The Journal: Ash Fall (37 page)

“Meteorologists say the ash cloud that has
blanked much of the U.S. should be passing out of the region in the
next few days, and some are already experiencing clear skies
again.

“In other news, the rioting in Detroit,
Chicago and other major cities has escalated today with the
announcement of the imminent collapse of the dollar.” The anchorman
looked at the camera and said, “Spend it while you can!”

Then the screen went dark.

I almost laughed thinking of all that money
in my drawer that was now totally worthless. Maybe I should frame
that check, to prove I was once a millionaire.

CHAPTER 33

JOURNAL ENTRY: July 29

It was incredibly gorgeous out this morning. The
thunderstorms had moved out during the night and the day blossomed
with blue skies! Not quite as rich of a blue that I’ve seen here in
the past, but blue is blue and it filled me with joy.

* * *

“I need to talk to the boys today about the
deer hanging in the barn,” I said to Mark while we sipped our
morning coffee and munched on toast. Mark had become very fond of
my blueberry jam, and it almost dripped off the edge of his
bread.

“What about the deer? And that is a deer you
helped Jason harvest, don’t forget about that. It’s as much yours
as it is his.”

“Yes, I know.” I took the hand of this man
across from me, a man I’d come to love very quickly. “And that’s
why I want to give it away.”

He looked stunned, then grinned. “That’s my
girl!”

* * *

“Are you sure about this, Mom?” Eric asked
while Mark was bandaging his foot and calf.

“I’m absolutely sure. We already have so much
to be thankful for that I want to share the goodness my heart
feels.”

Jason had been quietly listening to us, not
saying anything, just watching us closely. “Who do you want to give
it to?” he finally asked.

“That’s a good question. We have so many
friends that could use the extra food, who do you want to give some
to?”

Emilee was the first to make a suggestion
when she blurted out, “Joshua and Martha! They’re nice.” I wrote
that down even though I already knew everyone they were going to
suggest.

“And Bob and Kathy, Ken and Karen,” Eric
added.

“How about Pete and Lenny?” Mark suggested.
“They’ve been so busy with… things, I’m sure they haven’t had time
to hunt.”

“I’d like some to go to Anna and George. Anna
has been a good friend. Oh, and Pastor Carolyn, too.”

“Mom, I think your list is just about all
that are left in Moose Creek,” Amanda commented. She was right.
Most everyone else had gone to town, or had died.

“That we know of, Amanda. There still might
be some at camps or in the woods, but they must be taking care of
themselves or we would have heard from them.”

“Maybe you should take some of the smoked
fish too,” Jason suggested, getting into generous mood we were all
feeling. “Not too much though, Amanda likes it.”

“So when are you going to do this?” Eric
asked.

“Just as soon as we get that deer cut up into
sections. Jason, when will you have time to come over and help us
cut and portion out?”

“In an hour?”

* * *

Mark and I set the tables up one more time
for butchering. I covered the two tables with the sheet of plastic
and Mark sanitized it with spritzes of bleach and wiped it down. I
set out the knives and he sharpened them.

“Did you notice how chilly it was when we
walked back from the boys’?” Mark asked.

“Yes. I think it was mostly from the storm,
though soon it will be from the ash cloud in the upper atmosphere.
Although one could be deceived by the current blue sky, the sun is
being blocked.”

“I meant to ask you about that, if you had a
theory on why we suddenly have a blue sky?” he asked, setting down
a freshly honed knife.

“Well, the cloud is moving from west to east,
so we got it first. As it keeps moving east, it will come back
around after covering Asia, but they won’t get the fallout we did.
So right now we’re on the back side of it, although it will catch
up to itself before long. Or at least that’s how I understand
it.”

* * *

“So how do you want this divided, Mom?” Jason
asked. “We normally cut it into four quarters, however, we need
more than that this time.”

“We’ll need six sections. Your family should
get a nice haunch, something to eat fresh over the next week,” I
said. “So, there are two shoulders, two hinds, two hind shanks, and
all the ribs plus the front shanks. The ribs and front shanks I’ll
cook and can. We need to keep some too,” I said when they looked at
me. “So what we have left are two shoulders, two hind shanks and
one hind, that’s five sections.”

“Plus some fish,” Jason added.

“Plus some fish, yes, not too many though,
not if Amanda likes them,” I said. “I’ve noticed she doesn’t eat
much of the venison, and she needs protein too.”

We set to work.

It went quickly since we were just separating
the sections, not cutting the meat up, that would be left up to the
others. Thankful I had kept all the plastic grocery bags over the
years, we wrapped each section and tied the handles closed. Because
all the awkward bones had been disjointed, all of it fit into one
cooler, where I also placed a thawing ice pack. That should be
sufficient while we made the deliveries.

The first stop was to Joshua and Martha since
they were closest.

“Joshua, how good to see you!” I gave the
young man a hug.

“Oh Miss Allexa, how nice of you to come by,”
he smiled at me and shook Mark’s hand.

“I thought while we were here I would see how
Martha is doing,” Mark said, holding up his new little black
bag.

Joshua’s whole demeanor shifted.

“Martha…Martha passed away in her sleep last
week,” he stated quietly. “I know I should have told you, but there
didn’t seem to be any point. I knew there was nothing that could be
done. She knew she was dying soon. She told me so.”

There was a sadness in his eyes that tugged
at my heart.

“I buried her in her flower garden, just like
she told me she wanted. I hope that was okay,” Joshua said, taking
a deep breath.

“I think that was a lovely gesture, Joshua,”
I told him sincerely. “And I’m so very sorry for your loss. Martha
was a good woman.”

“How are the animals?” Mark asked, quick to
change the subject.

“Right well, I think. They seemed to like
living in the garage, but I think they’re even happier to be back
outside,” Joshua replied. He looked at me with a sudden frightened
look. “They’ll be okay, now won’t they, Miss Allexa? Being outside
I mean.”

“They should be fine. The ash cloud has
passed for now. A cloud will be back, though it will be one in the
higher atmosphere, and shouldn’t hurt them,” I replied. “You still
need to keep watch, and if the ash returns, get the animals inside
quickly.”

“In the garage?” Mark asked.

“I moved the truck out and filled the garage
with straw bedding and hay, and even moved in the cage with the
baby chicks. That way I could tend and water everyone without me
going outside,” Joshua explained.

“That was brilliant, Joshua,” Mark
complimented him.

“Now, for the next reason we stopped over,” I
continued on, knowing we had lots to do today, “is to bring you
some fresh venison. We managed to harvest one last deer before they
all succumbed to the ash, and we wanted to share it with our
friends. I also brought a dozen eggs, on Emilee’s suggestion and
some smoked fish from Jason.” I selected one of the hind shanks
from the cooler, since now it was for only one person and three of
the fish.

“That’s right generous of you Miss Allexa! I
do appreciate it. I’ll have to hide it from Bossy, she gets upset
when she smells me cooking red meat,” he said in all
seriousness.

* * *

Our next stop was to Ken and Karen, since we
were trying to keep the deliveries in order of where everyone
lived.

As we pulled into their driveway, Ken stepped
out with a shotgun, and then lowered it when he saw it was us.

“What a nice surprise!” Karen said from
behind him. She came forward and gave me a hug, whispering,
“Where’s John?”

“John left and went back to Indiana to be
with his daughter,” I said so all could hear. I didn’t feel like
explaining my new relationship with the doctor, so I changed the
subject. “We were able to harvest two deer since the eruption, and
the second one we want to share.” Mark opened the cooler that sat
in the hatch, and brought out a shoulder section, which he handed
over to Ken.

“I also have something extra for you,” I said
with a grin, and handed Karen a baggie filled with ground
coffee.

Her eyes got wide and moist as she accepted
the gift.

“We have other stops to make, so we can’t
stay,” I told them. I gave Karen a parting hug, and I slipped
something into her hand and gave her a wink. She returned the big
smile when she saw the mini-bottle of whiskey, and I think she was
touched that I remembered she liked adding it to her coffee.

* * *

Anna and George were next on the list, and
likewise we were initially met with a loaded gun. After gladly
accepting our gift, I asked Anna if she’d heard anything from the
county offices.

“Not a word. Although there have been two
calls that came in to the office, no messages were left. So I’m
hoping your ruse was successful! It would be good if they just left
us alone. Although …” she looked pensive, “one of these days we’ll
all run out of food and we’ll have to seek help.”

“Well, let’s hope we can keep that from
happening, Anna.” We said our goodbyes and headed over to Pete’s
house.

* * *

“I’m surprised we weren’t met with weapons
drawn,” I joked when Lenny answered the door.

“No need to. Pete had the car in his sites
from upstairs before you got within a half block!” Lenny laughed.
“Of course we both recognized your car, Allexa. What can we do for
you?” he asked, as Pete approached from behind.

“Remember that venison shoulder you brought
me last December?” I asked, and when he nodded, I went on. “I’ve
come to return the favor.” Mark handed him the second shoulder
section.

His big pale blue eyes, magnified by his
thick glasses, swam with grateful tears.

“What goes around comes around, Lenny,” I
said with a smile as I remembered that cold and snowy day so many
months ago.

“Oh, and here’s an extra gift,” Mark said,
extending a plastic quart jar filled with rice and a bag of dried
macaroni into Pete’s hands.

I intentionally made Bob and Kathy our last
stop, so we could spend some time with them.

“Pastor Carolyn! How good to see you. I
didn’t expect to run into you here!” I gave her a hug. She looked…
hollow, and sad.

“Bob and Kathy were kind to take me in after…
after the horrible mistake I made,” she said, on the edge of tears.
“Oh, how I rue the day I didn’t listen to you!”

“Pastor,” Mark said softly, “every one of
those people made their own decision. It wasn’t your doing and
certainly not your fault.” He placed his hand tenderly on her
shoulder to emphasize his remarks.

“We’ve come bearing gifts!” I said, hoping to
change the somber mood. “Mark, would you bring the cooler over here
please?”

We had settled ourselves on their deck
overlooking Lake Meade. Even though it was a little cool, it felt
good to sit in the sun and breathe fresh air without fear.

Kathy pulled her chair closer to mine and
whispered, “What’s up with you two? And where’s John?”

I whispered back to her, “John left, again.
Mark has moved in.” Which got a shocked look from her, just as Mark
came back, carrying a much lighter cooler.

“Allex and Jason went out after the attack
and harvested one more deer. We’ve been making the rounds all day
sharing it,” Mark stated.

“Attack?”

“What happened?”

“Who attacked you?”

The questions came from all three of
them.

“Jason and Eric were out hunting and were
attacked by a band of wolves,” I told them. “Eric was badly
injured, but Mark saved him. He performed some fancy surgery – on
my massage table! Instead of losing his foot, Eric is well on his
way to recovery.” I looked over at Mark with love and
gratitude.

“Anyway, two days later, Jason and I went
back out and found one deer still alive in the herd. It was a joint
decision that we would share that meat with our friends,” I
announced. “And here is your share. There is a hind shank we were
going to offer to Carolyn and the rump to the two of you. Since
she’s here, we’ll leave it all with you.”

“That’s a lot of meat, Allexa,” Bob said,
stunned.

“I hate to sound corny, but that’s what
friends are for!” I told him.

While Bob was retrieving a bottle of wine
from his dwindling cellar, Kathy and I put the venison in their
refrigerator, along with the melting block of ice, and a bag of
smoked fish.

“How’s Carolyn doing, Kathy, seriously?” I
asked in private.

“Not well. She really does blame herself for
all those people dying,” Kathy said grimly. “We had to physically
restrain her from going out to join them when she heard the
screams. It was awful.” She set five wine glasses on a tray and
turned to me. “What’s with the doctor and what the hell happened to
John?”

“John decided he needed to be with his
daughter, so he went home. Before he did, he asked Mark to take
care of me,” I said, still not believing all that had happened. “So
he moved in, and before you ask and I know you will, yes, we’re
sharing a bed now.” I’ve always been honest with my friend, and it
was good to share that with her.