Chapter 36

That evening, after the twins were tucked into their beds, Paul, Andi, and Yi relaxed in front of a fire in the parlor. Paul sat on the couch and Andi used his lap for a pillow while Yi curled up in the love seat. Both women were covered in blankets, and all three watched the flames dance on the logs in the fireplace. The only sound to be heard was the snap and crackle from the fire until “This house is incredible,” said Yi softly.

“I can’t wait to find out more about it,” answered Andi.

“What do you mean?”

“She hasn’t been here very long,” said Paul. “We were married less than a week before we headed down to Florida. She spent almost as much time on the boat as she did in this house.”

“Yeah,” agreed Andi, “and before we were married, we were in the cabin for almost 5 days. Then when we got here, I spent most of my time going to the symposium and putting our wedding together.”

After watching the flames dancing in the fireplace for a few moments, Yi asked, “What’s on the plan for tomorrow?”

“Chickens and milk,” answered Paul.

“Pardon?”

“Chickens and milk. The twins love this chore.”

“It’s actually eggs and milk,” said Andi, seeing the confused look on Yi’s face. “The girls like the chickens better than the eggs...”

“Unless I make them ‘Hamlets’ for breakfast,” added Paul.

“So, what are these this chickens and eggs and milk thing?” asked Yi.

“We have a few chickens, so we run out to the cabin, feed the chickens, collect the eggs, and trade some eggs with a neighbor for fresh milk,” Andi explained.

“Fresh whole milk?” asked Yi, her eyes wide in anticipation. The cooking she could do with fresh whole milk!

“I should do an inventory at the cabin, see if there’s any dry goods or canned goods we need to stock up on. We probably want to move some firewood to the shed closest to the cabin also,” added Paul.

“Good idea, I’m sure you weren’t planning on 3 extra mouths to feed last time you stocked the cabin,” said Andi. Then she smiled. “Is there a storm headed our way?”

“Next week, but it’s going to be a little one, maybe a foot of snow at best.”

Andi wriggled with excitement under her blanket, then reached up and pulled Paul down for a kiss. “I’ll take a foot,” she sighed after the kiss.

“You guys WANT a storm?” Yi was incredulous.

“We met in the worst blizzard I’ve ever seen,” said Andi, as she snuggled down under the blanket. “The cabin is warm and dry. It’s totally cozy!”

“You could die in a storm!” Yi insisted.

“You can die at sea, but that never stopped you,” said Paul.

“I know the risks at sea.”

“Same thing here, besides someone has to take care of the chickens; we get quite a few eggs out of those girls.”

“We’ll have to haul up extra blankets and pillows too,” said Paul, looking at Yi. “And if worse comes to worse, I have MREs and there’s always fresh chicken.”

The idea of fresh chicken was interesting to Yi. She loved fresh seafood going straight from the fileting knife to the iron skillet. Chicken has to be more flavorful if served fresh. That would only make sense, right? Then again, these are laying chickens. They will probably be tougher than birds that are raised to be roasters. It will have to be something like a soup or stew. “Do you have a few who are no longer producing?”

“Two or three, problem is that the twins have named one of them.”

“Is it Pecky?” asked Andi.

“No, it’s Chook-Chook,” said Paul sadly. Chook-Chook was the girls’ favorite chicken. The twins would have happily eaten Pecky Noodle Soup in retaliation for all the pokes and nips they’ve received from that cantankerous bird, but Chook-Chook was about as sweet to them as a chicken can get and always gave up her eggs without a struggle. She was a young bird, so her age wasn’t an issue. Maybe the lack of daylight? That will cut back on egg production. “I’ll try a few things with them...” then he clicked his fingers. “Protein! I forgot to boost the protein in their winter feed!” He grabbed his phone and tapped out a reminder to himself to get some high protein chicken feed from the feed store in the morning.

Andi kissed his inner thigh and whispered, “I could use some protein, too.”

“I heard that,” Yi said.

“We could arrange some protein for your menu too,” said Paul softly as Andi pulled herself up and sat on his lap.

“I can hear everything you say,” Yi said again.

“I wish the flames were slower,” said Andi.

“Slower?” asked Yi.

“Yeah, at the cabin the flames are slow, like in slow motion. It’s real dreamy looking.”

“We could do that here,” said Paul. “We could put a fireplace insert in, but you would lose the scent and most of the sound of the fire.”

Andi thought back to the fire they had for Christmas. He was burning white birch, which smelled so sweet, it was like an exotic perfume. And those white logs looked so good in the white parlor fireplace. “I don’t know if a big old iron stove would look good in this fireplace,” said Andi with a frown.

“I’ll get some measurements of this fireplace in the morning, and we’ll swing by the Stove & Spa store and see what is available,” said Paul as he added this to his To Do list. “Thank goodness it’s not as big as the fireplace in the library.”

“Library? The town library?” asked Yi, who falling asleep.

“Our library,” said Andi, “or as Gus calls it, the Polka Parlor.” In response, Yi yawned and wordlessly got up and headed upstairs to her room. Andi watched her climb the stairs, then she snuggled into her husband’s lap and they kissed gently. “Did we christen this room yet?”

“Yes, we did, on Christmas night with a house full of guests,” grinned Paul.

“Oh yeah, how are we going to top that?” she pondered.

After a quick, warm shower, the newlyweds retired to their bed. The queen size bed that Paul had been sleeping on for years was replaced by a “California King” just before they headed to Florida, and it, like the walk-in closets and bathtub, remains unchristened. Andi wanted to correct that oversight, but she was asleep by the time Paul carried her in his arms from the shower to the bed.

Captain Paul L. Jarecki, newly minted flight surgeon of the 429th Electronic Combat Squadron, kissed his wife Andi and their 6-month-old twin girls, Sandy and Madeline goodbye, then stepped off the porch, fired up his pickup truck and headed off to base. Andi had seen him in a flight suit in the past, but today he was wearing it “for real”, and that had her worried.

It was hot and dry already. The sun was barely above the horizon and Andi could tell that the heat was going to be brutal. The concrete porch was still warm against her feet from yesterday’s scorcher, and today was supposed to be hotter. It was going to be another day of clinging to the swamp-cooler in the kitchen. “Might as well enjoy the morning while I still can,” she said to herself, and she eased herself into the rocking chair on the porch and watched the tiny city of Clovis NM wake up to another oven-hot day.

The girls didn’t even wake when their daddy kissed them goodbye. They just cooed a little and returned to their slumber and continued to sleep in her arms as she rocked and watched the shadows as they shortened. Not a breath of wind stirred the wilting leaves in the trees, which was both a curse and a blessing. A curse because there was no cooling breeze, but a blessing because the city of Clovis is ringed by six huge cattle feed lots and a puff of wind from any direction brings that aroma into town. Paul once told her it was the smell of money, but you can call it what you want. It’s still the stench of cow shit.