dystopia « Robin Writes

Chapter One

We left our cozy little compound, Brad and Abby and I, and took our time hiking back down to the camp. Brad stayed for a few days, but was anxious to return to Walt’s old place. Funny how we still called it that; Walt had been gone for years.

We’d gotten the old pump system working and repaired, thanks to Brad, and scavenged some old PVC pipe to rig up irrigation for the garden. Since we didn’t have to hide anymore, we started digging up the meadow across the road so we could get our seeds in the ground. Oh, we were still careful, but it was more habit at this point than any real fear.

“Damn, it’s hot.” I wiped my face and walked over to the old stone steps that used to lead to a screened porch. “Abby, take a break, will you? You’re making me feel lazy.”

Abby looked up and shaded her eyes, gauging the position of the sun. She shrugged and kept digging, tossing her blond braid over her shoulder, and hollered back, “In a minute!”

See, there’s the difference between us. She keeps going and going, with her “in a minutes,” and when I’m done, I’m done. That’s all, folks.

So I took a swig of water and watched her work. About five minutes later, I gave up and grabbed the hoe again. Sigh. Of course I knew it was important—and this was just the start.

We still had to gather and cut firewood, but the fallen buildings would provide a lot of that, at least for this winter. And Abby would go hunting. Not me. I can shoot, and I have no problem defending myself or anyone else, but I’d just rather not kill something I’m going to have to eat. Not that I mind eating it, but don’t want to look at it first, when it’s still alive.

Had to find water barrels too. Probably go into town for that. Ha. A long time ago, a trip into town from camp was a hell of a lot of fun. Now, not so much, although you never knew what you’d find, even after all this time.

Colonel Barton and his guys had cleaned up the place, and after him, Colonel Hoefer. Mostly, though, they just cleared the roads and shoveled everything off to the side. Big piles of who-knew-what.

In town, too, there was still stuff to be found if you knew where to look.

But in the meantime, this garden was kicking our butts. Four days now, in the August heat.

Abby finally stopped and took a drink. She looked around, grinned at me, and said, “Come on, let’s go for a swim. We can finish tomorrow.”

Thank heavens. I set my hoe up against the steps and walked over to the footbridge, slowing impatiently while Abby caught up.

We took the old trail to the lake, up around the east side of Sunnytop. Years ago, the lake had been full of young girls canoeing and jumping off the floating dock, running around and giggling.

Now, of course, most of those girls were dead, like everyone else, and the old dock had long sunk beneath the surface.

It was quiet now, and hot, the sun reflecting off the water, and the fish had come back. We’d cleaned up a couple of the canoes and used them from time to time. We talked, sometimes, about building a new dock, but we never did . . .

Last week, I talked about how much food to grow. Today, I’m going to list some other supplies that you might want to stock up on, maybe even some things you hadn’t thought about purchasing or storing.

Let’s look at the basics. Everyone uses toilet paper, but how MUCH do you use? That’s where you start, with every item you plan to store.

We use about 2-3 rolls per week, which comes to maybe 10 rolls a month. With 114 rolls in the supply closet, we’re good for nearly a year.

Because we have messy pets, we go through maybe one roll of paper towels a week—by the way, I use regular dish towels and older kitchen hand towels for many things, such as letting garden vegies dry after rinsing; you can too. Paper towels are handy, but you could certainly get by without them if you had to. We have enough stored for about six months.

We also stock tissue and garbage bags, large and small, but tissue count is hard to determine and garbage bags can have multiple uses, so we just keep a fair amount on hand, for whatever is needed. Freezer bags are a must for preserving food; I also use them to divide up packages of meat for the freezer.

And what kind of prepper would I be if I didn’t have half a dozen rolls of aluminum foil?

I’ve also stocked enough dish soap—for sink washing; I don’t have a dishwasher—for several months, and two extra-large jugs of laundry detergent. That I can make more of, if I were to run out.

Bleach is another important item to keep on hand. Whether or not you use it for cleaning—we do, sometimes—you can also use it to purify water or disinfect items. I keep a dozen gallons on hand. Probably overkill, but bleach is cheap after all . . .

Personal care items are another area to keep an eye on. What do you use? How often do replace items, such as your toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo? Plan for six months, to start. You can often pick up these items for a dollar apiece. When SHTF, you won’t worry about brand quite so much. Bar soap is easier to store than body wash, but it depends of course on your preference; however, mice LOVE soap, so keep it protected.

Which brings me to dryer sheets. When SHTF, you likely won’t have a dryer to use. I have one, I’ll use it when it’s freezing outside, but I do buy dryer sheets. Toss one or two on the floor in your storage area or the bottom of a cabinet, and the mice will go elsewhere. It really works—we used to keep them in the feed bin for our horses. No mice.

Fuel is, particularly in the winter, extremely important. We have a large propane tank out back that we use only, at this time, for the cooktop and the barbeque grill; it’s hooked up to both. We also have a couple spare canisters for the grill and some smaller ones for a propane firepit. Don’t forget lighter fluid for the occasional use, and especially stock up on matches, unless you’re skilled at starting fires with only a couple sticks or a piece of flint.

Sterno, batteries, kerosene and lamps, battery lamps, and batteries. That’s a lot of batteries, and yes, I said them twice. Think about all the things you use that require them. Most people just buy them when some gizmo stops working—but what if you can’t find any? I have, since I just did inventory again, 77 AA batteries, plus a lot of the other sizes. Sounds like a lot, but remember that most things will take at least two, and some more than that.

Always, always think about the ingredients, so to speak, of things you can potentially make yourself. Store these things too. For instance, you can freeze loaves of bread, but you can also store flour and yeast to make your own. Baking soda, honey, peppermint oil, and coconut oil make an awesome toothpaste. Think outside the box, and remember, Google is your friend.

At least, until SHTF and the Internet goes out.