Wes said, “We know. Pow told us.” Pow looked a little guilty.
“I know it was a secret, Grant, but I figured it was OK to tell the guys,” Pow said shrugging.
“Of course,” Grant said, realizing that he had been taking the secrecy about the contents of the “spider shed” a little too seriously now that the Collapse had hit and he was among friends out there.
“It’s other people I worry about,” Grant said, which was true. Random people knowing that they had food would guarantee some break-in attempts. Maybe even an armed mob. But not with the Team and the Morrells and Colsons.
“So we’ll have some pancakes in the morning,” Grant said. He had been looking forward to big breakfasts with the Team and his family. “What time sounds good to you guys? Sun comes up at about 5:00. We all need to sleep. What about 7:00?”
Grant noticed that, despite feeling like they were in military mode, he was using the civilian times instead of “0500” or “0700.” That made sense. They were civilians. This reminded Grant that one of the things he liked so much about the Team was that none of them were mall ninjas or military wannabes. They were just sheepdogs with guns. They didn’t have to try to be anything they weren’t. They were comfortable in their own skin, but not cocky. It was the perfect combination.
Grant realized that they might be hungry now. They had been on the move since about dinner time and it was now about 11:00 pm. “You guys need some dinner or a late night snack?”
“I do,” said Wes. The others didn’t disagree.
“We had some deer steaks BBQ’d right before you guys came,” Grant said. “I bet Tammy,” he pointed up the road to the Colsons’, “put them in the fridge. I’ll go see. You guys should come with me so they can meet you more.”
Scotty had an MRE in his hand. “I’m OK,” he said. “I’ll take this and go hang out with Chip.” Grant hated to see an MRE used when other food was available, but he wasn’t going to tell people what to eat. Besides, showing alarm at the use of an MRE would imply impending starvation. He didn’t want to have people worrying about that. It was just one MRE and they had a bunch of them out there.
All of them, except Scotty, left the yellow cabin. They had pistols on their belts, of course. Wes pointed at his AR propped up on the couch, motioned, and asked, “should we bring these?”
Grant shook his head and said, “I don’t think we should carry ARs all the time around the cabins. At least for now. Probably later. But for now I don’t want the neighbors to feel like this is Afghanistan. I don’t want them wondering if we’ll turn on them. So let’s downplay the firepower. For now. Pistols for sure, though. What do you guys think?”
“With Chip and Scotty guarding the entrance, we’ll be OK without ARs,” Pow said.
“Let’s go get our eats on, gentlemen,” Grant said. This felt so good. Hangin’ out with the Team. At the cabin.
Grant wanted to say hi to Chip. They walked out to the guard shack. “Hey, man, thanks for taking guard duty,” Grant said. “Scotty will be joining you in a minute. Don’t hesitate to get me if you need me.”
Chip said, “Sure. I talked to John and Mary Anne and they’ll put me up in their guest bedroom.”
In all the activity, Grant had totally forgotten about Chip’s accommodations. He felt bad about that. “Oh, cool, I figured they would,” Grant said, as he realized he’d made the assumption they would do that.
“It’ll be good to have us spread out a little in the cabins,” Bobby said.
“We’re going to see if the Colsons have any leftover deer steaks for the boys,” Grant said to Chip.
“They’re fantastic, guys,” Chip said as he rubbed his stomach. Chip was a thin guy.
Grant didn’t want Chip to feel abandoned. He asked, “Chip, you need some more coffee?”
“Nope, I’m fine,” he said.
“OK then,” Grant said. “We’re off to get some grub.” Right then, Grant’s stomach growled. He remembered that he hadn’t eaten dinner, either and all of a sudden he was really hungry.
They went to the Colsons and were consciously talking in their normal voices as they approached so the Colsons wouldn’t think strangers were sneaking up on their house.
Tammy answered the door and was glad to see them. The Morrells were at the table.
“You guys hungry?” Tammy asked. It reminded her of when Paul had his friends over growing up. She had loved feeding the boys.
“Got any deer steaks?” Grant asked. “I tried to eat one earlier tonight, but these jackasses decided to show up. With my family or whatever. Interrupted my damned dinner.” Everyone was laughing and smiling.
Tammy opened the refrigerator and got a platter covered with foil. “Eat up, boys.”
They did. It was amazing how much food hungry men could eat.
After a while, Grant said, “Hey, I’m having a pancake breakfast tomorrow morning. Come over at about 7:00.” Everyone said they’d be over.
They didn’t talk about guard duty, food supplies, looting, inflation, the collapse of America, or anything like that. They just ate. It was a group of people who had known each other for a couple of hours, yet they were eating like they had grown up together. It was an amazing time.
Grant wanted his family to come over, but he knew Lisa would be trying to get Cole and Manda to sleep. There will be plenty of chances to have the whole neighborhood together for dinner in the coming…days? Weeks? Months? Who really cared. They were there, and they were safe. They were way better off than most of the country.
Chapter 79
Pancakes
(May 8)
Morning came way too fast. After deer steaks at the Colsons, which went past midnight, Grant quietly snuck over to his cabin and collapsed into bed. He was so tired that he didn’t even remember his head hitting the pillow. He had slept most of the previous day, but the emotions of the arrival of his family and the Team had wiped him out.
Grant woke up with Lisa next to him. Wow. That felt great. He honestly thought that would never happen again.
He looked at his watch. It was 6:30. He had some pancakes to start cooking. He got up and got the pancake mix out of the storage shed; a five pound vacuum sealed bag. He would have to tell the Colsons and Morrells that he had the food because they would see the vacuum sealed bag and realize something was up.
Oh well, it was OK for them to know. Keeping the food storage a secret made sense before the Collapse and before he fully trusted them. Besides, they had shared their deer steaks the night before and would be sharing many other things until this was over. They were in this together. They would only get through it by sharing. The cabin neighborhood of the Matsons, the Team, Morrells, and Colsons were now a gang. Not the motorcycle kind of gang, but a group taking care of each other.
Grant’s favorite smell in the morning was pancakes, and the enticing scent called to the others, as well. Slowly, people started stirring in the cabin. It was magic. They were all together and Grant was getting them up with pancakes. The sun was shining into the cabin through the evergreen trees. The water was still and beautiful.
Grant wanted to make sure Cole, who needed the same routine because of his mild autism, was OK with his new surroundings. He had been to the cabin plenty of times, but never had his grandparents sleeping in the other bed in the room. Grant went up to the loft. Cole was awake in his bed talking to his sister.
“I’m happy that we’re all here,” Cole said. That melted Grant’s heart. Cole really, really needed that tucking in last night.
“Me too, little buddy,” Grant said. “I have some pancakes for you, pal. We have syrup, too.” Grant didn’t tell Cole that the syrup was a different brand; whatever they had at the Dollar Store. He was curious if Cole’s need for routine would allow him to eat a different syrup.