Bootstrap Colony (24 page)

“I probably could have cleared
the four out if they had gotten a whiff of me,” he finally said looking up. She
chuckled as she moved to the fridge and began pulling out breakfast materials.
Cassie came in, rubbing her eyes and tussled hair. Her mom followed, along with
a few of the kids.

Cassie looked over to him, rubbed
her eyes sleepily and then started as recognition dawned. She coyly gave him a
look and then strutted to the counter and poured herself a cup of coffee,
arching and flirting as much as possible. “So where were you last night?” she
murmured over the lip just as he was taking a sip.

He sputtered, spraying coffee.
“Please please tell me you weren’t one of those girls staking my room out last
night!” he demanded, wiping up the mess with a linen towel.

Doc looked alarmed. Janet looked
over nonplussed. The kids were oblivious, digging into their porridge
breakfast. Cassie smiled wickedly. Her mother gave her a sharp look, but it
bounced off, she wasn’t paying her any attention. “Just where you were last
night Cassandra Virgina?” Doc growled. Cassie looked over to her mom.

“Uh oh, full name, someone’s in
troubllle...” One of the kids said looking up and then over to another.

“I was um... watching a movie
with Jolie,” Cassie said, squirming a little. She looked down.

“With Jolie huh? So how did you
know what happened?” Doc demanded. She turned and looked at Mitch. “Speaking of
which, what the heck did happen?” The tone was accusatory. Mitch shrugged.

“I noticed a bunch of the ladies arguing
outside my door and one in the room and decided to seek another place to
sleep.” He shrugged at Doc’s long look.

“Just where did you go?” Cassie
asked with intense interest.

“Cassie!” Her mother looked at
her horrified. Cassie smirked.

“Let’s just say you kids aren’t
the only ones who know all the hiding spots to get away from Janet here,” Mitch
mocked, chuckling as Janet waved a batter covered wooden spoon at him. The kids
looked on and giggled, looking back and forth between the adults. “Besides, I
may need that hiding spot again before winter is over,” he wryly commented,
getting up and putting his dishes in the sink.

Voices could be heard in the
hallway, female voices. “And on that note, I am going to make myself scarce,”
he said, shaking a leg as he retreated down a side corridor.

“Like I said, coward!” Janet
called after him in good humor.

“Better part of valor Janet!” he
called back.

The girls came in, Vanessa looked
around. “I thought one of the guys was in here?” she demanded. The others looked
around in confusion. Janet got busy with the batter. The kids looked at the
ceiling, anywhere but at Vanessa and the women. Doc hid a smile by looking down
into her cup.

“Cassie, who was just here?”
Vanessa demanded, turning to the miniature red head.

“Oh Mitch, you just missed him,”
she replied airily. She waved to the other door.

“Oh we did, did we?” Vanessa got
a steely gaze in her eye and then turned to the others. “We’ll settle this, you
up for a man hunt?” she asked. The others nodded grimly and the trio rushed
off.

“Tattletale!” Billy said to
Cassie, sweeping his left index finger over his right in the classic No No
sign.

Janet busts out laughing, Cassie
looked to her, then to her mom who was giggling uncontrollably with her hand
over her mouth. The kids didn’t know what was so funny, but joined in; the
giggling was just too infectious not too.

Cassie snorted, and then grinned.
“Guess that will keep them busy for a while and out of mischief,” she said as
she shrugged and took another sip of coffee.

“Just tell me you weren’t part of
that last night?” her mother demanded as she got control of herself enough to
look at her piercingly.

“Oh mother! It’s not like he
isn’t single!” Cassie answered. Her mother looked horrified. Janet started
giggling all over again; knowing Cassie was pulling her mother’s leg.

Phyllis and Natali came in
holding hands. Anne came in behind them shaking her head. “I don’t know what he
thought he is doing, they are all after him.”

Doc looked up concerned. “Cabin
fever?”

Anne shrugged. “I don’t know, all
I do know is that we are snowed in up to the eyeballs, so he doesn’t have very
far to run.” She shook her head chuckling. Doc snorted.

“Well we won’t be chasing him,”
Phyllis said, giving Natali a kiss. Natali blushed, glanced around, and then
hugged Phyllis a little. Phyllis gave her backside a proprietary pat. Cassie
goggled at them, Anne snorted.

Doc got up and walked out singing
“Love is in the aiirr...” Janet growled then threw a dish towel but missed.

The towel came sailing back into
hit Cassie though. “Hey!”

“So where is Mitch?” Vanessa
asked, hands on her hips a day later.

Mike looked up from his book and
glared. “Why do you want to know?” he asked. She tried to be defensive, but he
was pretty assertive, making her wilt a little.

“Uh nothing, I was just um...” He
gave her a look, much like her father did when she was younger.

“For your information, he is
trying to repair the wind turbines outside. One of them froze up,” Mike
answered. The lights flickered, and then started to glow more brightly. “The
man is the only one who knows how to fix everything around here. He's dog
tired. Cut him some slack.” She nodded and turned to leave.

Vanessa asked Janet if Mitch had
stocked makeup. Anne was peeling a potato, and turned around. “No hun, men
don’t think of those things.” They heard the outside hall door open and close.
A gust of cold air made them shiver. “Who the hell was outside?” Janet asked
exasperated. She pointed to the frozen waterfall out the window. Mitch came in,
wearing cold weather gear. He slapped the gloves down on the table, and then
sat to tug his boots off. He was encrusted with ice and snow, and despite the
thermal gear his face was a little blue.

“Damn Mitch, what were you
thinking?” Anne asked.

He sighed as he got the last boot
off. “Had to fix wind turbine fourteen it froze up again.” He got up, grabbed
his gear, tucked it under one arm and left.

“Oh,” Anne said softly then got
back to work. Vanessa gave the empty doorway a long lingering look.

“So, when are you guys going to
shave again?” Anne teased Mitch as he came in from the cold a week later.

“Spring,” Mitch replied. He had
stopped using the shaver; the fur was just too useful to shave. He looked and
felt like a Sasquatch but felt warmer. He shook out his gear while Brian
stomped in behind him.

“It’s too damn cold not to have a
beard,” Brian replied, shivering and wishing he was old enough to grow a proper
one. Anne handed each of them a hot mug of coffee. Brian fumbled his gloves off
to wrap his hands around the steaming mug.

The Fenns were sitting on the
couch, Frances wrinkled her nose. “Not soon enough for me.” She tweaked her
husband’s beard. “Kissing this is like kissing a yeti.”

Paul’s fur covered lips turn up
in a smile. “And of course you’ve kissed a lot of Yeti’s?” he asked. She
snorted.

A couple weeks later the women
were chattering about the things then the disparity between single men and
women crept into the conversation. When Vanessa growled about not getting any
lately, then glowered at Lisa, Gina looked over and patted Vanessa’s arm.

“Just nick a cucumber dear.” she
advised with a wink. Shocked looked from the other girls. “What? You can always
eat it later... think of it as eating the evidence!” She giggled as she got up
and put her dishes in the sink, then popped a pepper off the cooling pan and
popped it into her mouth as she padded off out of the room with only the barest
hint of wiggle.

Angie closed her open mouth with
a clop, ending the stunned silence. “You know she may have a point,” Vanessa
said, getting a thoughtful look. “Kinda cold though...” she murmured, still
thoughtful as she walked out. The rest of them fell into a fit of giggles and
laughter.

“Janet from another planet,” Anne
teased Janet, arms up to her elbows in soapy water. Janet looked up, gave a
sniff and then continued her knitting. She was doing another sweater. Now that
she had the technique back, she was planning one each for the kids and a full
body one for the babies.

“Janet from another planet?” Lisa
asked, for once not being her usual quiet self a facing self.

“I get that she is from another
planet, I mean we all are,” Brian said innocently and then shrugged. Anne
chuckled.

“Ancient history to you. Soap
opera history actually,” Janet chuckled.

“My mom used to watch some of All
My Children, a soap opera while we were growing up. Janet from another planet
became a favorite tease,” Janet replied, giving Anne a mock dirty look.

“Oh,” Lisa said, and then
shrugged.

Brian smiled and started to open
his mouth. “Don’t even go there bub,” Janet said in a clear put down, not even
looking up from her knitting. He closed his mouth and yipped as Lisa pinched
him. He growled, she gave a start of mock fear, and then led him on a giggling
chase out of the room and down the hall.

“I thought they would never
leave,” Anne said, sloshing  away. Janet grunted agreement.

Mitch sicked Mike, Henry, Buck,
and Brian on putting the still and micro brewery together. Janet of course had
to get in a ribbing about so many men trying to do such a simple thing as boil
a liquid. When the teenagers asked if they will get any Anne stomped her foot
and pointedly said no. Mike, Henry, and Mitch gave the teens a wink and a nod.

Mitch and Brian cut an evergreen
tree and brought it to the outside of the garage. After the kids went to bed
the adults stay up setting the tree up and decorating it.

Mitch pulled out boxes for the
kids and laid them under the tree. The next morning the kids were awestruck by the
tree. The boxes were opened as everyone gathered around. Within were homemade
plastic toys. Blocks, match box cars, dolls, and action figures. The younger
kids had a ball.

Selma, Anne, and Ester had used
scraps from the clothes to make small outfits for the dolls. “That was awfully
sweet of all of you,” Doc commented, hugging Mitch's arm.

Mitch shrugged. “We have been
planning it for months. I dug the plans out of the computer for the plastic
bits and did a little at a time over the past couple months,” he explained. She
smiled.

“What no mistletoe?” she teased.

“Not worth my life,” he muttered,
he gave her a mock glower that turned into a hug.

Mike, Buck, Janet, and Mitch
talked about weird animals over a couple of beers in front of the fire. “There
was this one thing, looked like a six legged platypus.” Mike commented, looking
off to the ceiling.

“Oh Yeah! I remember that one!”
Buck turned excited and told the story. “We were walking along the trail near
the water and this thing came scuttling out of a burrow in some grass hedge,
looked at us, and then scuttled for dear life. It looked like a cross between a
duck and a six legged beaver!”

Mike nodded. “That is why I said
platypus.”

“Oh, right,” Buck frowned.
“Scared the hell out of all of us.”

“It scuttled, throwing its head
and tail back and forth for the water.”

Mitch nodded. “I wonder if it was
the alien equivalent of a platypus,” he mused thoughtfully as he rubbed his
chin.

“I dunno, but it tasted worse than
sloth,” Mike replied, somewhat disgusted.

Janet gave them a disbelieving
look. “You ate it?”

Buck looked sheepish. “About one
bite each. Nasty thing. Ended up using it as bait,” he said. Mitch and Janet
laughed.

Mitch called a weekly town
meeting. “We’re doing okay for vitals,” Janet said when it came her turn. She
turned to give a quizzical glance to Hejira. “For some reason we are low on
cucumbers.” The girls gave each other guilty looks and then tried to hide their
smirks when Janet gave them a suspicious glance.

Mitch shrugged. “Oh well, maybe
someone is having a late night snack,” he said.  A furtive giggle was quickly
smothered. He turned, and then shrugged again. “Anyway, so everything else is
okay?” he asked.

Janet nodded. “No sign of the
scorpions. The armadillos are still balled up in hibernation too. I think the
cats and dogs are tired of batting them around, they just ignore them now,”
Janet replied. Maggie nodded.

“Well, it is my turn to make
dinner tonight so we are having Au’ gratin ala Mitch,” Mitch proclaimed, giving
Janet a look.

She wrinkled her nose. “You
are
going to have a vegetable this time right?” she asked pointedly.

He shrugged. “All right all those
in favor of peas raise your hands?” A few hands were raised. “All those in
favor of green beans raise your hands.” The hands up jerked down. A few of the
adults raised their hands. Some of the kids were giving the adults dirty looks.
He snorted. “Okay, how about all those in favor of carrots?” A few of the kids
raised their hands. He sighed. “Okay, I will do small amounts of all three,” he
said. Relieved faces blossomed from the kids.

Doc stood and gave her report,
short and brief. “Do you need anything?” Mitch asked, looking up from his
tablet when she finished.

“No,” she almost snarled as she
sat down. Brian gave her a questioning look, and then shrugged when she didn't
say anything more and just clutched at her pant leg.

“Any ideas on when winter will
end?” Brian asked wistfully glancing toward the door.

Mitch shrugged. “I hope any day
now.”

Hejira looked up. “Me too! Walking
in the snow to the greenhouses is freezing!”

Mitch snorted. “I thought it
would bring back fond memories of Chicago?” he teased.

She glowered at him. “I am not
that
homesick thank you!” The group broke up into laughter.

“You're not getting anywhere with
that attitude,” Janet said, not looking up from her scrubbing.

Doc sighed. “Is it that obvious?”

Janet snorted. “Too everyone but
him. Remember though, all the other girls are after a partner too,” Janet
pointed out and then shrugged as the red head looked her way. “Sasha has
cornered the Russian market with Piotr, Kathy and Jacklynn are sharing Henry...
Who is walking particularly bow legged lately...” Both women snickered in
amusement.

Doc waited a bit as she caught
her breath. “Am I supposed to share him?” she asked and then sighed. It would
probably come to that she realized, there weren't enough people to keep the
gene pool going at this rate.

Janet looked up. “It might have
to come to that. Lord knew we aren’t exactly blessed with single men here dear,
we are running a bit of debt on that side of the ledger.”

Doc snorted. “Yeah, two women for
every guy,” she agreed. Janet nodded.

Anne looked up and sighed. “Yeah,
some of us will pair up with each other, like Phyllis and Natali, and like
Hanna and Vanessa eventually did, but not everyone is up for that,” Anne said,
giving an offending smudge a swipe and then more serious scrub.

“Women are for comfort, men are
for pleasure,” Doc said and then smiled.

Janet nodded. “You’re not going
to get to him by being crabby every time the other girls start chasing him
though,” she observed. She nodded.

“Besides, he is so wrapped up in
taking care of things, and repairing stuff, I don’t think anything is sinking
in right now,” Anne commented.

“More flies with honey then
vinegar?” Doc asked wryly.

“Exactly. Honey, we all know the
deal. Just remember to share him,” Janet replied with a nod.

“I am not sure I can do that, but
we shall see,” Doc snorted.

“Don’t you two think he should
have a say in this?” Anne asked.

Janet gave her a look. “When did
we ever give a man a say in it?” Then she did a wiggle.

Anne snorted. “Okay, you got me
there.” The snort turned into a soft chuckle.

“Thanks ladies,” Doc replied as
she headed off to check on the infirmary.

During the last month of hard
winter they managed what repairs they could, planned spring planting and
additional repairs, while working out what Mike’s group would take, where to
best lay out their village, and the path they would follow to get there. Mike
was prickly about taking gear, as was Mitch, but he made a deal that it was a
loan, to be returned when they complete their own buildings and buy or make
their own tools.

This eased the flares of tension,
much to Janet and Doc’s relief and amusement. Mitch insisted they take the
motor home until they had a safe base set up. Unfortunately the area around the
iron deposits had no caves, so they would have to build on a nearby hill top.

When the first thaw became clear
to them Doc asked if they were going to salvage the gear from the Amazon
village. “We need more clothes; we only have two or three sets per person other
than you,” Janet commented, adding her two cents to the conversation.

“We need to bury the dead too. If
there are any left,” Maggie commented quietly.

Mitch nodded. “Okay, we will head
out tomorrow morning early.”

Phyllis stood up. “If it is all
the same to you, we already talked about it and we will go.” She indicated
Vanessa, Gina, Hanna, Jacklynn, Hejira, and Selma.

Mitch gave them an appraising
look. “Okay, what is going on?” He turned to Phyllis.

“We need to do this ourselves,”
she answered him quietly.

He nodded. “All right then. Keep
in contact with Jolie there.” He waved to her. “At least one check every hour,”
he ordered. Phyllis nodded.

“Yes mother,” Vanessa said
snidely.

“It is for our protection. I
f
something happens and we get cut off from the radio they can send help,”
Phyllis said cuttingly, glaring at Vanessa.

Vanessa stomped out in a huff.
The others followed more subdued. “What was that about mate?” Henry asked sotto
voice, leaning over to Mitch.

Mitch gave the exit a long look.
“They want to take care of their own. They lost friends and family there, and
do not want strangers handling them,” he replied quietly.

“Oh.”

Late the next evening the women
returned with a loaded trailer. It was almost dark; Mitch, Doc, and Janet met
them in the garage. “Thought I was going to have to send out a search party,”
he said, and then took in the looked of the women. They were pale and haggard,
with visible signs of crying. Janet came in and offered food. Vanessa swallowed
convulsively and shook her head no.

Phyllis told them they won’t be
able to hold anything down right now. The other women agreed and left quietly.
“That bad huh?” Mitch asked softly.

“I have been on the battlefield,
seen death, seen dead comrades. This was... hard for them,” the Sergeant
replied, giving the far wall the thousand yard stare. “For me too,” she added
softly.

He patted her shoulder. “Glad you
were there for them to set the example.”

She seemed to come out of the
funk after a moment. “The dead are buried. It was hard, the soil is still hard
and the bodies...” She swallowed again. “Janet, we have some stuff on the
trailer for you, best fumigate it as you wash it. If you’ll excuse me.” She
walked off. Doc offered to help her, but she waved her off.

“Are they going to be okay?” Lisa
asked tentatively.

“Maybe in a little while,” Mitch
replied, watching Phyllis go. He sighed and turned to Janet. “Okay, I suggest
you dig in with Anne, salvage what you can. We will send out a follow up group
after I get their report,” he said. Janet nodded and dug into the mound on the
trailer. Doc came over to help.

The women took turns heading out
to the village and stripping it bare. Mike’s group offered to help, but they
were turned down right alongside Mitch. “This was our mistake, our clean up,”
Phyllis told them firmly.