Read Online Pilliars in the Fall by Ian Daniels - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Ian Daniels
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caught up to where he already was with the overall situation.
I was very decisive in a fluid situation, but still looked to Clint for guidance in long term planning. It could have been simply life experience, but he had a knack to instantly see the different paths and avenues available and to discard those that did not have a favorable outcome just as quickly. I always admired his ability to look and plan ahead.
“That’s what I’m thinking. You have all your comm gear here?” he asked.
“It’s all here but nothing is set up; most of its still in boxes.”
If I had have been in a better place mentally during the move, I would have instantly set up the priority parts of my household. As it was, things had gotten thrown into boxes and stuffed in with little fanfare. The ability to gather news and communicate was vastly important, but the mood I had been in for the last little while was not one that wanted to be connected to anything or anyone, and so the boxes with my radio gear, scanner, amplifier and antenna, were still packed away somewhere.
“Okay let’s break it out and get listening. What do you have for power?”
“Well that part might get interesting,” I stalled.
While it wasn’t my long term plan, I had been relying on the unreliable line power for the most part as the construction was going along. I wasn't without a few temporary back up options though.
“There’s the generator and a couple cans of gas, or I have an inverter that I never got around to installing in the truck. It might be better to hook up the inverter inside and run the Ford to keep the battery charged until we can dig out the solar gear.”
“Well that will take longer,” Clint said, although he didn’t sound disappointed with my lack of options or poor organization. I had been in the middle of building and prematurely moving, it just wasn’t an ideal state of affairs.
“Should we try to get a hold of Kathy?” Danielle asked, bringing a voice of compassionate reasoning into this group of stereotypical males.
“Who?” Clint kidded her.
“Your wife!” she said quickly before realizing he had been joking.
“Oh her, yeah I left my shortwave on. Who knows if she’ll be listening for a call from us though.”
“We should maybe be… selective… in what we tell her,” I reminded him.
“In case other people are listening, like the guy that sniped at us?” Blake asked me.
“Well that, and the part where I don’t really think we should worry your mother unnecessarily now that you’re finally home again.” I said tapping into some of that compassion Danielle was trying to provide. “Hey Mom, I’m home from war, we got in a car wreck and a gun fight, and then had to hike a couple miles in the freezing cold,” I mimicked his voice.
Clint and Danielle both smiled at his frowning face until he gave in and finally laughed with us. The levity of our moods right now strangely belied the extreme danger we were all still in. It was the beginning of a characteristic I would soon come to embrace and dispense over the next few years to come.
Clint and I got the radio stuff out from the five different boxes it was scattered in, and he started working on setting it all up while Blake and Danielle worked on getting us some food started on the top of the wood stove. Instead of focusing on one single task, I was really acting more as an errand boy in finding coaxial wire and silverware and a crock pot and electrical tape... but finally between the four of us, we were able to get the radios up and running and also get a decent little warm meal in our bellies.
“So really, what is the next step here? Do we try to call the sheriff over the radio or do we have to go into town to let them know that there are people shooting at trucks on the back roads?” Danielle asked after dinner.
“They know,” I answered, again probably before I had thought it through.
“What?” she turned her head in my direction.
“You saw
I was very decisive in a fluid situation, but still looked to Clint for guidance in long term planning. It could have been simply life experience, but he had a knack to instantly see the different paths and avenues available and to discard those that did not have a favorable outcome just as quickly. I always admired his ability to look and plan ahead.
“That’s what I’m thinking. You have all your comm gear here?” he asked.
“It’s all here but nothing is set up; most of its still in boxes.”
If I had have been in a better place mentally during the move, I would have instantly set up the priority parts of my household. As it was, things had gotten thrown into boxes and stuffed in with little fanfare. The ability to gather news and communicate was vastly important, but the mood I had been in for the last little while was not one that wanted to be connected to anything or anyone, and so the boxes with my radio gear, scanner, amplifier and antenna, were still packed away somewhere.
“Okay let’s break it out and get listening. What do you have for power?”
“Well that part might get interesting,” I stalled.
While it wasn’t my long term plan, I had been relying on the unreliable line power for the most part as the construction was going along. I wasn't without a few temporary back up options though.
“There’s the generator and a couple cans of gas, or I have an inverter that I never got around to installing in the truck. It might be better to hook up the inverter inside and run the Ford to keep the battery charged until we can dig out the solar gear.”
“Well that will take longer,” Clint said, although he didn’t sound disappointed with my lack of options or poor organization. I had been in the middle of building and prematurely moving, it just wasn’t an ideal state of affairs.
“Should we try to get a hold of Kathy?” Danielle asked, bringing a voice of compassionate reasoning into this group of stereotypical males.
“Who?” Clint kidded her.
“Your wife!” she said quickly before realizing he had been joking.
“Oh her, yeah I left my shortwave on. Who knows if she’ll be listening for a call from us though.”
“We should maybe be… selective… in what we tell her,” I reminded him.
“In case other people are listening, like the guy that sniped at us?” Blake asked me.
“Well that, and the part where I don’t really think we should worry your mother unnecessarily now that you’re finally home again.” I said tapping into some of that compassion Danielle was trying to provide. “Hey Mom, I’m home from war, we got in a car wreck and a gun fight, and then had to hike a couple miles in the freezing cold,” I mimicked his voice.
Clint and Danielle both smiled at his frowning face until he gave in and finally laughed with us. The levity of our moods right now strangely belied the extreme danger we were all still in. It was the beginning of a characteristic I would soon come to embrace and dispense over the next few years to come.
Clint and I got the radio stuff out from the five different boxes it was scattered in, and he started working on setting it all up while Blake and Danielle worked on getting us some food started on the top of the wood stove. Instead of focusing on one single task, I was really acting more as an errand boy in finding coaxial wire and silverware and a crock pot and electrical tape... but finally between the four of us, we were able to get the radios up and running and also get a decent little warm meal in our bellies.
“So really, what is the next step here? Do we try to call the sheriff over the radio or do we have to go into town to let them know that there are people shooting at trucks on the back roads?” Danielle asked after dinner.
“They know,” I answered, again probably before I had thought it through.
“What?” she turned her head in my direction.
“You saw
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