The Slow Road (2 page)

“Okay, Alvin. You know you can count on me.”

It was hard work, and Jasper was tired when he spread the last of the manure on the garden area near the alley gate. But Jasper fired up the rototiller and began to work the manure into the garden soil. It was getting dark when he finished. He put the tiller in the small garden shed as Millie pulled the old Chevy truck into the driveway.

The truck was another of Jasper’s small victories. Four years previously, when he was in recovery and Millie’s little Toyota was on its last legs, he’d made a deal with the garage that worked on the Toyota from time to time. In exchange for the use of the garage, and some technical help to repair a wrecked truck from the junkyard, he’d work for nothing as long as it took to fix the truck.

It had taken a year of evenings and Saturdays to get the truck in tip-top shape. In Jasper’s eyes it was better than a new truck. He could fix anything on it, using junkyard parts similar to the ones he’d done the repairs with.

The frame was better than new, that was for sure. It was a one-ton frame, strengthened and gusseted, though the bodywork was from a three-quarter-ton truck of the same year. The bodywork was about the only thing that wasn’t from other heavy-duty vehicles. Although a Pontiac muscle car couldn’t be called heavy duty, the Super Duty 455 Jasper pulled out of one and rebuilt for the truck probably qualified.

Since he’d started with a bare frame, Jasper had been able to incorporate five fuel tanks. Admittedly, two of them were small, only twelve gallons each, but the total capacity was over a hundred gallons for an un-refueled range of over fifteen hundred miles.

He’d even used his newly developed basic welding skills to cut down another one-ton pickup frame and make a matching trailer for the truck, incorporating three more small fuel tanks under the bed to extend the range of the truck by another five-hundred miles when pulling the trailer.

It had taken Millie a while to get used to driving the truck after only haven driven the Toyota her entire adult life up to that time. But she learned, and came to appreciate the capabilities of the truck during that first bad winter after it was finished.

It had been his first success after stopping his drinking and was still one of the sweetest. Only the purchase of the property and trailer, after three years of sobriety and two years of a steady job, was sweeter. An understanding home town banker and Millie’s father’s admittedly reluctant co-signing of the note had permitted the purchase of the property for back taxes and then the trailer to put on it.

It had been the right place at the right time. The previous owner had let the property run down after the house had burned, and then quit paying the taxes. The trailer had been another bit of luck. They’d been looking at mobile homes, but they were a bit out of reach.

But with the constant looking and watching the various free sales papers, Millie and Jasper had found a forty-foot park model trailer with two slide outs. It had turned over during transport during a wind storm. Some of the sheet metal was damaged, and there was quite a bit of minor damage that looked worse than it was. It had been a steal.

The banker added the cost to the original land mortgage loan without question. He went to the same church as Jasper and Millie and had watched Jasper’s progress. He wanted the family to be successful.

Millie and Jasper had plans to begin double paying on the mortgage, but that wasn’t yet possible. The trailer was, hopefully, a short term solution for a long term problem. They both hoped to eventually build their dream house on the lot.

Jasper met Millie at the front door with a kiss. “Oh, Sweetie,” she said, “You look so tired. Did you just now finish?”

After a huge yawn, Jasper nodded. “But it is done. Spread and tilled in. The first half soaked and the second half soaking. I’ll turn the water off after we have supper.”

“Well, come on inside,” Millie said, lifting the KFC bag. “I’ll have supper on the table shortly.”

Saturday evening was about the only time Jasper and Millie ate out, or ordered takeout. Both usually had full days on Saturdays, just as this one had been, and they needed the relaxation time. Saturday night was also their private time to be together.

Sunday morning dawned bright, but blustery. Jasper took his few extra minutes in bed and savored them, lying beside his wife. But church was at ten-thirty and they were never late. They did have time to get up slowly and have a leisurely breakfast before getting dressed for church. As always, they were there early and had a chance to socialize with fellow church members.

The rest of the day was spent as they believed the Sabbath should be. Resting. That didn’t preclude a great deal of internet research, in their eyes, and both used the computer, in turns, throughout the day.

One of the things that Jasper had been planning to do was accomplished. He’d read a couple of PAW stories on the preparedness forums of which he and Millie were members. He downloaded a copy of MP-15, an old Civil Defense booklet of fallout shelter plans. One of the plans had been described in a story and it had struck a chord with Jasper. He thought it would be just what he and Millie needed. When they could get around to scrounging the material with which to build it.

Jasper didn’t think too much about being in a nuclear war, but they needed better shelter in case of the local natural disasters occurred; especially tornados, earthquakes, floods, and severe winter storms. The park model trailer, while fine for general living, would be no match for any of the natural disasters, if, “or more likely,” Jasper told himself, “when,” one or more of them were to happen.

But it was one of the long term plans. At least he now had some working drawings he could study, modify as needed for their use, and start a list of required materials he could start looking for and acquiring.

The task accomplished, Jasper turned the computer over to Millie. She wanted to look for some additional patterns for her sewing, as well as some canning recipes for future reference, when they started getting produce from their orchard and garden. She had the most recent Ball Blue Book, as well as several other reference works.

She didn’t have a pressure canner yet, but it was on her list of thrift market and yard sale items she kept for the summer season. She’d seen one early that spring, but just didn’t have the money for it at the time. Now she had some money from her kitchen budget set aside to get one if it was a reasonable price. She’d already picked up a couple of cases of used jars.

There just wasn’t that much storage room in the trailer and even the small metal yard shed Jason had torn down for it and rebuilt was nearly full of the tools Jasper had been collecting over the years, a piece or two at a time.

They were about ready to turn in early when the telephone rang. It was Greg. He wanted to do the well the next Saturday. Jasper listened carefully to Greg’s voice on the telephone. He sounded sober. That was a good sign.

“Okay, Greg. I’ll have things ready Saturday morning.” Pleased to know they would be getting the well and pump, Jasper still felt a bit of unease. Part of the payment was providing Greg with a case of beer and a barbeque meal. The barbeque was fine. Jasper just didn’t like having the beer on the premises. His greatest fear was he would let Millie down and start drinking again.

By the time Saturday morning came around Jasper had steeled himself for the event. Millie had pashawed his worries when he had voiced them to her. “You will do fine. Greg isn’t one of your old friends that keep trying to get you back to that life. I think Greg envies you your success at quitting and getting on with your life.

While Millie prepared the items for the grill and the side dishes, Jasper set up their small grill. He’d recovered it from the trash on one of his periodic salvaging runs he took looking for such items. It had been perfectly good. Jasper had seen a nice new stainless steel grill in the backyard of the house where he’d found the grill.

With the grill needing only lighting and waiting for the charcoal to burn down to coals, Jasper put a six-pack of the beer on ice for Greg. He was pacing off the area for the future shelter area when Greg pulled up and stopped at the alley gate.

Jasper waved and headed back to open the gate. Greg backed his pickup along the rear driveway, careful not to get off of it into the new garden spot. He stopped at a likely position and got out of the truck.

Greg and Jasper exchanged hearty handshakes and Millie came over to say hello. Greg was more than a little shy around Millie, knowing he’d been partially responsible for some bad times for the couple. Her accepting his presence was reassuring.

“Let me get my rods,” Greg said, going to the cross bed tool box on the truck. He returned to the area between the garden plot and the trailer.

Jasper and Millie exchanged glances as Greg began to crisscross the area near the garden with the L-shaped wires held before him. “You do want it here, near the garden, don’t you?” Greg asked, stopping at a spot where the wires were crossing.

“The pump can push the water better than it can pull it. I’d kind of like the well to be closer over here…” Jasper walked over near where he’d been pacing off the shelter area.

“Oh. Okay,” Greg said. “This one was good, but there could be… yep,” Greg continued as he walked back and forth, the wires crossing and uncrossing as he weaved his way toward Jasper.

“Same stream,” Greg explained, swinging his arm in a line from the first spot he’d stopped to where he was standing. “Anywhere along this line is good.”

In Jasper’s eyes it was a nearly perfect spot. It was almost exactly where he’d wanted the well to be, without consideration of the dowsing. “It’s good,” Jasper said.

Greg headed back to the truck. “Help me with the pump, will you?” he asked Jasper. Between them they carried a five-horsepower gas engine driven two-inch self-priming water pump to the spot. It was in a cage that supported an old time red hand pump plumbed into the intake of the pump with a tee and check valve.

“You lay out the small hose from the tank in my truck and unload the pipe and strainer and stuff in the box right at the back of the truck bed. I’ll dig the hole.”

“I don’t mind helping you dig,” Jasper quickly offered.

Greg shook his head. “No offence, Jasper, but this has to be just so. I know exactly how to dig it.”

“Okay,” Jasper replied, going to the truck to take the two twenty-foot sticks of Schedule Forty PVC pipe off the pipe rack of Greg’s truck. The ten-foot long slotted PVC strainer was in the bed of truck, over the wheel well on one side of the water tank.

Jasper looked into the box sitting behind the tank. It contained some two-inch pipe fittings and cans of pipe cleaner and solvent welding cement. Greg looked up from his digging. “Bring over the drill stems and the two-inch hoses.”

The drill stems were five-foot lengths of more two-inch schedule forty pipe with a male adapter on one end and a female adapter on the other.

After he’d carried the things over Jasper watched Greg finish up the hole. There was a short, shallow trench connecting a hole about the size of the shovel to one two feet square and eighteen inches deep.

Greg laid an old bent crowbar across one corner of the bigger hole and set the pancake strainer that was on a short piece of pipe into the hole. The elbow at the top of the pipe rested on the crowbar, holding the strainer off the bottom of the hole about four or five inches.

Using two inch flexible suction hose with quick connects Greg attached the strainer to the pump. He laid out the second hose and connected it to the outlet of the pump. “Turn on the water at the tank,” Greg said and Jasper quickly did so.

Greg opened the valve on the discharge end of the water supply hose and began to fill the hole and trench. While it was filling, Greg had Jasper help him solvent cement a cap to one end of the strainer and a coupling to the other. There was a short piece of the two-inch PVC pipe in the truck with one bell end and one smooth end. They added that two-foot piece to the strainer.

They cleaned the smooth ends and the bell ends of the two twenty-foot pieces of two-inch PVC and Greg laid them out the way he wanted them. The hole was full of water and Greg put a little water in the hand pump and pumped it until he had water up to the intake of the engine driven pump, explaining to Jasper, “It’s a self priming pump, but this is quicker and easier.”

Picking up one of the five-foot long drill stems, that had a homemade sand bit on it, Greg had Jasper screw it into the threaded elbow on the end of the long flexible hose. “Okay, Jasper. Crank the pump.”

The pump engine started on the first pull and water began to flow through the system. When it reached the bit a bit of water sprayed, but not much. Jasper and Millie, who had come out to watch, were amazed as Greg lifted the drill stem, pushed it down and turned it one-quarter of a turn to the right. He lifted the stem and turned it back left before pushing down again and turning it to the right. It was only a couple of minutes before stem was all the way down in the ground.

“Kill the pump.” Jasper did so and Greg lifted the drill stem back up. “Unscrew it.” Jasper did and Greg then had him hold the first stem down low as he screwed another five-foot length of the drill stem onto the first. Jasper stood up and screwed the assembly into the elbow while Greg held it. “Crank her up.”

Jasper started the pump again and Greg began to repeat the process of push and turn, lift and turn back. “Okay, Jasper,” Greg said as soon as he was back in rhythm, “You need to use the square point shovel there and clean out the bottom of the hole. That’s what is coming up out of the drill hole.