Two Hills 1 - WfW 15/1 -5th Part

Still using the new Words for Wednesday:
    Constipation          and / or         Snot
     Rivalry                                       Beluga
     Occupation                                Emergency
     Sneeze                                       Qualify  
     Wishy-washy                             Coffee
     Diatribe                                     Butt
For this installment I used:Beluga. 
Back to Mary and company.
 
"Actually," Minna said as we ate breakfast next morning. "As we're all still alive, oxygen must be produced somewhere and distributed even thought there's no wind."
"And I'm feeling better today," I added. "Its cooler for one, there might be a bit more oxygen in the air, or I might just have accustomed to the lower oxygen volume."
"Not this quickly," Sally protested, Those Tour de France riders go to altitude camps for weeks to reap the benefits. The oxygen contents must have increased somehow."
"Sowing something to eat and building a shelter must be our prime priorities, then," Ben said.
"Yes. Should we split up, or work together, that's the question," Minna said
"Safety in numbers versus efficiency," Pete said.
"Safety is of no, or at least of very small relevance," I said. "We have seen nobody at all, but us, and we would be likely to hear any and all moving in the world long time before we saw them. I vote for splitting up,"
"Brawn versus brain," Pete said. "I mean ..." he said as everybody looked at him. "Mary and the kids, and Jill as well, would be of less use than Minna, Ben, Sally, George and me, when it comes to carting off trees." He drew a deep breath. "Mary, Lil'George, Janet, Gregor and Jill could surely plant a great garden in the time it took us to gather timber for a house. Or for some houses."
"We'd need some brawn as well," I said smiling. "I'd like the beds to be hemmed by stone, and there's digging to be done. But we're not weaklings. Let's get to it"
"Just a sec." Jill said. "Are you going to plant the garden on top of that hill?"
"Yes, I said." I'd rather be carrying water by the bucket all summer than watch the plants rot."
  "Talking about water. How far is the sea really?" Lil'George asked. "I'd bet we could catch some fish, if we wanted to."
  "I bet you're right," Minna said. "Fish could have survived. At least some of those ugly, deep-sea ones. But first we got to build a house and plant some veggies."
  "Yes how far?" Ben asked, more rhetorical than really a question. "If I am right, we should be as much in the middle of this island as possible. If this was ... Uh, what ... a week ago, I'd say 20 kilometers in any direction but due West. Now, I don't know."
  "A calendar," Jill said. "We need a calendar." She looked at me. "Mom, you normally lug around a diary, do you still do that."
  "Yes." I answered. "But I must admit, I have not been writing. Tonight," I promised. "Now It's sowing time."
  I opened the box and looked through the seed bags. We can plant radishes, corn, all the roots, carrots, turnips, swedes, parsley root and so on. Lentils and broad beans as well. I even purchased a bag of Beluga lentils. All these should sprout and grow in the colder, shorter days. I do not know much about grain, I admitted. Neither when they can be sown, how to do and so on. I bought a lot of different things, even bird seed." I said smiling, "but what will come from planting them, I have no idea."
"You're a genius, Mary! Hemp, buckwheat and quinoa are a big part of bird feed, and they are a source of essential amino acids ... those we cannot make ourselves." Pete's knowledge on all things health-related was impressing. "But they'll have to wait, They can't tolerate sub-zero, or even a bit above-zero temperatures."
"I'll keep them warm," I said.

  Armed with sticks, branches, stones and lids from crates and cooking utensils we attacked the soil on one of the hilltops. The strange, brown substance that covered the ground as far down as we could dig, offered very little resistance to our impromptu tools.
  "I'm afraid this will wash off and carry seeds and sprouts away with it." I said. "Let's try clearing a bigger area, and see what's down there. Or wait a bit. let's try something else." I filled a biggish bowl with the brown substance and asked Gregor to pee on it. He produced, and the brown substance floated on the liquid. I waited, agitated the container, stirred with a twig, waited some more, and finally the stuff began soaking up the liquid and falling to the bottom. It also shrunk until only less than a third of the bowl was filled with some earth-like substance.
  "Minna!" I called, as I saw her and Pete carrying a log up the nearby hill, where we had decided to build a house. "Come and have a look." Minna came. And listened and looked. "Puffed soil," she declared. "The heat did this. It will wash off in the rain." Well, let's make pots for seedlings, then" I told my eager helpers.
  "No." Pete said. "You all come and help carry and hold rafters for a shelter".
  "Why," Lil'George asked. "Veggies are important."
  "Look up," Pete pointed in place of answer. " Clouds!"
Lil'George made a round O with his mouth, and almost ran to the lumber place. Ben had brought along his box of selected carpenters' tools. Even thought a goodly part of them were of no immediate use due to being electrical, many of them came in handy for the cutting down and debranching of trees. 
  The rest of the short day we worked like busy ants, carrying trees and trying to make a place to weather the oncoming rain. We made a platform, just big enough to hold all of us, with stilt legs going as far down as we could make them go. A low ceilinged place for us and on the second floor an even narrower space for all our stuff. Then a roof made out of thinner branches, topped with sheets and a tarpaulin on top and fastened down the sides as carefully and solidly as we could.
  "The winds used to come from the West." Ben said,
  "Yes or from the South," I said. "The opening should be towards the north. That is if winds after the Wave behaves as those before."
  "I don't see why not," Ben retorted, "but so far we have had none."
  "This will have to do for tonight," we all agreed.

  When we sat eating in the semi dark. I pulled out my diary and found the last entry.
  "My last entry was on February 15. It reads: Sunrise 7.39, Sunset 17.10, crisp and clear. Today I went to Jill's. Preparing for party tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing Allan again."
  I paused, wiped my eyes, drank a sip of the not so fresh water and continued. "February 16: The world ended. We survived at Joe's farm."
  "Who are 'we'?" George asked, "Shouldn't you write down our names."
  "Yes, true," I said. "Spill it!"
  "Jill and George Robertson 36 and 37 years old, with children George Junior 11, Janet 6, Gregor almost 3 and June 6 months," George said.
  I looked at Pete and Minna, who spoke "Pete and Minna Smith 25 and 28 years old. Brother and sister in-law of Ben."
  Ben said: "Sally and Ben Smith, 21 and 23. Ben is a carpenter and Sally a seamstress."
  I wrote all this down and added James and Linda, Caretakers. "James and Linda. What was their last name?"
  "No idea," Jill said, and Pete and Minna just shook their heads.
  "Former occupations would be great," I added. " Minna?"
  Minna answered: "Pete, Accountant and Minna, Paleontologist."
  "Jill, housewife and bookkeeper for George, Salesman," said Jill, but you knew.
  I smiled, added my own name: Mary Bandas, 62, Teacher,  and continued: "February 17: We moved to the ex-waterfall, James died, and was buried by the waterfall. February 18: We prepared for our walk out. Linda wanted to stay behind. February 19: We walked here. Where's here, by the way?" I asked.
  "In the middle of somewhere," Jill said.
  "On two hills." Sally added.
  "Two Hills, that sounds nice, Good name." And Two Hills it was. "February 20, today. We built a stilt hut in Two Hills, Clouds arrived."
  I closed the book and put it back into my backpack. It was almost totally dark now. We still did not like using our candles too much. We did not know how long they had to last us, and we did not want them to use any more oxygen than necessary.

to be continued ...