Chapter 5: The trip

During the next few days I kept busy, improving our accommodation with the parts I found among the wrecks. Yes! I managed to get a tap from a tank fitted to the side of the wrecked truck, which had been crushed. I was able to unscrew it and rescue the nut and washer, which fell into the tank. I cut the top off the 44 Gallon drum knocked a hole near the bottom and managed to screw the tap in there.

Using wheels from the cars, I removed the tires stacked them flat two high on three sides. Standing the drum on the rims, leaving an area in the middle to light a small fire. The most difficult task was filling the drum with water. (I will use the detergent drums as buckets once they are empty). With a small fire under the tank and keep it going all day will produce our hot water.

I used the sink units the same way, standing them on wheels lying flat. With a bit of whittling I was able to make some sink plugs.

With the truck frames I managed to erect two structures one for our kitchen and another for our bathroom. With a tarpaulin over the top of each structure and down the side it keeps the wind out. In addition I cut some brush and pushed the cut ends into the ground to make a hedge and windbreak, it also camouflages the structures.

The Solar panels were working beautiful and I now have ten functional batteries.

I got the winches on the big truck working, and pulled all the wrecks over to the far eastern side of the clearing. Now they were in an orderly row, as well as the old fridge and washing machine that we found in the van and the area in general tidied up.

A set of steps was made from the crates in the old truck to makes it easier to get in and out of the van. Also a small decking with the short pieces from the small crates, it now stops the mud from our feet being taken inside the van.

We don't need to go to the stream to wash now that we have the sinks and bath working. Since there were no pipe connections on the bath and sink I made up a short pipe with old tins. The run-off made from some short pieces of tin into a soak well that I dug out and covered as I did the latrines. Making sure that it was covered with earth as it was close to our living quarters.

Jane was quickly picking up English, and I some of hers but I find it hard to get my tongue round some of the words. We can now make up small sentences, sometimes using the wrong words, but at least we can talk to each other now. Sometimes I wish that I hadn't taught her, as at times she chatters on non-stop for hours. But it is nice to have her around. I have learnt a lot from her about living off the land and finding edible vegetation previously I would have ignored. She still can't pronounce her R's, any word with an R in it sounds like L. but who cares I understand her.

We managed to find a couple of pairs of shoes that fitted Jane, well a pair of Runners and a pair of slip-ons. She now feels comfortable wearing them.

In the case of clothing, there was a pair of slacks, which she now wears and she looks quite modern. Whether they are going to be practical we will have to wait and see

In bed she is a dynamo and is nothing like any woman that I had sex with before the incident.

I also found out what the small figures are, it is there God Mother Earth and the figures represent her. Clearly all the men carry this symbol around in a small bag around their necks if they are worthy hunters. Jane has never heard of women carrying them. I gave her one, at first she was reluctant to take it but I insisted, eventually she relented and clasped it in her fist.

Now the weather is improving and the buds are opening on the trees, I want to go on a recce of the surrounding area. We have packed rations for a week in two small packs one which was mine and the other having belonged to the driver of the army truck.

Jane now carries a knife on a belt, in a sheath she must have made from the deer hide. She chose a knife with a wicked 7 inch blade, which she uses for doing everything. We found one day a round flat sandstone about 2.5 inches in diameter and this she keeps in a small bag to keep the blade sharp. Also in the bag is the small figure of Mother Earth wrapped in a small piece of cloth, which she cherishes very much.

All our other gear that was loose I stowed away before we left.

Jane told me there were other families living in the area. The men who had attacked her live in a land far to the west and periodically come on raiding forages. There appears to be a declared war between the two clans of people.

All her relatives live in the area but it seems that when a woman is given in marriage she never returns to her parent's home. Jane's people have a custom, that if a man kills another man then he is responsible for the slain mans family. I suppose this would stop quarrels from getting to much out of hand.

The raiding parties are out for loot and women. The women they take back for concubines, but are treated like slaves seldom do they take male hostages.

Why they left Jane she doesn't know. They had staked her out wanting to know where she had hidden her salt, which seems to be worth more than gold.

She was so surprised that I had so much and every ration pack held a small packet of salt. I included a few packets to take with us to be used for trade, or gifts, if we happened to meet any locals.

As we left the clearing I looked back over my shoulder, and was surprised at the change that had taken place over the past few weeks. I also felt that I was leaving home. Never before have I ever felt so attached to any place.

We made for Jane's old home site; I intended to sweep round in a circle to see what lay in the immediate area and always be within a few hours of home base. Well that was the idea anyway.

We passed the spot where we were ambushed, and there was hardly anything left of the three men who had attacked us. It looks as if the wild animals and the crows had picked their bones clean, and they were scattered all over the place.

When we arrived at the clearing that had been her previous home, I spotted the tears running down Jane's face. From what she had told me the children had been hers and the man who had lain over her body was that of her husband. The house had burnt to the ground and there was no sign whatever of any bones. We did not linger but continued on.

Instead of turning east, we carried on south-east to a path I hadn't noticed the last time I was in this clearing. Jane wanted me to follow her in that direction. First change in my plan.

In about one hour we came to another but larger clearing, with five of these low round houses. It was obvious the village was deserted as some of the roofs of the houses had been burnt and there was skeletal remains lying in the open ground. This no doubt had been the result of a similar raid, which had devastated Jane's old home.

This time we just walked through the village and headed on to the path, which this time was going in the direction, which I wanted to go.

A short way in we arrived at a small clearing by a stream with a felled tree over it and decides this was as good a place as any to have a small snack and a rest. We were in no real hurry anyway. I was getting a bit cheesed off though with all this forest, and was hoping to see some wide-open space. The biggest space so far that I had seen was our own clearing. The wildlife round here was plentiful, and there were signs everywhere that they used this stream as a watering place. There were even wolf tracks as well as badger and wildcat. If there were predators then there had to be game.

I lay back to look at the sky, but that was an open invitation for Jane to lie down by my side and start kissing me. I pulled her too me and gave her a big hug. I could feel that she just wanted to be beside someone and be just held and comforted.

I asked her if she knew anyone in the village we past through and she said it was her dead husbands home village. There had been over twenty people living there. Of course she didn't say twenty but opened both her hands twice.