Ninety Degrees Out
Chapter Forty Nine

The climb up the hill behind the barn was steep as they took the game trail that went straight up. They crossed the riding trail five times, and by the time they were at the top, Dr. Mike was panting. Why did he think he could keep up with these youngsters?

“Hey, Erik, Edward, slow it down a bit. I’m an old man here.” He was panting like a steam engine. At least the towering Sitka spruce trees left them in deep shade for most of the time. He pulled a bottle of water off his pack and chugged half of it down. There was no way he should drink that much at once, but man he was dripping. Morning calisthenics might be an idea. He needed to get back in shape.

“Sorry, man. I keep forgetting you’re older than Mom,” Erik apologized. “We’re at the top of the ridge now, and we cut at least half an hour off the hike by coming up the shortcut.”

“I never saw it coming down here. Nice job of keeping it a secret. A great way to get around quick up here,” Edward said.

“I hope we never need it because of an attack. The animals use it regularly, but we try to stay off it. You never know what you might run into.” Erik led the way along the edge of the steep embankment.

“The meadow we were using to camp beside isn’t far now,” Edward said. He turned to Dr. Mike and asked, “Do you want me to take your pack?”

“Yeah, I’m not as in shape as I used to be. Need to start with some daily PT, I think.” Mike dipped a shoulder and let the pack slide down his other arm. “Tell us more about how you ended up out here.”

“Like I told Erik, we were in Homer on a winter adventure holiday. The kids are on a year round schedule, so it was our last weekend up here. We were supposed to fly to Juneau and then down to Seattle to go home the next day.”

“After that first big quake hit, there was an aftershock two days later and the whole town went under. I’m there was nothing but a few rooftops showing when it settled. We were able to drive for most of the way up here, until there was no more gas. We got caught at the bridge from the peninsula to the mainland just before we got to Anchorage.”

“We heard the bridge was blocked. Something about a couple of big rigs and damage from the quakes,” Erik said.

“Yeah and a lot of dead bodies along with a bunch of mercenary types taking whatever they could loot out of the piled up semis.” Edward’s face went blank as he spoke.

“We’ve had our own troubles with bike gangs up here. There’s still one that is running between here and Juneau taking whatever they want.” Erik made a sharp turn onto the left fork of the trail in front of them.

“So, we found out. We’ve been walking since there. Found the three boys hiding out in a small cave, shivering and wet. They said they were in a rest stop when they heard gun shots. They were in the bathroom. When they came out their car was on fire, and the parents were dead on the ground beside it.” Edward choked up as he spoke.

“No one should have to live through things like we have going on around us. We’re building a safe community here. A safe zone between here and the Stargazer homestead. I hope we can protect it. So far, so good. But I’m not betting on no trouble,” Erik said.

“I`ll take the lead here,” Edward pushed to the front, whistling a distinctive three note repeating sequence.

“You have a signal?” Dr. Mike asked.

“Stupid not to, the way things have gone. With six kids, we have to be careful.”

“I like smart, Edward. Great thinking.” Erik stood back as they entered the meadow.

Mike scanned the wide green expanse, looking for the rest of the medic’s family. Camouflaged. Smart. “You go ahead, Edward. Let them know we’re safe people. Give us a whistle when you want us to follow.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“Do we have a way to dig holes for our fence posts?” Chay scanned the stacks of building supplies and tools arranged behind the big red barn.

“I’ve got two augers. Mind you they’re not powered, and we don’t have the fuel for those in any case. It’s going to be good old fashioned hand power, or more accurately arms and shoulders. Even your legs are going to get a workout,” Dasan Stargazer looked at the men assembled in a loose semi circle in the bright sunshine.

“I would recommend we do most of the heavy work before the sun gets too high in the sky. Take a break to rehydrate and rest after our lunch break and then get back to work once it starts to cool off later,” Hakan suggested.

Chay watched as the men nodded. He counted the stakes his father drove into the grassy meadow. Over fifty of them were laid out in a loose circle. Four wheelbarrows and enough shovels for almost all the men were off to the side, leaning against the barn wall.

“We’ll take turns on the augers. The dirt we pull out of the post holes goes into wheelbarrows and we’ll take across to Uki’s garden. She needs more topsoil to build up new beds for the vegetable patch,” Dasan said. “The permafrost has melted, and we have a rich source of loam. I’m surprised at the richness of our substrate.”

“Okay, guys split into teams. Let’s get going.” Armaruq’s boisterous call had four of his biggest men grabbing the augers and heading to the nearest stakes in the ground. “Pace yourselves. Slow and steady is better in the heat.”

Chay grabbed the handles of a wheelbarrow and pushed it over to the nearest team. “Don’t try and lift that thing into the barrow. We’ve got shovels to deal with the dirt. Dad chose wisely. From what I can see the holes are just a hair bigger than the posts we’ve got.”

“Guys, if your not working on moving dirt, start distributing the posts to each of the stakes. At least that way we can get them in the ground right away,” Hakan said as he brought the first on over to Chay. He put the ten foot pole on the ground.

“Someone was thinking. There’s a red line on the each of these posts. That’s how deep they go. It looks like the holes need to go four feet down. Let’s hope there aren’t too many rocks in our way. Stick the short end in the ground,” Jake called out. His carrot orange hair curled around the edge of the baseball cap he wore. He wore a long sleeved shirt to protect his freckled skin from the sun, where others had already dropped tee shirts on the ground.

Chay could feel sweat beading up on his back and followed suit. His skin was dark brown from hours in the gardens. His old cowboy hat protected his ears and neck from the worst of the sun’s white hot rays. It felt good to get into the swing of serious physical labor. His body was ready for a different sort of work out.

“Do we have feed for the horses?” He asked his father as Das scooped up another shovel full of dirt.

“I’m hoping to get fencing up along the other side of the runway so we can let the horses graze there once we have them tamed. I’ve got the loft full of hay for the moment. Never thought I’d need it for more than Uki’s and my horse. Don’t even know where we can get any at the moment.”

“What about oats?”

“See the silo there?” Das asked as he used his shove to point toward the edge of the forest.

“I forgot about that. Is it full?”

“About halfway. Again, it’s a small one but I’d say we have a couple thousand bushels of oats in there. I bought them almost a year ago. They’ve stayed nice and dry, no mold or rot.”

“Okay then. Mom said she planted a lot of carrots, so we have treats to bribe the horses, and we still have to figure out who’s going to tame them. Break them for riding or pulling wagons depending on what we need.” Hakan said.

“Looks like we’ve got things covered.” Armaruq said.

“I think so. Now let keep this fencing party going.” Jake and his partner on the auger lift another load of dirt out of the post hole they were working on. Armaruq dropped the pole in the hole, nodded when the red line disappeared. “I’ll adjust this one till the mark is even with ground level. You go on to the next stake.”

The scene repeated itself. Chay took his turn with Terry on the auger, switching off with Jake. The poles looked good. The first boards were going up as another group found hammer’s and nails to fasten two by fours onto the first few fence posts. They might just get the coral finished in one day.

He spotted Alicia and Arimina coming from the log house, pushing a wheelbarrow full of water bottles and sandwiches.

Squinting up at the sun, and noticing the near lack of shadows, he put two fingers in his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. Noon already. Time goes quickly when everyone works together.

“Quitting time. Come and get your lunch, and head back to the tents. Siesta time. I don’t know about you guys, but I need a break.” Chay yelled. Scanning the worksite, he counted over thirty poles standing straight and true with half of them supporting boards. “Great job everyone. We’ll work the stiffness out this afternoon. By tomorrow we’ll be able to leave our horses in the coral if we want to.”

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