Before Matt could answer Trent and his family arrived. The next few minutes involved handshakes all around and introductions, then they all started into town.
As they walked Matt turned to Lewis. “Listen, I know you’ve had a long day and you need to get the stove sorted out, but can you and Trev spare some time this evening to help the Lincolns? They’ll want to get their house done as soon as possible, but I need to help Gutierrez with some stuff for his cabin that he can’t handle alone.”
“Gutierrez is building a cabin?” Trev asked in surprise. “Is that where he’s disappeared to since we got back? You made it sound like he was huddled shivering in his tent feeling useless!”
Matt thought of his confrontation with the former soldier and shook his head past another surge of guilt. “I’m not sure how long he’ll need me for, but expect I’ll be busy until dark.”
“We’ve got it,” Lewis said, nodding to Trent. “If nothing else we can get the walls high enough to stretch a tarp ceiling for them to sleep under tonight, in case it rains again. And let Gutierrez know we’ve got a venison steak with his name on it whenever he’s ready to break for dinner.”
Trust his friend to be perceptive about what had gone unsaid. Matt was grateful for the gesture. “Will do.” He turned to the Lincolns. “Welcome to Aspen Hill. I look forward to getting to know you all better soon.”
With a few brief farewells he hurried back down the street, leaving the group to follow at a slower pace.
The six Lincolns looked a bit dazed as they inspected the town that would be their new home. They obviously weren’t expecting it to be so clean, orderly, and well built.
Lewis didn’t blame them. He’d just barely passed the refugee camp on the road to the west, and the image of it was still fresh in his mind. It, like the other refugee camps he’d seen, was anything but well built, nowhere near orderly, and not even close to clean.
Moving here would greatly improve the family’s circumstances, he hoped.
And by the looks of it their circumstances could use some improving. Thomas’s father looked haggard and exhausted, leaning a bit on his son and grandson as they walked. Beside Thomas shuffled a woman about his age, likely his wife. Behind them came a footsore couple in their twenties, the woman carrying a toddler girl who wiggled to be let down, while the man pulled a heavily loaded cargo wagon similar to the one Lewis owned, but in much worse repair.
Trev had noticed the wagon too. “What happened to that big steel frame handcart you had when I met you on the road?” he asked. “The one loaded with grain and other supplies from Newtown? You guys looked pretty well set up.”
Thomas shook his head wearily. “Long time between then and now. Life happened.”
“Nothing too bad, I hope,” Trent said, looking genuinely worried. “I wouldn’t have left for two months otherwise.”
Trent’s mother, Maddie, leaned around to give her son a reassuring pat on the arm. “We traded the cart for necessities in the refugee camp. As for the food we’d brought, we either ate it or gave it out to those who needed it more. We got along okay, and were blessed in many ways.”
“Like reuniting with our son in a town that offers us a fresh start,” Thomas said, patting Trent on the back. He glanced down the street and brightened. “A town where some of you even managed glass windows on new cabins. Folks in those houses up ahead have their heads on straight.”
Lewis felt a flush of mingled pride and embarrassment. The aforementioned cabins belonged to the shelter group. “Well thank you.”
The older man turned to look at him, surprised. “Yours?”
“His family, mine, Matt’s, and one for the women and children from Jane’s group,” Trev said, grinning. “Once you get to know Lewis you’ll realize he thinks years ahead while everyone else is looking to tomorrow. He realized windows were going to be super valuable now, since they’ll be so hard to replace. When we evacuated the town he pulled all the windows off the Larson home and got permission from Mayor Tillman to do the same for the city buildings along Main. He encouraged everyone else to remove their windows, too, promising them it would be worth the extra effort.”
“He wasn’t wrong,” Trent said. “Especially with the town burned to the ground. Those windows will provide free light in the winter, and a view outside to prevent people from going stir crazy. Not to mention providing easy controllable ventilation where needed. I was actually inspired by his idea to go find windows for our house.” He shrugged sheepishly. “I sort of succeeded. But, well, the windows are in pieces. We’ll have to work on them a bit before we can use them. Maybe tape, or some sort of clear plastic wrap or paper.”
Thomas squinted at the four shelter group houses. “Are there two window fixtures in each opening?” he asked.
Lewis nodded. “This winter is going to be brutal, and one pane of glass just didn’t seem like enough. It’s sort of like having storm windows, I guess. I’ve also rigged boards for each window, to put up inside when it’s dark or too bitterly cold. We’ll stuff newspaper in the gap behind the boards for insulation.”
“Smart.” The older man glanced at Trent. “Broken windows, huh?” His son nodded. “You know there’s a lot of vehicles sitting around on roads. Probably even in that burned town down there. I bet a lot of those windows and windshields are still around.”
That… was actually a really good point. Lewis couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it sooner. Although there was one obvious problem. “Those would be hard to remove.”
“Maybe. But they’re tougher, too, which means they’ll stick around longer. Cars use safety glass.”
Trent grinned. “You’re right. They might look funny, but we could have nicer windows than everyone else!”
“On the subject of home improvements,” Lewis broke in apologetically. “If you could give us a minute, since we’re passing anyway it would be nice to put away our bikes and at least get the stove inside.”
“Sure,” Thomas said, clapping his son on the shoulder. “That’ll give us time to get the full tour of our new home.”
“We’ll see you there, then,” Trev promised, turning his bike towards the makeshift tarps they’d hung to cover temporary outdoor storage.
It only took a few minutes to check in with the family, hand over the elk meat for their parents to get started cooking or preserving, and haul the stove into the Smith cabin. On the outside it looked rough and frontier-ish, but inside the carpet, furniture, lights, and soft music playing from Linda’s phone made it seem far less primitive. Lewis had made sure his cousin’s family had all the same amenities his own did, and while he felt a bit bad for the Larsons and Jane’s group, what he’d had could only go so far.
Uncle George and Jim pitched in to help Lewis and his cousin move the stove where Aunt Clair wanted it. Then while the rest of the Smith family started planning how to lay out the stovepipe, Lewis led Trev outside and grabbed the biggest tarp he had, unfortunately one with a few roughly patched holes after hard use for various purposes. After giving it a quick check to make sure it would do the job Lewis folded it enough that he could wrap his arms around it, then the two headed out to help their new neighbors.
Like the rest of the town Trent had been storing up as much extra food as he could for the winter, and his family was digging into a quick meal as they rested from their journey. Trent had already gotten back to work notching logs, but at the cousins’ arrival he came over to help spread out the tarp and inspect it. Lewis didn’t mind doing it again, since in if the situations were reversed he also would’ve wanted to personally inspect it.