Chapter 104: Waking up Alone

I was alone in the trailer, in a bed I’d never slept in. It was a strange feeling and threw me for a minute. The modern conveniences were nice though. I decided to save the shower for the end of the work day, so after a quick cleanup, I went out for coffee. I had a quiet word with Matilda, Michelle, and Sonya, to remind them that this was Memorial Day weekend back in the future. We’d have to have some sort of private ceremony to celebrate our lost future families.

After breakfast, the council gathered for a quick morning meeting. I pointed out that summer solstice was approaching and it was to be one of our four major holidays, so we needed to prepare a festival. Then we got down to today’s business. Timmons was going down to the landing to wait for his boat to come in. We sent a scout down with him for security and company. Kordi was also sent along, so she could fetch us when the boat arrived. Pete had a scout who loved to fish, so he was the chosen one for that mission. With that sorted, we moved on to the rest of the day.

The livestock would be good for a couple more days in the pasture before they started to stress that resource. At that point, they’d need to be driven out to the prairie to graze. The producing cows, pigs, and work animals would stay here. Today, we needed to clear the path to the Landing so we could move our goods quickly when they arrived. I’d take the men to work on that; Pete and his guys had their own business to attend to. Michelle would get the women organized while Sonya, Mouse, and I worked in the office.

School for the kids today was to be short classes on the letters, math and language. Then Mary would start teaching the basics of weaving, braiding, and the like. Meeting over, responsibilities delegated, and time to get to work, all before the clock struck seven.

I saddled up Lunch and led our team of men out to what would become Rulo Road, or just, ‘the road,’ in conversation. Street names became just another item on our growing ‘To Do’ list. We had the mules in traces and several other pack animals with travois, to remove brush and debris. We also had every single lumbering or clearing tool I owned. The boat was bringing more tools and, hopefully, it was bringing them today.

We went to work to widen and level the slight path we had been using. We only had a couple of axes, but we cleared the brush and smoothed it as best we could. Our limited tools minimized what we could do immediately, but I expected that to change quickly. We had almost made it the few miles to the bluff when Kordi came bursting up to meet us. The boat had come in and it wasn’t even noon yet.

I told everyone with tools to keep working. The rest of us took the pack animals and went down to greet the boat. I was eager to find out what Patrick had managed to accomplish.

The boat was successfully moored and they were prepping for offload when we showed up. They had tied her up parallel to the beach so they could run out their loading ramp directly from the main cargo house door. While the men finished the prep work, I took a minute with Patrick and Timmons for a quick welcome and to issue immediate instructions.

I wanted to feed everyone first and then turn to tasks for the afternoon. There would be a celebration, of sorts, tonight. Tomorrow was Sunday, our designated day of rest. We drew up that simple plan and gathered the men to head up for our midday meal. We picked up the road team as we went by. The group headed back in a column of about two dozen men. We left two guards behind; we’d bring them food on our return.

Matilda was ready for us. How that woman knew these things was still a mystery to me, but there was a huge pile of wraps waiting for us on the table, dead in the middle of the village. Making enough food for fifty-plus people, while making it easy and tasty, is quite a chore even in the modern age. Doing it all from scratch, over a fire, is a flat-out wonder.