enforcement presence
and think about it for a moment. We are not even out in the
boonies. We are living not that far out from a major town
that we used to see some kind of cop car in the jurisdiction
cruising around the roads in the area leading in our
direction just a few weeks ago.

Oh, by the way folks, I want to give you and your
significant others a quickie class in NBC (Nuclear,
Biological and Chemical) emergency response or vehicle
HazMat identification. Now, heed my words closely, this is
important… If anybody sees or hears of a shitload of
military, or any other uniform agency vehicles heading
towards Dothan or out of it in our direction, we need to
seriously think about bugging out immediately.

That convoy would mean that who ever they may
be are having some kind of problems with that nuclear
plant located there. It’s a bit over 80 miles away from here,
so yea, maybe survivable for us if it melts down because
they cant pump water to cool the reactor. And we might
live for the rest of our lifetimes if it has a leak, but I don’t
care to not have the opportunity to leave if I can, based on
some real radiation risk info. That is if I receive it, which is
if I can get any kind of warning at all. It would be a bitch to
be living here in the dark and not know that an atomic
plant right up the road was melting down in your vicinity, or
that everyone started to get radiation sick a year after it
started burning around here because the sucker blew
some radioactive dust out and you didn’t even know it was
a threat to your health from prevailing winds because there
is no more news or timely notifications to be had.

I mean what would be the visual signs for that
reactor meltdown to have happened anyway, that we
would be able to detect from here? I suspect we are going
to get our fair share of some really screwed up false
alarms as cities burn around the country and the sky gets
smoky and the horizon stays hazed up or burning red.

Hell, that great big swamp that is about 200 miles
from here in Georgia caught fire once and we had a week
of smoke, haze and smog on the horizon you would swear
was not a mile away from your own city and moving fast
towards you.

So I got to do me some thinking on that subject of
reading the sky signs from here on in and then try to
correct for different phenomenon to draw conclusions
from.

I don’t have a Geiger counter or any other radiation
detection device handy. However, I do have me a book
around here somewhere that tells me how to improvise
one using a paper plate if we get some type of fallout.”
Donald said trying to some how get his head around all the
additional “what if” possibilities he had been trained
professionally to look for as a contributing hazard or threat
in this type of disaster. Infrastructure has all kinds of
cascading effects on everything when it goes down for any
length of time.

“Damn, I had forgotten all about that nuclear plant
up the road being a possible threat. I take it they got plenty
of safety precautions and redundant mechanical safety
systems in place, but there seems to be always something
in the news about them having an unexpected problem
they were not engineered or designed for that was
occurring.” Michael said, stroking his grayish beard as
Bubba mimicked the move with his own chin hair and
begin considering his Bug In time frame in a more pressing
decision making process that might require an earlier than
desired departure by him and Cat away from the area.

“Anyway, back to them good old geezers and
grandmas’ who are older than even our old butts, but are
so full of wisdom about these particular woods we were
discussing.” Donald said sitting back down on the table’s
bench and unconsciously started digging for a cigarette
pack in his shirt pocket, though he had stopped carrying
any for many months since he’d quit, to possibly focus his
thoughts with.

“About the only thing I can see clear to do at this
point gents, that is if we are going to be able to live with
ourselves in the future. We might need to share our preps
with them. That is, until we reach a line in the sand where
we can’t give up any more food and still can be able to
survive ourselves.

It’s a hard hand and heart wrenching decision
where to draw that line at, but draw it straight and firm in
the sand somewhere it must be ours to do and we got to
consider when and how we need to do it.” Donald said
pausing and raising his eyebrow towards his survivor
friends who did not want to particularly think on that
subject either.

“We need to do this crap of talking to the residents
of this street tactfully and oh so diplomatically. All of us
need to remind each other at sometime over the coming
months to interact with everyone that lives on this dead
end road and do a little winning hearts and minds of the
community talk like we used to give in the military when
they send us to a different base or country in order to get
the native peoples cooperation and following..

If we can get their hearts and minds supporting our
efforts and intents through our own personal sharing of
goods, actually priceless luxuries now, then we could
depend on their friendship and protection in a pinch I
hope.” Donald said starting to layout his inputs for the
three of them to begin to somehow form a plan to get
through this catastrophe in the best shape possible and a
semblance of civilization in place.

“I can see that line of thinking, I just don’t like that it
sounds a lot like what the military establishment proposed
in Vietnam and we see how that worked out. “Win their
Hearts and Minds’ I remember it's usage as pure
propaganda that was used on the American people and
also a way to bring about sometimes radical change in the
principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the
people supposed to be on our side..

Try expressing it differently Donald, I know you old
special forces minded and instead of doing that Hollywood
Rambo crap your job was basically to drop a 150 miles
behind the lines and make friends with indigenous peoples
who sided with the US and supply them with guns, ammo
training and lead them on their first mission in support of
them crazy bastards called Airborne Rangers who walked
in 50 miles behind the lines most likely. I know you Green
Beanie types are more of a teacher and friend sharing the
same conditions as those oppressed, rather than cannon
fodder infantry that gets wasted in a ridiculous frontal
assault or feint on some enemy objective on a map. You
were one of them odd only 7 man teams they send to a
village to stir up folks huh and promote the western way? I
guess that can get you a little bit unnerved at times. I can
see you as to having to meet someone you never seen in
a country before. Some group that don’t speak the same
language as you and then you have depend on a
interpreter to tell you the lowdown truthfully and not play
two ends off the middle and sell you to the other side for
ultimate torture and death.

I always knew someone who volunteered to jump
out of perfectly good airplanes was a bit balmy, thanks
Donald, you have now officially confirmed that!” Michael
said, grinning at Don’s discomfiture of having to further
explain some things some folks took for granted and some
didn’t.

“Remind me not to tell you so many damn war
stories next time we get close to the bottom of our adult
beverage cups. We need to stay off that subject anyway,
reminds me of drinking too much in general, but I would
like to know for my own use who around this neck of the
woods has served in the military, what branch and now
that I am an old fart out of touch with the community are
their any guard soldiers or vets from the Middle East
theater in our general A.O. (Area Of Operations.)??”
Donald asked, dodging any more reluctant explanations
and voicing concerns about the general security issues if
he could pull the community together or if he didn’t attempt
it and it evolved or dissolved on its own, what was
expected out of the Vets.

‘I WOULD SAY MOST LIKLEY, ANY MILITARY
BOYS OR MEN WILL REVERT BACK TO their training in
times of trouble and at first use the highest rank held or
military skill school to figure out the community pecking
order.” Michael said a bit louder than he meant at first to
draw Donald’s attention and to take control of the
conversation for a minute so that he could tell his threat
assessment to the newcomers in the area of who they
need to maybe worry about.

“Sorry, Mike, I am all ears buddy.” Donald said
turning towards his friend and no longer letting his
thoughts wander.

“We need to get back to that. Back to what you
were saying about we need to somehow support the
elderly around here while we sort out an existence for our
own. Is there anything we can do collectively besides
make up that damn death list you probably got going on
inside your head as who is a “casualty” of a disaster? I
know how you Emergency Mangers think, you explained it
to me one time in the sense that a doctor must give a
vaccine to someone based on their chances of recovery
versus the productivity they guessed the person might
have in life, or the chances of them personally being a
benefit the community and not just be a burden.”
These
odd things or points of view Don would sometimes bring
up in conversation unconsciously and they didn’t go past
Michael a bit. No sir. He had a pretty firm grasp on how
emergency management worked after hearing Mr. Don
elaborate on the subject and in academic terms at that,
often times referencing mental notes in his head from an
academic paper he had written in his college years on the
subject...
Michael thought to himself as he enjoyed what
was left of the beer.

“Although, Donald, I can’t agree with all of your
reasoning on just numbering folks in an event like this. I
can see some of your points are pretty valid about whom
we should help, or how much we ourselves are willing to
share. Or for that matter, how much we can afford to give
other people before we jeopardize our own existence. I will
be honest with you man, I got maybe a months worth of
food on hand then I am SOL (Shit out of Luck). I would like
to think I can subsidize me and Amy enough with my
garden and some hunting, but after listening to you and
weighing it out carefully I see cob webs forming in my
asshole if you don’t share some of your food preps with
me. I did start stocking some stuff up on my own after our
many prepper talks, but that hyperinflation kicked my butt
and buying power so I don’t have a lot to show for the
effort and expense.