Detour to Otherwhen ©

by K Pelle

Chapter 10

Anna and I hadn't gotten more than a few feet along the trail that led back toward the entrance to the valley when she reached out and squeezed my hand in hers, then sighed softly.

"I take it that you're not as calm about what's happened as you've tried to act?" I asked quietly.

"That's putting it mildly," Anna snorted.  "We are in a helluva situation and you damn well know it.  All of us are accustomed to living in a well-behaved, technological society with a fully developed safety net available to us.  We didn't bring much technology along and our most effective safety net is going to be an injured cop and a very young EMT, not even a doctor.  Unfortunately our group is now the most modern form of society around and just to survive, we've virtually demanded that you become an autocrat.  Not only that, but if I'm right about the time frame, our new neighbours will be savages, armed with stone age tools and brutal attitudes.  So we've gone from a form of democratic socialism to a benevolent dictatorship and we're surrounded by neighbours who live in total anarchy."

"Anna, speaking as your benevolent dictator, I'm probably even more worried than you are, but I think we can manage to survive and we might even flourish.  Like you, I'm worried about our medical situation, but we have far more technology than we need to have to survive, although we're going to have to give up some creature comforts.  What we have to do is adapt to our new circumstances and prepare ourselves for almost any eventuality.  For now, we may have to accept the fact that we have to downgrade our technology, but we can still use our knowledge to remain in control of our immediate surroundings and our freedom.  In other words we may have to learn to use bows and arrows to hunt, especially once the ammunition for our guns runs out, but that will be only temporary.  We have the knowledge to haul ourselves up by our bootstraps.  Over and above that, we have scrap metal coming out the hoo-hoo, so no matter how the locals are armed, we could win any armament race.  To be honest with you though, I'd rather turn the metal we have into tools and implements, then teach the local natives to be farmers and ranchers."

"Well, Joe, hopefully we can make the second option work, but that isn't the first problem I envision we'll have."

"Oh, okay, what is our first problem going to be?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure everyone understands what we're up against, not even you or me," she sighed heavily.  "I think the first thing we'll run into is the fact that we're all going to be suffering from a major case of homesickness.  The isolation of this situation is going to be hard on everyone, since we've all lost our homes and families.  You and I are probably in the best shape, because we've been a couple for a while, so we have each other and we have Curly.  Fran and Tom have each other as family, so they each have someone to hang onto.  Mimi and Ellen are the two I'm most worried about, but they do have us as a stable foundation of sorts.  Of course I'm worried about Chuck, Maybelle and the kids too, because they weren't right with us, so who knows what they went through?  To be honest though, I have no idea how any of us are going to react to being isolated from everything we knew and counted on."

"Well, hopefully we can stave off any homesickness by staying busy for the next few weeks, but I think if we intend to survive, we're going to have to work our butts off anyway.  We're going to have to prove to ourselves where we are and discover what we have to work with, then we have to find ways to provide ourselves with food and shelter.  It's not going to be a picnic, no matter what we do," I paused and looked around.  "Right now though, I'm going to change the subject, because I'm still wondering what happened to all the torch bearers who had surrounded us last night.  I can't help worrying that some of them might have survived and may be ready to attack us at any moment."

"Oh!  I never thought of them!  Is that what we're doing and why we're walking out here away from the buildings?  We're looking for any sign of the torchbearers?"

"Yeah, they were standing in a full circle around us just before those old shamans cast their spell, or whatever it was.  Once that old guy started playing with fire though, I was paying attention to him and when he got into that crap - well, I was almost frozen in place.  I literally couldn't turn my head or even move my eyes, so I couldn't really see anything except that old shaman and his weird fire tricks.  I'm afraid I didn't notice the torchlight after that."

"Umm, I think the torches went out when he started that curse, or spell, whatever it was," Anna whispered.  "To be completely honest, I didn't pay much attention to anything else either, not once the three old men showed up and started arguing with you.  In fact come to think of it, my eyes seemed to be glued to them.  It wasn't until you got involved with your hatchet and fiddle that I could see much else and even then I was paralysed, but it wasn't long before I was staring at that ball of fire he threw at you.  I was able to see that quite plainly."

"Yeah, that's about what I went through.  Anyway, before the three old crocks started their nonsense, I did pay some attention to the ring of torches.  I could just make out the figures holding them, so I should be able to estimate how far away from us they were standing.  I think they were at least this far from where we were and I think they were in this area somewhere so . . ." I gestured around us, then pointed.  "Oh, look over there, see that black spot?  It looks a lot like the same sort of mark left behind when the three old shamans dissolved and disappeared."

The mark we were looking at wasn't really the same, but it was similar.  What we saw wasn't the shape of a human shadow like the one's the three shamans had left behind though.  Instead it was a roughly circular pattern of blackened soil, completely bare of any grass or vegetation.  Bruno walked close to the spot, lowered his head and sniffed, then snorted and backed away, shaking his head and rubbing his snout with a paw as if he had smelled something offensive.

"Well, Bruno isn't impressed with the smell.  Do you smell anything?"

"Not much, perhaps a hint of oily soot . . . almost like . . . burnt bacon - no, more like a burnt pork roast, I think, maybe?"

"Hmm, I think south sea cannibals would say that it smelled like long pig, in other words the roasted flesh of a human sacrifice," I grimaced at that, then sighed heavily as I glanced right and left.  "I wonder if all of the torch bearers were burnt when that old shaman's plan went awry?"

"Well, if you're worried that some might have gotten free, we did say we were going to walk around the camp.  I think we should walk the full circle, especially since there were torches all the way around us.  Let's check to see if the burnt spots are spaced out about the same distance apart all the way around?  If any escaped, there'd be an unburnt spot, wouldn't there?  Maybe there might even be footprints or something like that?"

"I guess so, which way do you want to go?"

She pointed to the left, so that's the way we went, moving counterclockwise around the circle.

When we'd found the first burnt patch, we were about two hundred yards from the campfire and we followed a complete circle, always staying about the same distance from it.  While we walked, I kept count of the burnt spots, and counted three-hundred and forty-seven blackened circles, each about four paces from the next.  There were no gaps, but I was surprised that there were no signs that whatever fire had burnt those spots had spread further.  Considering how dry the grass was I was certain that the fires should have spread if it had been any sort of normal fire.  Not only that, but there were no signs of footprints either coming or going away from those spots, just a series of roughly circular blackened marks surrounding the site and the camp we occupied.  I took the time to look closely, but couldn't find any sign of foot prints, so how did they get near us and why were they all consumed by that strange fire?  It was just one more weird mystery which made no sense to me, and at that point I wasn't certain if we'd been accosted by ghosts or humans.  Right then I wouldn't have bet on either one.

I'd like to be able to say that our walk had calmed me and left me unfazed by the situation we were in, but that would be an outright lie.  I was badly shaken and somewhat depressed by the time we returned to the camp, being certain that each blackened spot we'd seen had signified the death of a man.  Although I felt some relief that a threat to our safety had been removed, I was upset that men had to die in order that we could feel relatively safe – just the thought that all those lives had been snuffed out weighed heavily on me.

In contrast, Anna seemed relieved that the men who might have attacked us were gone, but she had worries of a different sort.  She felt responsible for all of us being in the present situation, but mostly she was worried about possible dangers caused by the local natives.

"Joe, I'm not sure if I've convinced you, but the natives of this time period are likely to be completely uncivilised.  In this time period strength and cunning are the ruling parameters of peoples lives.  The strong completely dominated anyone who was weaker and trickery was venerated almost as much as strength."

"Are you trying to tell me that you think we're weak?"

"No, Joe, that's not what I'm saying at all.  What I am saying is that if - no, make that when we come to deal with the locals, you need to be prepared to be very strong, even stubborn and overbearing.  In order for us to be safe, you are going to have to dominate any of the local men you meet.  You can be fair and honest, but both you and Tom are going to have to be damn strong, domineering and almost arrogant.  You'll have to intimidate any indigenous men, otherwise, all of us could become little more than slaves to the savages of this time period."

"What?  You've got to be kidding?"

"Joe, the people of this time period had no real society as we think of it, they were just groups of people who lived in close proximity, but their actions toward one another resembled those of a wolf pack, not a structured society.  Their leaders gained and held dominance over others by strength, ruthlessness and cunning, so all of us are going to have to be even stronger and more cunning than they are.  You may end up using that karate or whatever it was that you practised every Wednesday night.  Which reminds me, I think you and Mimi should teach all of the rest of us as much of your fighting styles as you can so we can protect ourselves as well."

"Yeah, I can see the sense in that," I nodded.  "If you're right, I can see all of you women having a tough time getting along with any of the local men, so you might have to defend yourselves."

"That's why I said we should all be trained in martial arts.  In fact, we might be better off in the long run if the women in our group did whip a few of the local men's butts," she smirked.  "Just imagine the reputation our 'tribe' would have if the women could fight better than any of the local men we happened to meet."

"Well, like I said before, we have better weapons than they do and we certainly have more knowledge.  However, if you're right about the time frame, the indigenous people are going to have a tough time accepting our methods of agriculture."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Well, the people of the prairies were hunter gatherers right up until the Europeans came and imposed their damn treaties on all the bands.  A tribe didn't really own the land they controlled, they just took what they needed for a time, then moved to another area when the food supply in the original region became scarce.  So the people around here aren't going to like the idea of us plowing the ground and planting crops, because they aren't going to understand what we're doing.  Your ancestors in the eastern areas planted corn and lived in specific areas all year long, while the people of the plains wandered the prairies, hunting and gathering whatever they needed from vast areas."

"You're right, I wasn't thinking of that," Anna frowned.  "Oh, and there's another thing that I forgot.  Raids.  The young bucks would go out and raid another band for food, women and glory.  Counting coup was an essential part of their lives and that included stealing or destroying the assets of any other band.  Damn!  I don't like that part of this period at all."

"It's not only the young bucks that you have to consider either,"  I added.  "How are you going to tell a squaw that she can't dig up the vegetables and food plants from your garden when she's obviously starving or she's carrying a hungry baby?"

"Unfortunately, you're right," Anna sighed heavily.  "All hunter gatherers have a fatalistic attitude and a murky view of the future.  They live for today and don't really plan for the future."

"Oh, I think you're wrong there in many ways," I shook my head.  " They won't understand the idea that we'll want them to leave everything in an area alone, but I know they only take a portion of either the game animals or plants in an area, unless it was a major emergency.  So while they might not comprehend individual ownership of land or crops, they were actually conservationists."

"Well, I'd argue there, because they fought for territory, so the strongest tribes held the best hunting grounds, but we're back to exhibiting strength again," she shrugged her shoulders.  "Somehow we're going to have to be strong enough that the people who do happen to come to the valley grow to fear us, although I don't like that idea."

"I don't think it needs to be a matter of fear, instead I think it will have to be a matter of respect.  We're going to have to be strong enough and fair enough that we command people's respect, but even more than that we're going to have to teach them the benefits of agriculture."

"I suppose," she sighed heavily.  "I almost wish we could let them develop naturally, just leave their society alone and have them leave us alone."

"Well, I can't see that happening,"  I shrugged.  "But, I think if we can manage to stay relatively isolated for a while, at least until we get our roots down and establish ourselves, we might set ourselves up as farmers and traders, but at the same time we could be teachers."

"Traders? I can see us being farmers and even teachers, but traders?"  she said quite loudly, but unfortunately, we were just nearing the door of the big steel shed.

"Shhh!  For gosh sakes, speak quietly," Fran hissed as she rushed out to meet us.  "Tom woke up for a few minutes a bit ago, so I give him some painkillers and tol' him to go back to sleep, but he's jus' barely dozed off.  Ever'body should be quiet, 'cause he's gotta rest so's he can heal."

"Sorry!"  Anna looked chagrined.  "Joe was just telling me that he wants us to become farmers and traders.  The idea took me by surprise, because I can't see what they'd have that we'd want."

"You know, if there were a few more of us, becoming traders might be an idea," Ellen said quietly, coming out of the shed from behind Fran.  "I've just been going over what we have for supplies, and we have a lot of different seeds we can grow.  If we can manage to grow a crop of seeds and vegetables, then get it harvested, we'll have a lot of food we can trade for other things, although I don't know what we'll need that local folks might have either.  Of course a lot of what I counted as seed for a garden or a crop is really part of what we brought for food, so if we plant it, we're going to need to live off the land for the next few months."

"Well, since old Wally said there are plenty of cows in the valley, protein won't be a problem and I saw several native food plants when we were on the trail coming down here.  I even noticed a few when Anna and I were out on our walk.  We might have to live on a slightly different diet than normal, but I think we can make it through a few months quite easily, just living on what we can gather," I shrugged.  "Why do you think there should be more of us though?"

"Well, I was thinking of guards for the crops and the cattle that you said were out there.  We're going to have to fight off animals and maybe even people, aren't we?" she asked.

"Well, actually this valley seems to be quite easily defensible, except for a few places.  Just look at how steep the cliffs around the valley are and check out the grade just below that dark line of slate and shale - about half way up the cliff, all the way around the valley."

"Unhh, it looks like there's an overhang there and then a drop of forty or fifty feet, more in some places" Anna frowned, then her face changed to a grin.  "You know, something like that would be darn hard for anyone to get down if the attackers didn't have ropes and ladders, wouldn't it?"

"Unh huh, and it would be even harder for anyone to get back up," I nodded.  "The only sections of the valley walls I'm worried about are where they've been eroded into gullies, so we're going to have to check each and every gully that comes down from the top.  For instance, very soon I think I should get on a horse and go check the road and gate where we came in, then perhaps the trail that old Wally mentioned further down the valley.  Eventually we'll need to inspect the whole circumference of the valley, and we'll have to pay special attention to the areas near the stream that runs through the place."

"Umm, are you sure the stream is still running?" Ellen asked.

"Well, I can still hear a waterfall in the distance, but you're right, that could be a worry," I frowned.  "We'd be in sad shape if we didn't have water."

"Oh, we're fine for water right here.  I checked the spring and it's running like mad.  In fact I think it's running even faster than it was before we went through that shaman's super whammy," Ellen shrugged.

"If it's a lot more than before, that might cause problems.  In fact if there's too much flow, it might flood the spring house, which would cause big problems," I frowned.

"Oh, it's not that much, but when we first came there was just a flat pool of water that overflowed and ran out through a channel under the wall of the spring house.  Now there's a - well, a sort of hump in the middle of the pool and I think it's flowing about twice as fast as it was before.  The channel it drains into is still only about half full though, at least that's what it looks like.  Mimi noticed that there was more water down at the corral, because the little stream coming out of the spring house runs along between the big corral and the fenced area before it runs out into the big pasture."

"So Mimi went down to the corral and you went to the spring house while Anna and I were away?"

"Unh huh, but we each took one of the dogs with us when we went out and we each went out at different times.  We took a gun with us too, so we were being careful," Mimi answered quietly.

"I kept an eye on them and warned them both to make it quick," Fran added.

"I don't think that's Joe's point.  He told everyone to stay here at the shed until we had a chance to see if it was safe for anyone to wander around," Anna snapped quickly.  "At that time we were still worried that there might be part of the old shaman's gang nearby, and it was important that everyone should be careful about exposing themselves.  What's the point of having someone in charge of keeping you safe if you ignore what he tells you to do?"

"Anna's right!" I growled.  "Right now, we have to assume that we've been dropped into hostile territory.  All of you need to wake up and realize that you could be killed or kidnapped at any moment, so we need to be prepared to defend ourselves all the time. That means we have to use our heads and cooperate with each other.  Since you made me boss, I expect to be consulted before you go haring off on some wild scheme of your own, either that, or find yourself another person to act as boss of this crew."

"Don't expect me to take the job back either," Anna frowned as she looked at each of the three women in turn.  "I know bloody well I can't do the job as well as Joe can, so I think you'd better wake up and smell the bear shit.  And talking about that, in this millennia bears and cougars won't be scared of men and women, because they know from experience that they're stronger and sneakier than humans.  The humans of this era only carry spears, clubs or bows and arrows, so they aren't as dangerous to the predators as humans are back home.  However as far as we're concerned, the humans of this time are just as dangerous as the animals are.  The men of this time would just as soon capture you and turn you into a slave, just another woman to warm their blanket, have their babies, gather their food and suck their dicks.  If they capture you, they won't just holler at you if you disobey them either.  Instead they'll beat the shit out of you, and they won't care if you die from the beating.  There aren't any laws that they need to obey, no lawyers, no judges and no cops, so each of us is responsible for our safety.  You're going to either learn to get tough, use common sense in dangerous situations and obey orders meant to keep you safe, or you can get ready to die.  There isn't any other option."

With that she stomped off inside, leaving the three younger women staring at her retreating back.  Fran was the first one to turn back toward me and she looked extremely apologetic.

"I'm sorry, I didn't really think that . . . I mean, I knew better, but . . ."

"Forget it, don't bother explaining.  All I want to know is who's ram-rodding this crew now – me, or someone else?"  I snapped.

"You are."  "Yes."  "Please Joe, you do it." All three of them seemed to spout instantly.

"Fine, then I want two of you to stick around close to this building with Anna and be damned cautious.  Make sure you tell Anna what you're doing and why you're doing it.  I need to have someone come with me to be a second set of eyes, but Anna doesn't ride a horse all that well.  Fran, I think you should stay here in case Tom takes a turn for the worse and needs you, so that leaves Ellen or Mimi.  Which one of you two wants to come with me to check out the road into the valley?"

"I'll go with you, if you'll have me," Mimi said quietly.

"I think that's a good idea, because I'd like to stay here to sort out more of the seeds and other things," Ellen spoke softly, almost apologetically.  "I can be more useful here than I would be out there right now.  Besides what you and Anna said has me worried and even a bit scared."

"Good, because we all need to be cautious now, even me.  Why the hell else would I want to take someone along on a simple job like riding around and checking the trails and gullies?  I'll tell you why, because two sets of eyes and two sets of ears are better than one, that's why.  Mimi, you're going to be my backup, so get your gear for the horse and whatever else you need to carry for a ride that might take most of the day.  First though, I think we should all have some breakfast and talk a little bit about the situation we're in."

None of them commented, instead they all hurried off – Mimi to gather her riding gear and the other two to prepare something for everyone to eat.  At least they had perked some coffee while Anna and I were out checking on what had happened to the mob of torch bearers, so Anna brought back two mugs.  Meanwhile I'd set up the table and chairs near the doorway of the big shed, then the two of us sat down to enjoy a break.

"Just so you know, they've done a lot of work inside the shed while we were out," Anna said very quietly.  "I think we should go fairly easy on them after the bawling out they got for wandering around and putting themselves at risk."

"Yeah, okay," I nodded, then sighed.  "Damn, I just thought of something else we're going to miss very soon."

"What's that?"

"This," I lifted my coffee mug.  "Coffee beans aren't native to this continent, and all of us are somewhat addicted to caffeine, so we'd better hope we can find some Labrador Tea growing around here."

"Labrador Tea?"

"Yeah, it happens to be the only native plant that I know grows in this area which is high in caffeine," I sighed.  "Unfortunately the tea made from the plant doesn't taste anything like coffee, but at least it'll give us a caffeine hit."

"Oh boy," Anna sighed and shook her head.  "So much change, so suddenly."

We both sat there quietly for a few minutes, but it wasn't long before we were being brought a breakfast of fruit and toast, which Ellen explained was being used up because it wouldn't keep.  She asked us to salvage the pits, or seeds from the oranges and grapefruit and the cores from the apples and pears, since she wanted to try to plant them.  When I pointed out the fact that we were at a latitude where oranges and grapefruit wouldn't survive, it didn't seem to faze her.  Instead she just shrugged her shoulders and said she wanted to try any seeds that we had available, just in case, then pointed out that we didn't know what the climate was really like.  Of course that was true, but I wasn't convinced that the weather would be all that much different than it had been in our own time.  Still, I didn't want to discourage her from trying to grow anything.  After all, any success meant more variety in our food supply and that had to be a good thing, so I shut up.

I did notice that the sun was on a more southerly arc than it should have been for early June and yet the weather was warm enough that none of us had put on warmer clothes.  That's when I realized that we didn't even know what season it was and I couldn't use the plants that were near us as a guide since they'd come with us.  In fact, the entire valley seemed to have moved as a whole and that fact still left me completely hornswoggled.  If I wanted to be able to make a guess of what season we were now in, I was going to have to get out of the valley to check the growth pattern of the local plants, then I might have a decent basis to make a guess.  If only I had an idea of the length of the day . . .

"Damn!  I screwed up already!" I growled, then realized that I'd spoken aloud.

"What's wrong, Joe?"  Mimi asked quietly from across the table.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say anything aloud," I sighed.  "I was just kicking myself for not noting the time when the sun rose this morning.  I know the sunlight first hit the top of that hill to the south of us at about ten after eleven by my watch, but I'd like to keep track of the times it rises and sets.  Even if my watch is still on 'old' time and at least twelve hours out, it will still give me an idea of the length of the day here and now.  We can use it as a standard, then by checking when the sun rises and sets each day, I can work out what season it is and eventually even what month or week of the year."

"Well, when we came out of our trance, or whatever it was, the sky was just starting to get light.  I looked at my watch and I remember the time.  Does that help?"  Fran asked.

"Umm?  Yeah, that would help some, since it was what sailors call false dawn.  What did your watch read then?"

"It said 9:58 PM, or say 10 in the evening," she smiled.  "Although that seems to be quite a few hours out of whack."

"Not to mention about five-thousand-year difference, or so Anna tells us," Mimi snapped.

"Well, right now the exact year is slightly irrelevant, Mimi, but it would be nice to have a better idea of the climate we're going to be living in.  I'm more interested in finding out the time of the year."

"I can tell you that, it's early spring," Ellen offered.  "Just look through your binoculars at the hills that are further away.  You can see that there are buds and new leaves on the deciduous trees, as well as new growth on the evergreens."

"Yes Ellen, I can see that, but what time of the year does spring come to this area?  I'd like a better time stamp than that, because I know that the glaciers affected the seasons in any areas surrounding them.  If Anna's guestimate is out a few thousand years and the glaciers are still receding, then we might have a very short growing season, perhaps as little as a few weeks of good weather.  If spring comes in June and fall comes in August, we'd be hard put to grow enough food to last through a long winter."

"Oh!" Ellen stared at me in surprise.  "I never thought of that.  I just assumed that the growing season would be the same length as it was before."

"Well, Joe is thinkin' ahead, which is another reason why I like the idea of him as our leader,"  Fran snorted. "I hadn't thought of that myself, but now I want to know why he wondered what time it was when we landed here?"

"Because he intends to time the number of hours of light in a day, of course," Anna winked at me.  "Using that, he can hope to establish a relationship between the growing season we had before and the present one."

"Actually, if we can figure out the length of the day, I can make a rough estimate of the date and perhaps the length of the growing season, but it'll only be a very rough estimate at first," I sighed.  "I could wish for a lot of things and one of them is a present day calendar, but since we have accurate watches and clocks, that's something that we can work out eventually.  First, we can build a sundial and use the shadow cast by the sun to establish high noon and we can make note of the times of sunrise and sunset.  Using those we can easily work out the date of the summer solstice, because that's the day when the sun is highest at noon and has the shortest shadow.  Then still using the sun's shadow over the period of a year, we can eventually figure out the winter solstice as well as both equinoxes, which are the days when the day and night are equal length.  As far as a seasonal calendar is concerned, those are the four cardinal dates of the whole year."

"If we're redoing the calendar, we could even swap over to lunar months, each twenty-eight days long, since there are thirteen of those in a year," Mimi grinned.  "That would make life easy for most women to track their periods and since there are four fertile women here, that'll be danged important."

"Unfortunately a lunar month is really about twenty-nine and a half days long, so if you used that as a calendar measurement, your months would change by about eleven days every year," Ellen snapped.  "Besides, the old saw about a woman's periods matching the moon's phases is a bunch of malarkey for most women.  Of course since the effect of the lunar tide is gradually slowing the earth's rotation, a woman's periods might have matched the lunar month at one time - a few million years ago!  My mom is a bit of a hippy, and she kept exact track of equinoxes and solstices, as well as several different ways to track the lunar month.  I think I still have some notes about all that stuff on my laptop."

"Wonderful!" I grinned at her.  "You just convinced me that you should be the one in charge of devising our new calendar.  At least you have the most experience and the most pertinent knowledge about the problem."

"Me?" she squeaked.  "I'm supposed to devise a calendar?"

"Yep," I nodded  "I think you can do a really good job of it, but everyone else will be available for advice and we'll all lend you a hand if you need it.  The first thing you need to do is to find out how long the day is, so you can work with Fran on that in the next while.  When you've done that for two or three days, ask me to help you, and we'll get a rough estimate of which day of which season we're now living in."

"How will you do that?" Anna frowned at me.

"I'll cheat," I grinned at her.  "Ellen reminded me that I brought along a laptop computer too, and I have a program on it called 'Sun-Timer' which gives the exact number of hours, minutes and seconds of every day of the year.  I'll just use the figures Ellen and Fran get from timing two or three days and compare those to the various times in the spring of the year until we find matches for a date.  By using several days, we can work out what week of which month our time compares to, but we'll also be able to use that to get a very good idea of high noon.  Then we'll set up an oversized sundial and with that, we'll find the exact time of the longest shadow, which will give us a relatively accurate noon setting for all of our watches and clocks."

"Oh, between your program and my information, making a new calendar will be a cinch," Ellen squealed.

"Oh, don't get too excited," I sighed.  "Everything we do is going to be a very rough estimate, because we won't be able to be precise with the measuring instruments we have available.  Not only that, but if Anna is right and we've moved very far through time we'll also need to consider precession, which would modify the lengths of the seasons."

"Excuse me, but what is precession and how could that affect us?" Mimi frowned.

"Well, the simplest explanation is that the sun isn't exactly the center of earth's orbit.  In other words, Earth isn't always the same distance from the sun - which, along with the earth's axial tilt, causes the seasons.  Precession is caused by the fact that the center of earth's orbit also rotates around the sun and that causes the seasons to shift.  Or if you want to be accurate, the right term would be to precess, which comes from the same root as proceed, meaning the earth moves forward in relation to the sun." I shrugged my shoulders.  "The movement is so gradual that it takes hundreds of years to make much change, but it does happen.  I have a graphic on my laptop that explains it.  For now though I think we'll just have to worry about finding a rough idea of the date according to a seasonal calendar."

"So will the calendar program you have on your computer still work for that?"  Ellen asked.

"Yeah, but . . . not accurately."

"As long as it's good enough to establish the approximate length of the growing season, I'll be happy," Ellen grinned at me.  "Anything more than that is just a bonus.  I'm not really all that worried about a whole new calendar.  I just want to have a rough idea of the growing season so I'll know when to plant or harvest anything we intend to grow."

"Well, since we'll be starting over from scratch on this, could I again suggest that we modify the new calendar a bit," Anna asked quietly.  "Could we use a sensible system, instead of the hodge-podge we had at home?  Maybe we could have seven months of thirty-days and five months with thirty-one.  We can still add an extra day every four years, but let's work that out so the extra day comes in the spring or summer, not midwinter?  I mean, knowing the way people think about life, that extra day is going to end up being a holiday anyway, so let's arrange it so we can enjoy celebrating the new year in decent weather."

"Well, if you're going to go to that extent, why don't we rename all the days and the months?" Ellen grinned.  "Those are a real mess. Some of them were originally named after gods, others after dead kings or leaders, and many of them are spelled strangely. Why not simplify the whole arrangement?"

"Well, I'll be honest, I don't think that's a decision we need to make today.  As far as I'm concerned, I'd just like to have an idea of what season it is, so we can plan for the future," I shook my head, trying to slow down Ellen's enthusiasm.  "However, right now I want to take Mimi and check this road to see what sort of security worries we have, because I'm worried that in the long run we may have to defend ourselves from invasion.  At the same time we have to know what we have in the way of supplies and assets, which will give us an idea of what we can do.  So, while Mimi and I are checking the access to the valley, the rest of you can keep busy sorting and cataloguing our inventory.  I think you should all stick around fairly close to this building, but I can't see a need for you to be quite as careful as I suggested before.  In other words, I think all the thugs are gone and the valley is fairly safe for now, but keep an eye out for that rogue bull and keep a shotgun loaded with slugs handy, just in case."

All I really got for an answer was a couple of nods and a mumbled yes, but I wasn't expecting much more.  When we got up from the table, I buttonholed Ellen and took her aside.

"Ellen, you mentioned that when you loaded the trailer you emptied that room in the basement, didn't you?"

"Yeah, we did," she looked slightly embarrassed.

"Hey, I'm not upset about it, especially not now," I smiled.  "Did you load three big locked boxes that were stacked against one wall of the room?"

"Unh huh, they were heavy as blazes and the other boxes that were on top of them were pretty heavy too," she nodded with a weak smile.  "Actually we just shifted them out of the trailer this morning before we stopped for breakfast and those darn boxes were hard to move.  I was going to ask you what was in them and if you had the keys to the locks.  We need to get into them so we can list what's there on our inventory."

"Well, those boxes hold all my guns and archery equipment, which I certainly wasn't planning to bring along.  The odd sized boxes that sat on top are full of arrow shafts, arrow heads and reloading supplies," I grinned.  "So although it was a mistake that they were brought along, it's a bonus now.  By loading that lot, you just increased our chances of survival by a huge margin."

"Oh, I'm glad I scewed up then." she sighed.

"I think we can forget that it was a mistake," I winked at her and grinned, then turned to face Mimi.  "Mimi, you said you used to shoot a rifle and hunted deer, didn't you?  I want you to see something,"

"Yeah, my step-dad and my uncle both used to take me out hunting deer, why?" Mimi asked.

"Because we're going out of this valley and we might need to protect ourselves.  Ellen loaded my rifles in the trailer by mistake and I'm going to take a rifle that I can carry easily on the horse.  I want you to be armed as well." I said as the three of us headed inside.

"Oh, sure, I guess," she looked at me in surprise.  "Wouldn't it be better for me to carry a shotgun though?  I'm not the world's best shot and besides, I've done a lot more hunting with a twelve-gauge pump than with a 30-30."

"Good point, especially if that's what you're comfortable with.  I think I have a scabbard that will work for a shotgun," I nodded.  "Since I'll be taking a Marlin 30-30 that gives us a good choice of weapons too."

Thirty minutes later, Mimi and I were riding the two youngest mares of our remuda and heading away from camp.  Bruno was casting ahead of us, checking the trail as we rode back the way we'd come when we'd entered the valley.  At first everything appeared almost exactly the way it had before, at least until we started to ride up the gully that led to the upper plateau between our valley and old Wally's.  That's when we came to the rocks and rubble that had rolled down the slope and almost destroyed Tom's car.

"I don't think this was a natural avalanche," I commented.  "At least it wasn't a big one."

"Yeah," Mimi nodded.  Do you want to check up on the cliff to see for sure, or are you going to worry about it for now?"

"Actually, I want to see what the shaman's men did at that bridge and up the gully, but I think we can get there on horseback, unless we have trouble getting past this mess,"  I rode slowly off toward the farthest edge of the rocks and, then dismounted and led my horse forward.

By taking it slowly and being careful I managed to walk the horse past the rock and rubble that had rolled the furthest, then I waited for Mimi as she led her horse along the same path.  Once we were past the avalanche we found no obstacles in our way as we rode up to the bridge.  Neither the bridge nor the gate appeared to be damaged, but the concrete base on one end of the bridge was cracked, probably by that quake we'd felt.  Everything still looked quite solid though, and I wasn't worried by a few cracks in the concrete for now.  The horses really didn't like the idea of crossing that bridge - perhaps the sound of their hooves falling on the bridge deck and echoing through the canyon spooked them or something.  At any rate they were much more relaxed once we were on the normal road again. 

The only problem I could see with riding along that road was the fact that part of the road had been bulldozed out of the conglomerate layer of the cliff.  Since conglomerate is nothing more than tightly packed and solidified sand, gravel and rocks, that meant the whole road surface was little much more than small rocks and pebbles.  Which meant I was constantly worried that the horses might pick up a stone in a hoof and go lame on us.  We were lucky though and our two horses didn't have any problems on the way up the hill so we were soon on the upper level.

Then I saw something that made me sigh in relief, the hoof prints of five horses.  They crossed a sandy stretch of the road so I could see they were made after the tracks left by Tom's car when he'd come to see us.  That meant Chuck and his family were probably okay after all.  The road toward Wally and Matty's place looked okay and the hoof prints of the horses were following it, so we followed them.

There was one spot, just short of that stretch of rock at the top of Wally's driveway where the tracks became a jumble.  There were signs that all five of the riders had dismounted their horses and stood on the ground at that point though.  There was even a small pile of scrap paper, broken matches and small twigs sitting off to one side as if someone had tried to make a fire - and failed.  Near that was the indication - and the smell - that someone had thrown up, but the tracks of the people showed that they'd remounted the horses, then had ridden on.

So we followed the tracks again.  Of course there weren't many signs of their passage on the rock, not unless you knew enough to look for the scrapes and scratches left by the steel horse shoes, but they were there.  Not only that, but those tracks were only a few hours old because we saw several piles of horse dung and although it wasn't steaming, it was still moist.

Once more I heaved a deep sigh and Mimi looked at me strangely. "I just realised, these tracks that we've been following, they're from Chuck, Maybelle and the kids aren't they?"

"Yep!"

"Shit!  With all the other crap that was going on, I'd forgotten all about them.  I am so sorry!"

"Don't worry about it.  I was doing enough worrying for the whole bunch of us and I didn't want to throw a dark cloud on everyone's day unless I had to." I managed a weak chuckle.  "If anything had happened to them because I let them talk me into allowing them to come along with us, I'd never have forgiven myself."

"Well, from the signs, I'd say they came through all this stuff okay."

"Yeah, that's my guess too, but if they didn't, I'm gonna be really annoyed with myself."

Then we crested a knoll in the roadway.  I could see Wally and Matty's house and we could see the five horses tied to a pole fence near the house.  as well I could hear a small engine running and smoke curling up from the chimney of the house, so I knew everyone there was okay.  I don't think I've ever felt so relieved, but I didn't increase our pace, instead I kept the horses to a trot on the grades and a slow canter on the level stretches.  It wasn't long before we were tying our horse near theirs anyway.

We hardly had them tied before lil' Jo and Chuck burst out of the door of the house.

"You guys made it too!" lil Jo shrieked, running toward us as fast as her legs could carry her.

"Yeah.  We made it, but the old shaman and his crew of thugs didn't.  Only the bad news is we're as isolated as we can get."

"I know, an' it's weird," Chuck frowned at me.  "The phones don't work, or the radio, an' the 'lectricity's off.  You can hear the generator what Wally has runnin' t' make breakfast, then after we've et we're gonna drive over ta th' neighbours ta see what's wrong. Oh, an' what's this about a shaman?  We din't see no shaman.  Are you trying to say that some shaman caused you a problem?"

"More than you could ever imagine," I sighed, then started toward the house after telling Bruno to guard the horses.  "When you and Wally go to see the neighbours, they may not be there, but then I didn't know if you'd still be around either.  Now, I'd like to explain to everyone at the same time, mostly so people will have each other there for support."

"You sound serious?" Chuck frowned as he fell into step beside me.

"Yeah, he's serious - damn near dead serious," Mimi nodded.  "I thought we were all gonna die, but Joe beat the bastards dirty tricks and we made it."

"Cool it, Mimi!" I growled.  "I lucked out and besides, you're just confusing Chuck and lil' Jo with your comments.  Just wait until we're with everyone, then we'll tell all of them what happened, but first I want to know what happened to them."

"Hmph, I ain't even sure I c'n explain," Chuck sighed.  "We went fer a ride up top an' we heard a car go by, but din't see nothin' so we went lookin' t' find out what were goin' on.  I was certain it were you, goin' t' see Wally fer some reason, so that's where we was headed."

He paused then holding the door for me, then carried on.  "We was gettin' close to that stretch o' rock up top - only then it got real dark an' none of us could move much.  We had to fight like mad to move at all.  Even the horses come to a stop.  Finally I managed to get ever'one down off the horses, then went t' light a fire, but I couldn't.  Matches jus' wouldn' work.  Scratch 'em all ya wanted an' there weren't even a spark, then a blue light hit us. Lit us all right up, but then we was froze solid so's we couldn't even lift a finger.  After a bit there were a purple light, then ever'thin' got real strange.  Even the sun was runnin' roun' the sky the wrong way fer a bit.  I ain't never seed nothin' like that before and I don't never wanna see nothin' like that agin neether."

"That funny light stuff made me sick to my tummy," Fawn piped up, then hid her head against her mom because she knew she was interrupting her dad.

"That made all o' us a bit queasy, Punkin," Chuck grinned at her.  "Anyhow, when we got hit by that first blue light, it was evenin,' but now it's mornin' an' you say we're in some sorta trouble, so jes what's goin' on?"

So over a coffee and some toast, I did my best to explain what had happened from my point of view, but Mimi threw in a comment or two along the way.  Of course no one wanted to believe us, especially not the idea that we'd been thrown five or ten thousand years into the past.

Since Wally and Matty had gone to bed early, they'd slept through the whole thing, in fact Chuck and his family had wakened them.  They'd had a hard time believing what Chuck and his family said they'd been through, then I'd come along and made things seem even more unbelievable to everyone.  On top of that although Wally thought the hills looked strange, his eyesight wasn't all that good, so he wasn't convinced about my story in any way.  To be honest, I could tell that no one wanted to believe what Mimi and I told them had happened to us.

It wasn't until Wally, Chuck and I got into Wally's pickup and went for a drive that the two men realised I might possibly be right, but that's because they saw concrete proof.  Within a mile or two of Wally's ranch the road ended in a sheer drop off, and we were facing a scene of untouched wilderness.  Luckily Wally saw it in time and stopped well back of the dead end.

"Ya know, when they run this road through here several years back, they had to blast a cut for the road further along and they used the rubble to fill that gully," Wally said quietly.  "Ain't no sign of either the cut or the fill now, so I guess there is somethin' to what you was sayin' after all, Joe."

"Do you want to get out and check out what we can see?" I asked, thinking that something about that sheer drop off looked quite strange.

"What for, it's just a gully what's been cut into the bedrock an' we ain't gonna get past it, besides the road is too narrow up close to turn around easy," Wally sighed, backing away, then turning the truck around at a wide spot in the road.  "Let's see if any of the neighbours came along on this wild ass trip you say we took.  I dunno how it coulda happened, but you may be right about us bein' moved some other place or some other time.  If you're right, we may be in a helluva lot o' trouble."

"Well, I hope not." I sighed. "One thing I do have to ask though, when we came here you said it was alright for us to stay in your son's valley as a base camp, but I'm afraid we can't leave as easily now.  Will you and Matty still be agreeable if we have to remain there for a longer time, perhaps quite a bit longer?"

"Ain't no problem to me, an' twon't be none to Matty neither, not since both of us like you folks an' we never did feel that valley was ours anyway.  Before my son and my nephew had it, twas m'brother's place an' before that my folks was there, so as far as we're concerned you and your family and friends are welcome to it.  Actually if you folks an' Chuck's family are livin' there, it'll be almost as good as havin' family there agin."

"Well, there's something else you might consider, if Anna is right about the time period the natives here aren't like the folks back home and protecting yourself might be a problem.  She was saying that the people are likely to be our neolithic ancestors who had to fight tooth and claw just to stay alive, so we may have to defend ourselves.  Being down in that valley may not be the best possible spot to be, but it might be better than where you and Matty are."

"You figger we might get raided 'cause we live out in the open?"

"If Anna is right, the natives living around here might feel that we've invaded their territory, so yeah, any of us might be attacked.  We don't know for sure, but if you consider the history of the various tribes who lived in this area, they didn't have a reputation of inviting strangers into their midst - at least not without conflict."

"That's true." Wally frowned.  "Maybe Matty and me should hook up our holiday trailer and haul it down to the valley where you are for a while.  Either that or we should invite Chuck and his family to live with us until we know what's gonna happen."

"Wally, I gotta say that we'd all be a bit safer down in that valley with Joe an' his bunch.  At least we could put a guard on the road to warn us to haul out our rifles an' shotguns." Chuck said quietly.  "It ain't that I'm chicken, not fer me, but I got a wife an' three kids, so I'd rather they was hid away in the valley, 'stead o' out in the open at yer place."

"No problem, Chuck.  I can understand how ya feel." Wally said quietly.  "I just don't like the idea of moving, especially not down to the valley.  On top o' that there's all our furniture, the stock, the farm equipment and sixty years of junk to move.  I don't want to leave any of it fer some dang savage to ruin, not if that's really who lives 'round here now, so before I jump on the band wagon, I'm gonna need proof that your gal friend's ideas are right, Joe.  I ain't gonna need a lot o' proof, 'cause I know the far end of this road ain't the same, but dang it, I'm gonna hafta see somethin' else that'll change m' mind fer sure."

"Hey, here comes someone else." Chuck pointed to an approaching car.

"Ah, I think that's the Doc's new minivan.  He lives near to town than us on a lil' hobby farm he's got." Wally peered ahead and slowed.

Whoever was driving that minivan didn't want to let us drive further, because he pulled to one side then swung almost crosswise to the road and jumped out to flag us down.  A middle-aged man ran up to the truck as Wally stopped and you could tell he was excited before he ever got there.  Wally didn't have a chance to say a word before the stranger began to jabber through Wally's open window.

"Oh man, am I glad to see you, Wally.  Do you know what the hell is going on?  I thought I was going to go nuts.  Most of my farm is just gone and my hired hand, Bill, well, he's gone too, but he's dead, burnt in half.  That's not all, half of our driveway and most of my farm disappeared so our house is sitting on the edge of a cliff and the Parker place just down the road from us just vanished.  Hell, so has the road past our place and most of my farm is not there either, instead there's a deep gorge, a huge hole full of big trees where it was.  We don't dare stay there, cause the house is close enough to the edge that it might slide down into that hole too.  Do you suppose it was the bomb or something?" he rattled off in a hurry, hardly pausing for breath.

Needless to say the next few minutes were a muddle since all three people who had been in the minivan were traumatised - actually terrified, almost out of their minds from fear.  It took several moments before we had calmed them down enough for Wally to introduce us.  We learned that Dr. Mark Lowden was a surgeon while his wife, Louise had worked as a dental hygienist and their daughter, Meredith was eighteen, unwed, pregnant and very near term.  Then before we moved from that spot we were forced to listen to their reasons for being so terrified.  Their individual accounts were disjointed and repetitive, but eventually we were able to make sense of the trauma they had gone through.

Since it was his day off Mark had driven his wife and daughter to town to do so shopping for the coming birth of Meredith's baby and they'd bought what they wanted so all of them had been in a good mood.  When they'd arrived home, their hired man had met them in the drive, then Mark and the hired man had carried all Louise and Meredith's purchases inside.  Then the hired man had said he was going to check the stock before going to bed.  Meanwhile Louise and Meredith were putting away that days purchases, so Mark had flopped down in his favourite chair to watch a football game on television.  Only a short time later his wife had joined him, taking a seat on the couch, but she had closed the drapes to cut down the light from the setting sun before sitting down, since it interfered with the TV.

Some time later Louise had mentioned making a snack and was about to get up when there had been a bright flash of light, then the television and all the lights had died.  Both of them had tried to go check what had happened, but they'd found that they were unable to move.  Then they had gone through the strange flashing lights that we had seen as the sun moving the wrong direction, but they had only experienced as a brightening and dimming of the room they were in.  After what had seemed an eternity of strange lights they had felt the whole room drop, then the light outside was coming from the east, not the west, but at least they could move again.

After things had calmed down, Mark had told the women to stay inside then had rushed outside to see what had happened.  When he stepped out their back door, instead of facing their farm he was looking across a small section of his yard at a valley filled by a forest of lodgepole pines, aspen and other tall trees.  Between him and a sharp drop off there were only a few feet of his driveway - as well as the dead body of his former hired man.  The body was laying face down and appeared to have been badly burned, so badly burned that the spine, the skull and the man's hip bones were exposed.  Mark took one look at the corpse, then frantically dashed to a garden shed for a tarp to cover the body in the vain hope that it wouldn't be seen by his wife and daughter.  Unfortunately he wasn't quite quick enough and the two women were both terribly upset by the hired man's death, but then Mark wasn't in much better shape.

The Lowden's electricity and telephone had both failed, they had a body lying in their yard and their house was now only a few feet from the edge of a steep drop off.  They were terrified that whatever had happened to their farm could happen to their house and they wanted to get away.  Although they no longer had a driveway, they had a four-wheel drive minivan and the road which ran in front of their house seemed clear in at least one direction, so the family grabbed a few clothes and other essential supplies.  Mark Lowden backed out of the garage, drove roughshod across his expensive Kentucky Bluegrass lawn, through his privet hedge, bounced across a small ditch to get to the road.  He hadn't been sure where he was going, but he didn't feel safe at his house now, so he sped off in the only direction the road now ran.  When he saw his neighbour's pickup truck coming the other way and he stopped his minivan crosswise to the road, blocking the way so Wally couldn't drive further.  He just had to talk to someone about what had happened - besides, he didn't want anyone to drive off the end of the road.

About then Meredith frowned deeply and it looked as if she was in pain, so I broke into Mark's diatribe.

"Mr Lowden, your daughter is pregnant and looks like she could deliver at any time.  Are you an obstetrician?" I asked.

"No, I'm not.  I'm a surgeon, not an obstetrician and that's another worry, how am I going to get Meredith to a hospital if there are no roads?"

"Well, we have a woman living with us who has delivered several babies while working as an EMT, and she's over on Wally's son's ranch right now.  Would having her nearby relieve your worries, at least a small amount?"

"Oh, yes!" he nodded enthusiastically.  "I've worked with EMT's and they are often very well trained to handle minor medical emergencies.  Besides, the delivery of a baby, especially my daughter's baby isn't the time when I want to be prime caregiver.  I can definitely assist, but I really don't want to be the one making the decisions.  Actually, if we were in a hospital, I wouldn't even be allowed to assist."

"Well, Fran has certainly impressed me in the time I've known her." I managed a smile.  "I wasn't there at the time, but I know she's delivered babies under emergency situations and has even assisted during a Cesarian birth.  I believe the best thing would be to get your daughter to Fran, don't you?"

"Oh, yes, absolutely!" he agreed.

"Wally, would it be okay for the Lowden family to stay at your house for a few hours first? There was a rock-slide on the way down to the valley and the road is partially blocked.  I think if Chuck and I go back there and use our trucks and some chains, we can clear it in a few hours," I tried to look serious, but hopeful.

"Certainly, they can stay at our place for a while.  But about that road, would a front end loader on a small tractor help ya clear it?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, definitely!" I nodded.  "What breed of tractor?  I've run John Deere tractors with a front end loader and I think Chuck has a Massey."

"Mine is an old John Deere, but 'cept for gears and layout, they all work the same way, so both you young guys could run it.  I'll stay at the house with Matty with these folks.  Matty is gonna wonder about you folks though.  Ever since you've showed up, we've had company comin' and goin' just 'bout steady."

"I hope she doesn't mind."

"Actually, it's funny, but she kinda likes it.  She sure likes Chuck's kids, especially young Fawn and lil Jo, but then she always did dote on little girls.  I think she'll enjoy having Meredith there for a while too."

"Great, there is one other thing, Mark.  You said your house came through without any damage, but since you've left it so soon, I take it you don't want to stay there?"

"You've got that right!" Wally's wife, Louise snapped.  "The rest of the farm just isn't there. Instead there's a big hole, full of trees and wild animals and I'm afraid the house will slide into that hole too.  I wouldn't feel safe living in that house now, especially since Meredith is carrying a baby."

"Well, I have to ask, would it be okay for us to take a truck there later on and haul some of the furniture down to the ranch.  We think the valley should be relatively easy to defend if we need to, but we're a little short of beds and things of that sort.  We certainly don't have anything meant for a baby and you said earlier that you'd bought some things and . . ."

"Oh, yes, please." Louise spoke up quickly.  "We do need the babies things, for sure.  As well as that if we have to move I'd love to have all of our furniture rescued, but will it be okay for us all to live at this ranch?  I really don't want to stay at our house any longer."

"You know, I think havin' everybody living down in the valley might be a dang good idea.  It'd be a lot harder to attack than the ranch where Matty an' I are livin' now.  That was what you were sayin before,' weren't it, Joe?" Wally asked, surprising me because of what he'd told me about his feelings concerning that valley.

"You've got it.  I was going to try to convince you, but I didn't know how it would be received," I looked at him questioningly, but he waved his hand as if pushing my concerns away, so I carried on.  "We'd have to move in some sort of housing for you or build new houses eventually, but from what I've seen that log house down in the valley is nearly done and it looks huge.  Then if we salvage all the doors, windows, fittings and anything moveable from the two houses that are out in the open, we'll have the final fittings for at least two more houses, maybe more.  For now we can all live in that big quonset hut until we learn if we can be safe in anything else."

"Damn, yer thinkin' a long ways ahead, Joe.  Now I know why yer bunch want ya t' be boss."  Chuck said.  "Anyhow, let's go get some o' this stuff started so's we can get done soon as possible.  Sounds ta me like Joe plans ta keep us all busy."

"Just a minute, Chuck.  I've gotta say that I like the way Joe thinks ahead and includes everyone in his plans, not just his bunch, I'd like to ask you and Mark what you think of him being our boss, or chief, or whatever you want to call him?" Wally said quietly.

"Works fer me," Chuck grinned, "but then he's been the smart un out o' th' two o' us ever sinct we was kids.  I'm used ta listenin' ta him fer idears o' what ta do next anyways."

"I would have to agree that Joe thinks very quickly and it seems he makes sound decisions.  Just as long as he doesn't interfere when I am involved in saving someone's life, I agree whole heartedly,"  Mark added, sounding almost like a lawyer or - I suppose - a surgeon.

"Well, I guess I'll have to try to do a good job, but I will be asking each of you to handle your own jobs, since no one can know everything.  I know Wally or Chuck are a lot better with stock or any sort of farm work than I am, and like you said, Doc, I'm not going to tell you how to cut and fix something on a human body.  That's your cup o' tea, not mine." I shrugged.  "If you want something machined out of metal, then I'm your man.  At almost anything else I often have ideas, but only mediocre skills, so I'll be asking everyone to help out.  Anyway, we're burning daylight and we've got a lot of jobs to do before dark, so let's turn this rig around and go get at em!"

"Why don't you ride with Mark and his family to get to know them better, Joe?" Wally suggested.  "Three of us in the cab of my little pickup are a bit much and I have a couple of questions I want to ask Chuck about his family."

So that was how I ended up sitting in the back seat of the Lowden car, holding Meredith Lowden's hand and trying to calm her down as we drove back to Wally's ranch.  It wasn't so much the upcoming birth of her unborn son that she was upset about, it was the strangeness of the sudden changes that we'd all gone through.  I could certainly sympathise with that, because I was still feeling out of my depth, I just refused to let it show the way she did.

At any rate she seemed somewhat calmer when we got back to Wally and Matty's house, then I was able to get my hand back from her and get onto the seat of a tractor.  I'll admit that it'd been about ten years since I drove a tractor fitted with a front end loader, but it turned out to be something like riding a bicycle, the needed skills came back to me almost instantly.  Forty-five minutes later I was shifting boulders and rubble, mostly pushing things off the downhill edge of the road so everything could slide or roll further down the slope.  I had to stop after about ten minutes though because Chuck, Maybelle, Mimi and the three kids appeared on horseback.  I had to wait while they dismounted and led the horses past what was left of the rock fall, then I got back to work.  An hour later I was touching up the final grade by using the leading edge of the bucket and dragging the upper level of gravel into place while backing up - something I'd only done once before.  It still worked though.

Then I drove toward what looked like it would become our new home, planning to take the Jeep and go get the Lowden family.  That wasn't quite how things worked out though.  Instead of that, Fran insisted on borrowing the Jeep to go see Meredith before she'd even think of bringing her down to the valley.  She was worried that if the birth was imminent, it might be better to have it happen while Meredith was at Wally's place, since Matty's kitchen would be cleaner and warmer.  I bowed to her skill and knowledge, because assisting in a birth certainly wasn't my specialty and I could easily find something else to do instead.

I sighed then, realizing that we had just added five more people to our mix, not counting an expected newborn, but we really didn't know much about those folks, just generalities.  I knew that they were five individuals, five separate personalities we'd have to assimilate into our little band of refugees out of time, but I had no idea how they would fit in.  I had to have more information about them as well as their individual talents and idiosyncrasies before I could think of how they could best be assimilated into our group.  At the moment, those five individuals were just another set of problems to add to a list that seemed to grow by the hour.

Right then though I decided it wasn't the best time to worry about people and personalities since I was both hungry and thirsty.  After a coffee and something to eat, perhaps I'd be able to think clearly, so I set the latest problems aside and went looking for lunch.

Chapter 11