Rock Fall
Copyright© 2015 by Gina Marie Wylie
Chapter 9: The Day After Rock Fall
They went to bed early, too stressed to even think about anything other than cuddling.
Very early Sunday morning Sydney and Amy woke him up as they got up together. Chris was aware that they showered together, but sleep claimed him again.
It seemed like just a minute, when Sydney was shaking him. “Come see, Chris. It’s important.”
He followed Sydney out to the porch and stopped in surprise. Most of the curtains were routinely drawn, now they were open and the sight hit him full force. The sky was an awful blood red, and the sunlight was considerably dimmer than it should have been. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t experienced cloudy mornings before, but as near as he could tell, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
“Shit,” Chris said.
“Yeah. Imagine if you’re one of those low-information folks out there who doesn’t follow the news. I suspect about right now there are a whole lot of questions being asked of spouses, family and friends. Real soon now those concerns are going to turn into a tidal wave,” Sydney told him.
Amy came out on the steps and looked around. “Good news, of the six 5G satellites at least three have survived. The risk to them has declined maybe a million-fold. There are about thirty of us who have formed a network. Nobody wants to give their locations, but I talked to the group north of Vancouver. And I’m pretty sure one of those on our net is Dr. DeWitt.
“The Vancouver group is like us — a wealthy person who cashed out before Rock Fall, then he bought food and supplies and gathered a number of people. They have a big house in the country. Most of the rest aren’t as well prepared as we are, but still head and shoulders better than most. The guy I think is Principal DeWitt goes by the moniker ‘Simon Jester’ has promised to coordinate casualty lists, as much as possible, and survivor lists. He is going to download the data as often as he can so the there are as many copies as possible and so we all can look up anyone ourselves.”
Chris waved at the rows of mobile homes. “I’m sorry I couldn’t limit this to fewer people.”
Sydney shook her head. “It was a foolish thought, but it turned out well. You are the boss and we four are your trusty lieutenants. Now it’s just a matter of not falling off the raging tiger we’ve lassoed.”
Amy put her hand on Chris’s shoulder. “I’m tired of waiting. Lets get married. All of us. I’ll ask the bishop and if he won’t do it without a license, Dr. Dewitt will.”
Chris waved at the sky. “We have had enough parties for a while, it’s time to buckle down and get to work.
“Look, I want to marry all of you. But like as not, it would give people another excuse for a party.
“We need to do some basic organization. Yes, I am the boss and you are my lieutenants. We are going to need to set work parties and we need to get started now, because there is no telling how long we have before things turn bad,” Chris said.
Chris and the others had started a list of things that needed to be done in advance of a meeting. Keith and Dwayne came from the miners, Ruth and another man, named Oscar Samuels, came from the stake and one of the town doctors, Irene Merchant, represented the townies when they met at noon.
“I don’t view myself as a dictator,” Chris told those assembled. “Rather as my great grandfather was, the manager of a cooperative enterprise. Friday was the last regular mail delivery I believe. It arrived with my bank statements and a stack of invoices. Paid invoices, I might add. I did not make the rules that existed before yesterday, but I abided with them in everything important.
“I am going to go with what worked before. Keith is the operating manager of the Gutterman mine. Dwayne is the UMW leader. Bishop Flake heads his congregation and Dr. Merchant is hereby appointed leader of the townies. My four friends and myself are in overall charge.
“You might as well get used to the idea. Amy, Lisa, Sydney and Brenda are my lieutenants, and as soon as we can make the arrangements, I’ll be marrying all of them. The rest of you are subject to the will of those you represent. Hold meetings of your constituents and decide how you want to deal with your successors.
“Now, before we get down to brass tacks, does anyone have any comments or questions?”
Dwayne raised his hand and Chris recognized him. “I saw the sunrise. I know you said that dust would get here fast, but now there is just a faint reddish tinge to the sky. Is it already gone?”
Chris nodded. “Have you ever seen the moon just as it rises and just as it sets? It looks larger than it does when it is high in the sky — the Earth’s atmosphere magnifies it. This is like that. At dawn and sunset, light has a longer path through the atmosphere and thus passes through more dust. The dust is up there, but except early in the morning and just before sunset, you only see a faint trace.
“That dust might not seem that bad at noon, but the fact is that every minute of daylight some fraction of the sunlight that would have warmed the ground warms the air instead. More energy in the atmosphere means that there is more energy to drive storms, the dust provides nucleation centers for rain — like cloud seeding.”
“And yesterday — what happened?” Dwayne persisted.
“A meteor impacted in the South Pacific. We may never know what happened on the islands in the South Pacific. The impact generated a significant amount of debris that impacted over a wide area of the Earth. We saw some of that debris here, in Pine Valley, and at least three pieces hit in our vicinity. Donovan Flake brought a piece of one of the two that hit one of our bridges. Another hit the jail. Donovan couldn’t pick up his splinter with his bare hand, and Mike Vanna reported that the jail and town hall burned down after that impact.
“I watched the news for a few minutes this morning. The government is already managing the news. There is nothing substantial about other countries. There were major earthquakes in California and Alaska.” Chris nodded at Ruth. “One of Joanna Vanna’s sisters was in Honolulu. I had a few friends there as well but they are all silent. No Tweets, no Facebook posts ... no nothing.
“Expect the news from the government to be heavily censored.”
He smiled at those assembled. “It is my feeling that we need to get prepared at once for inclement weather and dropping temperatures. It snows here every year and it’s already December. Yes, the outside temperature is shirtsleeve weather — however, that won’t last.
“Keith, we have three winches in the mine, two are electric and one diesel powered. I want that diesel one pulled out and moved to the head of the canyon. Ruth, I understand that you have a number of power equipment operators in the stake?”
“We do, Brother Chris.”
“We have a D5 Cat. We need an operator to grade a road to the head of the canyon.”
“The Cat driver is a Union job,” Dwayne said.
“It was — when the Cat was being used for mining tasks. This is going to be for wood for the mobiles. We are going to need a lot of wood for more than a hundred stoves. We will not use Union members for those jobs. For one thing, we are going to need the union members for mining the vein and the non-union labor can chop wood. Unless you’d rather swap?”
“Uh ... no.”
“Good, the miners need to get in the mine and check the roof. We took a couple of good jolts yesterday, and I don’t want men hurt by ceiling debris.”
He turned to Dr. Merchant. “You need to appoint a deputy. I have no idea of how busy you will be here, but a fifth of the townspeople are here — and you were a quarter of the town’s doctors.”
“For the time being my son Roger is my deputy. He was in the first year of med school and has been assisting me ever since he was out of short pants. I might add that he is engaged to one of Bishop Flake’s daughters. Please don’t go giving him ideas.”
She was laughing and Chris nodded.
At about one PM Mike Vanna called. “Well, I gave them your suggestions. You know you have the smarter fifth of the town up on the mountain? Right?
“The town has decided that now is not the time to go leaderless. In a town meeting that concluded a short time ago, I was elected ‘interim sheriff’ and Dr. DeWitt was elected ‘interim mayor.’ We had a few fights at the local bars last night, there was a knifing that was fatal and a gunshot wound that wasn’t. Two men and a woman died of heart attacks overnight and we had one suicide. The town is pretty panicked — the last time five people died in one day was when Malcolm Richards drove his car into a bridge abutment, killing himself and four buddies.”
“Mike, that was before I was born,” Chris told him.
“Small towns have short memories for some things and longer ones for others. We are trying to get organized. That sunrise this morning was exactly like you said — now they know the government was giving them a snow job.”
“It will happen again at sunset and for every clear sunrise and sunset for a year or more.”
“I figured.”
“Mike, it’s a warm day, much warmer than is usual this time of year ... and that was true before Rock Fall. If I was a betting man, I’d look for the warm temps to crash in a few days. We’re going to be cutting wood like mad up here.”
“Shit, you’re right! It’s December. Christ! It never rains but it pours! I need to talk to the mayor. We have a meeting in a bit. Gotta run, Chris!”
For the next few days, there were a million things to decide, to coordinate, to manage. Chris thought he would never have been able to deal with it without the four young women who we continually at his side.
On Thursday, Bishop Flake showed up, weak and infirm.
“We need to talk Brother Chris.”
“Of course, Bishop.”
“I realize that the women are not yet your legal wives, but they have all pledged themselves and you have agreed.”
“I would be pleased if you would say the words, Bishop,” Chris replied.
“I have some recommendations, Brother Chris.
“The mayor should be the one to do it. This is political, Brother!
“You need to keep ties to Pine Valley. Certainly, some will object because of age and number — but really — who hasn’t noticed that things have changed since last week to this week?
“The last thing is a heartfelt, albeit personal, suggestion. You have learned how difficult it is to satisfy one woman. It is impossible, Brother Chris, if you try to sleep with all your wives all the time. Now and then, for instance if you or they are sick, yes, by all means. Women like to think that they have a private place where they alone can be cherished. Yes, occasionally you can all sleep together — but Brother, the hardest task in a marriage is not showing favoritism towards one of your wives — even if there is one you cherish above all others.”
“I’ll think about it, sir,” Chris said.
The bishop waved expressively around them. “Most of my flock have not been following the news. These days it ranges from terrible beyond belief, to merely depressing. That said the continued abnormally warm weather is sapping their resolve. I have heard that you ordered work parties to get on with the woodcutting. How is that coming?” the bishop asked.
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