Chapter 40

My focus became hunting. The fact was that I'd realized the night of the venison stew that feeding thirty-six people was going to be hard work, if all we had was what I killed. That one meal had used up most of one doe and while we still had a ton of bear in the freezer, if worse came to worse and our 'benefactors' cut us off, then we'd be up shit creek real fast.

Not everyone was excited when I made the announcement that I needed to go hunting again. Emma was one of them. Concerned my wife cornered me at breakfast the day after the venison stew.

"You're not going west again, are you?" my wife asked in a worriedly voice. "That's too far away, isn't it?"

"I know that honey," I responded softly, noting her concerned gaze and the worry in her voice. I reached out and held her hand and squeezed it, offering her my reassurance, as I continued to speak to her, "and I don't intend to go there unless I have to. There's plenty of game about here anyway. I'm going to see what there is south of the lake where we've been cutting wood and maybe east of it. I've noticed that the area past the escarpment has thinned out a lot in the past month and I've spotted quite a lot of game in that direction. In fact, if the hunting is good there, it will probably become our main hunting ground. The escarpment is less than an hour away and if I leave early in the morning, I could probably bag something within a couple of hours and be back and butchering it well before suppertime."

My wife accepted the words eagerly, but didn't let things go completely. She was still concerned and she let me know just how concerned she really was.

"You'll be taking someone with you, right?" Emma asked pointedly, more as a statement of fact than a question. I just smiled back at her and nodded my head.

I had no problems getting volunteers to join me traipsing about our neighbouring woods in the quest for suitable game to put on our table. I found out that people were bored. It had been well over a week since the last mobile home had been put together and it had been the same amount of time since my mother had started harvesting our vegetable garden. In fact, it was now almost two weeks and in that time, people had gotten bored. The truth of the matter was that there wasn't much to do now that the construction work had been put on hiatus until after everyone had given birth. Even taking care of what stock we had didn't require a great effort. My mother supervised a team of six of my nieces who alternated between collecting eggs, feeding the chickens, slopping the hogs, milking the cows, cleaning stalls, laying down fresh straw, and making certain that the rest of the stock, from our goats to the horses got fed. It kept the six girls busy but that was that. The rest of the family had been left to their own devices.

I realized this when I asked who wanted to go hunting with me and suddenly found myself surrounded by a dozen women. It made me stop and think for a bit. In fact, it made me postpone my hunting trip that day; at least for a few hours. Instead, I poured myself another coffee and got a piece of coffee cake from Betty and then invited the family to a meeting.

The meeting turned out to be straight forward and amiable. We all ended up in the dining hall and I was elected to get things started.

"All right," I said, standing in the middle of the room and glancing about as I spoke, "I noticed something this morning and it got me thinking ... and before anyone get's smart, I do that from time to time. I noticed that people are getting bored around here. Part of that is because the big job of working on the construction site has ground to a halt and part of it is because of the weather. We're in the middle of fall here and we all know that winter is just a couple of months away. Nobody wants to go outside and even if they did, there isn't much to do, besides exercising the horses. That's what this meeting is about. We need to come up with something to do or we're going to go buggy this winter staring at the four walls of our mobile homes."

"Something other than having sex," my wife pointed out bluntly, glancing about and staring down a couple of my nieces who had started to smirk.

"Or watching the Adam Porn Station," interjected Betty with a knowing look in her eye.

"Or just sitting around and watching normal videos," my mother added, "on our entertainment systems."

"I agree," I stated sombrely, "that we need to do something other than those three pastimes."

As I said this, I glanced about at the women in the room. Most of them had been smiling at me and several had been smirking. It was obvious what they had been thinking. They weren't smiling and smirking anymore. In fact, most didn't look very happy. I didn't let that stop me from going on.

"The fact is," I continued firmly, "that we need to find something else to do that will not only keep us busy this winter, but that will also help us move forward towards self-sufficiency."

That got them. Several looked surprised by my suggestion and there was a collective 'oh' murmured in a hush voice about the room. That murmur was followed by a moment of silence that was broken by a tentative question.

"Like what?" Mindy asked in a low voice, glancing about as she did. Then before I could answer, her mother spoke up wondering the same thing.

"Yeah," Tilly stated loudly, "some of us don't have skills like Betty and Sally. I'm a teacher. I could run a class on Grade Six math or American History, but don't ask me to churn butter or something like that. I've never done it."

As she spoke, I noticed that others nodded their heads in agreement. While most came from her family, I noted that a couple of my nieces were nodding their heads as well. Fortunately, my sister-in-law Bethany saved the day.

"It doesn't matter what you know today," Bethany declared with confidence. "When Adam brought that bear home and we skinned it, I got the idea that we might want to start keeping any furs and skins that we got and turn them into clothing and other useful items. I'll tell you now that I'd never worked a skin in my life until I started working on that skin. The thing is that the moment I touched it with the intention of working it, the knowledge was there. It was just like everything else we do here. I never operated a scraper before or a backhoe, but the moment I touched the controls, I knew what to do and it was the same thing here."

"So there you go," I jumped in, nodding my thanks to Bethany as I did. "You don't need to already have a skill to do something. All you need to do is pick something and our 'benefactors' will provide the knowledge."

"Well," Mindy spoke up again, "I'll pick something but I don't want to have anything to do with tanning leather. What I've read in books, it sounds messy."

"You don't have to take on jobs that you're not comfortable with," I declared firmly, glancing about as I did, "but I do think we need to take on a few projects that will help us reclaim skills that our ancestors had and that most of us have forgotten. Besides all the canning and preserving that Betty and her kitchen crew have done, we haven't really focused on the future. Like Bethany said over a month ago, we've become complacent. That complacency hasn't gone away. Oh, we've made a couple of decisions that got us better winter accommodations than the tent complex that our 'benefactors' had wanted us to live in, but beyond that we've done very little to ensure that we'll be surviving as a family in a year or two. To do that, we need to change our attitude and stop coasting through this experience. We need to take on jobs and to finish them."

"We could take up knitting," suggested Brenda enthusiastically. "I used to knit when I was younger and I was pretty good at it. Seeing that we're almost all pregnant, it might be fun knitting baby booties and caps and blankets between now and when we deliver. All we need is the aliens to provide us with some wool and knitting needles. I could teach people how to knit."

"That's a great idea," I replied enthusiastically, beaming my appreciation at Brenda, "and in time, we might get some sheep and start our own wool production. That would definitely be a step forward. In the meantime, we need to come up with a few other projects that we can do this winter that will carry over into our new life here. For now, like Brenda suggested, we can ask our 'benefactors' for help providing us with the basic supplies, but eventually, whatever we do, we need to become independent of their assistance. It's the only way we can guarantee that our descendants will survive."

Our community chat went on for the next hour. As it went, the discussion became enthusiastic. People came up with several ideas that they wanted to pursue. In that time we decided on a couple of projects that met with everyone's approval. One included making use of the workshop that our 'benefactors' had provided us when we first came here and that we'd made use of only a few times since. The facility was in the middle of the terminal sea container and it was packed full of wood working tools, just waiting to be used. Remembering it had put a thought into my head and I was able to convince half a dozen of the women to start a project of making wooden dishes for daily use by the family. Currently we used plastic camp dishes, which had been provided with the kitchen unit. My thought was to replace most of them with wood. We could make cups, plates, bowls, and utensils. My sister Jane decided to take it on and she quickly had half a dozen volunteers to help her out. My sister-in-law Heather decided that she'd try to make some furniture from wood. We were still eating off the collapsible picnic tables that had been provided to us when we first got here. Heather thought she could replace them, with some help from our 'benefactors'. After all, while we had wood, we didn't have a lumber mill and we didn't cut lumber that would serve as table tops. As she put it, for now she would focus on learning the skill and next year we'd focus on supplying the wood that we needed. I had to agree with her.

The other project that someone wanted to take on was the weaving of baskets. Melody thought it was a great thing to try out and I encouraged her to take it on. Again, we'd have to ask for the basic material from our 'benefactors' but the important thing was that people would be doing something other than sitting about staring at four walls and griping about being fat, pregnant, and bored. As you can see, part of this discussion was self preservation on my part. There was only one of me and thirty-five of them and if they were bored I'd be the one hearing about it.

I did go hunting that day. I took Lizzy with me. We both went and saddled a mare and took them for a little exercise. We rode down to the lake. By then it was mid morning, heading towards noon. We brought Duchess along as company. We also brought along our firearms. As always, Lizzy was armed with her carbine. She was there for my protection since I was going to do the actual hunting. I, on the other hand, had brought the 12-gauge pump action shotgun.

It made sense to me. Every time we'd gone out, whether exploring or cutting wood or hunting, we've always spooked small game. Sometimes it been a hare, but mostly it had been some kind of game bird. Since we weren't heading up on the escarpment, I'd decided that the 12-gauge loaded with buckshot would do the trick. After all, I'd wanted duck for a while now and in the last week or so, several flocks had flown over our settlement heading for warmer climes. A few had rested up on our lake, joining our resident flock. A shotgun would take care of them.

The rest of the morning went well. Lizzy and I hobbled the horses on the grass to the east of the lake and then strolled slowly northward. Most of the thickets and brush was now bare of any foliage and we could see the waters edge quite clearly. As for Duchess, she took the lead. As we went along she actually flushed a couple of quails that I dropped easily. Of course, my gunfire startled about a dozen ducks that were swimming nearby. The birds started a flapping and the splashing of their wings on the water drew my attention to them. As they started to rise off of the lake and swing away from me, I fired three more times. Amazingly, my aim was true and I dropped all three. That was when I was really surprised. Duchess went for the birds; obviously, our 'benefactors' had programmed her to go after waterfowl. She swam out and got one and brought it back to me and then to shock me even more she swam out and got the other two, one after another, without a word from me or any indication that more than one bird was bobbing about on the water.

The next day went something like that again. This time I took Samantha with me and my daughter Karen. The two had become inseparable. This time I took the 30-06 with me. We went for a walk south of the lake in the area that we'd been cutting trees for firewood. Again I brought Duchess along. Within an hour Duchess had flushed a couple of deer. I dropped them quickly with the semi-automatic and called it a day. We had roast venison that night.

The third day I woke to rain. It was a gray, overcast day and while the rain was really nothing more than a constant drizzle, it was cold and it put a chill and dampness into the air. The rain had started well before dawn and it was still falling when I got to the dining hall. I found my hunting party waiting for me there. They were all dressed for the weather. They each had on a rain smock, rain pants, heavy boots, and a floppy bush hat that would keep the rain out of their eyes.

My party consisted of Vicky, Lizzy, Karen, Samantha, and Helena. They were all sitting together discussing the coming day and drinking their morning coffee. I greeted them all with a smile and then went to the kitchen unit to grab my breakfast. While there, I made certain to greet the kitchen staff properly. I gave Betty a big hug and a kiss and a squeeze of her ass and then did the same to Tilly and her daughter Mindy. I even gave Mindy a pat on the belly. Of all my women, because of her youth and her slight frame, she was beginning to show the most. My attention was appreciated by all.

"So are we ready to hunt today?" I asked casually as I sat down with my team. My question was answered with nods of agreement, enthusiastic smiles, and mutterings of 'of course'. I smiled in return before digging into my meal.

"Adam," Vicky said once I'd wolfed down at least half my morning meal and waiting until I was sipping my coffee, "we were talking before you got here. Helena was interested in knowing whether you'd spotted any sign of predators over the last couple of days. Lizzy, Karen, and Samantha told her no. Personally, I find that strange."

"I do too," Helena added, looking at me with concern on her face. "It just doesn't make any sense that we haven't spotted hide or hair of a predator since the 'big bird' attack."

"Unless the safe zone theory is back on the table," Lizzy pointed out. "Maybe our 'benefactors' decided three predator attacks over a couple of days was enough excitement for a while."

"Perhaps," I murmured thoughtfully, putting down my coffee cup and picking up my fork as I spoke, "and perhaps not. I hadn't thought about it, but you're right, we haven't seen anything to suggest there are any predators in this area anymore. Still we need to be vigilant. That's one of the reason you five are coming hunting with me today. I need somebody watching my back while I shoot whatever we find."

"True," Helena acknowledged, picking up her own coffee as she spoke, "but it still makes me wonder at what's going on."

We left it at that. The day was progressing slowly and we needed to hit the trail soon. After finishing eating and disposing of our dishes, I started delegating assignments. We were heading up onto the escarpment today and the trip required a little more effort that the previous two excursions we had taken. For this trip we'd be taking three Argos and two trailers. We needed something to haul our kills back in. The big job was emptying and repacking the two trailers. I gave that job to Lizzy and Helena. I wanted everything that we didn't need out of the trailers and I wanted a few extras put into them. The extras were a large metal tub and some large plastic tarps. I intended to use the traps to wrap up our kills after we'd skinned and gutted them. It would help to keep things nice and neat and tidy. I also made certain that they kept one axe, one camp saw, my field butchering kit, and some rope in the trailer. We'd need those items when we field dressed our kills. While Lizzy and Helena took care of that job, I sent Karen and Samantha to the kitchen unit with a thermal pack to get Betty to pack us a warm lunch. By now the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to peek through the clouds. However it was still damp and chilly out. A warm lunch would be appreciated later on. They also included several thermoses of coffee and tea.