Final Chance

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Grandpa fed Travis a light breakfast. Like himself, Travis never was one to eat much breakfast and often just skipped it. “Let me give you the grand tour.” He led Travis around. “Like I said last night, I have some propane left in the tank outside, but when that’s gone, I have two rocket stoves. One I bought on the Internet several years ago, and one I built from cement blocks. I still have dish soap. Bought several cases. I read a lot and sometimes watch movies on the portable DVD player that runs off of a separate solar battery and charger. Got a lot of John Wayne movies.”

“Gee, Grandpa. You are prepared. I’m proud of you, but why don’t you shave?”

“Just don’t feel like it. Who’s to impress? And I can’t cut my own hair. I always figured it would be a nuclear war that sent us into post-apocalypse mode. Who ever heard of that f*****g N-Virus?” He shook his head. “But at least with the government gone, there’s no one to push the nuclear button.”

“Yup, yin and yang, good and bad in all things.”

“Except death?” He scrubbed his face with his hands.

Travis said, “I can cut your hair.”

“That would be good, boy.”

Grandpa went on with the tour. “So, anyway, this is the basic kitchen, living room, eating area. In the corner is my little library. It’s only four by four, but it’s stocked full of books, many about survival ideas and tactics. DVDs are under the TV. Music CDs there, too, along with medical CDs and DVDs. Have a portable solar-powered unit that produces one hundred watts, which is plenty for those items. I have my bedroom, yours, and a third one with the hall bathroom. Come downstairs.” He led Travis to the mud room at the front of the house that had a wall full of cabinets, a half bath, and down the stairs. He grabbed a flashlight, but outside light came in via windows.

“Wow!”

“Yup, wall to wall stuff. I keep all foods to the left and other stuff to the right. I have an assortment of batteries, oil for lamps, cleaning stuff, soap. First aid boxes with all sorts of bandages along with tinctures and essential oils are in the mud room upstairs. I even have dental equipment and can pull a tooth or give you a temporary filling although my eyes aren’t worth s**t anymore.” He took his glasses off and cleaned them.

“Grandpa, I’m impressed. You have tons of canned foods.”

“Yup. Sure do. I can last quite a while, and that’s just what I had before the N hit. I prepare and preserve more every year. I have a ton of canning supplies.”

He led Travis upstairs and outside. They walked the garden, but Travis’ gaze kept going back to the greenhouse.

Grandpa went on. “I have vegetables, flowers for the bees and butterflies, plants for medicines and tea, as well as a chicken coop with chickens.” He bent, pinched a leaf on a plant, and held his hand for Travis to smell.

“Smells almost like pineapple.”

“Pineapple sage. Good for tea.” He grinned. “I also keep bees. Mostly for their own sake so they can pollinate my flowers and veggies, but I take honey from time to time. In fact, you have to take honey, or they’ll drown in it. They’d have too much. I have the simple hives, a T-bar hive.”

“I’ve always loved honey. You have raised beds.”

“Yup, I knew I couldn’t bend and kneel so much as I got older. Raised beds are easier to work, and I make them out of cement blocks instead of wood. Wood rots. Cement don’t. I put hardware wire at the bottoms to keep mice and voles out. I put sticks and twigs and shredded paper underneath so it would rot and make compost. Working good. I also have two compost piles for fertilizer, and I have worm bins in the garage. Scrap foods go to them, and they make worm piss that’s awesome for fertilizer and they give me castings for more fertilizer. If I don’t have enough food for the worms, I just cut some weeds and give it to them.” Grandpa grinned, obviously proud of himself. “I also grow amaranth, white oats, and lentils, as well as artichokes and microgreens for salads. I do okay. I actually produce more than I can eat.” He patted Travis’ shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Can I see the greenhouse?”

“Just like when you were little. Can’t wait, huh?” They walked there and through the sliding glass door. “Time to open things so the bees and other critters can pollinate. Open the sliding door at the other end.”

“How big is this?”

“Twenty by forty. Cost me forty-five thousand. It’s passive solar. I have water barrels on the north wall to get heat from the sun so they radiate heat back at night to keep the temperature up. The north and east walls are stick-built, with eight-inch walls and insulation. Lots of windows on the south and west walls, and the north ceiling, as you can see, is a regular ceiling with insulation to avoid heat loss during the night. The solar panels on the house roof, backup batteries, two banks, and all the other electronic stuff, cost me seventy-five thousand. I had the house built with eight-inch outside walls for higher insulation, and there’s extra insulation under the floor and in the ceiling.” He grinned.

“Grandpa, I remember when you had the house built and am so frigging impressed. You thought of everything. Do you have any money left?”

“Just about five thousand, which is worthless now with all the banks out of business. Somewhere I can’t account for twenty-five thousand dollars, but what the hell. So I’m glad I have everything I put in, and now that you’re here, things will be better. I was close to swallowing my gun. I know I told you that, but—” He licked his lips and shook his head.

“You know, Grandpa, I was thinking many times of killing myself. I was basically alone. Very few people left in Seattle. I kept thinking about you, so I had to come down. I’m really glad you’re alive.” He put a hand on Grandpa’s shoulder. “Do you know anyone alive around here?”

“Oh, geesh, I have to show you my car.” He used a key to open the side walk-through door of the garage and pushed the rolling door up. “Others alive, not sure. Sometimes I hear sounds from next door.” He pointed east.

“The Stanley house?”

“Nope. Old man Stanley and his wife died several years ago. Before the N-Virus. The family sold it. Now the Porter place, but the guy there, Mr. Porter, is a complete asshole and jerk all rolled into one. Not friendly. He had a tractor I needed to borrow. He charged me to bring it over and made me pay for his time and the tractor’s time. He was just here ninety minutes. He insisted on being paid cash. Damn, that’s just not neighborly.”

“How old was he? Kids? Wife?”

“He was in his late fifties? Had five kids and a wife and a bunch of dogs he let roam loose. I warned him to contain the critters, but he ignored me. So one day, the dogs came to my place, and I shot two of them. Oh, was he mad. He came over with a shotgun and threatened me. I had my shirt over my gun and told him to get the f**k off my property and I’d shoot any dog that comes here. He started to raise the gun, and I pulled mine, c****d it, and pointed it at his nose. He left with his tail between his legs.”

“Sounds like an asshole.”

“Yup. And I still carry my gun every day.” He lifted the tail of his shirt to show his semi-automatic in a holster. “I always keep it hidden along with two spare magazines. Never let the enemy know what you have or what your skills are. So, what do you think of my awesome 2020 Chevy Volt? It’s seven years old but not many miles on it. It’s electric, and you get from forty to seventy miles on the batteries. More in summer, less in winter. There’s a gas engine for backup. My eyes are too bad now, and I don’t dare to drive. Might get a ticket for running a red light.” He laughed.

“You’re still a wise-ass, but you spanked me for doing that when I was fifteen.”

“You had to learn the timing. There’s a time and place for wise-ass, and you needed to learn that. You mouthed off to a teacher more than once. So, hell, yes, I tanned your ass but good.”

“I remember. I cried so bad. It was two months before my ass quit hurting from that spanking.”

“But you learned, eh? And it didn’t take two months. You’re lying.” He smiled. “I haven’t smiled much lately.”

Travis grinned. “Yeah, Grandpa, I learned. I know you only spanked me out of love. My parents never did.”

“I’m sorry to say they weren’t the best parents God ever made. They just didn’t do it right. Too involved in their careers.”

Travis grinned with his mouth open. “Wanna go for a ride?”