Cal’s Quest 3

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Dog pushed his way through the semi open front door and sat beside Cal watching the old guy. After a while he got bored and went over and started licking the old man’s face. That woke him up and he looked up to see Dogs grinning face panting in front of his face. He bolted up and stood on the coach holding one hand in front of him and the other holding the bottle over his head. Cal couldn’t decide if the old man was threatening to hit Dog with the bottle, or trying to keep the bottle away from Dog and he chuckled.

The old man looked over at him, startled by the chuckle.

“Where the hell did you come from?” the old guy asked. “Who the hell are you and what the hell do you want?”

“My name is Cal,” he said. “I’m not from around here. The coffee is about ready and Dog will leave you alone if you leave us alone. Fair enough?”

“Guess so,” the old guy said and he came down off the couch. “I need a piss somethin’ awfull,” he said and headed to the door trailed by Dog. “Stay put, I’ll be right back.”

Cal followed at a distance and watched from the door, but the old guy just took a few steps out side and relieved himself, then came back. Cal was back sitting on the chair when the man, trailed by Dog walked back in. He went in the kitchen and came back with two coffee cups motioning one to Cal, who shook his head.

“Suitcher self,” the old guy said. He poured himself a cup and then filled it with whatever booze was in the bottle.

“Arr!” he said. “Good coffee kid.” Then he sat himself back down on the couch. Haven’t seen anybody since the big disappearance. You?”

“No,” Cal said. “You know what happened? I was up in the bush fishing for a couple of weeks, came home and everyone was gone. You’re the first person I’ve seen.”

“Had a young couple pass through sometime in the summer,” the old guy said. “They was looking for some gas. Like you, they was camping in the bush when all this went down. I filled them up and they headed to the city. They said they’d come back and let me know, but I aint seed em since.

“I dunno what happened,” he continued. “Everything was fine, then I woke up, no power. That’s no big deal happens all the time. But after a week I drove to the neighbors, nobody around, nobody in town. Big mystery. Strange though. All the cars was parked nice and neat in town around the hockey rink. Must have been some kinda meeting or something.”

“Same thing up from where I come from,” Cal said. “Cars parked around the arena and all the schools. Just like you said. Like some kind of big meeting.”

“You looking for some gas to get to the city?” the old guys said. “I ain’t got any left. Used it all up on my generator, yesterday or maybe a few days before, kind of lose track of time now and then. But one of my neighbors has some left. I’ll take you there if you want. I need to fill up a couple of Gerry cans for the generator.”

“No, I have lots of fuel thanks,” Cal said. “I just came here to see if I could scrounge up some horse harness. I’m going to have to plow some fields this summer to get some wheat and barley for myself and my horses and cows.”

“Might be I can help ya out there sonny,” the old man said. “Follow me. You can put that cannon away. I ain’t strong enough to take you on anyway.”

The old guy pulled on a heavy jacket, some gloves and a hat with ear flaps on and went out the door headed to a work shop across the yard. Unlike the house. The workshop was spotless and tidy and smelled like leather. Different types of saddles were on display as well as other horse tack. At the back was a work shop with saddles in various stages of completion and other leather goods.

He took Cal over to where different styles of harness were and started prattling off on the merits of each type.

“You do know you’re going to need other stuff besides the harness don’t you?” the Oldman asked.

“Ya, I thought I might,” Cal said. “But I thought I could figure it out by trial and error. I have nothing but time and lots of it, especially this time of year.”

“Ya, well you’re going to have to train the horses to work in harness too,” the old man said. “I suppose you don’t even know what kind of horses you have.”

“I’ve got two mares and two geldings of my own,” Cal said. “Good local stock, sixteen hands, quarter horse standard bred mix. Got a stallion, two mares and a gelding of one of my neighbors. They are more fancy riding horses. Some kind of Morgan mix.”

The old man thought for a few minutes and Cal wondered around the work shop while he thought.

“Come on back to the house son,” the old guy said. “Let’s sit and talk a bit.”

Once again the old man offered Cal some coffee, once again he declined. This time the old man just put coffee in the cup and sat down. He took a few sips then started to talk.

“My wife died a few years back,” he finally said. “And I miss her something fierce. But my work kept me busy and neighbors was always stopping by to chat and my two worthless kids would come by on the odd weekend with their brats. Never thought I’d say this, but I miss ‘em now. Got nothing to keep me busy anymore. Jut sit and listen to the wind howling across the prairie. Sometimes not even that to break the silence.”

He went quiet again for a while.

“I sure could use some company,” he finally said. “Someone to talk to and something to do besides sit here and feel sorry for myself.”

Cal jut looked at him.

“Look son, I’ll work for my keep,” the old guy said. “I’m good with horses, been around em all my life. Know how to work cattle too. Hell I’m even a not half bad cook. I’ve got a stash of food I’ll bring with and once I have a look at your ponies, we can come back and get whatever harness we need.”

“Know how to trim hooves?” Cal finally said.

“Hell yes,” the old guy said. “Was a farrier too. Made my own shoes too.”

“Still got the forge?” Cal asked. “And can we convert it to coal or wood?”

“Shit ya,” the old guy said. “My granddaddy was a black smith. Come on I’ll show you.”

He took Cal back to the work shop and in one back corner was a small fully equipped blacksmith station. Cal looked it over for a bit, figuring out what it would take to move it all.

“Ok,” Cal said. “Sounds like a deal. But we bring everything that’s in this shop. Tack, tools leather forge everything. Not today. My trucks not big enough. What kind of wheels do you have?”

“Got a Chev three quarter ton, four by,” the old guys said. “Extended cab long box. Three quarters of a tank of fuel in ‘er.”

“Should be enough,” Cal said. “Ok, it took me three hours to get here. Be a little less on the way back. We will load up both trucks with whatever you think we need or you can’t live without today. I’ve got plenty of food, don’t worry about that. Make sure you bring your own clothing, all of it. We’ll clean it all there.”

It was almost dark by the time they finished loading both trucks and made sure that nothing would fly out of the back of them. Then Cal in the lead with his Ford half ton, they followed his tacks in the snow to the farm yard. It only took an hour and a half to get back. Cal picked an empty smaller Quonset, opened the large front door and had the old guy back his truck inside. Hen while he unloaded his truck, Cal went to the barn and fed his animals.

It was past eight by the time both trucks were unloaded and parked by the house. Then Cal shouldered two garbage bags of clothing and the old man another two and they went into the house.

“Holy shit!” the old man said. “You got lights and heat?”

“Ya,” Cal said. “Get some wash started, once it’s dry you can have a shower.”

Cal showed him where the washing machine was and how to work it and while he was loading it, got a fire going in the air tight. He took another steak out of the freezer and put it in the microwave to defrost. Then got a pot of coffee going and put a big frying pan on the airtight.

“I usually use the stove and oven,” Cal said when the old man came into the kitchen. “But there isn’t enough wind to recharge my batteries tonight. The washer, dryer, hot water heater and the trough heaters are going to take a lot out of my batteries tonight, so it’ll take a little longer to cook supper than normal.”

“You have the old wind mill hooked up to a generator?” the old man asked.

“No a forty amp automotive alternator,” Cal said. “But it needs a pretty heavy wind to get the whole forty amps out of it. I’ve got ten kilowatts of solar panels that even tonight with a full moon will give me about ten amps an hour for power. It’ll be enough come morning to recharge the batteries and give us power for breakfast. The next couple of months are the worst and we will kind of have to be careful on how much power we use. You can have the master bedroom. I don’t feel comfortable in there. It was my folk’s room. Tomorrow you can toss out anything you don’t want in there.”

Cal was up at six the next morning like usual. By the time he finished his morning chores and came back in the house, the old man had a pot of coffee going, the airtight was burning away nicely and the old guy took the eggs off Cal’s hands and started making breakfast on the air tight stove top.

Neither man talked much during breakfast or doing the dishes after. The old man had cleaned himself off a bunch and his beard and hair were combed. They both dressed up for the cold and Cal walked over to the pump house to check on his power situation, the old man and Dog on his heels.

It was hovering around minus twenty that morning, but the sky was clear. Inside the pump house it was above zero and the power meters told him that even this early in the morning, the solar panels were producing more than wat was being consumed and already the batteries were being charged. While Cal was doing all that and checking his batteries for overheating, the old man looked around, then went outside where Cal found him looking at his windmill set up.

“I can generate power, or grind flower off the same shaft,” Cal said. “Or both if I have to.”

Then he went over and tried to start the old five ton. He had plugged it in overnight, but it was a diesel and it took a while but it finally started, spuming a big white plumb of diesel exhaust into the air. Then while Cal tried to get the yard tractor to fire up, the old guy drove over to the fuel tanks and filled up his truck. By the time he was finished fueling up, the yard tractor finally started and they left all three vehicles running while Cal took the old guy into the barn to look the horses over.

Cal opened the rear door to the barn and let the cattle out to graze, then the old man helped him release the horses, who charged out of the barn.

“Nice ponies,” he said. “That little guy is going to make a good stud. Got good lines. Those others are more like pure bred Morgan’s son. Goodall round horses Morgans.”

With the help of the old man, the flatbed trailer was soon hooked up to the back of the five ton and the yard tractor loaded and chained down on the flatbed. Then the old man in the lead, they headed back to his place. Cal had to punch his way through some of the bigger drifts and he thought the trailer would get high centered a couple of times, but they made it without incident and were soon loading the five ton. Once a big enough space was made, Cal drove the tractor into the shop and they loaded the small forge into the bucket and put it into the back of the five ton. The work benches and anvil were more work, because over the years their heavy weights had sunk them into the floor. But the front end loader broke them free. Both trucks were loaded up just after three and once again it was after eight by the time everything was unloaded into the small Quonset.

Both men could hardly keep their eyes open during supper, tonight cooked on the electric oven and both passed out as soon as they hit the beds.

The old man was up the same time Cal was the next morning and helped him with the chores. This time they hooked the four horse trailer up to the back of the old mans truck and made much better time going there as the road was well plowed by now. There were even patches where the blacktop was showing through the snow. Instead of cooking a hot breakfast they had made some sandwiches to take with them and ate them on the road. The work shop was completely empty and everything loaded before noon.

The old guy took one last tour around the place and had tears in his eyes as he got into his truck. Then slammed it in gear and in a cloud of snow from the spinning tires was off and gone.

Everything was unloaded by the time the sun went down and both men put the cattle and the horses to bed that night. Then they had supper. The old man said nothing the whole time and after supper and the dishes were done, Cal went downstairs and grabbed a bottle of whiskey and two bottles of beer. He handed the old man the bottle of whiskey and a glass and opened a beer for himself. Then they both sat quietly drinking. Once Cal had finished his second beer, he got up and went to bed followed by Dog.

The old man was beating on his door at six the next morning.

“Come on kid, the day’s wasting away,” he said. “Lots of shit to do today. Breakfast is on.”

The old man had already fed the animals and retrieved the eggs and started breakfast. The three quarters full bottle of whisky was at the back of the kitchen counter and once breakfast and the dishes were done, both men geared up and headed to the barn, Dog right on their heels tail wagging. With both men working at it, the stalls were soon clean and new straw spread out. Then they headed over to the small Quonset and walked inside. It took a while for the florescent lighting to get warm enough to provide lighting enough for them to see in the sub-zero temperature of the Quonset. But soon enough, Cal could see well enough to see there was a thirty amp breaker installed and while the old man walked around making a plan on how to set it up for his work shop, Cal went over to one of the larger ones and after fishing around for a while, found the overhead electric heater he was looking for, the right size wires and connectors for it and dumped it on the Quonset floor. Then he brought over a big ladder and his tool box and one final trip for the batter operated drill.

In two hours with the help of the old man, the heater was installed hanging from the center of the roof, was hooked up and belching heat into the Quonset. It didn’t take long and they were removing the heavy jackets, hats and gloves. The shed was thirty feet long by twenty five feet wide. They left the Quonset with the heater turned down to keep it just above freezing and both men went back into the house. It was lunch time by then and while the old guy made a quick lunch of soup, Cal went down stairs and brought up the rest of the case of beer and put it in the refrigerator for later. Then he brought out a large book which had graph girded paper and they began to plan out the old man’s work shed.

Cal told him he had a spare airtight big enough to heat the place and they placed it along one wall in the center of the work space. Then they penciled in the forge by the front big doors so they could be opened to cool it off during the summer. After that the old man began to pencil in where he wanted to place things. While he was doing that, Cal went back to the work shop and turned the thermostat up, then he went back to his storage sheds and came back with several round containers and a small compressor. When the old man came back a few hours later, Cal already had sprayed spray foam insulation on half the Quonset. By the end of the day the whole thing was insulated.

The next day, both men laid bricks on the concrete floor and up the back wall eight feet. Then they put a metal sheet on the floor bricks and using the yard tractor, put the airtight stove in place. Cal cut two round holes in the wall. One about six feet up, the other about two feet off the ground. Then they installed the chimney and got the first fire going in the stove. The lower hole, Cal hooked an insulation wrapped flexible metal pipe to with a damper and attached it to the rear of the stove in the spot designed for it, so it could draw fresh air without opening a door or a window. The final addition was two fans that sat on top of the stove that would operate from the heat of the stove to move the air around. Now they had heat.

The next day they installed the forge in much the same manner as the airtight but with a double row of bricks instead of a single and arranged so that air would flow through the bricks to cool them off. The next day they started working on the floor. The placed two by sixes on edge every six inches. Once they had a wide enough space to lay a sheet of plywood down, Cal sprayed the open area with spray foam and then the screwed one inch thick plywood sheets down. On top of the two by sixes. As the moved forward, they screwed another layer of plywood down, this one opposite to the first row making a very strong and durable floor. They did the first half that day, the final act of the day being painting a thick coat of durable floor paint on them and calling it a day. The next day, they finished the flooring. Another two days and half inch plywood was on the walls and painted white to better reflect the light. After that it was pushing equipment around to the proper places and hanging a few electrical boxes from the roof in a few places and they were done.

They had brought a small carriage back with them on the last trip to the old man’s place. It had a set of runners with it so it could be converted to a sleigh. Now the old man began to train the horses and Cal on how to properly operate the carriage. By spring all the Morgan, but the stallion were trained to pull the carriage and two mares were working together well as a team.

Late March came and with it the last blizzard of the year. They had made plans to go one town north but had to delay the trip for two days while the blizzard blew itself out. Cal was glad he had rigged the wind mill to charge the batteries, because the was not enough sun during the day, what with the cloud cover and the snow, for the solar panels to completely charge up the batteries at night. But everything worked out all right and after two days the snow and the wind stopped and the sun came back out again.

The next day, they took both pickup trucks and bulled their way up to the next town. It was a much bigger town and had used to be farm and oil field service center. Cal was looking for steel pipe or beams to replace the rotting ones in the old barn and they found what they would need in one of the old fab shops. They raided one of the three food stores of anything that was canned, dried and not soiled and drove back home. Over the next several days, the loaded up what steel and other building materials they thought they might need for the next year or few years, stored them up and made plans for the coming spring.

Both men were getting along well. The old man had dried out and found a purpose in life again. Cal was learning lot from him and the old guy was learning some from Cal as well. Life was good.

Then after lunch a few days later, everything changed.