Chapter 5: A new home

Once Dregg had left for his ship, and Tommy had gone back to bed (even though he was not sleepy in the least) Tom and Bets started laying out their plan of action.

With the location decided on for their future home they now needed to decide just what they wanted to live in once they were in the valley. Bets mentioned the fact that Dregg had offered to build them whatever type of home they wanted.

Tom however wasn't used to having others do for him when he was able to do for himself and wasn't pleased about having a fancy brick home in the middle of their beautiful valley. It just didn't fit in the scheme of things.

"What about a log-home then? That would be both correct and still secure enough against any large predators coming around sniffing for an easy meal," Bets offered.

Tom still balked at having someone else build a structure that his family's life would depend on. But when Bets used the live cameras and zoomed down for a closer look inside their new valley, it didn't take long to convince Tom.

Without trying very hard they spotted at least 10 different prides of cave-lions, more than 40 of the massive cave bears that made a grizzly look like Boo Boo and 6 different huge saber-tooth tigers. They didn't even try and count the numbers of huge hyenas and wolf packs that moved inside the herds of bison and some kind of cattle like creatures.

"It's like a friggin zoo down there and all the predatory animals are waiting on are some zoo keepers to eat," Bets exclaimed.

Tom grinned. "Babe when you're right you're right. At least me and the boy will get a lot of hunting in right off the bat."

Bets hit him in the arm and it wasn't a very lady like punch either. "And just what the hell do you picture me doing while you're having all the fun? Let me warn you, if the next words out of your mouth is cooking and cleaning you're in deep shit and will be sleeping on the couch tonight, young body or not bucko," she said.

"Ok! Damn woman, I forgot how hard you could really punch. I guess we have no choice other than hunting up a stupid cave. But I want a lot of input on that damn log home, so don't you even think about leaving me out of the designing process. You have to remember that security might mean losing some of your pretty views of the valley," Tom warned.

Bets smiled at him sweetly, "No problem commander. Now let's get to planning our new love nest," she suggested.

Over the next two hours, the couple went back and forth over the balance between making their new home secure and not having it look like a prison. They finally decided on a two-story log home with 12-foot ceilings. The second floor would extend three feet further out all around to keep predators from being able to scale the wall to the second floor. Tom conceded the need for windows on the lower floor, but they had to be made of 4 inch thick bulletproof glass and be no larger than 36"x 36". Tom knew that the larger the window, the better the chances of a large animal just hitting the glass until the frame finally broke.

One of his police friends had been on a rash of burglaries last year where that was exactly how the thieves finally got in. They didn't bother trying to break what could not be broken. Instead they went for the weakest part, the frames.

Firing slots like those in the old west homes shaped like a cross would be cut into the logs and then a stainless steel small window that could be lowered down to act as a bench rest would be fitted to each firing cross.

Anther fight came up over whether to let Dregg provide some type of power to the home or not. Tom wanted the power for security lights and for running an electric fence around the perimeter of the home. Bets thought it was killing the spirit of the adventure and that they should live a more simple life.

A compromise was finally reached where if Dregg could supply them with a few hydro generators and cable enough to reach from the river to the house then Tom and Tommy would do all the work. "But I had better not see a damn TV, radio, or any other electrical appliance anywhere in my new home. The power will be for lights and security only. It won't hurt any of us to cut firewood for cooking and those long winter nights," she added fervently.

Tom had no problem with that, but saw a small battle coming from his wife and son over Tommy's love of music. He smiled knowing that in the end Bets would give in to some form of music.

Ok what about the inside of the house? Are we taking our stuff from here, or do we make everything from scratch once we get there?" Tom asked. Even with his new body, he felt the fatigue of this day dragging him down.

"Tom, let's get some sleep and if you're not too tired we can take these new bodies for a test drive," Bets said with fire in her eyes.

It's a wonder how that can perk a man up. Tom was revitalized again and raring to go. Well at least raring to go to bed with his new redhead hottie wife that is.

Tom woke up the next morning to the sweet smell of coffee, bacon, eggs, and his all time favorite, biscuits and gravy. "Damn, it's good to be alive," he said, jumping out of bed and into the shower. Throwing on a pair of old jeans, they just slid right off him and fell below his knees. "Hell, I forgot about those extra pounds I've put on over the years," he said, frowning at the crumpled denim around his feet. He shot them off with a flick of his foot and dug out a pair of old gym shorts with a tie string in them.

Grabbing a T-shirt he pulled it over his head and got as far as his shoulders before the shirt was so tight it looked like a bikini top. Huh, I guess my top went to my gut over the years too, he thought, fighting to get the way too snug shirt back off. Sighing he went to the closet and found an old large, well-worn camouflage hunting shirt. He had bought the shirt three sizes larger at the time so he could wear a lot of layers under it when he went elk hunting in the winter.

Well at least it fits better, Tom thought as he held his arms out in front of him. The damn sleeves were at least 4 inches too short. It looked like he was wearing his son's shirt instead of one of his.