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 With A Whimper by oldmudrat

   Chapter 9

   Monday, February 29, 2016

   As usual I awoke the next morning with the sunrise.  Kathy was buried
under the covers still deep asleep.  I was tempted to stay in bed and
snuggle until she woke up - wake up sex is great - but the livestock would
not wait.

   Today and everyday would be filled with things that must be done.  The
winter corn was almost ready for harvest.  Planting season was only a few
weeks away, if the weather cooperated.  Between now and then we had to get
everything ready, supplies stowed away, equipment checked, the land
patrolled and a myriad of other tasks.

   I eased out of bed and took a quick shower.  While I was shaving, I
wondered how much longer this particular habit could last.  A can of
shaving cream and a safety razor were not things that could be replaced. 
Present supplies at the farm would last maybe a month.  We could salvage
cans of shaving cream and razors blades from local stores.  Sooner or later
blades would grow dull and could not be sharpened.  We could fall back to
homemade soap to lather the beard.  That still left the problem of a
shaving blade.  Maybe beards could come back in ?style?.  Where did one
look for an old fashioned open-blade razor and a leather strop?

   I got dressed and Kathy was still sleeping.

   I walked down the stairs and I could smell fresh coffee and hear someone
moving about in the kitchen.

   Sarah was at the counter kneading biscuit dough.  A pot of coffee was on
the stove.  Doc had already gotten himself a cup and was sitting at one of
the smaller tables.

   "Good morning," I said and poured my own cup, "biscuits for breakfast
this morning?"

   Sarah started to pat the individual biscuits and lay them on a greased
pan.  "We?ve got the instant mix, so I figured why not?  Oatmeal, biscuits
with jelly, coffee, and there is still plenty of the powdered milk Kathy
mixed yesterday.  If the cow Tim told me about would hurry and have her
calf, we will have fresh milk.  When do you think she?s due?"

   "I have no idea, Sarah.  We will just have to keep a close eye on her
and wait."

   I joined Doc at the table.

   "Is breakfast going to be your job from now on, Sarah?" I asked.

   She shook her head.  "I just woke up early this morning.  Sam should be
down in a bit."

   "James," Doc said, "I hope you don?t mind me bringing the others.  They
had been staying at Mary?s place and were having a hard time getting out
for food and keeping unwanted men out of the place.  I?m ashamed to see how
some of our so called friends have behaved.  Those women have had a very
hard time."

   Sarah turned from putting the biscuits in the oven and said, "They're
not the only women to have problems.  They were living separately for a
while and decided to move into one house, hoping there would be safety in
numbers.  That?s one reason Sam, Kathy, Jennifer and the rest of us decided
to stay at the hospital.  As long as Doc was there, no one was willing to
risk making him mad and getting cut off from whatever medical care Doc
could offer."

   "I saw some of that in Tupelo," I said.  "Rapes, shootings, you name it.
As if the Flu wasn?t bad enough.  At the end we were all staying inside the
hospital.  When the last died, I had to get out of there."

   Doc said, "Same here, on a smaller scale perhaps.  I would guess it was
the same everywhere."

   I nodded.  "Probably."

   "Do you know how many survived in Tupelo?" Doc asked.

   I shook my head.  "No.  There was one that I know for sure.  He took a
shot at me the day I left.  I didn?t really want to hang around.  Assuming
survival percentages from what Captain Hill told us about Florence and
Huntsville and what we know happened here, I would guess somewhere between
a dozen and a hundred survivors at Tupelo.  I think the high numbers are
not very likely.  Nation-wide less that a quarter million.  That?s my
wild-assed guess, anyway."

   Sarah had by now sat the table with her own cup.  "Do you ever
wonder,?Why??  ?"

   There was a certain desperate emptiness to the tone of her voice when
she asked that question.  I had heard the same question thousands of times
over the last year or so and asked it myself many more times.

   I fought to keep myself from stepping into that black hole which had
consumed so many.  While everyone around me sickened and died, I never got
even the slightest sniffle.  All of my knowledge and skill had been
useless. The same treatment that saw one patient improve would have no
effect on another patient.  It seemed so random.

   I had even tried infusing patients with my own sera.  That did not work.
Still they died.

   "I quit asking that question months ago," I said.  "There is no answer."

   "I know," Sarah said.  "It?s just . . .  still I ask.  Maybe one day I
won?t."

   Sam walked into the kitchen then and Sarah ran to him.  She buried her
head in his shoulder and quietly cried.  Sam led her down the hall into one
of the front rooms.

   "It hits us all at the oddest times," Doc Caldwell said with a sigh. 
"Even me.  In the middle of the night I?ll awake and for just a second I?ll
think it is before.  Then I?ll remember and sleep is gone for the rest of
the night."

   "She?ll be alright," I said unconvinced.  Would any of us be ?alright?
ever again?  "She has Sam to lean on."

   I had never been one to lean on others much.  Even when I was with Jules
I kept a certain distance.  My family life did not exactly teach me to be
open with my emotions.  Granddad was probably the only one who knew my
secrets and fears.  It turned out that I knew none of his secrets.

   Wanting to change the subject, I said, "I'm off to the barn.  Morning
chores."

   Doc lifted his bulk from the chair.  "Wait a minute.  I'll walk with
you."

   It was a clear, cloudless morning that greeted us.  Already the
temperature was warm and would probably reach the upper 70's by noon.  Doc
and I slowly walked to the barn.  He did appear to be moving pretty spry
[moving pretty spryly or appear to be pretty spry] for a fat man in his
eighties.

   He pulled a folded envelope from a pocket.  "I found this last night
under the pillow.  It was unsealed, so I took a look.  I figured it was
probably meant for you."

   I opened the envelope and found a small key.  I took a close look at the
key and saw that it was for a padlock.

   "Yeah, I think I know what it is for," I said slipping the key in my
pocket.  "The basement door."

   I wondered why Granddad had locked the door leading down to the
basement. There wasn?t much there the last time I took a look about a year
ago.  It was used mostly as a place to put stuff he did not want to throw
out.  At any rate, I decided to wait until I could look without a lot of
folks around.  Just in case.

   "Under his pillow seems a strange place to hide it."

   "Granddad probably expected me to be sleeping there."

   "I?ll change bedrooms if you want, James.  I don?t really mind climbing
the stairs."

   "No.  Stay where you are.  The image of you hauling your fat ass up
those stairs three or four times a day is downright depressing," I said
with a smile.

   "You?re just jealous because all the women love this big, black Santa,"
Doc returned the grin, "and you don?t want me upstairs where they sleep."

   "It is nice to see that you are getting back your dirty-old-man persona.
No, seriously, stay in Granddad?s bedroom.  It is much more convenient for
you."

   Doc nodded.  "O.K.  We need to get everyone immunized today."

   "Huh?"

   "I emptied the hospital?s med locker.  Everyone needs new immunizations.
Just to be on the safe side," Doc said.  "Tetanus, diphtheria, hepatitis,
smallpox, polio, anthrax, HPV, AIDS, everything.  Working around a farm
with manure, Tetanus is a real danger.

   "If we can keep the vials cool, they may still be good in three or four
years.  That will give the next generation a leg up.  You are too young to
know just what a toll childhood infections can take.  I know that
infectious disease is your specialty, but I?ve lived long enough to
remember children dying of diphtheria and measles."

   "Children?  I have not even thought that far.  I?m just worrying about
this year, not the next decade."

   "There will be children, James.  Whenever the women decide the time is
right, you can rest assured there will be children."

   "God.  Bring up kids in this!?"

   Doc grabbed my arm and pulled me to face him.  "Why else are we doing
all of this?  Why struggle to make it through this year or the next?  Why
not just put a gun to our heads and get it over with!?  I've thought about
doing just that, damn it!  But not now!" He jabbed his finger into my chest
for emphasis.  "No more!  We are alive and we're going to stay that way. 
That means Kids!  So you had better get you mind wrapped around the idea!
Got it?"

   I rubbed the spot on my chest that Doc had been pounding.  "O.K., I've
got it.  Damn, Doc, that hurt.  What brought that on?"

   Doc grinned sheepishly.  I . . .  well . . ." He looked around a bit
embarrassed.  "I had a wet dream last night."

   "Huh?"

   "A wet dream," he whispered.  "Don't give me that dumb look.  You know
what I'm talking about and if you tell anyone else that you will regret
it."

   "A wet dream?  You mean like..."

   "Yes, damn it, and not so loud.  Sticky underwear and dried semen.  My
cock hard as iron."

   "Well.  Well.  I don't know what to say."

   "I felt like a damn teenager." Now Doc looked like the happy
black-skinned Santa Claus that he was.  "You know the last time my cock was
That hard?"

   "No, Doc, I don't.  Don't really want to know.  I've got this image of a
naked, horny Santa waking up the little girl for a special present."

   Doc laughed.  "Frightening?  Ain't it?"

   "That's one way to describe it." I joined in the humor.  "It's a good
thing you are sleeping downstairs away from the women."

   "Distance is no barrier to True Love or Lust, my boy.  Obstacles are
there be overcome."

   I slapped Doc on the shoulder.  "Pace yourself, old man.  You're not a
teenager, by a long shot."

   "This is just between you and me.  Keep your mouth shut about it."

   I nodded.  "No problem, Doc."

   We started walking again.

   "Another thing, you know I'm a diabetic?" I nodded and Doc continued to
say, "Well, since I had my little bout with the Flu, my insulin
requirements have been decreasing.  For the last four days, I have not
needed any insulin.  This morning I woke up, not only with a wet dream, but
with my arthritis not bothering me for the first time in decades.  Explain
that."

   "Just how sick were you?"

   "With the Flu?  A couple of days of sniffles and coughing.  My appetite
has been terrible until here lately.  I didn't get very sick at all. 
People dying around me left and right and I just got a touch of it.  I
thanked my lucky stars at the time and kept on working."

   "I did not get sick at all and physically I don't feel any different now
from the way I felt before this whole thing started.  I don't have an
explanation for you, Doc."

   "Well, I'm not going to look a gift-horse in the mouth.  Just thought
you should know and that we should bring up the topic with the others."

   I nodded.  "Might be a good idea to ask each when we can get them
alone." By then we had reached the barn and I opened the door.  "You want
to shovel manure, Doc?"

   "I shoveled shit until I went to college and it became manure.  In one
form or another, I've been moving shit from one pile to another all my
life."

   With a short laugh I said, "Well, you take this bucket and dump a load
of feed for the horses.  The feed bin is over there.  I'm going to let the
cattle out of the corral into the pasture.  After the horses have eaten
we'll do the same for them."

   A half-hour of work saw the animals fed, watered, and run out to the
pasture.  I decided to come back later and muck-out the stalls.

   We returned to the house and washed up.  By then everyone was up and
about, everyone except little Faith and Captain Hill.  Kathy greeted me
with a kiss when I stepped into the kitchen.  She and the others were
setting the table for breakfast.  The smell of fresh baked biscuits was
wonderful.

   We sat at the tables and ate.

   About half-way through the meal Hill came down, dressed neatly in a
woodland camouflage BDU that look like it came right from the laundry.  He
said ?good morning?  to the room and took a seat.

   Sarah stopped eating and looking a bit put-out went to the stove.  She
made up a plate of food and a cup of coffee then brought it to Hill.

   "If you?re late, Captain, serve yourself," Sarah said evenly.  She sat
down and resumed her meal.

   Hill did not look chagrined at all.  "I will indeed, Mrs.  Miller.  I
had a hard time pulling myself from that comfortable bed this morning."

   Conversation moved to what would be done today.  Doc Caldwell let
everyone know that he wanted to see each of them and update their
immunizations.  That brought a series of groans.

   Sarah said that today was laundry day.  Twelve people, bathing daily,
did seem to produce a lot of dirty clothes and towels.  I told them the
washer and dryer were in the utility room and a clothesline between the
house and the river.  I even offered to help if they waited until this
afternoon.  That offer was shot down fairly quickly.

   "I really don?t mind helping," I said.

   Sarah said, fairly firmly, "There?s plenty for you to do around here
without washing clothes.  Believe me, you and the other men will be drafted
as needed."

   I shot Doc a glance and he returned an ?I told you so?  grin.

   Sarah continued, receiving agreeing nods from the other women, "I don?t
know anything about running a farm or caring for the cows and horses.  I
will learn, just as all of us will.  Right now, though, I think we should
each stick with what we know.  For instance, I can clean the stalls just as
well as you can.  There?s no reason for you to take that job on every day.
We women are not going to have to be coddled from the hard work, but it
will take time for us to learn.

   "Who do you think did the real work of settling the Wild West?  Men?  I
don't think so.  They were too busy hunting gold, getting drunk, pushing
cows from one place to another or getting into gun fights." Sarah smiled to
show that she was not as serious as her words make out.

   I held up my hands in surrender.  "O.K.  O.K.  I withdraw the offer."

   "Good.  Then the men can wash the breakfast dishes," Kathy said with a
grin.

   Doc laughed and patted his ample belly, "I don?t think I can reach the
sink."

   "Then you dry."

   "What did I tell you, James?" Doc said still grinning.

   "Women run the world.  They just let us men think we are in charge." I
smiled at Sarah and Kathy, and then looked at Sam.

   "What?  I am a married man," Sam said, "and I'm keeping my mouth shut."
He winked at Sarah and started chewing on a last bit of biscuit.

   Sarah patted his hand.  "Such a nice man.  So easily trained.  All I
have to do is lead him around by his . . ."

   "By my what?" Sam asked.

   "Heart?"

   That answer got Sarah a quick kiss from her husband.  "Good answer."

   Everyone laughed at that, though Hill's laugh seemed a bit forced to me.

   Conversation turned more serious and we decided to unload Captain Hill's
truck this morning.  What we [take out] could would be stored in the barn's
upper level or one of the storage buildings.  Uniforms, MREs and such would
be brought to the house and put away.  Weapons and ammo would be
temporarily stored in the garage after we moved Granddad's trucks. 
Explosives -- Hill had some C4 and claymore mines -- would be stowed in one
of the outbuildings.

   The day was a busy one.  Unloading and stowing the contents of Captain
Hill's truck took all that morning and most of the afternoon.

   Hill's trade goods showed some forethought; six cases of whiskey, cases
of cigarettes and cigars, hundreds of pounds of pepper, salt, sage, sugar
and other spices.  I had to give the man credit for some brains.

   We took a lunch break and I spent a few minutes using Granddad's radio
setup.  Granddad had a CB radio and a multi-band short-wave transceiver. 
One set of antennas were atop the barn, it being the highest building on
the place.  I discovered some time later that another set of antennas were
on a hill south of the house.

   I listened to the 10-meter and 20-meter bands hoping to pick up
something recognizable.

   Moving the tuning knob I did pick up a weak, static-filled Spanish
signal.W I fiddled with the RF gain, but the signal still faded in and out.

   My college Spanish was so rusty that I was able to understand only a few
words.  Truth be told, my college Spanish was already rusting when I took
the course.  I had a teacher who had very little interest in teaching and I
was taking the course only to satisfy the degree requirements.  All exams
were open-book or crib sheets.  Cheat sheets were used by everyone in the
class.  The teacher made it clear, without actually coming out and saying
so, that as long as we were not too blatant about it he did not care.  His
teaching style was well known among the students and faculty and was the
reason I tried to get in his classes.

   I was still listening when Hill came into the room.

   "Picked up something?" he said pulling up a chair.

   "Yeah.  It?s not a very good signal though.  It?s from Havana from what
I can make out."

   "May I?" I nodded and Hill turned the tuning knobs, but he was unable to
get any clearer reception.  Finally giving up, he said, "Yes.  Havana,
Cuba. A woman named Dolores .  She is using a radio at the Cuban Air Force
base there.  She is saying that she is alone and cannot find any other
survivors in Havana.  A lot of what she is saying is drowned out in the
static.  We might get better reception after sundown.  She is calling for
help from anyone who hears her.  Now it?s starting to repeat again.  I
think it must be on a continuous loop.

   "I suggest we listen again after sundown.  The reception should be much
better."

   "Not much we can do for her in any case," I said.  "Did you hear any
date mentioned?"

   Hill shook his head.  "No, no date.  Maybe tonight I might be able to
hear it clearer."

   "You have a good ear, Captain."

   "It comes from years in the field, Doctor Greer, and a talent for
languages."

   "Oh.  How many languages, Captain, and call me ?James?."

   "Spanish, as you have seen, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Kazakh.  I know
enough French, German and Russian to order a meal and find my way around.
And I can whip up a curry that will bring tears to your eyes."

   "That?s impressive."

   Hill shrugged his shoulders.  "I just tried to pick up the language of
wherever the Army sent me over the years."

   "Sorry, I understood from talking with Doc that you were based in the
U.S."

   "Yes, The last five years or so.  But I have been stationed all over the
world.  I can build you a road through any terrain.  You get me the
materials and I?ll build a dam or levee anywhere you want.  I?ve build
office buildings, power distribution networks, bridges and just about
anything else an engineer would do.  Give me the explosives and I can
destroy the same structures."

   "So, you?ve been at Huntsville the last five years?"

   Hill paused, as if remembering, then said, "The last seventeen months.
Other projects at other sites occupied me before then."

   Sam and Sarah Miller came into the room.  I nodded for them to pull up a
chair.  I had wanted to talk to Sam about something all morning.

   Hill continued to speak, "You great-grandfather built himself a haven
here, didn?t he?  It is a rather large investment for a retired old man."

   "Granddad was always adding on, changing things," I said.  "It seemed
there would be something different every time I visited."

   "I wonder how he could afford it?" Hill looked at me as if the question
wasn?t all that important.  Somehow, I sensed that to him it was important.

   Local traditions die hard.  One thing that simply was not done in
Mississippi was to ask a man how much money he had or how he came to make
it.  An outsider certainly did not ask.  Sam started to say something, but
apparently decided it wasn?t his place to speak up.

   I started to give Hill a short, angered reply; but changed my mind.  "He
never said and I never asked."

   "I didn?t mean anything by asking," Hill said with a thin smile.  "Just
impressed, that?s all."

   "No problem."

   "There is something else.  I would like to ask another couple of
questions, if you don?t mind?"

   "You can ask, Captain.  I may not answer."

   "O.K.  Fair enough.  There is a lot of tech on this farm that we will
not be able to replace easily and will not be able to make ourselves for
years, probably not within our life times."

   I nodded.  "You?re right.  None of us can even make a light bulb."

   "So, what we have has to last as long as possible," Hill said.  "How
much to you know about all this?" Hill waved his hands to encompass the
entire farm.  "About repairing and maintaining what you great-grandfather
was able to build here?"

   I did not have to think long about that question.  It had been in the
back of my mind ever since I arrived at the farm.

   "I?ll admit that I don?t know much about the technical side, Captain.  I
know enough to keep the farm going, keep the livestock alive and the
tractors running.  Other than basic wiring the electric system is out of my
league, as are most of other specialized systems.  Plumbing I can handle.
Even if we are reduced to hauling water from the well, I can rig up a
manual pump to do that.  I think there is a windmill kit in one storage
building that we can rig."

   Hill nodded.  His face betrayed no emotion.  "Then, with your
permission, I would like to really look at everything here and take over
the responsibility for keeping them working.  That is the duty for which I
am most qualified.  It is not that I unwilling to do farm work, for I am
and expect to do so, but you can make best use of my talents as an
engineer."

   "Sam, what do you think?" I asked.  "That was your job at the hospital
and I was kind of hoping that you could give us a hand around here."

   Sam seemed surprise that I was asking, but he thought about it a couple
of seconds and said, "I won?t be much help to us, James, messing with the
solar panels or the water rams.  Most of the other stuff I figure we can
handle.  Besides, and no disrespect intended, Sarah and I want our own
place when the time is right."

   I glanced at Sarah and she said, "We can?t thank you enough, Jimmy, for
this place and letting us come, but we don?t want to live here forever. 
Sam and I . . ."

   "I understand, Sarah," I said.  "I expect that everyone will be moving
on sooner or later.  I may even move off myself.  This place is just too
isolated for long term living by any group, especially if we start having
kids."

   Sarah blushed lightly.  "Thought about that have you?"

   I shook my head and smiled.  "No.  Doc did.  We talked about it this
morning.  O.K., Captain, you and Sam work it out between the two of you.  I
had rather have cross capability by us all.  What Sam learns from you,
Captain, he can use on his own place and teach his kids."

   End Chapter 9

   Author's Note: Any errors in this chapter are strictly my own (as is the
case of any writer).  There was such a long delay between Chapter 8 and
Chapter 9, I was actually a bit embarrassed to ask my previous editors to
review this.