EMP 1500 MILES FROM HOME (22 page)

Yeti

I saw the intruders first and sounded the alarm. Everyone ran for their rifles and their positions. I didn't have my binoculars but I could see it was a single Humvee. It parked a quarter of a mile from the ranch on the road. One man got out and began walking toward the ranch. I could tell the man was very tall by the way he stood beside the Humvee. Could it be Wayne? At that distance I couldn't tell, but I was hoping.

Wayne

"I think it may be best if I walk to the ranch house alone. They should recognize me."

"If it is still the people you know? Things seem to change fast now."

"I will take my chances," I said.

"Take a rifle then, just in case," Dave said.

I slung the rifle over my shoulder and started walking up the ranch road. I held my hands over my head to show them I was peaceful. I was about a hundred yards from the ranch house when Julie recognized me. She dropped her rifle and ran towards me. I kept my hands in the air just in case someone might think I would hurt her.

"Wayne," Julie shouted just before she ran into me full tilt and wrapped her arms around me. I lowered my arms and hugged her as I fought for balance. She nearly spilled both of us into the dirt.

"Wayne, you are alive." I hugged her tighter. I was glad to see her. I also saw Yeti walking toward us, followed by George. Yeti had lost a lot of weight and he was looking good and moving well.

I was starting to explain to Julie what happened when she kissed me full on the mouth. I was surprised, and somehow pleased. Without meaning to I kissed her back until thoughts of Lucy popped into my head. Julie pulled back a bit and held my hands as Yeti and George came close. "My God, you look awful, and you smell to high heaven."

"Sorry," I said.

"And you are thinner, but you have put on a lot of muscle too, especially in your arms and shoulders."

George shook my hand just before Yeti hugged me. That kid was sure getting stronger.

"Guys, I'll tell you what happened later. Right now I want you to meet some friends of mine." George signaled the men at the ranch to stand down while I waved Max and Dave in. They drove the Humvee slowly up the road. Max parked the Humvee and he and Dave got out. When Max was beside me Yeti shook his hand. I noticed that, allowing for the new boots Yeti was wearing, he was a good inch or two taller than me now. I doubted the boy had reached his full height yet. He might even reach seven feet.

"Wayne told me about you," Max said as he and Yeti shook hands. Yeti smiled. I could tell he had taken an instant liking to Max. Max also shook hands with George.

"Hey, Treetop, I am down here. You can shake hands with me too," Dave said to Yeti. Yeti squatted down so they were eye to eye and shook Dave's hand. Dave said, "Boy, never bow to any man. This is a new world now," but I could tell Dave was pleased.

"You boys come on up to the house and we will get you cleaned up and fed. I think we can even find some clean clothes for you. Then we can talk."

Max drove the Humvee and the rest of us walked to the ranch house. Julie walked beside me with her arm around my waist. She was still crying, but she seemed happier than I had ever seen her. I was glad to see her too, as well as Yeti and the others. I knew I was ready to relax a bit, and I knew Dave and Max felt the same.

Max, Dave, and I sat at the kitchen table talking with George while Julie, Louisa, and a woman I had never seen before were busy heating water and cooking on the big old wood stove. The women carried hot water from the stove to the tub. They gave Dave the first shot at a bath, then Max. I was last.

I was taking off what was left of my shirt when Julie came in with a couple of clean towels. She hugged me again and kissed me. I tried not to kiss her back and almost made it.

"Let me take a bath and we can talk later," I said.

"Not on your life," Julie said. "Get your clothes off."

She scrubbed my back and shaved my beard while I was in the tub. Then she stripped off and got in the tub with me. The expression on my face must have amused her. "Wayne, when you get back to your wife, she can have you, but right now you are mine!"

When I got back to the kitchen, I got some strange glances from the other women, but nothing was said. I sat at the table. I saw Dave was dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and jeans with the cuffs rolled way up. Max was wearing one of my shirts and a pair of my jeans and he had on a pair of Yeti's old tennis shoes. I was wearing my other pair of jeans and another of my three extra shirts. I was also wearing a pair of my new boots. George fetched them home while I was gone. The new boots felt wonderful. Julie threw my old wingtips away. They had more holes than leather now anyway.

"Thank you for bringing him back to me," Julie said to Max and Dave.

"It was a team effort," Dave said.

"Yeah," Max said. "We wouldn't be alive if it were not for Wayne."

"Nor I if not for Dave and Max.”

"I guess we are like the three Musketeers," Max said.

"No," Dave said, "We are the GGD's."

"GGD's?" Julie questioned from where she stood behind me with her hands on my shoulders.

"Yeah, two giants and a dwarf." George laughed so hard he nearly fell out of his chair. It was good to be home, I thought, and then felt guilty because my home was with Lucy and Ben. Then I thought of Julie and I felt even guiltier. George must have seen the look on my face because he put his hand on my arm and said, "it's OK Son, Julie knows what she is getting into, and I am proud to have you in our family, no matter how strange that may sound. Besides, things have changed and I think they will stay this way for quite some time to come."

The rest of the afternoon and early evening was spent with Max and Dave getting to know everyone. Except for two sentries, the entire crew of the ranch was in the huge old kitchen and I couldn't keep track of the conversations. Yeti sat beside me and we talked for a while. When he got up he said, "I am glad to see you together again Mom and Dad."

I shook his hand and said, "I am happier than you can imagine, Son." When I glanced at Julie's face, I saw tears in her eyes again.

That evening, before everyone retired to bed, I offered to stand a shift on sentry duty. George laughed, "I think Julie has other plans for you tonight." I blushed and George slapped me on the back and laughed again. They put Max and Dave up in a couple of spare bedrooms. Julie led me to her bedroom.

It was then she told me about her experience with the cannibals—she told me everything. I felt sick as she told me the story. What I went through seemed as nothing now to me. I was so glad that Yeti had been there for her and sick to my stomach that I had not. I just held her while she cried. She needed to get it out of her system. Gradually her tears diminished.

After a while she asked, "are you still planning on taking a trading caravan back to Indiana in the spring?”

"Yes," I said. "I have to. I have to know, and it is my responsibility to get home to Lucy and Ben. It doesn't mean I don't like you."

"I could tell," Julie said. I blushed again and she kissed me. "I am going with you."

"Shouldn't you stay with your dad?"

"No, my place is with you. We will deal with it however we must when you see your wife. I think it is a different world now. There is no law. A man can have two wives now if he wants. Consider me your second wife."

"I don't know..."

"Don't worry Wayne." She kissed me again. "You know I won't hurt you or your wife and son, and you know I love you."

I said, "Uh."

We talked for several hours. I told Julie the long version of what had happened. She cried again. I told George the short version earlier.

I still felt like I was cheating on Lucy with Julie, and, in my mind I was. Julie said that neither of us might even make it to Indiana alive and that it would be a waste not to love one another while we could. I was reluctant, even though my body was not. My feelings for Julie ran far deeper than I was willing to admit even to myself. It was a strange new world indeed.

When Julie was asleep, I got up and dressed. Yeti was on guard duty and I wanted to talk to him. I found him at his post.

"Hi Wayne," he said as I approached.

I sat down on the low wall beside him. "Yeti, I want to thank you for saving Julie. That was an incredibly brave thing you did."

"Aw Wayne, it was nothing. Besides, she is the only mother I remember. She means more than my life to me."

"She means more than my life to me too," I said.

"You are in love with her, you know."

"Yes, I know I am in love with her, Yeti. It is a difficult thing for me to admit to myself, since I love Lucy too."

"Wayne, our culture says one man and one woman, but many human cultures did not adhere to our ways."

"I know, but..."

"It is possible to love more than one woman," Yeti said. "It just may not be possible to live with more than one at the same time..."

That got a laugh out of me. "It's not that easy for me to throw off what I was taught..."

"Just relax Wayne. For all you know Lucy will like Julie, and without electric appliances, they may both want the extra help around your place."

"I think if Lucy met Julie under different circumstances, they would be great friends. Now, I don't know, I doubt it."

"Women are far more practical than most men, Wayne. Try not to worry about it. It will turn out all right."

"I hope so, Yeti. I hope so. Just remember, you are my son and I will acknowledge that before everyone. I am so proud of you. I hope Ben turns out half as well as you have."

"He will, Wayne. If you don't make it to Indiana, I will see to it."

"I hope we all make it, Yeti. Thank you Son," I shook his hand and then gave him a hug.

The next morning Dave, Max, and I sat in the kitchen and drank coffee. Louisa introduced us to the other woman in the kitchen. Her name was Dorothy and she was a family friend from Mountainair. Her husband died a few months after the EMP in an accident so she came to the ranch. I also counted four new ranch hands, two of which I had not been introduced to the night before. I didn't know their stories yet, but there were still a couple of months before it would be time to roll out with the caravan I had not yet managed to put together. I was sure I would have a chance to talk to both of them before then.

Max and Dave announced their intention to go with me in the spring, as did Yeti. One woman, three giants, and a dwarf, we were off to a good start. In the trading caravans in Europe and parts of Asia eight hundred years ago, there were performers who traveled with the caravans. Every stop the caravans made was a big event—a fair that lasted from five days to as long as a month. People came from miles around to trade and see the entertainment at these fairs. Maybe the giants and the dwarf would have to work up a carnival act.

Some of the large trading caravans of eight hundred years ago had as many as several hundred men and women traveling in one group. And sometimes, several caravans joined forces to travel through particularly dangerous territory. And I would start with five people, a few horses, and some old wagons.

The leader of a caravan was usually called the Hansgraf. I read the term somewhere and I wasn't sure I could even pronounce it. I thought a better term might be Trader, like Driver called me that time on the road.

Max and Dave were talking a mile a minute about nothing. Under duress, they were both quieter and much more cautious. I could tell they were relaxing. Both of their rifles were leaning by the door. Mine was leaning against my leg. I also had a 45 long Colt sixgun holstered on my belt. George gave it to me. He called it a wedding present and said it was the safest pistol for horseback because once fired, it couldn't fire again if the horse bucked unless you deliberately cocked it. It was a nice modern six-shooter and fired smokeless rounds just fine. The holster rode high on my belt. I wore the gun on my left side, butt forward. I was not a fast draw anyway, and by wearing it on the left I could reach it with either hand. Behind the gun was a leather pouch that held 20 rounds for the sixgun.

On my right side I wore two knives. The small one was a Mora with a four-inch blade in a custom leather sheath. It was razor sharp and very handy. Behind that I wore a bowie knife with a ten-inch blade. Julie gave the knives to me. I had no idea where they came from, but I was pleased to get them.

In my pockets were a fire starting kit in a small tin, a Swiss Army Super Tinker pocketknife, and two small sharpening stones, a medium and a extra-fine. There was also a pair of excellent quality binoculars in my ruck. I felt richer than I ever had before.

Julie sat by the stove and was modifying a couple of cowboy hats to fit Max and me. Someone gave Dave an old hat that fit him pretty well. George said he was going to take Max and Dave to have boots made. I suggested he take at least half the ranch hands and go heavily armed. I thought they should take the Humvee, but it was low on fuel. Soon, George and Dan were in the barn inventorying the kerosene and diesel supply to see if enough could be spared as fuel for the trip. Several of the ranch hands needed new boots too so it was easy for George to find men who wanted to go.