In the Midst of Tribulation (7 page)

"You really think so?"
"I do. I know that she loved you very much and that she knows that you love her."
"I miss her so much." Jay butted her head against Susan's shoulder. Her eyes burned but she didn't cry.
"I bet you do. You've been alone a while."
"I've been fine."
"It must have been terribly lonely."
"Sometimes. I kept busy. There's nearly always something to do."
"Well, hopefully, we'll be able to take some of the burden off your shoulders." Susan kissed her forehead. "I also want you to know that you're not alone anymore."
"It may be hard to adjust."
"Let us help you." She squeezed Jay tightly and released her.
"Thank you."
"Da nada, chica. We should be on our knees thanking you for letting us stay."
"I meant what I said. The offer is as good as the day I made it. This is your home too."
"Don't think we're not grateful."
"I don't. So, why don't you all get settled in your space? There is time while the dough rises for you all to shower. It's a pretty large hot water heater, so if no one is too greedy you should all get at least a warm shower."
"Sounds divine. I'll tell them."
Chapter Five - Here At Thy Table
Sit at the feast, dear Lord, break Thou the bread;
Fill Thou the cup that brings life to the dead;
That we may find in Thee pardon and peace,
And from all bondage win a full release.
Words: May Pierpont Hoyt. Music: William F. Sherwin, 1877
One of the first ones out of the shower, Cody peered into the kitchen. His dark hair hanging damply over his eyes, he grinned at his honorary aunt. "What can I do to help?"
"You look like a drowned rat."
He looked wounded. "I combed my hair."
"But did you think of drying it?"
"The girls wanted the bathroom."
"Last time I checked, towels were portable."
"Whatever. Did you want some help or not?" he asked.
"Sure. You remember the secret room?"
"Through the pantry?"
"Yeah."
"Totally."
"Think you can get into it on your own?"
"Not a problem."
"I've basically turned it into a wine cellar. Can you go down and bring us up a bottle?" She glanced at Piper, who was taking the stones out of a handful of olives and chopping them. "You want to see something really cool?"
"Trust her, it's the bomb." Cody's voice broke on the final word and he blushed.
"With such a buildup, how could I refuse?"
Cody was nearly dancing in place. "Excellent, come into the pantry." He stood at her shoulder while she washed and dried her hands. "Come on."
"Hold your horses. I'm coming."
Practically dragging her into the small room at the end of the kitchen, he asked, "See anything out of the ordinary?"
She looked into the well-appointed pantry. Along each wall, from floor to ceiling, were wire shelves packed with brightly colored mason jars filled with different fruits and vegetables. She hadn't seen anything like it in ages. Her grandmother's larder might have been comparable but that was when she was a child, many years ago. Not seeing anything obviously out of place, she turned her attention to the tile floor and the back wall where a mop, a broom and other cleaning supplies hung. Having studied everything, she shrugged. "No. What's the big deal?"
The young man brushed by her and pulled a thin piece of metal wire out of a jar of junk on one of the upper shelves. Making a production of rolling back both sleeves, he went up to the back wall. Concentrating, he counted down six holes on the pegboard that covered the wall from floor to ceiling. Gently, he guided the wire into the sixth hole and pushed. He both heard and felt the click as the locking mechanism disengaged. Bending over he counted the same number of holes up from the bottom and repeated his motion with the wire. Stepping back, he laid his palms against the wall and, with a little pressure, a portion of the wall opened.
Piper gasped as a doorway appeared. The opening was completely dark. "You're right, that's pretty neat," she said, grinning at him.
"Oh, you haven't seen everything yet." Cody beamed at her. He looked around briefly before calling out to Jay, "Is there a flashlight, candles or something?"
Jay answered from the other room. "Feel around for a shelf about shoulder level on the left side. You'll find a couple of those forever lights."
"Forever lights?"
"They don't take batteries. You shake them to build up a charge."
"Oh." He pulled out the clear plastic light. "Got it." Cody shook one of the flashlights and handed the second to Piper. After thirty seconds of shaking, he turned his on to reveal a flight of stairs leading into the basement. "What kind of wine do you want? Red, white, or sparkling?"
"It's after the apocalypse, boy. There aren't that many options." There was laughter in her voice. "Okay, okay. See if you can find a Shiraz."
"One bottle of red coming right up." He looked at Piper. "You want to see what's downstairs?"
"You bet I do," answered Piper. She followed him down the steep stairs to a fairly large room. She shone her light over the undecorated concrete walls. Directly under the stairs and behind a curtain, she saw a small sink and toilet. Next to the stairs, stacked floor to ceiling, were cases of prepackaged meals from military surplus. She hadn't been much of a fan of MRE's when she was in the Army, but the familiar packages were a comforting sight to see.
Along one wall were two pairs of bunk beds. Three beds high, she could see that at least six people could sleep comfortably in the room. Each bed was made up and had an extra blanket at the foot. The far wall was covered with a tall wine rack that was at least eight feet tall. "This is incredible," she whispered into the silence.
Cody had been watching her explore the space. He said, "I remember when Panic Room came out and thought that Jody Foster had nothing on Jay."
"She had this built with the house?"
"Yeah, Jay's a little paranoid. She built this space back when everyone thought Y2K was something to worry about." He laughed as he shook the dimming flashlight back to full strength. "I think she was secretly a little bummed that nothing came of it." He walked over to the wine rack. "Let me grab a bottle."
Piper took the time while he searched to continue her study of the room. Completely self-contained, with water and food, she thought that someone could live down here for months. It was a lot like their host, well supplied but with hidden depth, she mused to herself. "You ever spent any time down here?"
"When we were kids, Mom used to ship us up here for part of the summer. We used to all come down here and tell ghost stories and eat that army surplus food."
"You mean meals ready to eat."
"Whatever." He made a face. "Cheryl and Carol liked the grape kool-aid packs that came with them but I never really cared for anything but the turkey dinner."
"I was partial to the spaghetti and meatballs."
"We only had to do it for one night per stay, so it wasn't so bad."
"Just think of having to live on them."
"Did you?"
"Sure. When we went out in the field, that was our only food."
"Too bad for you." Cody pulled out a couple of different bottles before selecting one. "Here we go." He raised the bottle and examined by flashlight. "Cool, it's from Australia."
"Incredible." Piper was astounded by the enormous amount of planning that had gone into this sanctuary.
Cody led the way upstairs and carefully secured the door and returned the wire to the jar. He put the bottle on the counter and wiped his hands on his pants. "What now?" he asked Jay.
"How about you start collecting dirty clothes and separating the loads?" She smiled fondly as he bounded off. "Ah, to be young again."
"I don't know. I wouldn't do it if I had to live through high school again."
"Amen, sister." Jay handed the corkscrew and bottle to Piper. "Would you do the honors?"
"Of course."
"So," she began. "You used to work with Martha?"
"Yeah, we went to the Academy together."
"Did you like being a cop?"
"Most of the time. I really enjoyed that it was a job that was both a physical and mental challenge."
"What have you been doing since the fall of the empire?"
Piper laughed. "I was a rent-a-cop."
"From all I've heard, that's a pretty dangerous thing to do."
"You're right on that. Defending the few haves against the starving have-nots wasn't really the way I wanted to go."
"What do you bring to the table?"
Piper tilted her head. "Excuse me?"
"Can you hunt, fish, farm?"
"I'm a good hunter. I've never farmed and fishing is boring."
"True but oh, so tasty." She punched down the rising dough and molded it into two loaves before sliding them to side to rise again before their trip into the oven. Jay checked the large pot of water and saw that it was boiling. She tossed in two boxes of pasta. "You ready for a new task?" she asked Piper.
"Whatever you need."
"In the fridge should be a paper bag of mushrooms. Get a couple handfuls and chop them up."
"Done." Piper took the mushrooms to the sink for a quick rub down. "What shall I do with the stems?"
"Put them in the bowl with the ends of the beans. When you go down to the garden tomorrow, you'll see the compost area."
"I can hardly wait," she said dryly.
Carol and Eva stepped into the kitchen. Carol hugged Jay. "It is wonderful to have a hot water for a shower."
"Glad you enjoyed it. I'm proud to offer all the comforts of home."
Eva shook her head. "Better than home or at least what was left after the crazy Christians were done," she said angrily.
"Well, you're safe here now. Make yourself comfortable."
"Do you need us to do anything?"
"Would you set the table? There are plates in the sideboard and utensils in the drawer."
"No problem."
Jay smiled her thanks as she slid the sliced and cored tomatoes under the broiler for a quick roasting. When they were done, she put the loaves of bread in the oven. Pulling out a skillet, she drizzled in some olive oil, some minced garlic and the green beans. She sautéed the ingredients before tossing in the tomatoes and adding them and the chopped olives to the skillet.
The group of refugees were milling about so she had them pour water and ice tea for those that wanted and red wine for the adults. She strained the pasta and put it back in the pot and poured the contents of the skillet into the mix. Jay had Susan stir everything together and take it to the table while she pulled the bread out of the oven.
Taking the empty pasta pot, she filled it with water and put it back on the stove for the water to heat during the meal for them to have to wash dishes afterwards.
Once everyone was seated and served, Jay raised her glass. "I'd like to propose a toast." The lifted glasses of the diners sparkled and refracted the rich, red wine. "To new beginnings."
"Hear, hear."
Susan lifted her glass again. "To prior planning. You're a life saver."
Inclining her head, Jay accepted the accolade. "I'm glad you all finally made it up here."
"Better late than never."
"Too true. I hope your sojourn here is peaceful and you all find what you need to flourish."
"Just looking at the meal before us and I can tell you that we're already so much better off," responded Martha.
"Good. Why don't we all dig in?"
For a while, the house was quiet except for the sound of silverware on plates and appreciative moans. Once the first hunger pangs were assuaged, Jay asked the group, "So, what's new to report?"
"Do you have any idea where we're coming from?" Doris asked.
"I've heard stories. After the attacks, I went down to Sacramento to see if I could help." She shuddered. "Things were bad but there was still stuff available. I made a couple of trips to bring more supplies up and I haven't been more than fifty miles from here since."
Martha nodded her head. "Sacramento was hit pretty bad but nothing like San Francisco. The militia targeted it as the new Sodom and basically wiped it off the map."
"I haven't heard anyone making it past Daly City since the bombing and, with all the bridges out, there is no other way in."
"How about your area?"
"We were pretty lucky. Oakland only took a couple of hits. The problem was that the port received the brunt of the bombing."
"Even without the trade sanctions imposed by Japan, there was no way for supplies get ashore."
"Japan?" Jay asked. "I heard about Canada and Mexico closing their borders but I didn't know that anyone else was against us."
Doris' voice was strident. "Everyone is against us."
"Yeah, seems Japan didn't take particularly kindly to a tidal wave destroying Kyoto." Wiping her mouth, Martha added, "But it's not like they're alone. The international community is not well pleased about the UN building taking a direct hit."
"How could they tell? I thought New York City was carpet bombed."
"It was pretty much leveled but I understand that those who know can tell. It wasn't an accident what was targeted."
"The fact that we've been isolated is why there's been no significant recovery." Susan drained her wine glass. "The Confederacy managed to alienate the entire world. There was a lot of non-governmental aid in the first years but you know that much of humanitarian assistance had been financed by US dollars. Without cash, there's no help."
Piper added, "The world economy may never recover from the financial market crash."
"So, I can finally get rid of my paper stocks?"
"It's not a joke." Doris replied tartly. "The New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the American Stock Exchange are all gone."
"A lot of world-wide banks were based in US cities. I guess the lessons of 9/11 didn't sink in so well because when the bombs fell, the banks collapsed."
"Do you know how many regimes around the world depended on our money for survival? We heard stories that most of Africa and South America have fallen into conflict."
"Of course, it doesn't help that Fort Knox is under Confederacy control." Carol spoke up for the first time since the conversation turned serious.
Cody burped, looked apologetic and interjected. "Yeah, who knew they'd be stupid enough to try and link their new currency to the gold standard."
"What do you know of monetary policy, cub?" Jay asked.
"Enough to know that William Jennings Bryant was right not to tie us to an impossible standard."
Martha interrupted, "In any event, we haven't even gotten to the human cost of the war."
"I never expected that Doctors with Borders would ever be needed in our country," Piper said in a low voice. "And then they had to withdraw when the Confederacy threatened to extend their targets outside of the country."
"Can they do that?"