“How did you find us? I never
told you exactly where we were,” I said, wondering what magic compass she had that
could find our hole in a mountain.
“You left me a note.”
“No I didn’t. I never thought
of that.”
“I see that you were able to follow my map,” Lise said as
she gave Debbie a big hug. “We're so happy
to see you. What changed your mind?”
“The Kids
and I had returned to the house to pick up
some things when
something in the brush out back caught my attention. I can’t be sure, but
it looked like a lion. It was quiet and
soon disappeared. I gave my head a shake, but decided
the kids were staying inside until I knew for sure. But the next morning when I stepped outside,
I saw large animal tracks, bigger than I'd ever seen before, leading up to the
porch. As you
can imagine, my rifle
has never been so close.”
“A lion…out here? That
doesn’t seem possible, unless cougars are beginning to move into this area
again. Are you sure it wasn’t a bear?” Lise asked.
“I’m not so sure it was a bear, Lise, although it is possible. If
Debbie said it looked like a lion, then we're going to have to be
really careful. There used to be a wild animal farm just
outside of the city where she’s been living.
I’ve been through there more than once, and they had lions, tigers and
some other big cats, that don’t get along with humans or anything else that
moves about. It may have been stalking
you or your kids,” I said turning to Debbie.
“On another topic, I am so glad you came. We'll have to fix you up with shelter, and from now
on, our shelters will have to be very secure.
Doctor, is it possible that Debbie could bunk in with you for a few days
while we clear out another cavern for her and her children?”
Doctor Manning, who'd come out to greet our visitor was more than
happy to share her room, as long as it wasn’t permanent. Debbie's children could bunk in with the girls for
the same period of time. Debbie didn’t
have a lot of things with her and hoped that we'd help her collect
them later. We'd been getting a
little slack about our weapons policy, so I reminded everyone to carry their
weapon with them if they walked outside the camp. Rifles were to be loaded and ready to use at
all times.
One thing that Debbie did bring that everyone enjoyed was her
hens. We had to build a pen for them
with access to another smaller cave.
This way, they could roost inside at night, but take advantage of the
sun and fresh air during the day. Eggs would
become a valued addition to our daily victuals.
Debbie, with all her farming knowhow, wasn't able to do much more
than grow some greens in the poor soil, but what it did produce was highly
valued by the survivors. No one had to
tell the younger ones to eat their greens.
***
A couple of days after our return, Lise began to get sick. Neither of us could remember anything that
either of us had eaten or drunk that the other had not, so we ruled out food
poisoning. We thought of Debbie and the
possibility of her slipping one of us something, or passing on a disease, but
immediately discarded the thought as we had come to trust her due to her
openness. Then I noticed that Lise
usually seemed to feel better in late morning and was fine in the
evenings. It was just the mornings when
she got up that she was having a problem.
I sent her to Doctor Manning, who confirmed Lise was indeed pregnant,
not something that I would have thought possible, considering that I was so
much older, but then I guess I may have been more naïve than Lise regarding
that possibility.
***
Slim didn't long live up to his new name, but began to fill out almost
immediately. I had to control his
rations or he would have grown into a house.
Once he became used to his new life, he happily trotted from house to
house greeting everyone in our small neighborhood, his entire hind end swinging
back and forth with each swish of his tail.
He seemed happiest when his cold wet nose was pressed against the back
of my leg when I wore shorts, reminding me of Sparky. He'd frequently look up at me as he heeled at my
side. He was so tall, that I could pet
him without much trouble by just bending a little as we walked. I drew the line at his sleeping in our room
when the weather was warm as he had an odor that permeated everything in the
cavern, but at the same time, I began to worry about what else was lurking
outside our shelters during the night.
***
About a month and a half after our trip, Lise began to get sick again,
but this time, Doctor Manning was not happy.
Carol imposed complete bed rest for Lise. It was no use. She lost the baby. It was a terrible time for her, for she'd so much been looking forward to giving me a
son. Why she thought a son would mean
more to me than a daughter had more to do with her heritage than mine. Having had a couple of daughters already and
knowing how much easier they were to raise, and how they loved their daddy, I
would've been just as happy with
a girl. Carol decided that we would
locate the nearest hospital and find an ultrasound machine to have a look inside. Locating the technology and some emergency
power to use it was no problem, but fixing Lise was. Carol was not a surgeon. Yes, she could probably remove an infected appendix
if she had to, but she wasn't ready to tackle much more than that. In Carol’s opinion, Lise would be unable to
bear children. I'd
heard that story before, and in most cases it was true, but occasionally, the
doctor was wrong.
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