Scorched Earth (Book 1): Good Fences Read online

  It was one of the most memorable days I’d had, and I felt bad I hadn’t seen Frank. I thought I’d invited him, but my memory has been sucking lately. Maybe he just got busy and couldn’t make it.

  “You guys want to do this again next Saturday?” I asked hopefully.

  Everyone did, and I made a note to self, and mentioned it to Randy to have Frank come out. It was almost nine when everyone finally left, leaving Lucy, Spencer and I alone in the house. I suddenly felt a little nervous. We’d had a first date, we’d shared hugs and it was the first time we’d really been alone together, unless you counted the times we’d stood at the fence talking, or a quick visit. I decided to check on the kiddo, and he had fallen asleep again after consuming his weight in pizza, his hand on a car still on the Life board game. I smiled and picked him up, putting him on the couch.

  “Here, I’ll help,” Lucy said kneeling down to help me get the board game put back up.

  Our heads bonked and we both stood up laughing and rubbing them. My eyes locked with hers and she leaned in. Our first kiss didn’t end the world, nor blow my mind, it just made me forget everything. I finally opened my eyes and stepped back a step. She smiled and then turned away and went to the kitchen, tears showing in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” I said.

  “Just, give me a second.”

  I tried to. I finished picking up the board game and put it up. When I turned, Lucy was sitting at the kitchen table and was patting the chair next to her.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way Brian, but I can’t do that again. Not so soon.”

  I knew what she meant. “Yeah that was wonderful… But… does it feel like it’s moving too fast?”

  Lucy nodded.

  “It’s ok, I totally understand.” I told her, and I did, I was feeling the pangs of guilt myself.

  “You do?”

  “It feels like a betrayal. I don’t know. Maybe I’m being stupid,” I said walking away from the table a minute.

  “You know, I really like you, Brian. I know that seems fast, but let’s take this slow.”

  I turned back to her, smiling. “I’m not going anywhere. Let’s be friends first,” I said, “Until we’re both comfortable.”

  “Sounds good. Give me a hand with the little man so I can pack up and get out of here?” Lucy asked me, smiling.

  “Yeah, that’s no problem!” I went over to the couch, and turned off the TV before picking up Spencer.

  We got him buckled in for the short drive and I confirmed that she was going to follow me to church the next day, and we’d talk in-between as needed.

  The kiss had been unexpected, in that it had awakened emotions in both of us that we hadn’t expected to feel. Maybe we weren’t ready to feel them, but I knew would feel better about things when we could figure it out.

  I watched her tail lights fade as she drove off, and wished I hadn’t put the fence in along her stretch. It’d be nicer to just walk her home. I thought about checking on Ruby, but decided to wait till the morning. I’d do the dishes up and head to bed early. No conspiracy theories, no news… Just contented sleep.

  I grabbed the AR and laid its case on top of my dresser in the bedroom and put the Glock on my nightstand.

  “Groovy,” I mumbled, crawling into bed.

  * * *

  That night, I dreamt of something different. It wasn’t a guilt dream at all, it was more of a continuation of what the day could have been if it hadn’t rained. We were all outside, all the families playing, working and laughing. I was confused as to why this moved me so, but then I realized it was the sense of family I had been missing all this time.

  * * *

  Church was good and, as I was trying to sneak out of there quickly, the pastor stopped me when we were shaking hands.

  “Is this Miss Lucy and Mister Spencer with you?” he asked.

  “Yes sir.” I admitted, smiling.

  “Kristen finally saw fit to fill me in,” he dropped me a wink, “but I have an unrelated question for you. The Sandersons are having a bit of a hard time and the father just lost his job. They were asking me if anybody needed any construction work done and I know you do construction…”

  I didn’t, not really, but something clicked. The mountains of work that wasn’t getting done, the pile of money that only grew even if it became worthless. Projects and prepping I really wanted help with. Non mission-critical stuff.

  “Have them give me a call. I probably have enough work for him and his three sons for about a week while I work on my boss,” I said.

  “Wonderful! I’ll let him know.”

  Lucy and I headed out with Spencer, who insisting on walking by himself. Lucy almost had to bend her knees to hold his hand, but she made it to the doors I held open for them and I walked them to their car.

  “What are you doing this afternoon?” she asked.

  “More fencing. How about you?”

  “Thinking about Lasagna and a movie. Interested?”

  Was I?

  “What time?” I asked.

  “Dinner’s at 6. Give you some time to get farm work done.”

  I agreed and we headed our separate ways. I was just pulling into my driveway when an unknown number rang my cell. I answered.

  “Hey Mr. Cartwright, this is Brandon Sanderson. Pastor said you might have some work for me and the boys?”

  “Hi! Hey, yeah I do actually. You any good at putting in a fence?” I asked.

  “I’ve put in a ton; chain link, wrought iron, you know... Pretty much anything. Must be a pretty big fence if it’s a week’s worth of work though.”

  “It’s an eight foot tall barbed wire. I already have post holes dug, just need some strong arms, backs and a good crew chief to do it. I’ve been at it for two weeks by myself and I’m about whipped.”

  We talked a bit more, and soon he was out at the farm with his three kids. They started that afternoon, which suddenly freed up my day. I dug out my list and decided to head towards Saginaw to hit my favorite store. Home Depot. I could get there, buy some toys and get back home in time to unload, clean up and go to Lucy’s house.

  10

  The next week flew by in a hurry. Not only did the Sanderson’s finish the section of fence I wanted, I had them put in fencing all the way around the Farm. Brandon Sanderson asked if there was more they could do, and I know what it feels like to be broke, and there was one more project I wanted done so I told him yes. If he’d go to Family Farm and Home and buy two of the biggest heaviest gates and opener he could, I could probably keep him busy through Friday. Sure enough, as I was leaving a little late on Friday I got a text saying they were done.

  I’d already pulled money out of the bank to pay the Sandersons in cash, so I didn’t have to declare it if they didn’t want me to. They’d worked very long hours to get things done and I’d gone through a surprising amount of materials. Still, it was worth it for my peace of mind.

  “Hey Frank,” I said, opening his office door.

  “Hey Brian, come on in,” he said with a smile.

  “A bunch of us are going to meet up tomorrow at the farm and shoot some guns and stuff. It’s BYOB and potluck style. Interested?” I asked him knowing that we’d already broken through the boss/employee barrier somewhat.

  “Sure, what time?”

  “If the weather holds out, how about noon-ish?”

  “I’d love to! Thanks for the invite.”

  “Great, I’ll see you then!”

  “Have a good Friday!”

  I left and headed to the farm store to sign my credit card slip for the day. I’d had the Sandersons pick up the materials but I had to go in and sign for it. It’d been a habit as a ton of projects were finished, including a little 10x10 room in the barn on the other side of the farrowing pen. It was a small faraday cage built to Randy’s specs, and I planned on storing stuff in there. I signed my tab and headed home to find my way blocked by two big industrial sized gates that looked heavy
enough to stop a rampaging Ruby. A chromed chain wrapped around it, with a Krieg padlock holding things together.

  “They didn’t have an opener big enough,” Brandon said from the other side of the fence.

  I was grinning and grinning big. This was awesome. The tubing on the fence was easily two to three inches thick, powder coated in a blue color. The wooden posts next to the steel ones were eight feet tall and the gates were easily six foot tall.

  “I don’t think that pig of yours can escape from this,” Brandon said.

  I blamed a rampaging Ruby for my wanting such heavy gates, but in truth, it would be fun to have an afternoon not interrupted by George’s antics. Speaking of which, I hadn’t heard from him or about him or anything to do with him for some time. They handed me the keys and I unlocked the gate. I pushed one side open and it swung smoothly, level.

  I saw that they had used my Kubota to regrade the road so the gate was a close fit to the ground. The balance and level was perfect, so what was probably 300lbs of steel swung as smoothly as a car door.

  “The propane company stopped out today, you have a new tank and a second truck filled it. They said you didn’t want this one hooked up yet?” Brandon asked.

  “Yeah, I’ll do that when I figure out how I want to use it. I’m thinking about a propane back-up generator someday, but honestly, with the prices of propane going up, I figured since I’m spending some of Cathy’s money, I might use part of it as an investment against inflation,” I told him, testing the swing of the gate again. “This is awesome,” I tried not to jump up and down in excitement. I told them I’d be right back, and went to the safe in the house and got the cash to pay them - with a big tip each.

  Their eyes were huge as I counted out the week’s wages to each of them, and promised to call them when I had more work, or if they were interested in firewood cutting and splitting. They were.

  “But, tomorrow I’m going to talk to my boss. He’s heading out this way and I can show him your work in person.”

  “Really? That’d be great, and the boys here?”

  “They look pretty good to me. I just do quotes, I don’t swing hammers for a living, so it’d be to a different boss or crew, nothing I know much about actually.”

  “Thanks Mr. Cartwright,” I heard from four different voices.

  We all shook hands and the boys whooped and laughed in happiness as their old pickup truck left. I locked my new gates and headed in. I’d have to get a sign. Something snappy like… Call first… or do you have an appointment? With all the new fencing up, I was definitely going to put up no hunting and no trespassing signs. Even my section of woods was fenced off, though eight foot of fencing wasn’t going to stop a whitetail deer. Still, it felt good, secure.

  I headed inside and grabbed a beer and sat down on the front porch. Gone were the piles of fence poles, the 400lb rolls of wire, and I was able to fit both tractors inside the barn. I was sitting comfortably until I remembered that I had a half a pallet of solar stuff and two wall heaters I’d bought the past Sunday that I wanted to put in there until I figured out where I wanted to set things up, and while I was up, I might as well go check on Ruby.

  She’d ended up having 7 piglets and they sure were growing fast. With her new brood and the 4 grow outs, I was soon going to be over crowded. I knew it was time to call the abattoir, but I hadn’t gotten a ton of people pre-purchasing the pork. It’d all sell eventually, but I might have to pay the abattoir some freezer space. I finished my beer as I looked at the pile of dry goods I still hadn’t done, and the new faraday cage. It was a simple enough affair, a metal double insulated room that was grounded to the floor. According to Randy, it’d work no matter what. I believed him, and moved the cardboard boxes of solar panels inside it.

  I’d got a charge controller and some other do dads that Randy said I needed, and I put those in there also. While I was at it, I considered the impulse sealer but decided I’d better use it first. I reluctantly un-tarped my supplies and did my least favorite part of prepping. The mind numbing process of putting away food.

  I tore open the bag of rolled oats and got a bucket and 6 gallon liner out and filled the bucket. When it was done, I sealed the top, put a lid on and kept going. Each 50lb bag of oats was 2 ½ buckets, so I ended up storing five in all. Then it was time to split up the nuts, which were basically shelf stable. I used 1lb bags and filled a bunch of them up. I’d drop in an oxygen absorber and then seal it quickly until I finished a box. Then I’d put those nuts into buckets. I’d layer them in a fun way. One layer was peanuts, pecans, cashews, almonds, pistachios etc. Then I’d make the same layer on top of that until the bucket was full.

  My phone chirped, alerting me to an email or text message, but I kept going. I was just about finished when it rang with Lucy’s distinctive ring tone that I’d assigned to her after Sunday. I wiped my hands clean and answered.

  “Hello there,” I said.

  “I was going to stop in and surprise you with a salad and some company, but there’s this big ugly gate blocking you off from the road.”

  “Isn’t it a thing of beauty?” I asked, already moving towards my Chevy.

  “Men,” she said with a giggle, and hung up.

  I knew she was expecting me to go let her in and I didn’t plan on disappointing her. I shut and locked the gate behind her and she followed me back to the barn.

  “I just have to finish a few things up in here before we eat,” I told her, returning to my bench with the bags and sealer.

  “What’s that?” Spencer asked, seeing the stacks and stacks of buckets.

  “Just some rainy day supplies,” I told him.

  I walked over and found a miscellaneous bucket that I’d never put a lid on and found the foil pack that I was looking for right away. I ripped it open and handed it to him.

  “What’s that?” Lucy asked me suspiciously.

  “Ice cream,” I told her with a grin.

  Lucy pushed me aside and grabbed the foil packet, “Never get between a woman and ice cream,” she instructed, and took a bite of the freeze dried treat.

  “Oh wow, this is pretty good,” she said, handing the packet back to Spencer.

  I’d made those small foil packs with kids in mind, and apparently it wasn’t a bad idea because the kiddo put one in his mouth cautiously to test it out. He then began to devour it and I had to laugh. I had about ten more minutes’ worth of work to do and I knocked it out while Spencer and Lucy checked out all of the animals.

  “Babies,” Spencer told me solemnly as I was putting things away, brushing off the desk and throwing away empty bags.

  “Yeah, we got quite a few of them here at the farm, don’t we buddy?” I asked him.

  “I want to be a farmer too!” Spencer said, all grins and smiles.

  “Yeah, well farming doesn’t make you a lot of money, you know,” I told the little man.

  “I want to be a farmer,” he insisted.

  Lucy petted his head. “So you shall be. Come on, looks like Brian is done. Let’s go eat before the salad goes bad.”

  We headed in and, after washing my hands I sat down. Spencer was eyeing the salad with a face of skepticism and I had to laugh. I never used to like eating it either, so I could understand.

  “I don’t want this,” he complained.

  I knew it! “Hey buddy. Looks like mom put some chicken nuggets in yours,” I said, pointing to the chopped chicken.

  “Yup,” Lucy said, shooting me a grateful smile, “and it even has branch on it,” she said putting the sauce over his salad in his kid size bowl.

  I assumed branch was Ranch, because that’s the dressing we were using.

  “It’s yucky.”

  “If you don’t want to eat it, I will,” I said stabbing another forkful and taking a big bite.

  The kid looked at me skeptically. Then he got ahold of his fork in his little fist and stabbed a piece of chicken. The salad wouldn’t fly off, so he shoved it in his mouth, leaving a white
streak of dressing on his cheek. His eyes went wide and he smiled, almost showing me his food.

  “Good?” Lucy asked.

  “Umm huh,” he said, stabbing another forkful again.

  “Listen Brian, I wanted to ask you about tomorrow…” she began, referring to our get together.

  “Sure?”

  “A couple of the ladies I met at church were wanting to take me to the mall. I don’t really have any other lady friends around here being new. Would you mind if…”

  “Hey, that’s understandable. If you want, leave the little man with me and go have a girls’ day. We’ll have a lot of fun, maybe rope Kristen and Brenda to go with you too?”

  “Wait, I wasn’t asking you to watch Spencer,” she said, looking concerned.

  “Oh, sorry.” I hoped I didn’t just cross a line or push a boundary, I was trying to go slow… uuber slow.

  “Well, I was going to ask if you didn’t mind if I went with them. I’m not big into guns, really. I’d be home in time for food, and…”

  “I don’t mind, Lucy,” I said, putting my hand over hers, and then took another bite to eat.

  “I want to stay with Brian if you go,” Spencer spoke up between bites, “He doesn’t put a timer on SpongeBob!”

  My eyes went wide and Lucy flushed in embarrassment. It took me a second to understand, but then it was me who felt it. I wasn’t not used to kids. I’d never had any, and I was an only child. I just treated Spencer like he was a people. Not a little kid, nor a grown up. He walked and talked very well for his age, and I sometimes forgot he was only 2.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you limit TV time,” I said after a moment of silence.

  “It’s ok. I just don’t want to be that single mom who uses the TV to babysit her kid. I don’t mind when he’s here, it’s a treat and he knows it. I think he’s turning out to be a little manipulator actually,” she said, poking at his nose.

  He pretended to bite at her hand and she laughed, pulling it back in play and making sure all her digits were still there.