Safty and Prepairness: มิถุนายน 2012

by Jerry D Young

Chapter 1

Ramsey shook his head. His friend of many years was going off the deep end. He’d become a survivalist. Rather, according to Ben, a prepper. Not a survivalist. There was a difference. And Ramsey had to admit, he’d never heard Ben talk about things the way the media said survivalists talked about.

“I don’t know, Ben. That’s a lot of money. Janey and I were looking at getting a few niceties now that things are going so well with us. You know how we struggled early on.”

“I know, Ramsey. I know how you feel. But the toys you are talking about getting, especially the boat… the yacht plans you showed me… I just think you could use that money more effectively. In ways that you will be able to enjoy life while things are falling apart around you.”

“Things are not falling apart!” Ramsey insisted. “I’m making five-hundred K a year. And Janey is pulling down almost that much.”

“For now, perhaps.”

“Ben, we’re good at what we do. The sky is the limit. This market… Well, it has slowed down… But we’re still getting new listings every day.”

“More than usual?” Ben asked.

“Many more. We make those sales this year and I’ll clear a million. And if Janey just gets half of them to decorate she’ll top seven fifty.”

“When was your last sale?”

Ramsey frowned slightly. “Well, it has been a couple of weeks. But that really isn’t unusual. We had weeks that went by between sales when we first started the agency.”

“I remember those days. Lots of mac and cheese,” Ben said.

“True. And Janey and I will be in your debt forever for helping us out during those early years. Do you want us to pay yo…”

The look on Ben’s face stopped Ramsey from finishing the thought. Of course Ben didn’t expect to get ‘paid back’ for those times. He was a friend, and friends help out. Just never seemed like Ben ever needed help. He was probably worth less than a tenth of what Ramsey and Janey were, but he seemed happy. It was just this prep thing…

“Okay, Ben. Tell you what. Janey and I will take you out to dinner and listen to what you have to say. For real. Not just to appease you.”

Ben began to smile. “That’s good. Appeasement is usually not a good idea. Look what happened when Hitler was appeased time after time. He nearly wound up ruling a third of the world.”

“Long time ago, Ben. Can’t happen now.”

Ben didn’t argue. Not only was Ramsey his friend, but everyone was entitled to their opinion, whether he agreed with it or not. Besides, it didn’t bother Ramsey or Janey either one to spring for an expensive meal, knowing that Ben would respond with an unexpected pizza and beer night at just the right time to keep them from letting their heads get a bit too big.

Ramsey didn’t think about the promised dinner after telling Janey about it that evening. She’d handle the timing and reservations. He needed to keep busy marketing the properties that had listed with his real estate agency. Janey seemed to be enjoying the break from work she was having. Ramsey preferred to be busy all the time.

It was nearly three weeks before Ben joined them at the swank restaurant Ramsey and Janey favored. Ben thought it was a great restaurant, with great food and impeccable service. It just cost an arm and a leg. Ben didn’t hesitate to get the same thing Ramsey and Janey ordered. Filet Mignon and a Maine lobster tail. It was their celebration meal whenever something particularly good had happened. As always, the menu listed everything about the food, except the prices.

“So, what are we celebrating?” Ben asked as he sipped from his glass of champagne. The good stuff.

“Just getting together,” Janey said. “It’s been such a long time.”

“Well then, I won’t get into the discussion Ramsey and I were talking about having.”

“Oh, no. That’s why we’re here. Ramsey said you were worried about us and had some information that might be of interest to us.”

“That’s true,” Ben replied, taking a quick look at Ramsey.

“She just knows about your concern for the economy. I didn’t go into details.”

“Now, Ben. You tell us what’s bothering you, and between us, we’ll come up with a solution. We always do.” Janey squeezed Ramsy’s hand and gave him a loving look.

“We do, at that, don’t we. To us.” Ben raised his champagne flute again and the three touched glasses.

Then Ben brought up what was on his mind. “You guys are my best friends. Have been since high school. I know you are doing very well for yourselves, but I worry about what would happen if a disaster occurred in the area.”

Gently, Janey said, “Ben, we have excellent financial counselors. I don’t mind telling you we’ve been making money hand over fist in the market, on top of what we make in our regular careers. This housing boom shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. And, in case of a disaster, we’d just come over to your house. I’m sure you have plenty to take care of us.”

Janey grinned.

Ben smiled and nodded. “Of course, if you had no other choice I’d welcome you in a New York minute. But what if that wasn’t possible? What would you do then?”

Janey started to speak, but Ramsey spoke before she did, his words directed at his wife. “That’s really what we’d have to do, isn’t it? Go to Ben’s if there’s trouble. I hadn’t really realized that until you said it.”

“And I’d welcome you with open arms. You guys know that. That’s part of what I wanted to discuss with you. At the very least I want to make sure I have the things you need to be comfortable at my place if things go bad.”

“Oh, a little flood or something,” Janey said, waving a hand negligently. “We have flood insurance. And we’re on that little hill. And we can always cook in the fireplace if the power goes out. We aren’t too bad off. I’ve thought of a few of these things after Katrina. I even have a hurricane box with flashlights and some canned food.”

“I didn’t know that!” Ramsey said.

“It’s that gray case in the front hall closet,” replied Janey. “I thought I mentioned it one time.”

“You may have. You know how I am when I get focused on one thing. Wouldn’t know if the world ended around me until I finished what I was thinking about. Good job, Janey!” Ramsey looked over at Ben. “See. We’re prepared. I just didn’t know it. Feel better?”

Ben smiled. “Oh, a little. Tells me the possibilities are there. Funny you mentioned the end of the world thing, though, Ramsey. You know something I missed?”

All three laughed. Their meal arrived and talk slowed and turned to how good the food was. After a dessert of chocolate mousse and a last glass of champagne, the server came over and put the check on the table within reach of both Ben and Ramsey. As usual, Ramsey snagged it before Ben could get it without causing a scene.

Ramsey’s eyes widened and a low “Wow! Prices are up!”

“I can…” Ben said, reaching for his wallet.

“Of course not, Ben!” Janey said. She looked at Ramsey. “I know some of the groceries are up a bit now, when I go shopping. How much, Ramsey? Two or three percent?”

Ramsey shook his head and handed the check to Janey to look over.

“My Lord! I had no idea!” she exclaimed softly.

“Come on, guys. If it is enough to make you comment, let me pay my share.”

“You know I always treat here, Ben. It’s not like I can’t afford it. I could feed twelve people here the same way without a qualm. It just caught me by surprise.”

“It has been a long time since we were here,” Janey said as Ramsey put his Platinum American Express card in the folder and handed it to the server that stopped to take it.

“That’s true,” Ramsey said. “And Ben, I don’t want you worrying about this. Next time you get pizza just get an extra growler of beer.”

Ben nodded. “Sure thing. Thanks for the supper. Hope I didn’t upset either of you.”

“Didn’t really get into things like I thought you would,” replied Ramsey. “I thought it would be all about BOBs, and INCH bags, BOVs, and BOLs.” He grinned.

“What on earth are you talking about? Not more government agencies, I hope!” Janey said.

“No,” Ben laughed. “Just some buzz words I’ve dropped on Ramsey lately. I won’t bother you with the interpretation.”

“Oh no you don’t!” Janey replied. “You can’t leave me hanging like this.”

“Nothing really important, Honey,” Ramsey told his wife. “He can explain them at our next pizza and beer party. We’ll even turn the lights off and have our own prep party. You can show me what you have in that mysterious Hurricane Kit.”

“Oh, you! You just want to get home for the game!”

“Who, me?” Ramsey laughed loudly. He was a St. Louis Rams fan and Monday Night Football was about to start.

Janey gave Ben a hard hug, and Ramsey shook his hands at the front door of the restaurant before they went to their respective vehicles. Ben shook his head as he watched his friends walk to the brand new Mercedes Benz that was Ramsey’s daily driver. Janey had a classic Corvette, as well as a Mercedes Benz similar to her husband’s.

Ben climbed up into the cab of his recent acquisition. It was now both his daily driver and, to use one of the buzz words Janey was curious about, his BOV, Bug-Out-Vehicle. The truck was the result of a two year project. He’d only been able to work on it when the garage he owned wasn’t full of customer’s cars needing work.

It was several weeks before Ben talked to Ramsey Cook again. It was Ramsey that made the call. “Ben, I was wondering if you’d like to get together again. Pizza and beer this time, but it’ll be on us, since we asked for the meeting.”

“Well, sure,” Ben replied. “But I’ll get the pizza and beer. It is my turn, after all. You sound serious. Almost like this is a business meeting.”

“In a way it is. We need your help. Desperately.”

“Ramsey? Are you and Janey okay? What’s wrong?”

“Too complicated to explain on the telephone. We’re both okay, just stressed. I’d rather wait and explain when we get together.”

“Okay Ramsey. Is this evening too soon?”

“No. That would really be great, Ben. About six?”

“I’ll be there,” Ben replied. He hung up the phone slowly when Ramsey said ‘good-bye’. Ben ordered the pizza and beer immediately so he’d be sure and be able to get it. The pizza place he used tended to get very busy on Friday nights and it wasn’t always possible to get a to-go pizza on the spur of the moment.

Ben put the evening meeting out of his mind and went back to work. He needed to find another mechanic to add to the four already working in the three bay garage. People were fixing things on three to ten year old vehicles rather than trading them in on new, or even newer used cars. His business was booming.

Balancing the pizza box on one hand and carrying two growlers of the micro-brewery beer the three of them liked in the other, Ben stopped on the way up the walk to the Cook’s front door. It was an amazing house, designed by Ramsey and Janey, and decorated by Janey. It was the epitome of the type of houses Ramsey’s real estate business specialized in and Janey was paid to decorate.

Two stories, six bedrooms, seven and a half baths, three fireplaces, fully finished basement… and the list went on. Built for seven-hundred fifty thousand, the last appraisal valued the home and lot at a million six.

Ramsey must have been watching for Ben, for he opened the door before Ben got there. “Ben! It’s great to see you, man! Come on in.”

Janey was smiling when she took the pizza from him and Ramsey took the two half gallon growlers of beer. She gave Ben a hug when he followed them into the kitchen. Ben took a seat on one of the bar chairs at the serving counter of the huge kitchen. Ramsey was already pouring the beer from one of the growlers into ice frosted mugs.

“You guys seem almost desperate for pizza and beer,” Ben commented when Janey slid two slices of pizza onto the plate in front of him.

“Not for pizza and beer,” Ramsey said. “But desperate. Cheers.”

The three touched mugs and took a drink of the beer, Ben watching the other two over the top of his mug.

“You can’t be serious. You guys desperate? For what?”

“Some peace of mind,” Ramsey said. “Some things have happened recently that you said would happen economically. We aren’t broke, by any means, but things are starting to slip away from us.”

“What do you mean, slip away?” Ben asked.

“I haven’t had a sale since that one two weeks before we got together the last time. And only one offer in that time frame.”

“And I haven’t had a decorating job since well before then,” Janey added.

“You guys have saving and such, surely.”

“Yes we do,” Ramsey replied. “And we want to hang onto them. Do you know how much credit card rates have gone up? And certificate of deposit rates down?”

“I’ve seen the figures in the news. You know I don’t use credit cards much… but I’ve noticed more and more people at the garage are paying in cash or with a check, rather than with credit cards.”

“I checked all of our credit cards,” Janey said. “Seven of the nine have raised their interest rates significantly in the last year. Never really paid attention to it before. We’re going to pay off all of them as the bills come in.”

“That’s only good common sense,” Ben said. He was on his second slice of pizza. Janey and Ramsey had barely touched theirs.

“That’s the problem. We haven’t shown good common sense. You know how I said we’d do this by the light of the fireplace?”

Ben nodded and took a swallow of beer.

“Can’t. Someone cut the natural gas line coming into the development yesterday. Gas has been off since.”

“And it doesn’t burn wood, either?” Ben asked.

“Nope. Gas only. I checked on getting it changed so it would. Cost a small fortune. Have to completely rebuild the fireplaces to allow the use of wood.”

“Not only that,” Janey said, leaning forward earnestly. “The storm two days ago killed the power. Only out for about an hour, but on top of the gas being out… What if it had been winter and we had kids or something?”

“I see,” Ben replied. “Well, it’s not too hard to address those elements. I can help you…”

“We want more than just not needing to worry about the gas and electric,” Ramsey said, cutting Ben off. “I’ve been noticing some things since that day we talked. What happens if this little slump in the housing market goes on longer or gets worse? You know that offer on a house I said I got?”

Ben nodded and Ramsey continued. “It’s for this house! And the offer was only six hundred thousand. That’s less than it cost to build two years ago. Already some of my listings are cutting the asking price by large amounts.”

“But this place was appraised at over a million and a half!” Ben exclaimed.

“Exactly!” Janey replied. “And I didn’t really mention before, when I said I hadn’t a recent decorating job, that when I thought about it, the last three jobs I did get were small scale jobs. Only a couple thousand dollars in my fee and less than ten-thousand in actual decorating costs.”

“I take it that isn’t much, compared to what you usually do?” Ben drained his first mug of beer and Ramsey refilled it.

“Not by a long shot,” replied Janey. “Oh, we’re not worried about winding up in the poor house, but we’ve always planned to retire early and if we keep losing equity, and not producing income… well, we’d have to fall back on our retirement funds. We want to avoid doing that. And…”

Ramsey jumped right in. “And I’ve been watching the stock market, especially our mutual funds… The DJIA is on a long, slow for now, decline. What we do have saved is losing value every day. The CDs… Well, they are paying the stated interest, but like you have said, our money just isn’t worth what it was before. I may have more money, but I have less buying power, by far, than I we did two years ago when we built the house and new offices.”

“We’re all in that same boat, guys. Yours is just a matter of magnitude. Now, if I was in your situation, I know what I’d do. But you know how I am. Prepping has become a way of life with me.”

“Tell us what you’d do,” Ramsey said. He and Janey finally began to eat as Ben started talking.

“Well, it’s simple in a way, but complex in others. A great deal of it depends on what lifestyle you want to maintain. Paying off those credit cards is a great first step. If you can pay off the house…”

Ramsey wiped his lips with a napkin and said, “The house is paid for. It was a turnkey job. Would have cost another two-hundred thousand to build if we’d financed.”

Ben was surprised and it showed. “You own the house outright? I had no idea.”

Ramsey shrugged. “Never really came up.”

“Well, that makes it much easier. Even keeping this house and doing some things to improve long term living here, you’ll still be way ahead because you are out of debt. Oh. The boat and things you’ve been talking about getting…”

“On hold until we figure this thing out,” Janey replied immediately.

“Okay. Money isn’t going to be a real problem, looks like. You don’t want to squander, but you’ll be able to buy the best values and can do some things most preppers can’t do for lack of money.”

“What if we sold the house?” Ramsey asked.

Again Ben looked surprised. “You guys love this house! It was your dream home!”

“We thought it was,” Janey said. “And I do love it, but… Well, the community is changing. The city has moved out this way and brought city crime to us. The house three doors down suffered a home invasion. Ramsey and I have already talked about moving. Initially we were just going to lease the house out. But there is a piece of property we have that we planned to retire to in a few years. We could build there.”

“What about your businesses?” Ben asked.

Both husband and wife shrugged. “We can do most anything we set our minds to. Have always been able to do that,” Ramsey said and then smiled. “Works out, we’ll just change our specialty from luxury homes to prep homes.”

“You’re laughing, but you might have a point. Wouldn’t be making as much, but your expenses would be down. Are you sure you want that much change in your lifestyle?”

“I realized after our supper the other day that I’ve fallen into a rut.” Ramsey frowned and continued. “We eat out because we just don’t feel like cooking. Janey is a great cook, and I’m not too bad. But we just seem to not care anymore. The lack of business lately simply hasn’t bothered me as much as it should. Money isn’t that big of a factor. I think I just got tired of people with money and no common sense. I used to have common sense. I think I’ve lost it. I want to do something productive again.”

“All the ladies and most of the men I deal with seem to just want to be a bit bigger, a bit more sophisticated, a bit more expensive than their friends and neighbors.” Janey sighed. “I didn’t really realize how disenchanted I was with my job until our talk the other day. Like Ramsey, I want to do more with my life than help someone choose between sheets that cost a hundred dollars each or sheets that cost a hundred and ten dollars each. I’ve never worried where my next meal was coming from, or what it would be. That dinner opened my eyes.”

“I see. This is a very sudden change. As much as I would like to see you turn into preppers, I think you should think about it. Getting completely away from this way of life could be very… difficult in the long run. I tell you what. I’ll give you some websites to peruse. They are prepper sites and can give you an idea what I’m trying to accomplish myself. You very well may want to look at other things than getting into prepping in a big way.”

“I guess that’s logical,” Ramsey said. “We do have a tendency to jump into things without a lot of thought. Hasn’t hurt us too much, but I think we’ve been pretty lucky.”

“Like the office building. We were perfectly okay renting office space. We didn’t, and don’t, need our own office building. It was just a spur of the moment decision.”

“A case of ‘Keeping up with the Jones’ to be truthful,” Ramsey added. “A major competitor built an office complex and we just got jealous, I think. It was a done deal before we really thought it through.”

“That means you really need to think this thing through before you make any major changes. If you feel like you want to change your lifestyle in another month… get into a prepper mindset, I’ll be glad to help.”

“Fair enough,” Ramsey said. “We’ll take a look at our financial situation, our career situation, and a few other things and let you know.”

“Hate to eat and run,” Ben said, getting up from the counter. “But I want to get back home before the storm breaks.”

“Storm? What storm?” Janey asked.

“That’s kind of a sign we live an isolated life, isn’t it?” Ramsey asked. “Don’t even know there is a storm coming.”

“A big one, as a matter of fact,” Ben told them. Should hit this area about an hour from now. I’ve been keeping track since this morning.”

“Okay, then. We won’t keep you. Be careful going home if that storm hits early.” Janey gave Ben a hug and added, “Thank you, Ben. You’re the rock in our life that we know we can always count on.”

Ramsey shook Ben’s hand at the front door of the house and then looked up when lightning flashed well off in the distance. “I see what you mean,” he said as the lightning continued to flash.

Ben spent the next month, during his limited spare time, developing a game plan for the Cooks. Several plans, actually, each one a bit more elaborate than the last, to give them a chance to decide just how prepped they wanted to get. When Janey called him and asked him to come for dinner at the house he took the information with him on a DVD.

It had been a very long time since the three of them had eaten a home cooed meal at the Cooks’ home. Not since shortly after the house was completed and they moved in. The pizza and beer didn’t count.

“Thought I take a first step and see if I could still cook,” Janey said, taking the bottle of wine that Ben brought with him.

“I’m sure you can,” Ben replied, taking off his coat and putting it in the entry hall closet.

“I hope so. I really haven’t cooked a real supper for months. Oh. Ramsey will be late. He’s got a lead on the sale of the office and wants to follow it up before he comes home.”

“On your offices?” Ben asked. He took the drink that Janey handed him. It was what he usually drank when he did drink. “Thanks.”

“Yes. We’ve decided to sell it for sure, even if we don’t do anything else. We simply don’t need it. Especially the way business is right now. It was a foolish choice to build it in the first place.”

“Hasn’t picked back up yet?” Ben asked.

“No. I’ve not had a single request for my design services. Ramsey did get a couple of nibbles on one of the houses listed with him, but they were real lowball offers. And he has picked up at least a dozen more listings of high dollar homes. People are beginning to realize they overbought. We just realized that ourselves this month as we talked about things.”

“Anything I can do to help in the kitchen?”

“No. Why don’t you turn on the news? We’ve started to watch it more carefully. Not just the national news, but the weather and a couple of the financial channels. And a couple of those prep websites you gave us have as good, if not better, information than the networks.”

“So you and Ramsey have checked them out?”

“Yes. I’ll wait until Ramsey gets here before we go into it.”

“Okay,” Ben said. He turned on the huge high definition plasma screen television in the living room and pulled up Fox news. He kept the volume down.

A few minutes later Janey came in and took a seat in another of the antique chairs the room held. “Just waiting on Ramsey now,” she said. “What’s going on in the news?”

“Nothing good, that’s for sure,” Ben said. “Wait. Here’s something about the housing boom.”
They listened to the news report. The news wasn’t good. Janey looked over at Ben. “You were right. Things are going south, fast.”

Both looked around when Ramsey spoke from behind them. “What’d I miss?”

Janey started to explain but Ramsey was nodding his head. “Yeah. I heard the same thing on the radio coming home. Everyone seems to be putting a good spin on it, but I have a feeling this is just the start of some very bad times in my business. And yours.” Ramsey leaned down and the couple touched lips.

“Give me just a minute in the kitchen and we can eat,” Janey said and got up from her chair.

Ramsey and Ben shook hands and then walked into the dining room where Janey was moving serving dishes from a mobile stand to the table. Both men waited until Janey sat down before they seated themselves.

“Honey, I think Ben here may have made us upwards of twenty or thirty thousand dollars.”

“How’s that?” Ben asked.

“I made arrangements to sell the office building. I suspect that in a few months, I won’t be able to get half of what we got for it today. Fortunately for us, the bank the guy does business with doesn’t seem to have a clue about what is happening and happily gave the guy the money. We’ll get it out of escrow in a month. Got back our original investment, barely.”

“That’s actually better than I was expecting,” Janey said.

The three turned the conversation to the wonderful meal. But afterwards, over coffee, the conversation turned to the economy, the weather, and then to the general ideas of prepping. They moved to the computer in the home office that Ramsey and Janey shared. With Ben in the desk chair before the computer and the DVD in the computer, Ramsey and Janey watched as various scenarios were explained and ways to cope with them were laid out.

“It kind of boils down to some really basic things for almost all disasters, and then very specific things to do for different disasters,” Ramsey said. He swiveled the chair he was in around, tented his fingers and began to muse as Ben and Janey listened.

“Air, water, food, shelter, transportation, medical aid, protection and so on. It is almost overwhelming when you look at all of it at once.”

“I know,” Ben said. “Most of us have achieved what we have over a fairly long time period. Jumping into it with both feet can be a bit daunting. And very expensive.”

“I’m afraid we might not have much time to get ready,” Janey said. She was leaning with her hip against the desk. “Now that my head is out of the sand, and I look at things more realistically, I get scared. I don’t know how I would react to going from very well off to scrambling for my next meal.”

“I would never let that happen, Honey!” Ramsey replied.

“Can you guarantee that, in our current situation?”

Ramsey didn’t answer immediately. Finally he sighed and said, “No. No I can’t. We have a lot of money, but it’s worth less and less every day. And we haven’t made a dime in our businesses in over four months. And the interest on the CDs is down to next to nothing. And our stock portfolio is dropping slowly, but surely. All that has had an impact on even our finances.”
“All I can tell you is what I would do. Look at these possibilities,” Ben said, pulling up an Excel spreadsheet with several tabs. “Now, these represent different levels of preparation. The first one is the basics, like you mentioned, Ramsey.”

Ben rose from the chair and let Janey sit down. Ramsey scooted his chair up and watched over her shoulder as they checked out each tabbed page. They began discussing things and Ben made himself scarce. He needed to go to the bathroom, anyway. He freshened up the coffee cups and then took a seat at the side of the desk, keeping quiet.

“Wow,” Janey said after nearly a half an hour of quiet discussion with Ramsey. “You really know your stuff, don’t you, Ben?”

Ben smiled and waved the complement away. “I’ve been working with this for years. It really is a lifestyle with me. And I’m an inveterate list maker.”

“Some set of lists,” Ramsey said with a chuckle. He looked at his wife. “What do you think, Janey? Small, medium, or large scale.”

“Well,” she replied, I don’t see small cutting it if things go the way they look to me like they are. And large scale… Well, no offense, Ben, but that’s just a bit too extreme. At least for the moment. I’m leaning that way. But I think the middle road would be where we should start.”

“That’s about what I was thinking. We can pretty much do everything in the medium category, and still leave open the possibility of going large scale. At least elements of it. I don’t really see myself as a farmer. But who knows?”

“Go ahead and sell the house, too? Get a year lease on something reasonable?” Janey asked, looking intently at Ramsey. “Take Ben down to the retirement property so he can evaluate it? And start looking for BOVs and get a set of BOBs put together.” She grinned over at Ben. “I’ve been doing research. Can you tell?”

Ben laughed. “Got it down pat.”

“I think that’s the best start we can make. Really hate to give up the Mercedes, though. I love their engineering.”

“You’re in a position to get one of the best off the floor BOVs made, in my opinion. And it happens to be a Mercedes Benz. G-55 AMG. Expensive, but as tough as they come and highly capable off-road.”

Janey pulled up one of the Excel pages again and whistled. Ramsey looked over to see what she whistled about. “That’s not bad, actually. My CL 65 was more than that. Your E 63 was more than half. And the Corvette, well, you know how much that was.”

“I hate to give up my E series,” Janey replied slowly. “But I seldom drive the ‘vette any more. That was kind of a whim at the time.” She had brought up the Mercedes Benz web site and was looking at the various models.

“The G-55 AMG is kind of…”

“Square?” Ben asked.

“Yeah. Squareish.” She turned the laptop so Ramsey could see it.

“I kind of like it. Looks tougher than the other SUVs Mercedes offers. Though I suspect they are pretty good, too. But if it’s Mercedes, it has to be good. And comfortable. Why don’t we go down to the dealer tomorrow and check one out?” Ramsey looked hopefully at Janey.

She laughed and agreed. “Okay! We go BOV shopping tomorrow. And I’ll list my ‘vette on the sports car forums. I think selling it outright will be much better than trading it in.”

“I think you’re right,” replied Ramsey. “Going to be a busy week. I want to go to the range and try out some of the guns. See which ones I like the best. You game on that? We’ve never really talked guns before.”

“I was pretty young when my grandfather died. He taught my brothers, but I never had the opportunity. And you know Jimmy and Jack. No way they’d teach me.”

“Yeah. So, if you’re okay with it, we’ll do that next week, too.”

That was about it for the evening. Ben excused himself a few minutes later to let the couple discuss things privately.

Ben called the following weekend. “How’d it go this week?” he asked Ramsey.

“I’m beat!” Ramsey replied. “It was a rewarding, but tiring week. What say we go get a drink and talk over some more things? Ringos? Eight o’clock?”

“I’ll be there.” Ben went back to work on the old Subaru he was working on. Twelve years old, one-hundred-eighty thousand miles, and it still had a lot of life in it. The owner was one that just couldn’t justify a new car if the old one could be kept running for a reasonable sum.

Ben stopped at home to shower and change clothes before heading down to Ringos Bar. It was a watering hole he and the Cooks had frequented over the years. It had been a while and Ben got several hugs from the female staff, and handshakes from the males.

The same thing happened when Ramsey and Janey came in. Ben waved them over to the booth he’d selected. It was a corner booth, and the most isolated of the seating in the bar. They could discuss things there without danger of being overheard.

“You do look tired,” Ben said after greeting the two. “Both of you.”

“Been an interesting week,” Janey replied. The server came over and the three put in their drink orders, plus a group appetizer.

“We’ve taken the first steps to become prepared for what might happen,” Ramsey said. “Changed some plans, and did a great deal of reading in the forums. Got more information from some of the fiction stories than I did some of the posts.”

Ben grinned. “Hooked on the prep/PAW fiction genre?”

“Wouldn’t say hooked. But some of it is really entertaining while being very informative,” Janey said. “I did stay up late reading every night this week. Not just fiction, but a lot of it.”

“So did I,” replied Ramsey. “But making so many decisions in such a short time has worn me out more than the late nights. This lifestyle change is more difficult than I thought it would be.”

“You want to be careful not to burn out,” Ben cautioned. “Don’t do things you haven’t thought through and discussed. You need to be comfortable with each major change you make.”

Janey nodded. “We are. I think it is more a matter of a bit of shame for ourselves that we’ve squandered so much money over the years that could have been used to prepare for the times we’re heading into. Would have been cheaper than leaping into it all at once.”

“Can’t argue that,” Ben said.

The server was back and Ben paid for the first round of drinks and gave the server money for the jukebox. “Keep it kind of low, if you will.”

“What all did you accomplish this week?” Ben asked.

“Well… Let’s see. Janey will soon own a next year’s brand new Mercedes Benz G-55 AMG with all the trimmings. I’m hoping you’ll help with equipping it.”

“Sure. Not a problem. But you said Janey got one. What about you?”

“I kind of fell in love with it when I tested one out this week,” Janey said. “It’s a dream to handle and once I got over the boxy look, I really like the way it hides an interior the equal to my E-Class. I like being up higher and being able to see all around better, too.” She grinned over at Ramsey. “He, on the other hand, has decided on something totally custom.”

Ben looked at Ramsey expectantly. He thought Ramsey blushed slightly, but couldn’t be sure in the rather dim light of the bar.

“Yeah… Well… There’s a writer on the forums that uses custom Chevy Suburbans in his stories. I was thinking… Well, why not? The G-55 AMG is gasoline and computerized. After reading up on EMP and reading some of the stories, I think we need to have a non-electronic diesel engine vehicle, just in case. And it’s bigger than the Mercedes.”

“And you can trick it out with all kinds of extras,” Janey said, still smiling.

“Yeah. Well, there’s that, too,” Ramsey admitted. He smiled back at his wife. “But don’t forget you’ll be getting a few extras for the Mercedes, too.”

“I know. Just funnin’ ya’ hun.”

“I can get started on one as soon as you bring me a good starter vehicle,” Ben said. “I’m assuming you want me to build it for you.”

“Absolutely. I want to look at your truck to see what you’ve done to it and go from there to whatever degree we can to get as close to the Suburbans in the stories.”

“I’m pretty close,” Ben admitted. “It won’t be a problem. SUVs are dropping in price. You should be able to pick up a good used 2500 series pretty cheap. Doesn’t matter too much which year or engine choice, since most of it will be gutted and custom parts put in. You do understand that this will run up there as much as the Mercedes by the time it is finished?”

“Of course,” replied Ramsey. “And that’s okay. We might get other vehicles in the future if things don’t get as bad as we expect. But these are keepers for years, unless I miss my guess.”

“That’s the way I feel about my Chevy one-ton. We can look it over tomorrow, if you want and start a wish list of items you want on yours.”

The appetizer arrived and the three fell silent until the server was gone. Ben spoke first after each tried the appetizer. “Does sound like a busy week.”

“That’s not the half of it,” said Janey. “We went shooting three times out at the range, choosing different guns each time, based on what was in your spreadsheet and what we’ve read on the forums.”

“And?” Ben asked.

“I’m going with a Springfield Armory M1A and a ParaOrdnance P-14. A Remington 11-87 with modifications for a shotgun, and a Beretta Tomcat .32 ACP for back up.”

“I didn’t like the weight and recoil of the big gun,” Janey said. “So I’m going to go with a Ruger SR-556. I didn’t have any trouble shooting a .45, but the P-14 is a bit heavy for me. I’m going to get the P-10 Warthog model. A Tomcat for back up and an 11-87 12 gauge. I didn’t think I’d like the 12 gauge, but with it being semi-auto and the weight, shooting it was okay. It’s a lot heavier than the SR-556, but the extra weight is worth it for the recoil reduction. I just doubt I’ll shoot it as much as the others.”

“Not bad selections at all,” Ben said.

“Oh, that’s not all!” Ramsey said. “Going to get one of those Barrett Light Fifties, a dedicated hunting shotgun, and a pair of dedicated hunting rifles.”

“No twenty-two?” Ben asked.

“Maybe. The Ruger 10/22 sounds like what we’ll get, but we want to wait and get what we have ordered in and checked out before we order anything else.”

“That’s probably a good idea. What about magazines and ammunition?”

Ramsey grinned and Janey rolled her eyes. “Enough for an armory. All the things you listed in the spreadsheet,” Ramsey said. “Over forty-thousand rounds to start with, not including hunting ammunition. At least fifty magazines for each rifle and twenty-five for each pistol.”

Ben whistled slightly. “Not bad. Parts?”

“The gunsmith at the range is going to put together a package of spare parts and some tools to work on everything. He seemed to know what is needed.”

“Jim knows his stuff,” Ben replied. “Have you given any thought to PMs? Precious metals? Gold and silver?”

Ramsey and Janey exchanged a quick look. Ramsey leaned forward slightly toward Ben before he spoke. “Picked up some here in town, but they got a bit antsy when I mentioned getting a lot more. So Janey and I decided to celebrate our tenth anniversary with a trip across country to break in the G-55 and pick up a little gold and silver here and there as we travel.”

“Sounds like a good way to do it. Not going to get spotted as a multiple buyer that way. Cash and no names, I expect?” Ben asked.

Janey nodded. “Exactly.”

Next, Ben asked, “Have you found someone to do the house and shelter plans?”

“I think so,” Ramsey replied. “If we go look at the property this week, they’ll be ready before we go on our trip and you can take a look. Suggest any improvements and the architect can incorporate them into the plans that should be ready when we get back.”

“You consider him trustworthy? And experienced in shelter design?”

Janey smiled. “Oh, yeah. None of the architects either of us have worked with in the past were suitable. We started looking on-line and found several that can do it, plus a couple of specialized shelter building companies.”

“What do you think about just building a regular basement?” Ramsey asked Ben. “Then installing an outside shelter connected to it with a secret door and tunnel.”

“I think he just wants to have a secret door and tunnel,” Janey said, smiling at her husband.

“Personally, I’d harden the basement to a degree, even with a separate shelter,” Ben said. “Going to need secure storage for supplies that really doesn’t need the same radiation protection that you guys do.”

“See,” Janey said, poking Ramsey in the side. “You can have your tunnel and eat cake, too.”

“Okay, okay. I just didn’t think we’d need to do both. I actually like that idea better than mine.”

Ben smiled and then asked, “What about out buildings? Attached or detached garage? Or both? Workshop? Equipment barn? There is a long list of other things that could make life much easier in the PAW if they are prepared now, even if not used regularly.”

“Well, we were talking about an attached four bay garage, and then maybe a two bay garage slash shop. We’d equip it for your use, just in case something happens to the shop here.”

“I can’t ask you to do that!” Ben exclaimed.

“You aren’t asking,” Ramsey replied softly. “We’re… well… sort of insisting. Some of the things in the PAW literature make a great deal of sense, if they can be afforded. Most people can’t. We can. As for the other buildings, we’d want them connected with tunnels, like in the stories.”

“Remember, that is fiction. The writers usually research things well, but I doubt if any of them have anything like what they are writing about.”

“Some of them seem to have very logical minds. Like TOM. Tired Old Man,” Janey said. “I’ve picked up so much from his stories. Usually his characters have to do a lot of salvage after a major incident to complete their preparations, even if they had preps beforehand. I’d rather do it all up front. The things he says will happen in his stories… Well… I believe it is all possible.”

“TOM hasn’t convinced me things come in groups of threes,” Ramsey said. “But better safe than sorry. Whatever bad that happens that requires us to take shelter, might only be the first of a series of incidents. I want to be able to take shelter more than once, for long periods, protecting everyone that we have on the property after the first event.”

“You thinking of your families?”

“Partly,” replied Janey. “You, as well.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Ben said.

“We know. But you’d let us in your shelter, if needed. We want to offer the same option to you, as well as our families,” Ramsey told Ben. “A half a dozen more people, too, if we can convince them to start getting ready on their own. Everything but a fallout shelter.”

“That’s going to triple the cost. Perhaps more,” Ben said, watching his friends’ faces carefully.

“We know. But that’s what we want to do. And it affects the number, kind, and placement of the out buildings.”

“I’m not sure I want our families in with us in the house shelter,” Janey added slowly. “Is that really bad?”

“You’d have to know both our families,” Ramsey told Ben.

“Well, there are several ways to accomplish sheltering that many, and still have some privacy. One is to simply make one large shelter, divided into small rooms plus common areas. Another is to have separate shelters for each building and have each group occupy one of them. Can be separate shelters or the basements of the buildings can be turned into shelters, or each building could be built as a shelter. Could house a lot of people, but it would cost. Big time.”

“What do you think of the shelter manufacturers out there?” Ramsey asked. “Better to get a series of them or build our own?”

“Normally I’d say build exactly what you want, but as close as your property is to the city, you might need blast protection. That’s doable site built, but a couple of the shelter builders have turnkey shelters that protect for blast as well as fallout.”

“We were looking at the Radius Engineering website. Either the E-10/E-15 series or the CAT-15/CAT-25 series.”

“Well, you can shelter more people for less going with the CAT-25,” Ben said. “But you are talking close quarters even for just twelve or fifteen people that don’t get along well. And there is a factor of redundancy if you have more than one shelter. I’m assuming you don’t plan for more than thirty people total?”

“No. More like the twelve or fifteen you mentioned,” Janey said. “But possibly more.”

“Two of the CAT-15s, which I like better than the E-15,” Ben said, looking off in the distance as he thought about the shelters. “The stairs instead of a ladder. More overall space. A couple of those would hold up to thirty people, and with the basement, you could handle twenty in one of them, if the other became compromised.”

“What about four of them. One extending from each of the four main buildings?” Ramsey asked. “The main entrance from the basements of the buildings, and the regular sealed stair entry as an escape tunnel on the side away from the buildings.”

Ben whistled. “That’s beau coup dollars.”

“Yeah. Over a million, but that’s with full packages. I don’t know if we’d want their selections. I was thinking more of doing our own power, water, sewer, communications, and food, among a few other things,” Ramsey said. He looked earnestly at Ben. “Is that doable?”

“I’m sure it is. But you’d sure want to get right on it to get them ordered. With the way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a delay between purchase and delivery.”

“But just getting the basic shelter, and putting in our own equipment would be okay?” Janey asked.

“Up to Radius, but I don’t see any problems with it. What were the other three buildings you were thinking about building?” Ben asked.

“About like you said,” Ramsey replied. “A detached two-bay or four-bay garage/workshop, an equipment barn/power house, and a multi-purpose building set up for storage and work space for whatever we might need to do in the PAW. The basements all connected by tunnels connected with the tunnel to each shelter. Escape ports at each end of the connecting tunnel.”

“Actually, depending on the layout, you could make them camouflaged pill boxes and have a couple of fighting positions out away from the buildings themselves,” Ben said, willing to spend the Cooks’ money if they so wanted. “Some of this is going to be entirely dependent on the property.”

“We haven’t been there for a couple of years,” Ramsey told Ben. “You able to go take a look with us tomorrow?”

“Sure.” The talk turned to more mundane prep topics, such as the state of the economy, politics, and food prices. When the three left, Ben said, “Pick me up at the garage. I’ll be ready at eight, if that’s okay?”

“Absolutely. It only takes about an hour to get there,” Ramsey said.

That rang a little warning bell in Ben’s mind, but he didn’t say anything. Better to wait until he saw for sure what he was thinking.

When they arrived at the property the next morning in the G-55 AMG, Ramsey and Janey were openmouthed. “This was rural area just two years ago!” Ramsey exclaimed.

“Look at all the houses and businesses! Looks like our piece of property is the only one without something built on it,” Janey added, looking all around. “Hey! There’s a post with something attached over there!”

Ramsey got out of the SUV and walked over. He came back a minute later with a large zip-lock bag containing an envelope.

“What’s it say?” Janey asked after Ramsey opened the envelope.

“Looks like someone wants to make an offer on the property. Been trying to locate us… the owners of this parcel…” Ramsey handed the paper to Janey and turned in the seat to speak to Ben.

“Uh… not a really good choice for what we’re planning, huh?”

Ben just shook his head. He’d been right. The city had pushed out this way over the last three years, encroaching on the formerly rural land.

Janey handed the paper to Ben and he took a quick look. “Up to you guys,” he said, giving the note back to Ramsey. “It is doable here, of course, but everybody and their brother will know what is going on.”

Ramsey sighed. “I guess we’ll call this guy and see what we can get for the property. We need to start looking for another piece of property pretty soon.”

“Talk to this guy,” Ben said, taking a card from his wallet. “He kind of wheels and deals, sometimes buying and selling, sometimes just brokering deals. He knows this whole part of the state.”

The three headed back into to the city, rather dejected. They were cheered slightly when Janey pulled in beside a fairly new model Suburban at the garage parking lot.

“All right!” Ramsey said. “Something went right. That must be my new ride!”

“I would think so,” Ben replied, getting out of the SUV after Ramsey and Janey. The three went over the vehicle.

“This thing looks like it’s in very good condition,” Ramsey said after a few minutes. It might not be mine. Unless it’s stolen. And I mean literally.”

“I don’t think so, Ramsey,” Ben said. He’d opened the hood and was standing at the side looking inside.

Ramsey and Janey came around to look, too. Janey laughed. There was no engine or transmission in the vehicle.

“Oh,” Ramsey said slowly. “I guess it is mine. The guy said it wouldn’t run…”

“Not without an engine. But this just saves us the work of taking the old one out so we can put in the diesel. I’ll get on this first thing Monday,” Ben said. “I’ll work on it every chance I get without slowing down the business.”

“Okay, Ben. Thanks.”

The three said good-bye and Janey and Ramsey left. Ben went over the Suburban again, with a pad and pencil in hand, marking down a few things to remember during the rebuild.

It took a week to get the crated non-electronic diesel engine and transmission, with their associated parts. Ben had all ready removed the body sections to work on the frame. Since he wasn’t going to charge Ramsey anything for the work, he did it all himself, with only the occasional third hand help for safety’s sake. But the shop was busy and Ben could only work on the Suburban a few hours a day.

It took six weeks of late hours and working weekends to complete the Suburban and another week to get in some of the equipment Ben would be adding to it and to the G-55 AMG.

During that time Ramsey and Janey decided that Harold Watson was, indeed, a wheeler dealer. Just a couple of days before Ben called and said the Suburban was ready, the two signed the paperwork for two pieces of property near one another. A full section of land that already had a farm on part of it, and a much smaller property that would be the Cooks’ new home. Both backed against one of the parts of the Mark Twain National Forest, with the property for the home nearly surrounded by it.

Both were far enough out that it would be years before development came out to where they were. Access was by two lane county road, then gravel roads to the edges of the property, and finally dirt tracks in to where the new compound would be built in one case, and where the old farmhouse was in the other case.

Only one-hundred-sixty acres of the farmland had been in recent production, and that had been several years beforehand. It also included the ten-acre homestead. Three-hundred-twenty acres was mixed open ground; ground overgrown with brush; and the last one-hundred-sixty acres was second growth forest begging to be harvested.

The open ground would become additional crop land, as would the overgrown ground once it was cleared. Later discussions with a professional arborist and with Ben convinced Janey and Ramsey to clear cut harvest and then clear eighty-acres of the forested ground for more cropland. The other eighty acres would be selectively cut over the years for lumber and replaced with ash and hickory in a coppicing firewood lot.

The clear cut, and the coppicing forest were not in single lots. The eighty acres of continued production forest was in twenty-acre lots checkerboarded with the clear cut new cropland.

The day Ramsey picked up the completed Suburban, he and Janey took Ben out to see the two pieces of property. It seemed to Ramsey and Janey that Ben was just as happy with what they’d purchased as they were themselves.

“You think this is all right?” Ramsey asked anyway.

“Oh, man, yes! I don’t think you could have done any better,” Ben told his friends. “When the farm is completed and in operation, you could very well have a showcase farm. Definitely one that will produce more than enough food for humans and feed for stock, with plenty left over for sale to the public. With several acres in good oil bearing crops and you’ll be nearly independent.

“You are going to put in storage for production needs and storage for harvested crops, aren’t you?” Ben asked.

“Yep. Just like you suggested,” Ramsey replied.

“Going to put in a couple of new wells for the farmhouse lot and several irrigation wells for the fields,” Janey added. “That’ll be ongoing as the woods are harvested and cleared and more ground goes into tillage.”

“I wanted to ask you about what you thought about getting the equipment and doing the logging ourselves, and then get a portable sawmill and making the lumber. And a firewood processor for the continuing production of firewood.”

Ben’s eyebrows raised. “I don’t know, Ramsey. Logging on the scale you’re talking about is a whole lot of work. I think you need professionals to do it. Now… for firewood and lumber… you might want to do that, with experienced hands helping.”

“Oh. Okay. We’ll look into that a bit more before deciding,” Ramsey looked a little disappointed, but Janey looked relieved at Ben’s answer.

“We’ll start looking for a farm manager now, to help supervise the construction at the farm home lot, and get the farming equipment ordered. I all ready ordered the four CAT-15 shelters from Radius. Going to be a wait, but not as long as I was fearing. We’ll need to get some other work done on our home site.”

“You guys are going to be busy, busy, busy, for the next several months. Let’s just hope things don’t get too much worse before then.”

“Man, I sure hope so!” Ramsey said. “By the time we get everything done, all we’re going to have left for money is our new retirement plans.” Rather proudly, Ramsey continued, his voice lowered a notch. “We’ve switched most of our retirement investments into gold and silver, a couple of deferred annuities with hopefully the soundest insurance companies around, and some foreign currency investments.”

“Uh…” Ben looked a bit startled at the announcement. “You might want to think about what you plan to do for a living if that big ol’ balloon don’t go up.”

“Yes,” Janey said. “We are thinking of things. I’m sure we’ll start up some kind of business when we’ve accomplished the bulk of our preps. We just don’t know what it, or they, will be.”

“Okay. That’s good,” Ben said, letting go with a slight sigh of relief. There was no doubt in his mind that that balloon was going to go up, possibly even before the Cooks had what they wanted. But prep planning needed to include planning for things going well, too.

After a couple weekend sessions going over what they might want in the way of the compound construction, Ben had to leave Janey and Ramsey to their own devices. His garage business was booming and he put the crews on rotating seven day schedules. He felt obligated to work the weekends, allowing one person a week to skip a weekend day.

The business was a sign of the times. Ben had thought things were bad when his business had picked up a year ago. It sure looked like it was going into the trashcan now. Only foolish people and people very secure in their financial situation were buying new cars. Some were turning to used cars, and many for just repairing what was wrong with their older vehicles.

Since Ben had arrangements with two of the largest used car dealers in the city to do their used car repair work on trade ins, he was getting income from two different streams. Like Ramsey and Janey, all the extra money was going into preps.

When he had his first real break, on a three day Labor Day Weekend, for which he closed the garage, Ramsey and Janey more or less insisted that he join them for a picnic at the compound still under construction. He thought he’d rather stay home and sleep, but couldn’t really pass up the invitation. Besides, he was curious as to how much progress had been made. Boy, was he in for a surprise.

3 Time Jinx - Chapter 2

Early Saturday morning, with his camping gear loaded into the pickup, Ben headed for the newly facelifted farm, where he would meet Ramsey and Janey. His jaw dropped when he turned from the gravel road to what had been a dirt road deteriorated to little better than a track. It was now a good looking gravel road, in better shape than the county maintained road it turned off from.

It was crowned, twenty-four feet wide with deep ditches on each side for drainage. When Ben reached the parking lot for the house at the farm he looked around in awe. There was construction everywhere, though no one was working the long weekend.

There were silos nearing completion, an equipment barn lacked only a roof, the new house was half completed, row after row of trees and grapevine supports were now in the new orchard, and the animal barn, of earth sheltered design like the house, looked complete from the outside. And that was simply a long dirt mound, with small openings here and there.

Janey and Ramsey were standing by the Suburban, with Ramsey’s arm around Janey. They both were grinning from ear to ear.

“What do you think, Ben?” Ramsey called out as soon as Ben exited from his truck.

“Give me a minute to look around,” Ben called back. He was most interested in the animal barn, for which he headed, Ramsey and Janey on his heels.

The thing was huge. Twelve feet high inside, concrete walls banked with earth tapered to four feet wide just below the ventilation windows. The roof overhung the walls by five feet, and was covered with four feet of earth. The entrances had right angle turns in them outside of the barn itself, leaving virtually all the room inside for the animals. Excepting, of course, the myriad columns that supported the heavy roof.

No animals were inside yet, but there were provisions for beef cattle, milk cows, horses, pigs, and chickens. “There will be a feed storage barn next to it, built the same way, connecting there,” Ramsey said, pointing to a concrete framed opening on the far side.

“Wanted this one first,” Janey said. “The same people will build the other barn when this one is finished. There will be an automatic watering system for each type of animal, with an associated feeder system supplied from the second barn.”

“Going to be great!” Ben said, spotting the areas where the milk cows would be milked with a small vacuum milking system, including a pasteurizer. “The supports on the roof for a PV system?”

“Exactly,” Ramsey replied. “Each building will have its own system and be wired to the main PV system. Regular deep cycle batteries for the individual systems and those submarine batteries you told us about for the primary system.”

Ben nodded. “Looking good. All of it.”

“Come on,” Janey said. “I want to show you the house!”

Janey showed Ben the features already built into the house and what and where other things would go. There was a basement fallout shelter big enough for twenty people, with mandatory escape tunnel. The house would have a regular kitchen, but would have a separate building for use to process the foods the farm would produce. From canning to drying, smoking, to cheese making and so on. The building would house the equipment and have a root cellar and other temperature maintained storage rooms to store the food until it was consumed or sold.

An attached building was the meat processing shed. From butchering to processing to final product storage, the farm could provide meat products from beef, pork, and chicken.

Janey also showed Ben the layout of the bunkhouse they had decided to add. It would have three private bedrooms with baths, four bunkrooms each with a double bath, a large kitchen, dining room, and common room. Another earth sheltered barn was in the process of being built, but it would be used for storage.

There was feature after feature and Janey showed Ben all of them. “Come on back out,” Ramsey said. It was his turn to show Ben some of the acquisitions. “You saw the orchard. There’ll be commercial sized strawberry and blueberry patches. Blackberries will be planted all around the perimeter fence next spring when the fence is in.”

“And look! I made a deal on some new and used Mercedes Benz Unimog U500 trucks and gear!”

Again Ben’s jaw dropped. Sitting behind the beginning of the equipment shed were two Unimog U500 trucks, with all kinds of implements parked nearby, including the farming equipment the Unimogs could use. The majority of the farming would be done with conventional John Deere tractors and implements, and the Unimogs used for utility chores. But the Unimogs could do a respectable job farming small acreages.

“Notice how good the road was?” Ramsey asked. Before Ben could say yes, Ramsey, his eyes sparkling pointed at a long, complex looking yellow contraption parked out of the way. “Carolina Smooth Roads Maintenance Implement. “Couple of passes every so often and the road is kept in perfect shape.

“And recognize these from some of the stories on the forums?” Ramsey asked, placing a hand on the Bobcat 5600T Toolcat utility tractor. Next to it were another Toolcat and three Bobcat A300 skid steers machines. Again there were all kinds of implements for the units. “They’ll work the garden and do other work around the place. Have two three wheel orchard cherry pickers ordered, and a Broderson RT-300 rough terrain crane, and a Kenworth service truck to keep the equipment running in the field.

“The two shrink wrapped things over there are a Hud-son portable lumber mill and a Built-Rite firewood processor. They are stand alone machines. We’re getting a Hahn Harvester firewood processor for the skid steer to do on site firewood processing.

“Let’s see… Oh. The fuel tanks will be in next week. Diesel, gasoline, ethanol, propane, and a mixing tank to make E85 from the gasoline and ethanol. Six commercial greenhouses are on order. Four for temperate climate plants, one each extra tall one for sub-tropical climate plants, and tropical climate plants.

“They’ll have LED grow lights and heaters. We’ll be able to grow dwarf and miniature citrus and banana, regular height coffee and cacao trees, and some spices that only grow in those climates. All that will be mostly for our own use.”

Those were the highlights of the farm. Ramsey and Janey were anxious to go to the home compound and show Ben what had been accomplished there. So the three went back onto the county gravel road, up about a mile, and turned onto another neatly sculptured gravel road.

Ben whistled softly. There was all ready a great deal of work done, but there was much more to be done, Ben could see. Two of the first things he saw were two more Unimog U500 trucks, also with attachments and implements. He stepped around them, and sure enough, there were five more Bobcat units. Two Toolcats and three A300s, with implements.

“You’ve been reading the PAW fiction again, haven’t you?” Ben asked with a smile.

“Yeah. Well… When you consider what they can do…” Ramsey let his words trail away.

“I think they are good choices,” Ben said. “If you get spare parts on hand.”

“Oh, yeah. The Freightliner dealer where we got the trucks from is bringing in a complete selection from a replacement axle to a replacement engine and several pallets of rebuild and repair parts.”

“Look over here, Ben,” Janey called. She was standing at the edge of a long trench. “Part of the tunnel system is already in place.”

Ben walked over and looked down. Sections of concrete pedestrian walkway were in the trench in several places. “The other underground units go where there isn’t any tunnel?” Ben asked.

“Yes. Some of the foundations are in and the contractor is waiting for the concrete to cure before he and his crews continue,” Janey replied.

Ben looked around. “House… Food processing and storage building… Garage… equipment barn with attached power plant building… What’s going in here?”

“It’s another bunkhouse, similar to the one at the farm, but smaller. And the other building will be a multipurpose building, like at the farm, but smaller.” Janey pointed out the other basement foundation. “And the last spot is the storage building to hold our growing supply of prep items.

“I see you have another large orchard and vineyard,” Ben said, looking around the rest of the property.

“Yep. We’ll have berry patches here, too. The blackberries will be part of the compound fencing, just like at the farm. Can’t have too many fruits, nuts, and berries in the PAW.” Ramsey pointed out the excavations for the four Radius Engineering CAT-15 shelters that would connect with the house, garage, equipment barn, and bunkhouse. All the buildings would be connected with tunnels, and the basements would be built as shelters, but only the four buildings would have the separate blast shelters.

“We decided to extend the tunnel system a little more and have five camouflaged fighting positions around the perimeter. Each one will have the capability of being blocked so people can’t gain entry if they are discovered.” Ramsey pointed out the five positions where the fighting positions would be located.

“They’ll have solid tops, covered with earth, that can be jacked up to allow the use of weapons. Jack the covers up a little more and they are emergency exits in addition to the exits from the CAT-15s.”

“You’ve planned well,” Ben said. “Even the landscaping is defensive in nature. No easy approach that can’t be covered from fighting positions in the compound or from the perimeter positions.”

“And each of the buildings will have a fortified fighting position at the highest point of that building.” Ramsey pointed here and there, adding, “The whole area can be covered in cross fires, with each fighting position protected by at least one other, and mostly two others.”

“Very good planning. You guys picked up the information quickly,” Ben said, truly impressed.

“Just a manner of reading the books you suggested, the forums, and the fiction,” Janey replied. “Not only was it enjoyable, it taught us a lot.”

They were still walking and neared the orchard area. “There’ll be a medium sized greenhouse, and a large garden to supply the compound with fresh foods, but the farm will be our primary supply,” Ramsey said, pointing out where the things would be in relation to everything else.

“You have maximized your investments in preps,” Ben said as the three walked back to the vehicles. “I don’t know how you afforded it all.”

“Wasn’t easy,” Ramsey said. “We wound up doing more than we intended, and it’s just about cleaned us out.”

“But,” Janey said, smiling broadly, “we have decided on alternate careers that should give us decent paychecks to continue with our regular lives, and add a few more preps as needed.”

“Really? Can I ask what?” Ben asked.

Ramsey was grinning now. “You notice that plot of ground on this side of the corner where the county gravel road crosses the county two-lane blacktop road?”

Ben nodded. “Looks like it is going to be developed. But that shouldn’t impact on you very much.”

“Going to impact us a great deal,” Janey said.

“Yep. It is what is taking the last of our available funding. “I managed to put together a group of investors, and we put in our share, to construct a strip mall on that property.”

“A strip mall? Out this far?” Ben asked. He didn’t sound too positive.

“Yep. But listen to this,” Janey said. “Tell him the rest, Honey.”

“I found out by accident that the county road is going to be improved because of the new development on the lake. That county road is going to start carrying quite a bit more traffic than now. And the city will continue to grow out this way, if the balloon doesn’t go up. Be years, so Janey and I feel that the property we have is still a very good choice.

“And we were going to put a fruit and vegetable stand there during the season, anyway, to sell the surplus from the farm. But with a service station and an expanded C-store there, we can have a huge reserve of fuel for ourselves, including propane and hydrogen, and have a real store from which to sell the farm products.

“One of the best things is the Committee is going to put in a clinic to support the activities of five doctors, two dentists, one optometrist, and one audiologist. Plus the necessary support staff, including a small but complete pharmacy with a licensed pharmacist.

“There’ll be a full operating room, and an eight bed hospital in addition to your standard general health clinic. Of the five medical doctors, three will be general practitioners, one a pediatrician, and one an OB/GYN to serve this side of town now, the rest as it develops, plus the rural population around here. But we’re not leaving out animal health care. A husband and wife veterinary team covering small animals, exotics, and large animals will be putting in a clinic, too.”

“That’s amazing!” Ben exclaimed. “Couldn’t ask for more than that this close to a retreat.”

“Not all,” Janey said. “Keep going, Ramsey.”

Still smiling, Ramsey continued. “Not all, at all. Besides the service station, enhanced C-store, and clinics, we have commitments for an upscale bar and restaurant, a package liquor store, climate controlled self-store warehouse operation, a sixteen unit motel and a sixteen unit apartment building.

“And there’s more,” Ramsey said, continuing. “A UPS store with private mail boxes, and a small branch of State Bank are planned. And we will still have room for more. Everything will have fallout shelter equipped basements, though certain key people have space assigned here in the blast shelters if there is enough warning.

“All of the businesses will be on that big corner lot. With that deep road ditch along the blacktop, there’ll be two entrances/exits that can have easily closed barriers giving good security. Same on the gravel road side.

“The investors agreed to a tall decorative wall on the other two sides of the property, plus security fencing on the front and side on each side of the entrance/exits. We’ll have our own well and septic system, with commercial power and telephone. Also a backup power system with both generators and PV panels.”

“Janey and I will be the managers of the property, drawing a nice salary, if I do say so myself.”

“You guys have gone far beyond what I ever dreamed of,” Ben said, shaking his head. “I’m in awe!”

“We thought you’d like that part of it,” Janey said. “You inspired us, so feel free to take some of the credit.”

“Naw. I think you two did this pretty much on your own, with just a bit of my influence.”

It was time for lunch and Janey brought out the food from the Suburban as Ben helped Ramsey set up a picnic table and chairs. They discussed other details during the pleasant lunch, but quickly set up their respective tent camps as a rainstorm blew in from the northwest.

Fortunately the rain was light, though it continued through the afternoon and night. Supper was a quick Mountain House backpackers’ set of meals and then the three went back inside the tents for a relaxing evening listening to the rain and reading.

The rain was pouring the next morning and the three decided to call it good and head for home. They did stop at the business property so Ben could get a better idea of the layout Ramsey had explained.

Ben watched the news and the forums closely after his trip to the Cooks’ new places. Things were heating up, politically, and cooling off climatically, despite global warming warnings. The planet itself seemed restless, with earthquakes and volcanoes popping off here and there, all around the globe. Food and fuel prices were up. So were gold and silver. The stock market was up and down daily, with no consistent rhyme, rhythm, pattern, or reason. A few made millions and millions lost thousands.

Even Ben’s business began to slow down. Now it was becoming a choice between eating and fixing the car. People were trying to sell their big, expensive houses and get into something smaller, but the market had dropped continuously from about the time the Cooks took a real interest in prepping. And it looked like a total unknown was going to wind up in the Oval Office. Ben kept his fingers crossed that the Cooks’ timing would not be off just enough to wind up killing them.

The three went to Ringos’ Bar to watch the election results. All three went home extremely uneasy about the future. They watched the housing market continue to plummet, and the Dow do the same thing while gold held steady and then began to creep up slowly again.

It didn’t take long to see the way the country was going after the new president was elected. Apologizing to country after country for what the US had done in the past, appointing blatantly leftist ‘czars’ right and left, being heckled by members of Congress, and having other heads of state refuse to shake his hand did not reassure Janey, Ramsey, or Ben. Apparently it didn’t the general population, either. His approval rating was steadily falling, as he pushed for nationalized health care.

Despite everything, Labor Day, 2009, was a dual celebration for the Cooks. Their building projects were complete, and the carefully selected hired hands were taking up residence at the farm compound, home compound, and business compound.

There would be no crops from the farm until the greenhouses started to produce. Milk, eggs, and cheese would be available in the C-store shortly, as the stock had all been purchased and delivered to the farm. The feed storage silos and buildings were full, the product silos and buildings waiting on a harvest. The farm equipment was being gone over and readied to get the various fields ready for the winter.

The professional timber harvesting was going well, the money a welcome influx for the Cooks sorely depleted accounts. The smaller scale operation the farm was handling on its own of producing firewood and rough lumber was also going well, the firewood being cut to length, split, stacked, and covered for future use. So was the lumber production. It was placed in carefully separated stacks for air drying.

At the home compound, Ramsey and Janey were learning all the various systems installed, and working with the two hands they hired to do general work around the place, in addition to their office duties at the strip mall offices.

Things seemed to quiet down after the holiday on both the world political scene and the domestic political seen. During one of their get-togethers, Ramsey mused, “I wonder if we did all of what we’ve done in vain?”

Ben winced and Janey asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I just think it’s better not to tempt fate, that’s all. According to Tired Old Man, God has a sense of humor,”

Ramsey and Janey laughed, and the three continued their meal in the new restaurant in the strip mall.

None of three was laughing the next morning as they watched the morning news at their respective homes. Ben called the Cooks and suggested they go into isolation, and have the farm and strip mall do the same.

Mandatory inoculations for the H1N1 flu had begun the week before. The process, despite fears, had gone fairly well. Some refused and were carted off to the newly opened ‘quarantine’ camps. But the vast majority of those slated to take the vaccine did so.

But, beginning the night before, people from all walks of life, all ages, that had taken the vaccine started dying, one by one. Riots broke out and the government was forced to stop the mandatory program. It was too late.

Though quickly determined, as if known before hand thought some theorists, that the adjuvant in the vaccine was the killer agent, not the vaccine itself, the fear was too deep seated. People refused the vaccine, even when it was announced that only vaccine without the adjuvant would be used in the future.

It never became clear whether or not the plain vaccine would have helped. What was clear was that the H1N1 flu turned out to be even more deadly than the 1918 flu outbreak. And with Americans fleeing the most densely populated areas, the flu spread rapidly around the country, as well as overseas, where it was already spreading from other sources of contamination.

The dying seemed to be slowing, for a while, but the rates picked up again as the Northern Hemisphere warmed up. At the end of the summer of 2010 forty-seven percent of the world’s population was dead.

The majority of the people working for, or with, the Cooks and Ben took Ben’s suggestion to self-quarantine to heart. But not all. And everyone that left was not allowed to return when they realized their mistake.

The strip mall was locked down, the entry/exits blocked, and armed guards patrolled to keep people from entering. But that only lasted for a few days. Two of the doctors and five nurses in the clinic practice insisted they be allowed to use the clinic to help those with the flu.

Ramsey and Janey didn’t quite have the pull to stop it, though their suggestion to maintain control of the access to the mall and the clinic be strictly limited. And all guards and other personnel that might come into contact with the ill, or the doctors, were to wear protective equipment and maintain their own quarantine at the mall.

The doctors were gallant, and did their best. But treating the symptoms of the flu was about all they could do. The eight bed ward held thirteen, and the halls of the hospital section of the clinic held ten more. Supplies were gone in a week. Only a couple more patients sought treatment at the clinic after that. They were let in, but died even before some of those that had been there for a few days.

Ben had sheltered with the Cooks, at their invitation, along with the staff at the clinic. He suited up in protective gear and took one of the Unimogs from the home compound, with backhoe attached and went to the mall to dig a trench grave for the dead, once the clinic was out of body bags.

It was even more disheartening when one of the doctors and two of the nurses succumbed to the flu. The other doctors and three nurses went into separate quarantine after the last of the bodies had been buried. They’d lost friends and co-workers, and had not saved a single life, despite their best efforts.

A month later, with no more reported cases, the three facilities came out of their quarantine. Except for the one doctor and three nurses. They would stay in quarantine for another two weeks.

Even without the isolation, nearly everyone wore a P-100 mask, safety glasses, and exam gloves when dealing with any outsiders. The service station re-opened, as did the bank, motel, bar, and storage place. The restaurant stayed closed.

The apartment building, prior to the flu outbreak had maintained a sixty percent occupancy rate. People filling jobs at the three places for those that had not stayed for the quarantine took apartments at the mall. They all wanted to continue to be as isolated as possible, and the farm and mall seemed a good place to do it and still make a living.

Word went around that the C-store at the mall had safe food, it became something of a booming business. With the continued use of protective gear by the workers, people felt safe doing business at the mall and came out from the city, as well as the local surrounding area for both food and fuel. Some people even switched their banking from what they had before the outbreak to the State Bank branch at the mall.

Most of those that worked at the mall that sheltered at the home compound contributed some to the restocking of consumables when they again became available and the people were able to work again. Strong bonds had been made during the crisis, and many more people believed in what Ramsey and Janey had done for themselves and those around them. Nearly every single person in the three facilities was now a confirmed prepper.

Life slowly came back to normal, if one could say that life with only fifty-three percent of the pre-outbreak population was normal. With much of the city deserted, the strip mall became the go to place for the area. It was safer, and they had things in the mall that couldn’t be found elsewhere. The restaurant re-opened and did a moderate business. The bar was packed every night and often during the afternoons.

There were small wars over the abandoned goods of the dead, especially in the cities. Ben thought about joining one of the salvage companies that had a contract with the government to recover everything they could for distribution to the needy. But after hearing of ambushes and slaughters of the sanctioned teams by the rogue teams, Ben changed his mind.

Ben took the government buyout offered to businesses in the worst affected areas, primarily in the cities, where they were no longer viable. He was able to keep most of the garage equipment, and used some of the cash money to build a smaller, but even more capable garage at the strip mall.

Since he was relocating his business, the government also bought his house. Land was cheap now, with so much of it available. Ben had no trouble picking up eighty acres of land adjacent to the Farm. With the remaining cash from the business buyout, and the money from the home buyout, Ben built a small earth sheltered dome home on the new property, with a deep basement shelter. He built in plenty of storage for preps, and planted fruit and nut trees and berry patches, but decided it was better for all concerned if he helped the Cooks with their operation, in addition to the sporadic garage work, rather than try to become self-sufficient at his own place.

When it was finished, Ben invited Ramsey and Janey over to see it. It was during the farewell conversation that Ramsey said, “I guess we’re ready for TOM’s number two.”

“You just don’t learn,” Ben said under his breath.

“What?” Ramsey asked.

“Just muttering. You guys be careful going home. Precious cargo you’re hauling around now.”

Janey was smiling, her hands cupping her swollen belly. She was eight months pregnant with their first child. Ben followed them out to the Suburban and stood there as they drove away.

“I hate it when he tempts fate,” Ben said aloud, looking up at the sky. It was almost 2012, just a few months until December 21, 2012. “Please just be a crackpot idea,” he said softly, wondering if something would happen before the X-planet, if there was an X-planet, came sailing, hopefully, past Earth.

With a shake of his head, Ben went back into his new home and went to bed, his thoughts no longer on disasters, but on the new nurse at the mall clinic. Long red hair, nice, but not voluptuous figure, smart and witty, he’d been captivated by her from the moment he saw her.

“Probably too young for me, anyway,” Ben murmured and then fell asleep.

Lilly wasn’t the only new person at the clinic. Of the original staff, besides the doctor and nurses that died, the pharmacist left to take care of his extended family down state. One other nurse left, as well, unhappy with the way things had been handled during the quarantine. A few other staff members left and were replaced.

The doctor and nurse positions were no problem to fill. The mall clinic had made a name for itself as being a safe place to be no matter what. The pharmacist was replaced by another, whose wife was an experienced herbalist. She opened a shop in the mall and installed a greenhouse to grow herbs not found naturally in the area.

As time passed and the economy made something of a comeback, the farm complex came into its own. The C-store was expanded to handle the full scale production of the farm, with some products coming from the orchard and berry patches at the home compound and Ben’s place after they began producing in mid-2012.

Nibiru/Planet-X was in the news constantly. Prep sales were a major market as December 21, 2012 approached. Ben’s garage work picked back up, with less than half the vehicle production companies still in business, new cars were scarce and expensive. Once again people opted to repair older vehicles rather to try to buy new.

Having restocked shortly after specialty prep items became available after the flu outbreak, Ramsey, Janey, and Ben were in even better shape than before the outbreak. Almost every cubic inch of storage space was filled. Ben had no staff, but Ramsey and Janey had three families living at the home compound to help with household and compound duties. Janey was staying at home, caring for Sterling, Ramsey’s and her now year old baby. Ramsey was kept busy with managing of the strip mall, doing everything he had before, plus Janey’s work.

As the days counted down to December 21st, people began to stay at home, refusing to go to work until after Planet-X, which was now in sight of the Hubble telescope, was gone. Governments around the world were calling for calm. The trajectory had been plotted. The rogue planet would not hit the earth.

What wasn’t released was the fact that it would pass very close to earth. Close enough to create some of the earth changes long speculated by those that had studied the ancient accounts of like disasters.

On December 17, a Monday, US high level government offices were empty and stayed that way, with not a single leak as to where officials and their families had gone. December 20 saw End of the World gatherings all around the world. Every religious organization facility was packed beginning that morning.

When the first few people showed up at the mall and refused to leave, Ramsey ordered the gates close and the guards put on alert.

Against Janey’s wishes, Ramsey decided to stay at the mall to keep things under control there. Ben joined him, armed to the teeth. Janey and the staff at the home compound occupied two of the CAT-15 shelters.

At the farm compound, Barry Stonehouse, the farm manager, acting under Ramsey’s orders, locked the farm down, with all the stock and people in the farm’s shelters.

Ben and Ramsey waited outside, behind the bullet resistant barricades that were part of the design of the mall buildings, and watched the sky. Suddenly a spot appeared in the sky, grew larger and larger in the matter of a few seconds, and then was gone in a like amount of time.

Ramsey and Ben looked at one another and then grinned and shook hands. It was going to be a non-event. Ramsey was on the cell phone with Janey a few minutes later when they suddenly lost contact. The ground shook and Ramsey and Ben shared another look. This time they weren’t grinning.

It was difficult to stand for a few moments. When the shaking finally stopped, Ramsey started getting radio reports from the various businesses in the mall that though there was some breakage of vulnerable items, all the buildings came through with shining colors.

Ben was on another radio, trying to raise the Farm and the Home compound. But it was no go. Static gradually increased until even the short range radios at the mall were unusable. At the mall, people began to come outside, leaving the shelters to look around. Things looked normal.

“Ben?” Ramsey asked.

“I don’t know, Ramsey. Apparently it came close enough to create some earthquakes because of the gravitational effects…” Suddenly Ben paled.

“What?” Ramsey asked then.

“The oceans… There are going to be some massive tides… and if it triggered the New Madrid Fault Zone, it probably triggered many more. Some of them deep under the ocean. There could be huge tsunamis.”

“Why aren’t the radios working? Why all the static?” Ramsey asked then.

“I’m not sure. If the magnetic field around that planet interacted with the Earth’s, it could have screwed up the ionization levels. I really don’t know. None of the old legends touched on atmospheric phenomena. Well, not radio wave related. There was mention of rain and floods.”

Both men looked up at the sky. It still looked like a normal sunny, cold, December day. What no one knew at the time, was that Planet-X had not actually missed the Earth. It was what could be called a gentle kiss, but the surface of Niribu skimmed across the vast Pacific, south of Hawai’i, vaporizing trillions of gallons of salt water that went into the atmosphere.

Those in Hawai’i soon learned that something severe had happened. The volcanoes went crazy and earthquakes shook the islands. But the real damage came a few minutes later. Not only were there a series of tsunamis caused by deep ocean earthquakes, but what was essentially a bow wave from Nibiru touching the surface of the ocean, slammed into the islands. And did again and again.

The devastation was immense, wiping out ninety percent of the population on the islands in total. On some of the smaller islands, everyone and most of the manmade structures were completely scrubbed away.

The same tsunami waves, and the five hundred foot high bow waves finally reached both coasts of the Pacific. There was no warning. The sensors had been wiped out. The communication system was down anyway. Even had the sensors been operating, the information would not have reached the warning center in Hawai’i, even if it had survived.

The west coast of the Americas was decimated by the series of waves. So were the other islands of the Pacific and the East Asian Pacific coast. Like Hawai’i, many of the other islands were scrubbed clear of humans and their artifacts.

In the Atlantic, the ocean swelled upwards, opposite the gravitational pull of Niribu. Which would have been bad enough, but the same earthquake and volcanic forces being released elsewhere triggered the La Palma Volcano. It exploded with moderate force. But it was enough force to cause the entire mountain side to slide into the ocean. All the Atlantic coasts had their own problems with tsunami waves.

Ben could only guess at what caused the rains to start late the next day. What should have been snow was a warm rain. A heavy, warm rain. Ramsey ordered the people at the mall into the basement shelters until something could be determined. Security personnel would maintain an outside watch to prevent any more than the shelters could hold got inside the mall fences.

Ramsey gave the same order to the Farm. He and Ben headed for the home compound, both worried about Janey. She was pregnant again.

But when they reached the house and entered the CAT-15 shelter, Janey was fine. She and the baby were sleeping. Both men sighed in relief.

“What now?” Ramsey asked.

“We wait. See how long the rains last. How much flooding there is. We should be fine at all four places, but who knows for sure. There might be another Biblical Flood.”

Though they’d kept their voices low, Janey woke up. Groggily she asked, “Is it raining? What day is it? I’ve been asleep for a long time, I think.”

“It’s good for you,” Ramsey replied. He picked up Sterling and headed for the kitchen area of the shelter to feed him while Janey went to the bathroom.

“I’ll go check on the compound. Make sure everything is secure.”

“You’re going to stay here, aren’t you, Ben?” Ramsey asked.

“Only if you want me to. I’ll be perfectly fine at my place, but I’ll stay here if you think I can be of some help.”

“You’re always a help,” Ramsey replied. He handed Sterling to Janey when Janey returned from the bathroom. “I want you and Sterling to stay down here. Ben and I are going to go check on things.”

Janey yawned, but nodded.

“Not much to check on,” Ben said when he and Ramsey walked from one building basement to the other through the tunnels, checking outside each building after going upstairs. The other families were safe and secure in one of the other CAT-15 shelters. They were eager for information.

Ben couldn’t tell them much. Only what was happening locally, but not why.

It was a dreary month, with Christmas celebrated quietly, if at all. Everyone was counting the days of rain, wondering if there would be another forty day stretch, as described in the Bible.

Of course, the rain changed to snow a week into the event. At first it was an ugly gray color, though it changed to white as the sky was scrubbed clean of the volcanic ash and other debris injected into the atmosphere by the volcanoes.

Ben kept checking for fallout, but none appeared, so after a week, Ramsey gave the okay for people to exit the shelters and resume normal operations, just as the rain turned to snow. Normal, being a relative term, meant different things at the different compounds. The Farm pretty much did go on as it had before the event. People just stayed there, rather than venture out to what was left of the city. The food produced was put into storage for the mean time.

It was much the same at the home compound. Both places put their equipment to good use, keeping the compounds clear with the Unimogs and Bobcats. There was little fear of an attack after the snow being dumped outside the perimeter fence became twelve feet deep. Only the main entrance was kept cleared.

Ramsey did the work at the home compound while Ben cleared the road down to the Mall. The mall maintenance staff had their own Bobcats and had the compound clear. Without heavier equipment they couldn’t clear the road.

Several of the people in the Mall had made their way to their homes during the rain. A few struggled back in the snow and took up residence for the duration. With the road from the farm to the mall kept clear, the food was transferred from the farm to the mall, to keep everyone fed.

Though there was much more snow than normal, temperatures were only slightly below normal for the area. But the winter took its toll to the north. Between the tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, days of rain, and then record snowfalls, sixty-two percent of the fifty-three percent of people that had survived the flu died.

Of the six billion people on earth before the flu, after Niribu’s arrival and passing there were only one and a half billion people left, spread out in various small communities. The coastal cities were gone. Topography had changed. Only local economies remained, and they, by necessity, were based on rural farms.

The fears of a volcanic winter proved unfounded. Besides warmer temperatures and heavy runoff from the snows, Spring brought Jonathon, the newest addition to the Cook family. It also brought what turned out to be a plague. Not a medical plague, but a plague of problems.

Though there were only small self-sufficient communities, some of those communities were comprised of special interest groups. The former government employees and their families were one of them. Though they tried hard, no new massive government came about. Senators and Representatives, and even some High Court Justices became farmers and clerks. It was an eerily reversal of the Founding Fathers situation.

Another group that managed to survive, mostly through luck, and strings to the former government, was made up of a few news people. While the former government tried to become the current government, the News set out on a campaign to help that process.

With the use of what infrastructure was left, the remains of the East and West Coasts were toured and the information broadcast to everyone that had a working television and the power to operate it.

Then they showed up in the much less affected middle of the country, where people were making new lives for themselves, without the hardships that those along the new coastlines were enduring, mostly out of ignorance of the possibilities, or the lack of ability and resources to change things.

Ramsey and Ben were among those watching the weekly broadcasts. It became evident that the News would come to them sometime in the not too distant future. “What do we do?” Ramsey asked Ben.

“We keep it low profile. Show that through hard work and preparation we were able to make it through, and with more hard work, will continue to make it. I think.” Ben shook his head. “This might not be a good thing.”

Ben was right. It was not a good thing. Word had spread far and wide about the Cooks’ operation. An enclave had already shown up and taken up residence everywhere nearby that could accommodate people.

The News people smiled and nodded, took video and asked questions. Unlike Ben, Ramsey, and Janey, all whom stressed the hard work that everyone had done, plus preparations beforehand, just like Ben suggested, many people were ecstatic about how easy life here was, compared to what they’d seen in the broadcasts from other locations.

Ben was with Ramsey and Janey when the piece aired. All three were silent, aware of what the broadcast meant. “We are so up a creek,” Ben said softly after the talking head signed off.

“Is this going to be as bad as I think it is going to be?” Janey asked.

“Worse than can be imagined, I suspect,” Ramsey said.

“Definitely. We’d better get more people trained as security personnel.”

“Will we really need that?” Janey asked then. “With so much that has happened…”

“Where gold and silver flows from hand to hand in the land of milk and honey?” Ben said slowly. “A place of plenty amidst the despair of millions? Where people live good lives through the generosity of a handful of thoughtful people? Oh, yeah. We’re going to need more security. We’ll be swamped with people the Farm can’t support in no time.”

They didn’t waste any time. A meeting at the Mall was called the very next day. And as the News left the area, Ramsey laid out the new plan of action. People looked around at one another. The majority of them saw what Ramsey was talking about. A few objected to the idea of keeping additional people out. They were quickly shouted down. When Ramsey asked for volunteers to increase the ranks of the security force two dozen hands went up immediately.

Ben had called it to a T. Among the two-hundred people or so that showed up in the next month, looking for the easy life, were both Janey’s and Ramsey’s remaining family members. They quickly made themselves known to those of the community that were trying to deal with the influx of people into an impromptu tent camp that had grown up across the highway from the Mall.

“At least they are alive,” Ben said when the word reached the family. He was having dinner with the Cooks, discussing what could be done to get rid of the new people, and feed them in the meantime. So far, the Farm’s reserves were still intact, but that wouldn’t last long.

“You have no idea how our families are. Yeah, it’s great that they are alive. I just wish they’d stayed where they were. That cotton-pickin’ News report could get a whole bunch of people killed.” Ramsey was getting angry.

“Easy, Ramsey,” Janey said, tending to Jonathon. “It’s something we just have to deal with. Somehow.”

“The first problem I see is getting them out of the camp and up here without a riot. So far, we’ve managed to keep everyone in the camp, and under control,” Ben said. He was thinking hard and coming up empty.

“We just go in at feeding time, and take them out of the camp, and bring them up here. No questions answered, if asked?” Ramsey asked Ben.

“Good a plan as any I have,” Ben replied. “First thing in the morning.”

As those distributing the food began their work the next morning, Ramsey and Janey hurriedly found their respective families and began to herd them toward the waiting vehicles.

“Hey!” called someone. “What’s going on? Where are you taking those people? If you let them in you have to let the rest of us in, too!”

That was all it took. Ben keyed his radio and a dozen security personnel stepped into sight as the newcomers became a mob, yelling and shouting and cursing. Several tried to follow the group leaving, but the security team blocked the way, urging people to calm down and get their breakfast before someone else did.

That was a strong argument and the mob quickly broke up. There wasn’t a lot of food, but there was enough, and it was good. Rioting could wait until they had full stomachs again.

Ben immediately saw why Janey and Ramsey had been so reluctant to have their families here. They certainly wanted them to survive, but, while both families were liberal, Janey’s father was much further left than Ramsey’s. The various siblings ranged between the two.

No sooner had both families exited the vehicles at the Home compound than Mr. Highland, Janey’s father, started arguing with Mr. Cook, Ramsey’s father. Fortunately the rest of the two families were more interested in getting something to eat than to argue.

Ramsey physically stepped between the two fathers. “Okay. This is the way it goes. There is space enough here for each of you to keep to yourselves. And this is not a republic, nor a democracy. It is a triumvirate. Myself, Janey, and Ben Sampson here. What we say goes. If we want an opinion from either of you, we’ll ask for it. Do not disrupt this operation.

“We have managed to care for and provide for, a significant population doing it our way. You’re entitled to your political beliefs, and can even voice them, in reasonable tones and without acrimony, with just about anyone that will listen, except each other. Is that clear?”

The triumvirate, and his part in it came as a surprise to Ben, but he tried to look stern and capable.

Both men started to argue the points with Ramsey, but he held up a hand. “We have enough space for a couple of isolation cells.” His voice was cold. “Keep it up and you’ll each be in one for the duration.”

The two men looked over at Janey and she spoke as firmly as had Ramsey. “We love you all. But we’re in a serious situation here. We live by some basic rules. Violate them and you pay a price. Up to and including banishment.”

“Oh, honey!” said Janey’s mother.

“That goes for family just like it does for everyone else,” Janey replied, cutting her mother off.

Everyone then looked at Ben, mostly with scowls on their faces. Ben simply stood there, with his arms folded. Many eyes went to the rifle slung over Ben’s shoulder, and the pistol on his hip. None confronted him verbally, though a couple of the younger siblings did try to stare him down. It didn’t work.

“Now,” Ramsey said, “Let’s get something to eat and get everyone situated.”

By the end of the meal, Ben knew it just wasn’t going to work. The two families seemed to hate each other, and many of them went out of their way to provoke others. A lifted eyebrow was enough to get Janey and Ramsey off to one side to discuss the matter.

“I’m sorry, Ben,” Ramsey said.

“We both are,” Janey added. “We knew there would be problems if our families ever got together under one roof. I don’t know what to do to stop them, other than banishment.”

“I have an idea,” Ben said. It had come on him suddenly. “I think, if we clear half of the apartments at the mall, we can fit both families in. Surely, with the work load that everyone has, they won’t have much time to get in each others’ faces. Much as I dislike asking you to, I think the less you have to do with them, the better. If nothing else, only see them one family at a time. They are bound to want to spend time with the kids.”

Ramsey and Janey looked at one another, and had one of those silent eyeball to eyeball conversations some couples can do. Ramsey spoke first. “It’s better than banning them. Maybe they’ll come to their senses when they have time to think things through.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Janey said. “But Ben’s idea is a good one. Let them argue among themselves all they want. But make it known interfering with other people won’t be tolerated.”

“You want me to tell them, and then take them down to the mall?” Ben asked.

“We won’t put you in that position. What you could do, that would be a great help, is to clear the apartments. I don’t like putting people out for family, but I’m confident you can come up with some way to make it less of a shock to those being evicted. Do whatever you think necessary to make things right.”

“I’ll take that job in preference of dealing with your families. No offense.”

“No offense taken,” Ramsey said. He looked at Janey. “I think we both should talk to each family, one family at a time, to break the news to them.”

Janey sighed and nodded. They went back to the dining room in the house and Ben headed outside to go to the mall.

Ben was thoughtful as he drove down to the Mall. He stopped at the Farm on his way and checked with Barry Stonehouse. There was still room in the bunk house for a few people. That made things easier.

Continuing down to the mall, Ben kept thinking. He stopped at the motel and went in. Though it was still ostensibly an independent entity, the owners were cooperating with the Cooks.

One of the things they did, at Ramsey’s request, was to refuse to take in any of the new refugees that had shown up. Between the empty rooms, and the bunkhouse at the farm, Ben now had housing for all the people in the apartment building that were going to be asked to give up their apartment.

Though a couple of people refused, but enough were willing, with the perks that Ben promised them enough to swing the deals, to provide the space needed for the two bickering families.

One of the hardest ones to deal with was Lilly. Not because she resisted the offer, but because Ben really hated to disrupt her life. She put in long hours at the clinic, and being able to stay in the apartment building made it much easier on her.

“It’s okay, Ben,” Lilly said, seeing the reluctance on Ben’s face. “I know how families can be. I feel for the Cooks. It must be very difficult for them. They’ve always been very fair about things here. They… and you… saved dozens of lives over the years because of this place. I don’t mind helping in this way.”

“Thanks, Lilly. I’ll tell Ramsey and Janey of your decision. And don’t feel bad about taking them up on some of the perks that go with the move.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Lilly said. Seeing Ben’s disappointment, she quickly added, “But, okay. I’ll make a point to enjoy the perks. The extra fruit will be a real treat, I must admit.”

Ben smiled. Things were working out. And he’d manage not to reveal his feelings for Lilly. He’d come very close to offering to let her stay at his place. But he’d managed not to embarrass himself that way.

A couple of days later, Ben was satisfied that the family problem was solved for the moment. But something had to be done about the refugee camp. He, Ramsey, and Janey got together for dinner at the home compound to discuss it.

Janey spoke first. “Things are starting to get violent. We have to do something quickly.”

“I don’t know what, Honey. That blasted broadcast made us sound like the place to be. And we are. For us. Not for three hundred more people!”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Ben said. “Look. You’re exactly right. You set things up to provide for many more people than your immediate family, on a medium scale. What if we do essentially the same on a much larger scale?”

“I’m not sure I get you, Ben,” Ramsey said. “Things were different when we set things up. And don’t short yourself. You were a major part of it.”

“Be that as it may, I got to thinking about all the timbers and lumber we’ve cut and dried. We really haven’t used any. And as far as not like the past, where everything had to be purchased, on a budget, there should be everything out there that we… no… not we. They. The refugees should do the work to set up their own self-sufficient estate.

“All we should do is lend a hand. Do the salvage work, since we have the tools and equipment. Let them get in some sweat equity on their new place to live.”

“You mean… Just build a town and set up some farms around it?” Janey asked.

Ramsey looked stunned. “By George, I think you’ve got something there, Ben! You are a genius!”

“Not quite. And though it sounds simple in theory, it’s going to be a lot harder in execution. For one thing, we can’t just go to each person and try to persuade him or her to help. It should be a town project, overseen by a town council, with one of us on the council to represent our interests.”

“I nominate you for our rep,” Janey said with a big grin.

Ramsey smiled, too. “Yep. You’re it. This is your project.”

“But…”

“No buts, Ben. You’ve already given this some thought, and your thought processes are all ready going down that road to success. Oh, if there is something drastic, get with us, but the way you explain it, the refugees will be doing most of the work.”

“The easy work,” Ben replied. “The salvage work will be more difficult than several other steps that will need to be taken. And I’m thinking, one of my ideas may not go over too well. Possibly even with our own people.”

“What’s that?” Ramsey asked. “I can’t feature anything you’d do that would upset people.”

“Well, as part of the mining operation, and that’s what I see the salvage operation being, I think we should try and grab control of all the gold and silver we run across. It’ll need to be put in circulation, to get an economy started. It’s fine that we use what we bought before the balloon went up, but that’s not enough to circulate with this many people.

“We can either just give everyone an equal share of what we can find, or have some type of criteria to distribute it. Again, if as fair a way as possible to keep both sets of parties happy.”

“I don’t know, Ben,” Janey said. “That sounds rather mercenary.”

“I know,” Ben replied. “But we will need a form of money, and gold and silver just seems to work in these types of situations.”

“I agree, Janey,” Ramsey said. “We would need to do it rather quietly. What if we pay our people to help do the salvage work, and pay the refugees for doing the site work. Through the auspices of the town council. In return, we ask for a mutual aid agreement to help each other out in hard or dangerous times. Once in operation, the town and its supporting farms will be on their own.”

“That’s good!” Ben said, his eyes sparkling. “I think we might just be able to do this before winter sets in. At least, get everyone safe shelter.”

“Individual or great houses?” Ramsey asked.

Janey had to ask, “What’s a great house?”

“Early humans, as well as some later peoples, built long communal buildings that housed many families together, each with their own sectioned off area inside,” Ramsey explained.

“I think we’d be better building apartment buildings. Partly to conserve resources, but because I don’t think this group would be very happy all in half a dozen structures, with little or no privacy, no matter how efficient a system it is,” Ben said.

“Your choice, Ben,” Ramsey said. “Anything else you need from us?”

“I guess not, if the project is to be my responsibility. I’ll keep you informed, though.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Janey said. “Let’s eat.”

READ MORE AT

jerrydyoung.com

other examples of Jerry

http://www.filefactory.com/file/10ya34j4pi99/n/IfYouDontLikeTheWeather_pdf
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http://www.filefactory.com/file/453zhg34aa5j/n/Haroldsville_pdf
http://www.filefactory.com/file/4xt2isxziv4v/n/LowProfile_pdf
http://www.filefactory.com/file/6qjx7um7slhz/n/IdRatherBeDead_pdf
http://www.filefactory.com/file/73nd4ck59x93/n/BarbarasLegacy_pdf

Safty and Prepairness

วันอังคารที่ 12 มิถุนายน พ.ศ. 2555

Doomsday Preppers

3 Time Jinx