A VACATION AT LAST
Jake and Jason's parents were all packed and ready to go. They had reservations at the Maui Hilton in Hawaii and they were not about to let anything stop them from enjoying the first vacation away from the mill since they had all gotten married twenty-three years earlier in a double ceremony.
The boys had graduated from the University of California at Davis with degrees in both Forestry and Business. They were as close as brothers, but had been competitive their whole lives as first cousins. Throughout their four years at the university, they had alternated being number one and number two in their class.
Now that they had graduated, their parents were "hot to trot". The parents' bags were all packed, their tickets were in their hands and, like Jake's Dad, Carl, had said, "If we don't have it, we don't need it!"
Both boys had been brought up to know every part of the business and they had filled nearly every job in the mill while learning the business except cook in the cafeteria. They had grown up with most of the employees, so there was little concern they could not run the business while their parents were away. They were both dynamic personalities and that, coupled with even dispositions ensured that every employee would back them up.
It was well known that the two young men were gay and in love with each other, they made no move to hide their affection for each other, but they had grown up in that community and they were such dynamic personalities no one could help but love and admire them. Besides being handsome as "all get out", they were kind, generous and ready to help anyone who was in trouble. There was not a job in the entire mill that they had not filled and, if an employee was overloaded in his or her job, they would always step in and lend a hand.
The little town of Meadow Valley was where most of the employees lived, a couple had cabins deeper in the woods for hunting only. The drive to Foresthill was too far and nearly impossible in the winter for anyone to commute, so everyone lived right there, next to the lumber mill, besides, there was not even a grocery in Foresthill, just a small gas station that, sometimes, even had some gasoline.
Unlike a papermill, the plant did not smell of the sulfite digestion liquor. The gentle odor of freshly sawn pine boards was rather pleasant, so the employees had no objection to living next door to their work.
It wasn't that they were cut off from civilization, it was just that the people who had settled there, preferred the quiet forest and uncrowded way of life that was found in the little community, where everybody knew everyone else by their first name. Like all small towns, there were no secrets, everyone knew all who lived there, their children and probably what color socks they put on that morning. The entire village was like one big family!
A supply company would come in three times a year and everybody stocked up, plus all the men and older boys were avid hunters and fishermen, everyone had plenty of game and fish stocked away in their freezers. Game was plentiful and it was not uncommon for a housewife to send her husband out to shoot that evening's meal!
There was an electric line from the outside world, but, in a pinch, they could supply the town from the generator in the plant as long as there was a plentiful supply of wood waste. The boilers and generators were old, but they had been faithfully maintains and were always ready to go with only the briefest interruption. Many times, the people living there did not realize the power was off until their menfolk got off work, tired and covered in soot.
It was an open secret that the two cousins were a couple, but nobody cared and the two young men had no problem holding their own all through high school and college. It had been obvious from the time they were little boys and they made no attempt to hide their feelings for each other. That had caused a little trouble when they were in college, not that they were gay, but rather, they were not "available" when a girl wanted a date. They had been very popular and more than one co-ed had cried herself to sleep at night over them.
They stood there holding hands as they watched their parents drive off. All the mill hands and their families had watched those two boys since they were toddlers, they weren't going to judge them. "Not, no how!"
The two boys had worked side by side with every employee in the mill, there was not any job they had not done over the years. Every employee knew that Jake and Jason knew every job and could do it as well or better than the person who had been doing it for years and they never hesitated to lend a hand whenever there were mechanical problems in the mill!
As the big SUV disappeared into the trees, Jake headed for the mill. The new plywood press was giving them problems again and the veneer lathe was backed up until the press could start taking sheets to be laid up as plywood. They had orders stacked up on the desk, waiting for that *&&%* press to get running! Jake dreaded the phone calls he knew were headed his way if they didn't get those orders turned out!
Jason climbed onto his horse and headed for Ghost Canyon, where the felling crews were working. The two young men worked together as a well-oiled team, just as their fathers had before them. There were some of the employees who were sure the two young men communicated mind to mind like in some sci-fi stories they had read!
It didn't matter which of the cousins they asked, the answer was going to be the same from each one of them. Every employee also knew that either Jake OR Jason would back them up if they were ever in trouble! More likely, BOTH would be right there lending a helping hand. They were the same for personal problems, every employee knew beyond any doubt if they were in a bind, the two men would pitch in to help them resolve the problem, be it personal or financial.
Jake and the Head Mechanic went through the new press all afternoon, trying to figure out what was wrong. Finally, they noticed a lip on the leading edge of the veneer sheet was catching on the padding sheet. Dale Mosher, the Head Mechanic and Jake followed the problem backwards and found a cracked bearing housing on the veneer lathe. Both of them kicked themselves for not checking the damned veneer lathe first!
Jake had the line shut down and Dale pulled the bearing while Jake got on the phone to their supplier in Sacramento for a new bearing. He dialed the number and the phone didn't ring, he then realized, there was no dial tone. They had a new phone line put in earlier that year, one that would handle the computer system. It was buried all the way to Foresthill and then went wireless into Sacramento.
He tried the computer on his desk and the screen message told him there was no service available. He grumbled at all the money they had spent on the damned thing and he couldn't even order a new bearing! Over the years, both boys had acquired a colorful vocabulary and new employees would stand open mouthed in admiration as they discussed the parentage of a piece of machinery! Funny thing was, they neither ever actually cursed!
Dale brought in the bearing, thinking that Jake would need the part number off it. When Jake told him the phone line was out, Dale said, "Boss, I kin build the bearing metal up and turn it down in the lathe. Maybe it's a good thing the food delivery came yesterday, if we're gonna have phone problems just before winter. I'da thought that new phone line would have cured all our phone problems!" Jake agreed with him and told him to go ahead and fix the old bearing.
Jake went into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich for lunch, before going back out to the mill to check on the gang saws and the 'green line'. If they were full, he was going to have to have the dry kiln started up, as it took several days to dry and cure the green lumber.
After checking with the dry kiln crew he was still concerned about the telephone, he got on the Forest Service radio and tried to raise the Forest Service Office in Placerville, all he got was crackling static.
Still not overly concerned, he got busy reworking the schedule on the new plywood press, the order they were working on was a high priority order for a custom home builder down in Sacramento and he was supposed to be sending his own trucks to pick up the order as soon as they called him that it was completed.
He finished the reworked schedule and walked out into the mill to see if the press was running yet. As he stepped into the foreman's office, the lights went out and the entire plant coasted to a stop. He ran out to the boiler house to help the operator drag the old steam turbine generator on-line, fortunately they had the dry kiln running so there was plenty of waste heat to assist the boiler making additional steam to take up the load on the turbine-generator.
It took about an hour to get the plant settled out again and he had seen no signs that the utility was trying to take up the load on their system. By now, Jake was getting a little concerned. He got on the company radio and called Jason, "Jay, we may have a problem, the phones are out, I can't raise anyone on the Forest Service Net and now, the power just went out."
Jason replied, "Jake, I sure don't like the sound of that, let me take a ride up Atlas Peak and see if I can raise anyone on the handheld." He continued, "Maybe I can see down into the valley with the glasses. That might give us an idea what's going on. Maybe there is a fire or something on the powerline right of way."
Jake agreed and he continued around the plant, making sure everything was running properly. He figured they still had customers who expected their orders to be filled.
An hour and a half later, Jason came galloping in the truck turn-around yard, his horse clearly had been rode hard. He jumped off the horse and grabbed Jake's elbow, drawing him away from the group of mechanics. His worried face alerted Jake that something serious was wrong.
Jason whispered to Jake, "I got up on top of Atlas Peak and all I could get was static. There is a hug plume of smoke coming up from Sacramento and it looks like everything from Roseville to Stockton is burning!"
Jake started to say, "Our folks....." His hands began shaking and he could not make his mouth say the words he feared to hear.
Jason said, "I know, but we don't even know where they are, they may even be headed back here, or maybe they got out of Sacramento before whatever happened took place...."
Just then, one of the helpers screamed, "LLLlLloook!"
They all looked in the direction the young man was pointing as a huge mushroom cloud and fireball rose above the ridge toward Reno. Jason screamed, "Don't look at it, bury your face in the dirt!" as he dove to the dirt himself!
SURVIVORS
They could hear huge explosions far off and the buildings shook a bit. By dusk, the eastern skyline all around them glowed a dull red except for the west. The ocean was only a hundred miles, straight-line, from them to the west and it was all dense forest. Jake and Jason sat down to take stock of their situation. Both young men were faced with the knowledge that they were going to have to depend upon each other and their crews. The outside world was, for them, gone! They had just filled all the fuel tanks and the last soundings said they had 250,000 gallons of fuel oil, 10,000 gallons of gasoline and about 12,000 gallons of propane.
They both felt they had better start talking to their employees before panic set in, Jason went out to the boiler house and pulled the chain on the big steam horn up on the roof. A long blast was a signal for all the employees to assemble in the main yard.
There was no hiding the fact that something dreadful had taken place, the night sky was glowing an ugly red. Jake jumped up into the bed of his pickup and rapped on the roof to get everyone's attention, "Folks, we got some problems and it looks like we are going to be cut off here for a while. I won't kid ya', the Sacramento Valley is full of some kind of bombs."
Kenny White, one of the electricians asked, "What kind of bombs, Boss?"
Jake replied, "I think they are atom bombs, Kenny. In any case, it ain't safe to leave our little haven here, at least here we got food and water and a roof over our heads. Lord God only knows what it's like out there." Jason got up in the truck bed with Jake and said, "We're gonna have to save everything, even things like string and old paper. What parts we ain't got in the storeroom, we are gonna have to make or do without!"
John Braydon, a machine operator asked, "What about refugees?" It was clear he was thinking about his elderly parents who lived down in Sacramento.
Jake replied, "What about them?"
Jason continued for him, "We sure as hell aren't gonna turn women n' kids out, or their dads either. We will take that day by day, but sure as I'm standin' here,we ain't gonna be sending any folks away what needs our help! Not no how, not no way! Somehow we are gonna take care of all folks who come to us for shelter!"
With utility power gone, they were relying on the old steam turbine generator to provide lights and heat, using wood as the fuel and saving the diesel for the trucks and emergencies.
Not knowing what they were facing, Jason and Jake had the men clear out one of the warehouses and install plywood partitions to make apartments, just in case anyone showed up that needed a roof over their heads. There was no way to provide kitchen and sanitary facilities in each new apartment, so they built a community kitchen at one end of the warehouse and a bathing area at the other end. The two sexes would have to take turns using them.
They didn't figure that they would be flooded with refugees, they were sixty miles in, over dirt roads from the nearest paved highway, and that wasn't a main highway. The dirt road was graded recently, but it was still just that, a DIRT ROAD and would not be passible in bad weather. The county had never gotten around to lay down gravel on the roadbed. They were soon to be surprised.
The crisis was not long in coming, several Indian families showed up. They had come over from Nevada. They told of terrible hardship on the cold high deserts of Nevada, there was no water, no shelter and little food and folks were running around like chickens without their heads in fear, not knowing what to do! One Indian man, who had served in the Army in 'Nam, told them that Reno was destroyed, he was pretty sure it had been hit by an atomic bomb and there were few survivors. He said that everything was flattened as far as Carson City to the south. He didn't know about Reno, except the fires were too hot to get very close.
Jake decided to take one of the trucks and drive out to Foresthill and see if he could get some information. He took one of his old hunting buddies, Billie Doyle, with him to ride "shotgun" and Jason started worrying about Jake almost from before they left. The two cousins had some kind of "mind connection" ever since they had been young boys. They could not talk to each other, but each could sense the emotions of the other, even over long distances.
Jake and Billy had left at first light and by dark that evening there still was no sign of them. It was 60 miles over rough roads to Foresthill, so Jason wasn't overly concerned, yet. Dale Mosher, the Lead Mechanic had been a lifelong friend of both Jake and Jason. He came over to be with Jason and keep him company. Jason kept insisting that Jake and Billy were not in trouble. The crews all knew about their "connection" and felt more at ease when Jason told them that.
As it began to get even later, more men arrived, each of them coming fully armed. Hunting had always been a way of life at Meadow Valley, most folks kept a small arsenal in their homes, as well as a closet full of fishing gear. Most home freezers were stuffed with venison, trout and a few pheasants. There were a few things they kept hidden at the bottom of the freezer, where the game Inspector would not spot them.
The men came with an array of firearms and they stood on the front porch of Jake's and Jason's home. Jason was trying to keep them all calm, although he was beginning to worry himself, despite knowing that Jake was alright. Some of the wives brought over beef broth and a sandwich knowing that nobody had thought of food to keep their strength up.
As the hours passed Jason began to pace the floor. Just as he was about to lose control, the CB radio squawked, "Meadow Valley, Meadow Valley, this is Jake, over."
Jason grabbed the mic and nearly shouted, "Jake, this is Meadow Valley, are you alright?"
They could hear a slight chuckle on the other end, "Meadow Valley, Jake, I'm running a bus here, I got six adults and twenty-two children piled on this truck. We are crossing Lower Creek right now, put on the coffee and get something hot for these kids. Nobody here has eaten since yesterday and they are all wet and cold! Jake out."
Jason had visions of a truck load of wounded children and shuddered at the thought that some of them might die!
The women had come over to the porch when they heard that something was going on that involved children and rescued adults, they marched into the kitchen and took over. They started slicing hams and beef roasts and putting them together on bread for sandwiches. They got out glasses for milk and cups for hot coffee and several women ran back to their own homes and brought out cakes and pies for a sweet dessert.
As the badly overloaded truck finally pulled up to the house, they had hot coffee for the adults and hot chocolate for the children. Jason was not satisfied until he had "checked" out Jake personally.
There was a large pot of tomato soup and a stack of bowls in the living room as the women started guiding the nearly frozen children into the "Big" House. Sandwiches and desserts could wait until everyone had gotten thawed out.
Jason was shaking badly and Jake put his around him saying, "It's OK Jase, I couldn't radio you until I got over Keefer's Ridge, the ridge blocked my transmission. There is nobody left in Foresthill, these folks were camping out in the burned out schoolhouse. There was no food left, if we hadn't gone into town, they would have died, they didn't know we are out here. Cuz, we are gonna have to take them in, no ways kin we let them die!"
He smiled at Jason and whispered, "Come with me." He led Jason over to two boys, they looked to be brothers, and Jake asked Jason, "Well, what do you think?" It didn't take a mind reader to know what Jake was asking, they had talked many times about their dream of having sons of their own. Jason knelt down in front of the two boys and asked, "You guys wanna live with Jake n' me here in the big house?"
The older of the two boys said, "We's cousins, I'm Denny Carter and I'm 14 years old, my cousin, Athol Carter, is 10. You won't split us up will ya' I promised Athol's Mom I would take care of him."
Jason asked the boy, "Where are your parents?" Denny replied, "Theys didn't make it sir, when the bomb hit, Daddy and Aunt Ella were in the front seat and the car hit the wall. Momma and Uncle Ralph were killed as we ran from the house down in Sacramento."
Both boys were sobbing and Jake and Jason held them a long time until their tears finally stopped. Before long, each boy had a hint of a smile on his face and an arm-lock on each cousin. It would be a long while before the two youngsters gave up hope that any of their family would ever show up.
They got everyone a place to bed down for the night and Jake and Jason got the two boys cleaned up before they tucked them into Jake's old bed in the room next to their own. Little Athol said, "Kin I's have another glass of milk, I's still hungry?"
Jason replied, "Sure," and he went to get the child a class of milk and a wedge of apple pie. He held the frightened child until he finished his food and then laid down beside him in the bed until the child was asleep.
Jake and Jason were getting ready to go to bed themselves when the two boys peeked into their bedroom, "Uh, sirs, Athol is scared, kin we sleep with you guys tonight?"
Jason smiled and asked the boy, "And Denny isn't scared?"
Denny squirmed a bit and finally said, "Well, a little, sir." Jake held up the blanket and two boys made a beeline for the bed and snuggled in under the blankets. They both were asleep before Jake or Jason got themselves settled.
Jake and Jason woke early the next morning. The two youngsters were still sawing logs. Denny had his arms wrapped protectively around Athol and they both had smiles on their faces. Jason hugged Jake and said, "Thanks love, it's a hard way to get a couple of sons, but I love them both already."
Jake replied, "Me too!" Both men had ear to ear smiles on their faces.
The women were already busy in the kitchen and their guests were beginning to arrive from the homes where they had spent the night. The smell of frying bacon woke Denny and Athol, they had slipped on their jeans and wandered downstairs in their bare feet. The two boys put plates around the big table and the women began dishing out food. With twenty-two children, most of them boys, the food disappeared almost as fast as they could dish it out.
When, finally, all the children had been filled up, the adults sat down to the table. The talk was mostly about what was happening and what was going to happen to them.
Jake and Jason stood up and said, "If what we think has happened is correct, then we are all gonna be here for a while. We got lots of stuff here, but food isn't gonna last very long if we don't start to raise our own. We have a small beef herd here and a large garden area that needs to be planted. We got enough room in the houses and buildings for right now, but we are gonna have to be scavengers. Tomorrow, some of us will have to go back out to Foresthill and see what we can collect. There are a couple of little places we can check, also, like Yankee Jim's and Snowy Diggings. They are only a few houses each, but maybe there will be something useful there. Even if we don't need something right now, before too long I don't wanna be sayin' I wish we had picked that thing up."
An older woman asked, "How long are we gonna be cooped up here?"
Jake replied, "You are not required to stay here, you can leave any time you want, but I don't recommend it, things are already bad and I am sure they are gonna get a whole lot worse before they ever get any better."
Denny stood up and said, "I used to have a big garden in the 4-H, my dad helped me. Athol and me volunteer to get the garden started. Its about time ta' bein' plantin' veggies what we kin store away ta' eat durin' during the winter."
Two more youngsters raised their hands and volunteered to help in the garden. A younger woman, who said her name was Alice Jeffers, spoke up, saying she was a nurse and would set up a medical clinic.
By the time the meeting had ended, it was clear that they had two groups, the smaller group were those who felt they should be waited on and the larger group were those who already rolling up their sleeves to get started. The smaller group was not gonna last very long! Everyone had already decided that those who did not join the effort to save them all, were gonna be left alongside of the road.
SETTLERS
Over the next several days, a large garden had gotten planted and two milking cows were found at the small community of Yankee Jim's. They also had to bury some folks at Yankee Jim's, it worried Jake because both men had been shot! They got the two cows into the trailer, they had not been fed in a couple of days and a bucket of feed brought them both running. There was also a large store of feed and useful tools and milking equipment, so they made a second trip.
On the second trip, they spotted a house they had missed the first time and there was a hen coop in the back, where they found a rooster and six hens, two of them were broody, so they carefully gathered up the eggs and placed them back under the hens when they got back to Meadow Valley, hoping they would continue to sit on the eggs and hatch them.
Snowy Diggings was a different story, the little grouping of houses had a bad reputation, both Jake and Jason knew there were at least two illegal whiskey stills somewhere up there and more than one person nosing around up there had never been seen again.
What drew their interest, however, was the possibility of there being a supply of corn and sugar, both of which, they were going to need.
They took the large, 10 ton flatbed truck and two pickups filled with armed men. It was a two hour ride under normal conditions but there were so many washouts, it took another two hours to make the trip. When they got there, it was absolute silence, not a sound could be heard.
They checked the barns and outbuildings and found nothing amiss, there were sacks of corn in one of the barns and they started loading them onto the flatbed, it was going to take more than one trip as the pickups were loaded cab-high with bags of sugar.
The last building the entered held a still, it was stone cold and the mash had soured, making the place smell terrible. They all backed out, coughing and gagging from the odor. Neither Jake nor Jayson were "drinkers", a drink at New Year's and, maybe one Christmas morning was the extent of their thirst for alcohol.
They made a second trip the next day to remove the corn they had been unable to carry and they again searched the place. They found what looked to be recent bullet holes in the porch of the large house, but of the people, it was to remain a mystery.
They settled in for the remainder of the summer and the children were growing like the proverbial weeds. With winter on its way, they felt they needed to take the chance and go into some of the other mountain towns, Coloma, Garden Valley and Kelsey to see if additional clothing and supplies could be found. The boys in particular were hard on their clothes, already they saw bare skin at the knees and, while they were newcomers to parenthood, they were not so old themselves that they had forgotten about ripped shirts, snagged trousers and high water pants!
In order to make just one trip, they took three pickups and the 10 ton flatbed. Denny was one of the teens to be selected to go, but, to Athol's utter disgust, he was told, "Not this time". It hurt Denny to see Athol so upset, he decided to see if he could not find a toy or something just for Athol while he was in one of the towns.
Again, Jason remained in Meadow Valley and Jake led the scavenging party down the road, Jake told Jason that they would likely be gone three or four days, so not to worry about them.
Jason thought, "Yeah, right, I not gonna worry!" He was already running "What if...." scenarios through his head! He could sense his partner was laughing at him as he drove the truck down the road.
The crews remaining behind spent their time cutting firewood and filling the propane tanks at each house. The refrigerators and freezers would work on either propane or electricity, but it just took too much wood to keep the boiler and steam turbine running all the time just to generate electricity. Propane was precious too, so it was going to be a delicate balance to keep them all alive.
The scavenging crew made the rounds of tiny settlements tucked away in the mountains. Some had only one family, while others were groups of families, usually all related. Most of the small settlements had no name, while others were named after the people who lived there.
At Wood's Crossing, they came across a treasure trove, there was a general store and the small town of a dozen houses seemed deserted. Denny found a whole counter with toys ranging from those for tots to teens. The electric and electronic toys had no value for them, but, the others Jake agreed that they should haul them home.
Denny found one special toy for Athol and he slipped it in his pocket. Looking up, he saw Jake watching him with a grin on his face that told Denny that Mr. Jake approved of what he was doing.
The old store had many things they needed, spices, sugar, flour, vegetable seeds and rugged clothing. At Wood's Crossing, there was a large utility trailer parked behind the store, so they hooked it up to the flatbed and started filling it. There was a critical need for bedding and children's clothing. Tableware and household items, like soap, detergent, medicines and school supplies were also needed. They also found a large quantity of garden seeds and another small flock of chickens. They had to be careful about seeds, the hybrid vegetables grew bigger and better, but their seeds were not fertile after the first growing.
By the time they reached Lookout Peak, the flatbed and the trailer were full. From the peak, they could see out into the Sacramento Valley, by using the scope on one of the rifles, they could see all the way to Sacramento. Everything was burned out, as far as they could see, there were no standing buildings! Everything was blackened ruins. They could see ashes swirling in the wind and there was nothing alive, not even scavenger animals!
Jake shuddered as he looked through the scope, it was like a science fiction story he had read when he was a young boy! He attempted to use the hand-held radio, but all he got was static. He received no reply from his calls for anyone who could hear him.
Jake decided to take a chance and come back along old Highway 49 that ran along the western base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There were a few tourist towns along that way and he hoped to find more medical supplies and he knew there was a small hospital at Jamestown and he felt they would surely spot a pharmacy somewhere along the way.
They worked their way north, towards Old Foresthill Road. They had spent the night in Jamestown, it was eerie, wind blew through the abandoned buildings and whistled like so many ghosts! They did clean out the local pharmacy and filled one of the pickups with medical supplies. He hesitated in taking any of the drugs or medicines, they took only those whose names they recognized.
No one slept that night!
As they started to pull out of Jamestown, there were two teen boys standing out in the middle of the road, frantically flagging them down. The older boy came up to the driver's side of the truck and said, "Please sir. Can you help our Mamma? She is sick and we don't know what is wrong. We think she is dying."
Jake stopped the truck and told two of the men to stand guard with their rifles, the goods they had scavenged would be very tempting to hijackers.
The boys led them to a small spring near the road, where there was a woman lying on dirty blankets, she had horrible scabs and burns all over her face and arms. Jake asked the older boy, "Was your Momma outside when the bombs were dropping?"
The boy replied, "Yes sir, she told me and Jimmy to hide in the cellar, but she went outside to find Papa. When she came back, she said that he were dead and she has been sick ever since."
Jake was sure the woman had radiation poisoning, but he told the boys they could come with them and they would try to help their mother. He was also sure she would not survive, but he could figure no way to tell the boys that.
They loaded the dying woman on the flatbed and the boys stood, holding onto the rails of the large truck as Jake continued heading for Foresthill.
They hit the junction just as it started getting dark, so Jake continued towards a small settlement he knew about.
They had skirted around Auburn, there were a lot of fires burning and people milling around, it didn't look like a safe situation. They made sure that nobody followed them and they drove as far as the tiny settlement of Sierra, where they spent the night in the yard of a burned-out house.
The wind whistled around the standing timbers of the burned-out house, like the ghosts of the people who had lived there. The next morning, as they crossed Keefer's Ridge, Jake stopped the truck and got on the radio. Jason responded almost before Jake had completed the transmission. Jake could hear the anxiety in Jason's voice, but Jason was getting better in controlling his fears.
As soon as Jake had reported in, they continued the grind up the grade to Foresthill, arriving shortly before lunchtime. When Jake went to help lift the sick woman from the truck bed, he discovered she had died sometime during the last climb up to Foresthill. He quietly pulled the ratty old blanket over her face so that her sons did not see the rictus of death on their mother.
He told the two brothers, Paul and Gordon, as gently as he could, but, how does one tell boys 15 and 13 that their Mother is dead? The two boys were sobbing and Denny came up to them. He looked at his new fathers with a questioning look on his face and Poppa and Jake nodded, so he put his arms around the two brothers and said, "Come on, guys, let's get you cleaned up and somethin' ta' eat."
Jason saw Denny leading the two boys away and he looked at Jake, "Two more?"
Jake just nodded his head and said, "At least two more."
TBC
With the way the population is increasing at Foresthill, they had better hope that vegetable garden is bountiful! How much more horror can these people stand?