Chapter 9

Teechi and I left them to it and went back to help out on our side. I wasn't really needed at first, and then Saytha asked me to take the bed apart. It didn't take long and wasn't much trouble to carry the mattress, box springs, bed frame, and headboard out and store it way back in the warehouse. I let them take care of spreading the furs on the floor. Hell, I slipped off to make a pot of coffee.

I was just sitting down with a cup when Cowta came through from his new digs. I invited him to sit down and try some, and he agreed. He screwed up his face with the first taste, but I was getting tired of being the only coffee drinker here so I encouraged him to give it a fair test.

"No one likes it the first time they taste it. You should try it at least a few times to make sure you don't come to like it. In a few minutes you will feel what it does for you," I said.

"Very well. You have already proved to be very wise and I will try the coffee as often as I can stand it on your say so alone," he said.

Hell, I knew he was a goner already. If a person gets two or three cups down they are hooked for life, and I knew it very well. I don't think it took more than that one cup for Cowta. When I went to fill mine again he asked if he could have more also.

"That's one thing you never have to ask, Cowta. If you want coffee and we have the makings, you can have coffee. I do want to warn you that if you drink too much too quickly it might make you nervous. Also, if you drink it before going to bed you will have a harder time going to sleep," I said.

"Maybe it will help keep me awake at times when I seem to be sleepy but don't want to sleep yet," he said.

"It probably will."

"The coffee talk and trial got me off track though. There are two things in the new cave that I have never seen before. They stick out from the wall but it is obvious they are carved from something, even though it is something I do not know about," he said.

"Let's go see if I know about it then."

When he led me to the hot and cold faucets I was surprised. Of course I hadn't stayed in this cave very long but I hadn't noticed them at all. It wasn't all that odd though since it was a very big cave and they were off in an out of the way place and the eternal light in here wasn't that bright. Cowta hadn't noticed two other things near them though. One was a floor drain that was made to resemble just a rough stony part of the floor. The other was a four-inch plumbing stub-out that was covered by a small dull plate to keep it closed until it was used.

Cowta was clearly amazed when I showed him how to work the faucets, especially when he discovered that one of them was for hot water, and he was also fascinated that it all ran down the camouflaged drain right away. I didn't point out the accommodation for a commode yet though.

I was pretty sure there'd been an old one in one of my storage buildings but I wasn't sure that greenie and the guys had moved it along with everything else. The only reason it had been replaced in the first place was because I wanted something a little more fancy in the Master Bath. If I did locate it we could do the honors tomorrow. I'm sure that Cowta, Shanay, and Biltee could take one more night of shitting and pissing outside.

As I was leaving I saw Shanay assembling one of those skin bag things they used for cooking pots and I remembered the hundred-quart stewpot the spacemen had sent with me when they put me down in the wrong place. Hundred-quart hell, I had plenty of pots and pans, now that my whole house was here.

"Shanay, are you going to make a stew or soup?" I asked

"Yes."

"I think I have something you can use that will make it much easier. Would you like to try it?"

"I would like to see it at least," she said.

I took her to the kitchen and looked through the pots and pans I had. It took a few minutes to explain how they worked, but even though she'd never seen such a thing she understood what it was all about in only a couple of minutes. I let her take her pick and she chose a twelve-quart size.

"You are sure that it will not be damaged if I put it very near the coals?" she asked.

"I'm sure, and if you don't like it please tell me and we will pick something else for you to try," I said.

"If it can sit so near the coals I will like it. It should cook the stew with much less wood since it is closer to the heat," she said, and then she left smiling.

Saytha had come in just as Shanay was leaving with her prize. She didn't ask me anything but she was giving me a look that let me know she was curious.

"Shanay was about to start cooking some stew in a hide bag. I gave her one of my pots so that it would be easier," I said, explaining.

"But do you have so many you can give them away?" she asked.

"I have a lot of them, and I even think I can find out how to make more out of clay," I said.

"How can you make something out of clay to cook in?" she asked.

"First we have to find the right kind of clay, then we must build a potters wheel, and then an oven to fire the pottery in after we make it," I said, and realized she couldn't understand much of that, especially after I saw her blank stare.

"Don't worry, I will show you soon and you will see almost at once then," I said.

Since I didn't know very damned much about the details of making pottery, I wasn't anxious to get into a big discussion of the fine points. I would have to do some looking around in the information the spacemen left me on my computer. I hoped like hell pottery was one of the topics they had covered. At least I was sure I wouldn't have much trouble building a potter's wheel.

"If you are done with the pots then come and look at our furs. We have it ready now, unless you don't approve."

Hell, it looked great to me, much better than I'd have thought it would. In the first place the furs were spread out on top of my thick plush carpet, which was laid on three-quarter inch waffle pad. The furs just made things softer and since they'd piled them four or five thick, completely covering the floor I was sure it would be comfortable and firm to sleep on.

Though they'd trimmed the furs to keep them from encroaching on the doorways, my fascination with pocket doors was all that allowed them to open and close now. A normal door couldn't have swung over the thick furs without cutting five or six inches off the bottom of it. Since the furs ended in the doorway they didn't impede the pocket door at all.