Neighbors Read online

  “What’s up, Hank?” asked Elizabeth, the usual spokesperson for her and Juan. “Someone told me you put in big gasoline tanks. Isn’t that a big fire danger?”

  “I put in a diesel tank,” Hank said, not mentioning the fact that there was also a five-hundred-gallon gasoline tank in addition to the three-thousand-gallon diesel tank. “Underground,” Hank continued. “Same with the new propane tank. It’s underground, too.”

  “What do you need all that fuel for, anyway?” Henry’s angry voice was back.

  “My Suburban is diesel. I don’t like paying the fuel price at the pump. I can pick and choose my times to buy, when it’s at least a little cheaper than other times. It’s not much, but I figure I can save a couple hundred dollars a year in fuel costs. Not much, but better than nothing. Same with the propane tank. I can add to it when the price is lower, and run through the times when it’s higher. I can tell you that neither of the tanks is anywhere near full. Fuel is expensive right now. I’m just waiting for the right time to add a bit more to them.”

  The last was the straight truth. Hank was waiting for an expected drop in prices before he filled the three new tanks.

  Henry looked satisfied with the explanation. So did the others, though Hank noticed the curious look that Pete Gladstone gave him. But the questions weren’t over.

  “That thing at the side of the house?” Bren asked. “Is that a new kind of air conditioner? It’s a lot bigger than normal.”

  “It’s a standby generator,” Hank said, rather reluctantly.

  “For your whole house?” asked Elizabeth. “I thought one like that would be the size of a small building.”

  Pete spoke up this time. “No. I doubt it is a whole house generator. It would be bigger. But not as big as a building. Probably just some key circuits. Huh, Hank?”

  Hank nodded. “That’s right.”

  “Wow!” Mike Christianson said. “That’s cool! Can Jenny and the kids come over when the power goes out? My little one is terrified of the dark and of storms.”

  Several more, some of them not joking at all, asked similar questions. A disappointed Hank started to try to come up with reasons why they couldn’t. Pete came to his rescue.

  “Now, come on, people! We can’t all go to Hank’s. He wouldn’t have room. And it’s not his responsibility. What we ought to do, is get a generator for the community building. We could all go there if there is a power outage. I didn’t used to worry about them here, much, but I watched a program a couple of weeks ago about how tenuous the power grid is. It’s scary.”

  “What would it cost to do that?” Elizabeth asked. “How about your home system, Hank? Would you tell us how much it cost?”

  Reluctantly, Hank told them the total price.

  There were several whistles, but then again, there were some thoughtful nods. Not everyone thought the cost out of line with the benefits. Hank continued. “It would take one three times the size to run the key circuits at the community center, I think. But if we all kicked in, it wouldn’t be that much each. Just a bit for fuel on a monthly basis to keep the generator tested and ready.”

  “That’s still a lot of money, since the power doesn’t go out here. We haven’t had a power outage since just after the development opened. And that was some idiot running into the main transformer. Not likely to happen again. They put a heavy barrier around it.” Bren didn’t sound happy.

  “I don’t know,” Henry said, finally adding his thoughts about the situation. “I’m more inclined to get one of the smaller units myself. For the fridge, freezer, and heater. Plus a few lights. I saw that same program Pete did. They were talking about the likelihood of rolling brownouts and scheduled blackouts if something isn’t done to upgrade the grid.”

  “I don’t think we could really take care of one at our house,” Elizabeth said slowly. “It would be great if we had the Community Center available. Our house isn’t really designed to be lived in without heating and air conditioning. Could we get one large enough to run the air conditioner in the Community Center?”

  “That would be quite a bit more expensive,” Pete said.

  Hank nodded. “We’d have to talk to the developers. They might or might not let us install a genset. But who knows? Maybe they’d chip in some and ask the other residents to do so as well, since they will be getting the benefit of the set up. Elizabeth would you and Juan be willing to talk to the developers?”

  Elizabeth looked surprised, but after a couple of words with Juan, she nodded. “Okay. We’ll see about it this coming week.”

  That was the end of the official meeting, but three couples stayed behind and talked to Hank about his generator. They were each thinking about getting one, after what was discussed at the meeting.

  “Oh, we’ll pay a share for the community center, if that goes through,” said Hadley Cousins. “But I’d like to have a small one for us. Lois is on insulin and I’ve been worried for a long time about keeping it refrigerated if the power goes out.”

  A few more questions about sources and prices, the three couples left and Hank cleaned up the meeting room before going home, not totally happy with the way things had gone, but not as worried as he had been about people coming to his house during an event.

  Things changed little over the next three months. The developers had adamantly refused to install a generator at any of the three community centers in the large development. Even after Elizabeth put together a petition drive to get it done at the residents’ expense, the plan was refused. But several of Hank’s neighbors installed small generators for themselves, and several more bought portable generators to use if needed.

  There was some reluctance by those that now had their own generators to the idea Hank proposed for the neighborhood to buy two good portables for shared use by those that might need them during blackouts. The two units would be transferred from house to house of those needing power for a few hours at a time to run refrigerators, freezers, and in one case, charge the batteries of a mobility limited person’s powered chair.

  Several people were trained on the use of the generators and two sets of heavy drop cords were purchased with the generators so power could be provided in the houses as needed. Again Henry came through and allowed the generators, fuel cans, and accessories to be stored at his place, in his expansive garage.

  Another month passed and the situation between Russia and Georgia seemed to have resolved itself, and no bird flu had appeared. Nor had there been a breakout at the prison, or a power outage. A few people grumbled somewhat at the expenses they’d laid out, for no apparent reason.

  The main thing that concerned people was the price of fuel, which had dropped from record highs, but was again going up, and was in rather short supply. Several people openly congratulated Hank for his foresight. But the trend was to sell off the things recently purchased and drop the now regular Watch patrols.

  Then Elizabeth asked a key question just as the meeting, no decisions made, was wrapping up. It was addressed to Hank, intending to be private, but several people heard her and turned back to see what Hank would say. As those behind turned back, those in front turned around to see what was going on. Most of those at the meeting were still there when Hank answered the question that Elizabeth had asked.

  Namely, “Hank… Juan and I would like to talk to you about your garden. I know you do very well with it by yourself… but we were wondering, if we helped you with it, could we get some of the produce? Things in the grocery stores are so expensive now, if you can even find it. And some of it doesn’t seem to be very safe anymore.”

  Hank was caught by surprise. He looked over at all the people waiting for his answer. Thinking more quickly than he thought he ever had before, it suddenly came to Hank. “I might consider that, but what about the open area down near the entry to the cul-de-sac. There’s a good five acres there. Would make a great community garden. There’s even time right now to get some late crops in.”

  The meeting resumed unoffic
ially and the discussion began. There were pros and cons to the idea, and most of them were voiced. In the end, it was decided that those interested would get with Hank and start the garden, without asking the developers about it. And in addition, anyone that wanted to help Hank with his personal garden would get a portion of what was produced until the community garden came in.

  It wasn’t quite what Hank had wanted, but it was better than most of the options he’d come up with. His idea of getting the neighborhood in the cul-de-sac essentially self-sufficient, so he could be so, on his own, simply didn’t seem to be workable. Everything was just too out in the open. He was a member of the community and would need to do his share, for the community, no matter how prepared he was.

  So, with that in mind, Hank made a few purchases that he’d been putting off, but had been contemplating for some time. First he picked up an old, four-wheel-drive pickup truck to use at the ‘farm’, as it was being called. Along with the truck, from the same tinker/handyman, Hank bought four older model, but heavy-duty rebuilt rototillers.

  The man that supplied Hank with the manure he put on his garden agreed to supply the community garden with it as well. He was increasing his herds and needed a place to get rid of it. For free.

  The gardening of the ‘farm’ started off pretty slowly, but more and more people decided to pitch in for a share, as grocery prices continued to rise. Hank furnished the heirloom seeds for most of the plants that were going to be for the community. People gardening for themselves in the area used what they wanted, those being mostly hybrids.

  Probably half of those helping at the farm also helped Hank with his huge garden, and then in the greenhouse when he bought and had it constructed. He seemed to be the trend setter, for four more people in the cul-de-sac put in greenhouses. Though Hank’s was the only one with provisions for raising worms, rabbits, and fish, though he had no stock at the moment.

  After the initial harvests from the community farm were taken home by those working the farm were proved to be excellent quality, a neighborhood picnic seemed to just set itself up. It turned into an impromptu meeting and additional actions that might be taken to help everyone in the cul-de-sac were discussed.

  A little tentatively Hank suggested that a portion of the field be planted in winter wheat that fall. Of course, the questions started.

  “How are we going to harvest it? Don’t you need a combine?”

  “Yeah. That. But even if we get it harvested, how do we use it?”

  All the questions revolved around those two situations. Hank raised a hand and said, “As for harvesting, we can either hire it done by machine, or do it the old way, by hand. We’re only talking about an acre.”

  Then, though he hated to, he added, “And I have a wheat grinder that could be used to make the flour.”

  “I’ve got one, too,” Pete said. “But I think they should be backups to one the group buys. A Diamant 525 with a couple extra sets of burrs would last several lifetimes, and wouldn’t be that much for any one person if everyone pitched in.”

  There was much discussion, but a decision was put off until the next scheduled meeting.

  As it turned out, besides the high prices of wheat products, the shortages of them was suddenly of keen interest to those in the cul-de-sac. It was a unanimous decision to plant the wheat and buy a grinder and the manual harvesting tools. Everyone would be responsible for their own reusable flour containers.

  This time it was Pete that was tagged for the responsibility of holding the equipment and being in charge of the specialized operation.

  Though it had taken over eighteen months to get to the point the cul-de-sac was, when the troubles began, Hank was satisfied that he wouldn’t be responsible for the entire group. He would help where he could, at his own expense, but the threat of people trying to take what was his was now remote. At least in the cul-de-sac. Word had gone around the rest of the development and there were some remarks made about people heading there in times of trouble. Hank’s personal worry was now the whole cul-de-sac neighborhood’s worry. And it was the topic of the meeting just coming to order.

  “Hank, you got all this started,” Bren said. “What are we going to do about those people that want to come here because of what we have? I’m doggoned if I’m going to give up my stuff and the stuff the community has worked so hard to get. I never imagined it when all this first came up, but we set up pretty good here, for bad times. Like what’s happening in the cities now.”

  “Yeah, Hank,” asked Elizabeth. “What do we do, now? What we’ve done has made us a target.”

  Before Hank could think of anything reasonable to say, Henry spoke up. “Well, I tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to get my Father’s old World War II rifle out and clean it up. The rest of you made me responsible for our food supplies and I intend to protect them. Any way I have to.”

  “Oh, no! Not guns! Please?”

  Hank didn’t see who said it, but there were approving murmurs. Pete spoke up again. “Look. If we keep the cul-de-sac entry blocked, I don’t think we’ll have much trouble. We can make this a gated community without much work.”

  That hadn’t occurred to Hank. Just blocking the road with a couple of vehicles had been his thought.

  “Can we do that?” asked Elizabeth. “It would be better than just shooting someone.”

  Hank said nothing as other people spoke up.

  “Still might need a gun or two to convince someone the gate is there for a reason.”

  “We need to do this without guns. I won’t have a gun in the house.” That was from the same woman that had spoken out against guns. Sara Stevens. She and her husband Steven had three small children.

  “Well, some of us are hunters and shooters. We have guns. I can understand someone not wanting to have one in the house, and not even want to defend themselves with one. Got no problem with that, if they do their share some other way. This neighborhood is something kind of special. Look at all we’ve accomplished. It must be good. Other people want it.” It was a long and impassioned speech by Henry.

  “Could we try to get the rest of the development to do the same things we’ve done? That way they won’t need our stuff.” It was Bren.

  Hank couldn’t completely hide his slight smile. His own thoughts were now the community thoughts. “I think that’s a good idea,” he quickly said. “How about we do the gate now, while trying to get other people into the prepared mindset, and hold off on openly arming ourselves.”

  There were a couple of knowing looks. There were some people that would be going armed in the cul-de-sac, but with concealed weapons.

  “Yeah,” Bren said. “I vote for that. The more people that are prepared, the better.”

  “I’ll check on what’s needed for a gate that will do what we need done,” Pete said. “Uh… Who should I tell? It’s going to take at least some money. How much do we have in the treasury?”

  Everyone looked at Elizabeth. She’d become the designated treasurer of the group. “About twenty-five hundred. Everyone has really been pitching in lately.”

  “That won’t be enough,” Pete said, “I’m sure. But it is a very good start. Still need to know who to ask for permission to get it started. The sooner the better.”

  “As much as I hate committees,” said Henry, “this is probably the time for one.”

  There were some groans, but Bren spoke up. “I’ll serve. And Pete, you should be on the committee, since you’re doing the initial leg work. Henry, how about you?”

  “Sure. I have some ideas on what we should do.”

  Juan raised his hands. “I know construction. I’ll be on the committee.”

  “These guys are all too gung ho,” Sara said. “Steven will be on the committee so things don’t get too outrageous.” It seemed to be news to her husband, but Steven, well trained, quickly nodded his head.

  “That should be enough, I would think,” Hank said when no one else moved to volunteer. “I’ll work on
something like I did with us, for the whole development. Try to get a meeting set up to get people thinking about the future and the troubles we’re looking at.”

  “You did a good job with us,” Elizabeth said, with a laugh. “I’m beginning to understand why. Before, you’d have had a bunch of leeches at your door if something happened. Now we all pull together.”

  “I can’t say that it wasn’t part of the reason I did what I did.”

  “Well, I, like Elizabeth, am glad you did,” Bren said.

  There were more calls of appreciation and Hank quickly brought the meeting to a close, scheduling the first gate committee meeting for a week hence. Pete was sure that would give enough time for him to get the necessary information.

  Hank met with the gate committee the following Sunday. There was good news and bad news. The gate itself wasn’t going to be a problem, money-wise or construction-wise. The problem was there really needed to be a set of wing walls built to prevent difficult, but doable, access around the gate. No vehicles could get by, the sharp drop into one of the many ravines on one side, and the equally sharp rise on the other saw to that, but people on foot wouldn’t have any problems.