Dear Diary, It’s Me, Jessica: Chapter 14 (Book 2)

By the Author of Dear Diary: It’s Me, Jessica

Find the previous chapter here.

Dear Diary,

It’s me, Jessica.

We approached the Miller’s farm. Mr. Miller, Janet, Justin came out of the one barn with rifles at the ready but as soon as they saw me, they lowered their weapons.  

Mr. Miller looked questioningly past me at Katie and the others with their string of horses.  As I explained, he brightened at the idea of diversifying the bloodlines.  I introduced him to Katie, and they immediately got into talks about each horse’s different traits as they looked them over.  

Mrs. Miller came out and invited me into the kitchen while they talked horses.

I sat down at the kitchen table as she poured me a glass of iced tea.  She sat down across from me and sighed. “Jessica, I know you and Billy kinda had a thing between the two of you.  But I have to tell you he has been seeing one of the other farmer girls out here.  He is there with her now.  They are talking about a wedding.  Later this summer or early fall.”

Diary, I kind of surprised myself.  I smiled at Mrs. Miller and said, “I know.  I heard.  I am not going to lie to you, it hurt at first.  But after some advice from friends and family, some self-reflection, I realized that Billy and I were not on the, what do you call it?  Same page when it comes to marriage?  A husband and wife like relationship is what he seems to be looking for.  I am not that kind of wife material.  As Jack said, I am something different.”

She looked at me for a long moment.  It seemed as if she was looking right into me as a person.  She then sat back. “Jessica, I said before, you have become an impressive young woman.  Now, you impress me even more.  I am sorry, honey, for the hurt.  But you seem to know yourself and who you are.  Not a lot of young people could say that, especially nowadays.”

“I have had some really good people help and teach me, like you.”

She reached across the table and took my hand.

“You would be welcome to the wedding.”

“I know,” I squeezed her hand back and sighed, “Let me see how I feel when the day comes.”

Entry two

Dad and I led the engineering students to Four Corners.  It would be the first time they had ever been to Four Corners.  With the exception of the youngest of them, all the rest were members of the militia and marched in formation.  It was not a forced march, so they all talked and joked with each other as we marched.  

Samson and I jogged ahead when we were about a quarter of a mile from the East gate to let Tom and Collins know we were coming.  For once, Tom did not do his usual English guardsman routine but simply thanked me.  The situation could have been alarming, even deadly, if I had not given them advanced warning.  

Samson and I had the formation stop just short of the East gate, then each squad filed off to pass through the narrow gate with the youngest following in the rear.  From there, we marched single file to Four Corners proper to Sean’s shack.  

Sean smiled as he knew it was Dad’s engineering students and sent word throughout Four Corners they had arrived and would be working for Dad and Nate’s water wheel construction.  

Dad led the students toward Nate’s while Samson and I stopped in the aid station to check in on Jack.

He was sitting up.  He smiled warmly at us when we walked in.  

“You look better,” I said as he scratched Samson’s ears as the big dog leaned toward Jack.

“I feel better.  Daniel says it will still be another few days, perhaps a week before I am up and out of bed, but things are looking good.”

“Good. Dad’s student engineering group is here to build the water wheel.  Katie and her Nomad group are working with the Millers and other farms to diversify the horse bloodlines.  Same with the medium and small livestock here at Four Corners.  I think Katie is still considering whether they remain Nomads or will settle out by our community.  We have a number of abandoned homes, but not enough for the whole group.  Her and her people seem to be on the fence.”

“That is only natural.  They have to do what is best for themselves.”

Entry three

On the second day of the water wheel build, the temperature spiked.  Despite being down at the old boat landing on the river, it still made for hot, sweaty work.  They were clearing out the overgrowth and taking down trees that would be used to make the water wheel.  With the engineering students, some of the men from our community, and most of the men from Four Corners, by the end of the day, they would have an area about the size of a football field cleared.

Even though Nate and Dad were in charge of the construction, they were working along with everyone else, only stopping to answer a question or give guidance on how to do things.  They took a lesson learned from Jack when on the march:  work for fifty minutes, then take a ten minute water break in the shade.  They did not want anyone getting heat stroke.  

Not being really apart of the construction crew and to keep out of their way, I humped it back up the hill to Four Corners.  By the time I reach South gate, it felt like I had jumped into the river, I was soaked with sweat.  Once inside of South gate, I took off my back pack, sat in the shade for a few minutes and drank water before walking to Four Corners proper.  

Activity at Four Corners even slowed as people tried to keep physical activity to a minimum or stay in the shade.  There were fewer cooking fires as most turned to cold meals or skipped lunch outright.  It was just too hot.

When I reached Sean’s shack, he was sitting on a log in the shade of the tree line just behind his shack and off the road.

“Aye, Jessica,” he called to me, “Take a seat.”

“A bit warm,” I said jokingly as I sat down.

“That it is.  It is cooler here than in there,” he nodded toward his shack.  “Made no sense sitting in there, listening to myself sweat.  Not a whole lot of business going on today.  Most was done in the morning.  One of the guys mentioned we should do like the Mexican’s do and take a ‘siesta,’ till the day’s heat wears off.”

“Not a bad idea.  I just hope this is not another one of those ‘heat domes,’ like last year, where even at night it only got down into the eighties.”

“Aye.  That would be brutal.”

“Never gave much thought about air conditioning or ceiling fans till the power went out.”

“Think it is bad here, imagine if Four Corners was down in the deep South.  Some parts down there it is like a heat dome most of the year without the heat dome!”

“Ugh!  I do not want to imagine that!  Okay, I am going to go check in on Jack.”

“Aye, tell him I said ‘hello,’ and to keep cool!”

“Will do!”

I found Daniel and Savannah in the back room playing cards with Jack, Samson lying in the corner, who got up to greet me.  

“Deal you in the next hand?” Jack asked.

“No, thank you,” I held up a hand and scratched Samson behind his ears with the other.  “Too hot to even play cards.”

“Right,” Savannah sighed.  “What I would give for a tall glass of iced tea or lemonade.”

“I would take an iced coffee,” Daniel said, looking up at the ceiling.

“In Afghanistan, before patrol we would put ice in our water bladders.  By the time we were halfway through our patrol, the water was warm.”

“Eewww,” Savannah said with a disgusted look.

“How goes the work on the water wheel?” Jack asked.

I filled them in on how work was going, and Nate and Dad hoped to start on the construction of the water wheel itself tomorrow.  Dad explained the water wheel would not be as efficient as one with the water flowing over the top, but they had to work with what they had and the location of the boat ramp.  They would use the leverage of the outer edge of the wheel to turn linked old truck drive shafts for the power.  They designed it to be modular, so a half-dozen men could swap out a sawmill or a grain mill in a few hours.  Nate and Dad were trying to come up with an idea of how to generate electricity but building a generator did not seem possible.  The factory where Dad worked had diesel-powered generators, but they were too large.  Dad said he would “mull” on it.

We talked a bit more, till Jack said he needed to rest and might take a nap.  By then, the sun was lower on the horizon, and it seemed not as hot as before.  I opted to hump it home for dinner with Mom and whomever would be there for dinner and so I could sleep in the basement where it would be much cooler.  I took Samson with me as he would be more comfortable there.  Savannah gave me a top off of water for the trip and asked me to be careful.  I promised her Samson and I would take our time.

I said hello and bye to Tom and Collins as we passed through the East gate and on the road.

Diary, despite the heat, things seemed good.  Not great, but things were progressing with Four Corners with an actual aid station with Daniel and Savannah as the doctor and nurse.  Katie and the Nomads are trading with us.  And now the start of the construction of the water wheel.  Yeah, Diary.  Things seemed good.

About 1stMarineJarHead

1^stMarineJarHead is not only a former Marine, but also a former EMT-B, Wilderness EMT (courtesy of NOLS), and volunteer firefighter.

He currently resides in the great white (i.e. snowy) Northeast with his wife and dogs. He raises chickens, rabbits, goats, occasionally hogs, cows and sometimes ducks. He grows various veggies and has a weird fondness for rutabagas. He enjoys reading, writing, cooking from scratch, making charcuterie, target shooting, and is currently expanding his woodworking skills.

The post Dear Diary, It’s Me, Jessica: Chapter 14 (Book 2) appeared first on The Organic Prepper.