Avenging Home (32 page)

Stepping up on the porch, I said, “We took out the remaining DHS yesterday. They’re all gone now. But the reason I came by is that I was hoping you and Gina could help me with something.”

“Sure, anything you need. What can we do for you?”

“All those tomatoes you had. Gina said she was going to can a bunch up.”

Dylan laughed. “We’re up to our eyeballs in tomatoes. Why, you need some?”

“I need tomato sauce. Lots of it.”

Curious, Dylan asked, “What for?”

“Let’s go in and talk to Gina and I’ll explain it.”

Dylan jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “She’s around back. We’re using a woodstove I made to can up more tomatoes.”

We walked around behind the house. Gina was standing in front of half of a fifty-five gallon drum that had been turned into a stove. The cut bottom was on the ground. A door had been cut in the side to allow the feeding of wood. A large kettle sat on top of it.

Gina was delighted to see me. “Hi Morgan! Oh my gosh! What happened to you!”

Waving, I replied. “Hey, Gina. Long story, but I’m fine. I was hoping you guys could give me a hand.” I was getting tired of everyone’s reaction.

She wiped her hands on a dish towel. “Sure thing. What do you need?”

I looked into the pot and pointed. “I need a bunch of these.”

“Tomatoes?”

“Tomato sauce, actually. We’re going to have a party in town. Now that the DHS is gone and there isn’t anyone we really need to be looking out for, I figured it would be nice to throw a party and have some fun. We’re going to have music and there’ll be lights strung up in the trees in the park downtown. All we need is some food to really make it special.”

“What are you wanting to make?” Gina asked.

I told her what I had planned. Both of them agreed it was a great idea and were eager to help in any way they could. I asked them to bring as much tomato sauce or canned tomatoes as they wanted to contribute over to Danny’s house tomorrow so we could get started on the cooking.

“We’ll bring other stuff too. I’ve got lots of veggies we can use for toppings,” Gina said.

Dylan pointed to a bushy green herb in a clay pot. “We’ve got all that Basil too.”

Gina smiled, “Oooh, yeah. Fresh Basil would be so good.”

“That sounds just fine. We’ll be there,” Dylan said.

Waving, I headed back to the truck. “Till tomorrow then.”

When I got back in the truck, Mel looked at me. “Now what?”

Grabbing the key, I replied, “Time to go home!”

“Are you going to tell me what you’re up to or not?”

I winked at her. “Later.”

We went to Danny’s house. Miss Kay would be very important for what I had planned. Bobbie was sitting on the porch while Jace and Edie played in the yard with the dogs. Little Bit bailed out to join them and took off. Lee Ann and Taylor said they were going to go find Fred and Jess. I know Taylor was ready to do something, anything, after being cooped up for so long.

Walking up to the porch, I asked if Kay were inside. Bobbie nodded, “Yep, she’s in there.”

I went in and sat down at the bar as Kay puttered around the kitchen. “Kay, I have an idea for something and was wondering if you could make it.”

She leaned over the counter and asked, “What is it?”

“We’re going to have a party in town Saturday. There’s going to be a band and lights, and I wanted to have some food.”

“It wouldn’t be a party without food. What were you thinking?”

I smiled and leaned in closer to her. “Pizza.”

Kay laughed and exclaimed. “Pizza! How in the world can we make pizza?”

Mel was beside me and looked at me like I was crazy. “Pizza?”

“Well, we have flour, so we can make the crust. We have sausage we can put on it. And Gina has a lot of tomatoes. I was wondering if you could make sauce out of it.”

“Sure we could make sauce. That’s easy.” I could tell she was starting to think. “You know, we took all the spices from the houses around here and have plenty of seasonings. We could make the sauce easily. But what about cheese?”

I pointed to the farmer’s cheese hanging in a cheese cloth from a knob on one of the cabinets. “We could put chunks of that on, like fresh mozzarella.”

Kay looked at the cheese. “We’ll need more cheese.”

“I’ll get it.”

Kay looked at Mel. “You ready to start making sauce?”

She nodded. “Yep!”

“Gina is coming over tomorrow. She’s bringing what we need to make the sauce and other things for toppings.”

“This will be so cool. Can you imagine a pizza party?” Mel asked.

Holding a finger over my lips, I said, “Don’t tell the girls. Let’s surprise them.”

Mel clapped her hands together and rubbed them. “Oh yeah. They’ll be so excited.”

“Morgan, how many pizzas do we need to make?”

I shrugged. “As many as we can.”

“Let’s see how much sauce we can make.”

The next day was hectic. Gina came over, and she, along with Mel, Bobbie, Kay and Mary, kept the kitchen a hive of activity. I, along with all the guys, was shooed out. It was made pretty clear to me that we weren’t welcome, and to find someplace else to be. Sarge was sitting on the porch in a rocking chair drinking coffee. He laughed as we were all kicked out of the house one at a time.

“I told you boys not to go in there,” he cackled.

Dalton passed through early that morning and disappeared again after breakfast. From the sounds of things, he was back to work at his forge as rhythmic hammering filled the air for most of the day. But I still needed to get the cheese, and jumped in the truck for a short ride to town. Since Little Bit was busy with the kids, I left her to play. Lee Ann and Taylor were off someplace as well, I had time to myself.

On the way out of the neighborhood, I passed Ian and Jamie. They were walking together in the direction of Danny’s. I pulled up beside them and stopped. “How are you feeling, Jamie?”

“Good. I wanted to go on the raid, but I guess it was best I didn’t. I’ll be back up to speed in a couple of days I think.”

I winked at Ian. “You two have fun. Have her home before dark.” They both replied with the finger and I laughed as I drove off. But it brought a smile to my face. Two people hooking up was a good thing in my opinion.

The night before I’d gone through our arms stash at Danny’s and found a crap load of shotgun shells. I grabbed a couple boxes and mixed them up. Giving him number six, eight and some 00 and number four buck. I thought it would make for a good trade considering the value of ammo today. They certainly weren’t making as much as they used to.

Wheeling into the market, I pulled up to the milkman’s booth and got out. He smiled and waved, then gave me the fish eye. “You bring me some shells?”

I reached in and grabbed the two boxes and set them on his table. “There’s a mixed lot in here.” I said as he opened them and looked the ammo over.

He said, “Oh, this’ll be just fine! I’m glad it’s mixed up and not just a bunch of seven and a halves.” He pulled a five gallon bucket out from under the table and set it down, wrenching the lid off. “This should be enough for you.”

It was over half full of creamy white cheese, and looked great. “Oh yeah. That’ll do just fine.” As he put the lid back on the bucket, I said, “Let folks know what we’re doing tomorrow evening. Tell folks to come to town for music and fun. I think everyone could use it.”

He nodded. “I’ll do that. Me and the missus will be there for sure.” He leaned in and squinted. “Be sure and save me a piece of the pie.”

Picking up the bucket, I said, “I will. Appreciate the trade as always.”

He waved. “Any time, friend. I like trading with you.”

With cheese in hand, I went back to the house. Danny’s porch was crowded with people. It looked as though everyone was there. Carrying the bucket of cheese up onto the porch, I was met with the wonderful smell of baking dough. I took the bucket into the kitchen and set it on the counter. Kay immediately came over, eager to inspect the product.

I pulled the lid off and she leaned her head over. “That looks wonderful. It’s going to be just like fresh mozzarella. Well, maybe not exactly, but close enough.”

“I don’t think anyone is going to care. I mean, it’s pizza!” Bobbie shouted.

Kay looked at Mel. “Alright ladies. Let’s get to cooking!”

Mel looked at me with a dripping-sweet smile. “That’s your cue to get the hell out of here.”

I grunted. “That’s all I am, huh? Just a beast of burden?”

“Strong back, weak mind.”

I pointed at her and looked down my nose. “I’ll remember that. I’ll remember.”

“Oh Morgan, you know we love you,” Gina said with a smile.

I left the ladies to their work and wandered out to the porch. Sarge was in a rocking chair with his coffee cup in his hand. He was watching the kids play in the yard, a slight grin on his face. I walked over to the end of the porch. Thad and Mary were in the garden as usual. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment. It felt good.

We spent the day lounging around on the porch. There was no talk of the assault or anything dealing with fighting or trying to stay alive. We talked as though we were at any normal Saturday bar-b-que. Dylan was on the porch carving something. It looked like a small animal from what I could see so far.

“What’cha carving there, Dylan?” I asked.

He held it up to inspect his work. “It’s going to be a horse when I’m done.”

“Looks pretty good.”

He bobbed it up and down as though it were trotting. “It’s just a way to relax. Takes my mind off everything.”

The door opened and Mel came out. She was carrying a large tray that she set down on a small table between the rocking chairs. Sarge looked down and asked, “What’s this?”

“We thought it was a good idea to make sure it was edible before we tried to feed to it to the whole town.”

Mike, who was lying on the edge of the porch asleep, instantly bolted upright. “Food?” He looked around and saw the pizza. A big smile spread across his face as he reached for a piece.

Sarge whacked him on the knuckles with his now empty coffee cup. “Wait yer turn, snot nose.”

“Hey!” Mike barked. “Wait for who?”

The pie was cut into small squares. Sarge took a piece and sampled it. As he chewed, he began to smile and looked up at Mel. Giving her a thumbs up, he said, “That’s a damn fine pie, Mel. Give the ladies my compliments.”

We all grabbed a piece and quickly realized the old man was right. It was a good pie. But how could it not be? Fresh sauce, fresh toppings, it couldn’t help but he good. I could taste the basil, it mixed well with the tomato. Such a taste after so long was a real treat. We finished the pie, making sure everyone, including the kids, got a piece. But it was more of a tease than anything. Now we’d have to wait all day to get another sample.

Now that it was no longer a surprise for the girls, they helped with the preparation of the pizzas by folding boxes and putting the pies in. There were countless requests for more pizza. Knowing we could make it now, I saw it on the menu again in the near future. That is, as long as the flour holds out.

By four o’clock, the cooking was done. Everyone was relaxed after spending the entire day lazing about. There were stacks of pizza boxes ready to be loaded. It was time to get going, so everyone pitched in to load them into the MRAP sitting in Danny’s driveway. As the truck was being loaded, I went to find Dalton who had been absent all day; but the hammering let me know he was busy.

I found him at his forge. He was sitting on a stump holding a long blade. He looked up as I approached and held it aloft. “What do you think?”

It was a long thin thing that looked like it would serve well to hack the brush here in the Sunshine State. “Looks good.”

He inspected his work. “Just messing around.”

“We’re about to head to town. You coming?”

He stood up and picked up his shirt. Shaking it out, he said, “Hell yes!”

“The ladies have made pizza, a bunch of them.”

He looked at me surprised. “No shit? Pizza?”

I smiled. “Yeah. And it’s damn good too.”

Putting on the shirt, he shouted. “Lead on, lad and we shall sally forth!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at him. By the time we got back to the house, everything was loaded and all were ready to go. Mel and the girls were waiting by the truck. Dalton hopped into the back as I got in. Looking at Mel and the girls, I asked, “You guys ready to go to town?”

The girls jumped with shouts of excitement. They all piled into the truck, and I pulled out behind the MRAP. Mike and Ted were in the buggies as well. With the addition of Gina and Dylan, we had quite the crowd. Even though we were going to a party and this was a happy occasion, everyone was armed. We traveled rather heavy with SAWs mounted to the tops of the two buggies.

As we rolled down the road, we passed many people walking towards town. There was a steady stream of folks headed out of Umatilla. Several ATVs passed us, and a few people on horseback. As we passed an old couple riding a small donkey, Dalton laughed. “Now there’s an animal I could ride!”