The Solitary Man’s Refuge (17 page)

“Pleased to meet you both. Donald has mentioned
you two a couple times. Have you seen him around by the
way recently?” Bubba said returning the handshake and
introducing Cat when she came out of the house to greet
them also.

“No, he has been gone for a few days, stopped by
before he left. Said he was going down to Florida to play
spring break one last time and would be back in three or 4
days. I suspect he will be in tomorrow, maybe. I take it
that you have figured out what’s going on with the power
and the sun, haven’t you?” Michael said, thinking they
already had to have done so because they were hardcore
preppers, weren’t they, and hung out with Don?

“Oh Yea, ain’t this solar storm a real pisser?”
Bubba said sitting down at a picnic table to visit with the
neighbors some more.

“Well, Donald has been hinting around and talking
about the effects of one since he moved here but it wasn’t
anything I thought would truly happen.” Amy said to Cat.

“Donald sort of made a few plans on how we could
help each other if SHTF one day when we were shooting
the breeze. But I have to admit, I was skeptical about the
likelihood of really ever needing to do it.” Michael offered.

“Donald has been echoing those NASA solar
maximum 2012 -2013 warnings to who ever will listen all
over the place and on the internet so I guess there are a
lot of people who realize it now.” Bubba said, scanning the
road in case Donald was going to be pulling in anytime
soon.

“We are going to cook up a bunch of meat we had
in the freezer tonight if you want to come join us?” Amy
offered after already agreeing with Michael on the way
over they were going to invite this new friend to dinner.

“I think we need to see about Donald’s freezer also
and maybe cook up some of his. I guess he has a grill
around here somewhere.” Bubba said, trying to think about
what he should be doing while waiting on Don to come
back.

“Oh, he has a great one with a smoker that goes
on it but I don’t think he has put it together yet and it’s still
in the box. If he did put it together or it’s in a box, it’s in that
shed back there.” Michael said motioning to the metal
storage building Donald used as a garage.

“Let me go see, I will put it together for him if not
and we can maybe use it to preserve some meat while we
are making dinner.” Bubba said, rising to go have a look.

“Oh, he left you a key? I will give you a hand with
putting that together if need be in a second but I need to
know if you might possibly have a key to his prep shed,
too.” Michael asked.

Bubba got pretty suspicious of this line of
questioning but carefully said he did have one and what
did Michael need from it.

“Ah, let me explain. That’s old Max a friend of me
and Don’s that lives up on that hill over there and he has a
wife who is on oxygen. He has got a gas generator running
that oxygen machine of hers at the moment but he was
siphoning gas out of his car to run it. Donald has a
portable solar panel in there and some marine batteries
and an inverter that I thought he might lend to the cause if
Max would let us have some of that gas for other things
maybe.” Michael explained.

“Oh yea, he has a bunch of solar stuff stashed
around here somewhere. He told me you helped him put
together that hybrid portable solar wind generator of his. If
you know where he keeps that stuff, we can get the solar
battery system running or well maybe not. Donald might
have some info on how long this storm is scheduled to go
on or if other flares are predicted to precede another CME.
I seen some pictures of some of it he sent in for a casting
call application I put out for the Real Day Prepper Show
though. Quite impressive, he has some versatile
equipment.” Bubba replied.

“
Hey, he also has a windmill or turbine thing built

out of a marine alternator that uses cut PVC pipe for
blades that can turn out 1500 watts but I don’t think he
ever got around to getting a pipe for a tower to erect it.”
Michael told him and pointed at the Prep Shed, which was
another modular steel building Donald had next to the
main house.

“Let’s go check it out then. Wow, he has got some
shit packed in here. Good Old Prepper Don!” Bubba
exclaimed as he went into Donald’s Prep Shed and
marveled at what the guy had managed to packrat away
for his preps over the years.

“
I am not so sure it’s cool that we are in here
though, at the moment. How much of this crap did you
know Don had already stored up?” LowBuck said looking
pointedly at Michael for some kind of indication.

“Oh, he showed it all to me before, no big deal he
said because he had been fixing it up and arranging his
stuff for that NATGEO prepper show and everyone would
have known anyway if he had gone through with it. I never
did figure out why he didn’t do the video shoot with them
because it seemed like he was so Gung Ho about it to
begin with. Amy and I even helped him take some prep
pictures they asked for for their applications and did a few
chores he needed some help with to get ready for their
visit along the way before he quit considering doing it at
all.” Michael said, looking unfazed by the amount of food
storage and other supplies stacked in boxes or on shelves
in the building.

That’s Don’s Shit, he wasn’t going to take any of it,
wasn’t his to fool with. But he thought Bubba might need
convincing of that, though. Don already had told Michael
personally that he would be sharing preps with him in this
type of situation because only a community could survive.
Michael said he wouldn’t be a burden and start thinking
about doing some prepping himself and had been adding
to his own food stores. Michael had told Donald if he
came by one day and said “ Don, I haven’t eaten in two
days can you please spare some food”, then he expected
Don to make good on the kind offer and he would also
help him if he could, Michael thought to himself.

“Feels very weird to be playing in Donald’s preps
when he is not here all the same, come on. Let’s go
outside for now and talk about when we should try and
hook up some solar electricity for Max if Donald doesn’t
show up in the next day or two.” Bubba said, backing out
the door and into the late afternoon sun.

“I will lend Max that battery and panel Don already
gave me, and a low wattage inverter to augment that
generator. That way we can see how it works and if the
sun does mess it up we will have some indication of what
the space weather is doing and speculate from there.”
Michael said, formulating a plan of sorts.

“Now that sounds workable and good, let’s go with
that plan. I don’t think there is a problem utilizing most
solar electrical stuff at this moment anyway because my
extra battery on the mobile home is fine but I hate risking
that expensive equipment of Donald’s without his say so.”
Bubba concluded.

“I agree we can wait. Where did Cat and Amy go?”
Michael asked as he rounded the house to see an empty
picnic table.

“They are probably inside the house. Hey, I got my
big pet bulldog, Harley, in there by the way that you will
need to meet and greet before we can get too comfortable
around here.” Bubba said, giving him a heads up that he
was about to meet a dog as big as the Hound of the
Baskervilles.

“That’s ok, got a fine bulldog myself at home I will
need to introduce to you later.” Michael said, following
LowBuck into the house and offering the back of his hand
for Harley to smell and let them start to get better
acquainted.

Cat and Amy were busy gossiping and emptying out
the shelves in the refrigerator and freezer while getting to
know each other in the kitchen. The conversation at the
moment was about how Donald’s previous planning had
managed to touch everyone’s lives somewhat and how he
seemed to naturally fit into all of this now, where as before
he was almost hermit like trying to get things ready
himself.

“I got another question for you if you don’t mind.”
Michael said, sitting down at the kitchen table with
LowBuck as Harley stood in front of him wanting some
more attention.

“What’s that? LowBuck asked, smiling as Cat and
Amy opened a couple of hot beers and offered the guys
one too, if they wanted it.

“Why not!” was the consensus of the two men
sitting at the table and each tried to out do each other
making the foul hot beer face from the first sip as they
resumed their conversation after taking big swigs. “You
know Don has a gun safe in here. I am kind of curious if he
gave you the combination to it. That’s another thing he
said he would share if there was a need. I don’t have a
need right now but I might sometime in the future.” Michael
said, intimating his relationship with Donald included the
honor and trust of gun sharing between old soldiers.
“I got the combination for the safe if need be, but I

can’t really see myself lending you a gun until we get to
know each other a bit better or some different
circumstances warrant issuing it.” Bubba said, not
comfortable at all with the possibility of being asked for the
loan of a weapon and one that was not his to boot.

“Like I said, I don’t need anything right this minute.
I got an old 20 gauge but I am light on shells. Donald has a
shitload of 12 gauge shells but no 20s, I might want to
borrow a squirrel or deer rifle sometime in the future,
maybe that scoped SKS if need be for two and 4 legged
bigger critters if I need to put my war hat on.” He said
looking intently at the understanding Bubba facing him.

“What is your lay of the land around here for if
there is anyone we should watch a bit closer in the coming
days of this little disaster?’ LowBuck said conspiratorially.

“No one in particular comes to my mind at the
moment. Oh, we got us a few rowdies and lots of hunters
to later contend with on these back roads, but all in all,
most folks around here are harmless to everyone but
themselves. I am just considering later when the deep
Kimchi starts up and we need to pull back our borders and
mind our perimeter a bit better.” Michael confided.

“Well, we will jump that creek when we get to it. I
brought a few things that can go bang with me and we got
enough chow not to have to get out in them woods hunting
for a while. You think maybe we need do anything more
than just camp out the next few weeks or should we be
doing something more productive?” Bubba asked his new
bugged in buddy.

“Hell, that crazy Donald forced me to listen to him
all day one time as he explained the need to get some kind
of wheat in the ground as soon as possible for this kind of
event. I guess me and you need to go down to see Bobby
and talk to him about ploughing up some of that cleared
land he has for a crop.” Michael said, grinning that the
crafty old weasel named Don had managed somehow to
give his instructions to everyone to remember in the event
of his demise or disappearance, just how to save their
sorry butts if he wasn’t around to make some inspired
suggestions. He sure could be a character at times,
particularly if you added several beers; Michael had to give
that to him and shook his head in humorous disbelief that
the guy had actually pegged this bit of mayhem to a tee
and had been getting ready for it.

“So it’s decided then, we are going to plant some
wheat. Does he have a sack of wheat seed around here or
what?” Bubba asked, thinking that Michael actually might
have more rights to this place and some of its preps than
he did because Donald had seemed to have made several
plans already.

“I am not sure, he has some canned wheat he
mentioned he could use if need be. But I have no idea of
the differences between hard red wheat, soft white wheat,
feed wheat or any variation in-between, when and how you
plant that shit, let alone harvest it. You know much about
it?” Michael asked speculatively.

“I don’t know much about it although I got a few
cans of wheat myself packed on that trailer out there. I can
tell you one thing though… You can be assured I bet that
he has a book or an excerpt from an article around here
somewhere that will tell us exactly what we need to know
in order to plant and harvest wheat.” Bubba said, standing
up and wandering across the room after deciding to check
out the couple of book cases in the living room that turned
out to be filled up with prepper fiction, gardening and
various animal husbandry and assorted survival books.