Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

shoulder. “Carry on, oh City Manager on high.”
    “We don’t have all the equipment we need to farm,” said Peter, staring in consternation at one of his papers.
    “The Miccosukee will trade for whatever you need. Or they’ll just give it on good faith,” said Trip. “We’re together in this.”
    The boulder on my shoulder felt just slightly lighter. Not a lot, but even a little made a difference.
    “We’ll get this done,” said Peter directly to me. “My timeline says it’ll be five full years before we’re completely up and running, but we won’t be starving or suffering before then. We’ll just be roughing it for a while. But I promise … Haven will be a true haven when we’re done.”
    I reached over and hugged him to me, not caring that tears were burning my eyes again. “Thank you, Peter. You’ve done so much for us.”
    He patted me on the back. “No tears. I’m not done being awesome yet.”
    I sat back up and wiped my eyes. “You’ll never be done being that, dummy. Go ahead with your bad self.”
    “Okay, so as I was saying … food. We have a couple cooks here already, but we’d appreciate some Native Americans to join our group to spice up the offerings a little.”
    “Or a lot,” said Gretchen. “I’m not proud. I know we can’t do much with what we know, but we can learn.”
    “Count me in,” said Bianca.
    “I’m good at chopping vegetables,” said Ronald.
    “And I’m good at barbecuing,” said Jamal.
    An awkward silence fell over the group.
    Jamal’s expression went from excited to sickened. “Uhhh … Animals. Beef. Chicken. I’m good at barbecuing those things only .”
    I had to smile, even though it was kind of morbid. “Good to know, Jamal.”
    He nodded at me.
    “You have some building that needs to be done,” said Paci. “Coop for the chicken, pens for the sheep…”
    “I may need some guidance on that, but we have a couple kids here with farming experience. I think they could adapt to ranching quickly. And of course we have you guys now, too.” Peter was battling to not look at Trip, but lost the battle at exactly the same moment Trip looked over at him.
    For a full two seconds, they stared at each other. No one said a word or made a sound.
    And then Peter looked away.
    “We have clothing for everyone here. It’s prisoner stuff mostly, some guard uniforms. Lots and lots of slippers.” Several kids laughed when he paused. “And hair nets.” Peter grinned widely. “If anyone feels like they want to walk around with a hair net, let me know. I have gobs of them.”
    “Maybe we can use them for something else,” I said, nudging him. “Let’s have a contest. Whoever comes up with the best use is the winner.”
    “What’s the winner get?” asked Rob, sitting up straighter.
    “First spot in the dinner line for a month,” I said.
    Rob rubbed his hands together. “Sweet. I’m all over that. Hair nets.” His eyes went to the ceiling as he considered the challenge.
    Fohi snorted. “Don’t bother, Rob. No one wants to see you running around in a hairnet jock strap.”
    Rob looked at him like he was nuts.
    “Don’t act like that’s not what you were thinking - hair net jock straps.”
    Rob just shook his head, refusing to respond verbally, but he did reach out and thump Fohi on the head hard enough that I heard it from across the room.
    “Shit, man! What’d you do that for? I’m just trying to stop you from embarrassing yourself.”
    Peter stood. “I think that’s good for now. Besides, I believe Kirsten wants to have a meeting with Bryn.”
    I stood and took my plate with me. “You coming to this meeting?” I asked Peter.
    “Of course. Wouldn’t miss it.” He was talking to me, but his eyes were following Trip as he walked out.
    Maybe I was just being hopeful on Peter’s behalf, but it sure looked like Trip was standing a little extra tall and a little extra proud, as if he had someone to impress.
    “Come on, then,” I said. “Let’s go meet with the Amazonian scientist. Maybe we can convince her to make us some antibiotics before she leaves.”
    “Can she do that?” asked Peter, suddenly very interested in our guest.
    “I think so. She’s like a crazy evil science genius. She sure knew how to dope the hell out of Bodo with some mad mix she came up with.”
    Peter scribbled something on one of his lists. “I’ll talk to her.”
    I walked over to where Kirsten was sitting with some of her group. “Ready to