“Clothes,” she said, confirming my suspicion.

“From the junk yard?”

“Yeah.  Just as we were coming in, some church group was leaving.  They had a sale and brought what didn’t sell along with some of the stuff they didn’t think was good enough to put out.  We took the bags before they hit the gross stuff.  Wini said that even if some of the items are stained, spare clothes are better than no clothes at all.”

I agreed.

“Let’s carry these outside before we check out the furniture.  Maybe someone will be willing to help us sort the clothes.”

Four hours later, everyone seemed to have something to do.  Two work groups divided the yard.  On one side, men chopped or just broke the deadwood into smaller pieces and stacked it where the old shed used to stand.  The other side of the yard, cleared of everything but the tables, functioned as a general work area.

The men surrounding two of the tables sorted clothes into gender and size, adult vs. child.  When a folded stack grew too tall, the man would carry it to the front entry where another table was setup to hold everything.  Only a few very tattered pieces were on the ground beside the table.  Most was salvageable; I’d even found myself a pair of cotton shorts and a soft top to sleep in.

On several other tables, men worked to fix some of the odd items the group had brought back.  The intent was to take those things to town and sell them the next day.  The tools and the paint that were brought back from the dump came in handy at those tables.

As Mary and I moved around the yard to answer questions or help as needed, Thomas, Gregory, and Grey shadowed us.  They never spoke a word.  Gregory’s presence, I understood.  He rarely took his eyes from Mary and growled at any man who looked at her for too long.  Thomas and Grey puzzled me, though.  I couldn’t be sure if they were watching me or just listening to what I was telling the men to do.

Seeing everything well in hand, Mary and I went inside to start a late lunch.  Our shadows came with us.  Three cleaned rabbits waited on the table.

“Dad and Paul went hunting,” Mary said, eyeing them with me.

“The rabbits are perfect.  We should be able to make a stew for the group outside,” I said, moving to the pump.  While we started to fill a pot with water, the three men moved around the new cook stove.  Their quiet conversation was lost over the noise of the pump.

“Excuse me,” a voice called.  I looked up from the pot to see a man and woman standing in the doorway.  Though they were clothed, they were filthy, and the woman was very pregnant.  The man wasn’t looking at me, but at Thomas.

“We heard about the changes here.  My Mate wants to stay until the cub is born, if that’s all right.”

I didn’t give Thomas a chance to answer.

“Of course,” I said dropping the handle and moving toward the couple.  “My name is Charlene, and this is Mary.”

The man glanced at Thomas once more before his gaze settled on me.

“This is Ann, and I am Leif.”

“Mary, would you be willing to show Ann and Leif to one of the fixed rooms, and maybe Ann would like to pick a few things out from the stuff you brought back.”

Mary nodded and happily chatted with Ann as the three left the room.  I turned toward Thomas.  He watched me with an odd expression, not angry...more like confused.

“How long will it take to hook up that stove?” I asked.  “Ann will probably want a hot bath and that stove will make the job a lot easier.”

“We need some kind of pipe to vent the smoke,” Thomas said, stating what I’d already guessed.

“Gregory, did you see any pipe at the junk yard?” I asked.

“We brought some back,” Grey said.  “It should be around here somewhere.”

“See if you can find it and get the stove working.  I’ll keep fixing lunch.”

I didn’t wait for them to answer but turned toward the rabbits.  We needed to make the food stretch.  It wasn’t something I was used to doing.  I lugged the heavy pot to the fire and set it on the hook there.  Then, I went back to the table and started cutting every bit of meat off the rabbits.  After covering the meat with a cloth, I tied the carcasses into another piece of cloth.  I tossed that bundle into the water.

“What are you doing?” Thomas asked from across the room.

“Making a broth for a stew base.  My mom never used a shirt before, but it should work the same and keep the little bones out of the stew while adding flavor.”

He didn’t ask anything else so I turned back to our supplies.  We had pasta, dried beans, rice, and canned vegetables.  The beans would need to be soaked.  And, even if I used the canned vegetables, I needed the carcasses to boil for a while before adding the meat.

“This won’t be ready until closer to dinner,” I said with a sigh.  “I don’t know what to feed everyone for lunch.”

“Charlene,” Thomas said, turning me away from the table.  I hadn’t realized he’d crossed the room.  “We’ve fed ourselves our whole lives.  You only need to worry about feeding yourself.”

He was back to studying me, again.

“You need to stop thinking like that,” I said.  “Each individual only thinking about themselves...it’s not helping.  Winifred and Mary said your race is dying.  Stop looking at your little groups as isolated families and start seeing the big picture.  You all need to work together to find a way to survive.  If you want to survive.”

His expression never changed while I spoke.  I wanted to shake him to see if he was still alive, and maybe, because he frustrated me a bit.

“Don’t you see?” I said with exasperation.  “It’s not you who will suffer the most, but the generations after you, if you don’t change your ways.”  He still gave no indication he understood me.  I turned back to the table.  “I need to get something ready for Ann to eat.”

“Whether you know it or not, you were meant to come here,” Thomas said.  “We won’t change on our own.  But maybe you will change us.”

He walked away before I could glanced back at him.

Nine

I wiped sweat from my face and gave the rice on the fire another stir.  One of the men had brought in a pheasant that now roasted beside the pot for a late lunch.  Behind me, I listened to the water boil on the new stove.  Thomas and Gregory had finished installing the stovepipe well before Ann and Leif had returned to the kitchen with Mary.  The couple had taken one of the first floor rooms, unconcerned about the broken window.

Ann had also gratefully accepted a change of clean clothes and now waited at the table while her husband—no, Mate—worked to fill the tub for her.  With the new stove, it wouldn’t take as long to fill the tub.  But, man, the room heated quickly.

Needing to escape the heat, and because I had little left to do inside, I went out to check on the progress of the men.

Four long rows of split wood were stacked shoulder high.  Not my shoulder, but the height of the men doing the stacking.  The two clothing tables were empty, and on the ground lay the heap of rejected items.

I grabbed an armful of clothing to carry back inside.  Though none of it was good for wearing, it could be useful for other things.  I placed my armful just inside the door, and when I turned, I almost screamed.  Three men were right behind me, carrying the rest.

“Thank you,” I said as they dropped their bundles.

They nodded and left, and I found the absence of their previous aggression and intensity pleasantly surprising.  I went back outside and walked around, studying the rest of the progress.  Several of the wooden chairs, now repaired and painted, caught my eye.

“Can we carry the two empty tables and these chairs into the main room?  Maybe we should set them off to the side a bit for when you want to come in and eat or just sit for a while.”  Two of the men nodded and went to the tables.