Friday, February 10, 2006

August 7th - Part IV

The day went by rather quickly after that which was rather nice since I was really looking forward to the evening. When you’re busy preparing for winter you don’t have the opportunity to just spend time with someone whenever you want. I really wish that was a possibility but even today, knowing I was going to be seeing Em I still had to work with my dad till almost 7 before I could just take off. Normally this wouldn’t have even happened simply because of all the regular routine tasks that have to be done every night and day just to be able to be as productive as possible during the daylight hours and I might add during the warm hours.

I digress, the day went quickly and I found I was taking my shower before I even knew it and I definitely needed one today. I’m glad my parents didn’t mind me using the extra water; the heater runs on electricity and you don’t want to be wasting that unnecessarily. I got dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a nice shirt, I don’t have many of those since most of my work is fairly physical so it was a bit of a treat, even if we’re only going to the pub.

I was ready, I got my shoes on and I was about to put on my jacket when my mom looked up from her papers, “Have fun Joseph, you’ve definitely earned it.”

“Thanks mom” I replied putting my jacket on then I walked over and gave her a kiss on the forehead, “I’ll try not to be out too late”

It was already getting dark out and it wasn’t even that late, maybe 8:30 when I closed the door to the house behind me. The walk to the bar was pretty quick since most of the buildings in what’s left of the town are clustered together. The building was fairly large in that it was two floors with the pub also being a local inn or hotel. There wasn’t a great deal of travel so keeping a full hotel up and running really didn’t make much sense. It also meant that whenever someone came to town everyone knew about it.

I opened the door to find the place about half full, people often came here to have a drink or just to socialize before heading home. There was also a bit of a buzz that was a bit louder than normal; maybe a traveler came into town. I saw Emily instantly sitting in our favorite booth in the back corner and headed over there right away.

She noticed me coming over and smiled warmly her eyes lighting up, “You’re late you know!” she quipped in my direction as I came to the booth.

“I wanted to look my best for you!” I jabbed back and leaned over giving her a kiss. Taking off my jacket I asked, “What’s with all the noise? Someone new in town?”

Continued from: August 7 - Part I
Story: The Longest Winter

Thursday, February 09, 2006

August 7th - Part III

After finishing breakfast I grabbed my jacket and headed out the door, it was a beautiful morning the sun was shining and a few wisps of clouds were floating by though there was a bit of crispness to the air. Taking in a deep breath I started towards the storage that we used for building supplies. It was simply a warehouse that we used for storing building supplies, as did others, it’s much easier to keep one storage building insulated and standing through the winters than everyone having their own. It was a fairly big building being it was 3 floors high but I was also one of the ugliest buildings in town, it looked like a big box, no windows only a couple doors.

I could see the monstrosity just down the street, the town was pretty quiet today, only a handful of people milling around. Just then I heard a familiar voice behind me, “Joesph, wait up!” Stopping and turning around I saw Em and couldn’t help but smile; her face was bathed in the morning sun and she looked radiant even though she was carrying a large bundle, “Hey Em! I’d give you a hug but my arms aren’t quite that long, want a hand?”

She walked up and gave me a kiss, “Sure thing, you headed to the box?” She always called the warehouse the box and rightfully so.

“Actually I am, my Dad needs some supplies so I’m the lucky one to go” I answered as I took some of her bundle. Looking at the things I grabbed from Em I realized that I was holding summer blankets, “Breaking out the warmer sleeping gear?”

“Yeah, my mom was complaining about the cold this morning so before anything I was told to switch them up” Em replied, more of her was now visible that I was carrying half of her bundle, she was wearing a pair of jeans, a pink sweater and a black jacket, the effect was simple but very nice. It made her look a bit older than her seventeen years but that was ok, she always had the air of maturity and wisdom about her, it was one of the things I liked about her.
“So we’re still on for later today?” I asked a bit nervously, chores and tasks tended to delay things especially when it started to get colder.

We reached the warehouse door by this point so I grabbed the door handle and swung it open before I could get an answer and held the door for her. I got this coy smile as Em walked in with a slightly raised eyebrow not stopping she headed straight for their locker. Her brown hair hung just past her shoulders and bounced slightly as she walked a bit quicker than normal making sure to sway her hips a bit in the process. It was just enough to get my attention in the faded light inside the building.

I quickly let go of the door and quickly followed her inside, she turned the corner to their storage locker and I heard the lock being opened. Turning the corner there was Em, looking right at me with that same coy smile, “What do you think? If course we’re still on for tonight” She took the bundle from me throwing it inside then kissed me, “And that’s just a taste for later, now go before you distract me too much”

Continued from: August 7 - Part I
Story: The Longest Winter

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

August 7th - Part II

Coming back out of the bathroom the only thing that was different was that now there was an extra plate of food sitting on the table in the empty spot beside my dad, who was still rather absentmindedly looking towards the papers and only occasionally taking a piece of backing and eating it. I sat down looking at my plate, lots of bacon and two fried eggs with some potatoes. Much better than the bacon and porridge that I would be subjected to for most of the winter.

Looking over his glasses at me as I sat down my dad had a thoughtful look on his face. He was all business this morning, as he typically was about 10 minutes into breakfast. “Joeseph, I’m going to need you to go over to the storage and bring a couple cans of the resin we stored away earlier this summer and bring them to Nancy and Jim’s place after breakfast. Then go over to Juan’s to see how the chicken shed held up over night, be sure to check the whole building since I think it went below freezing last night.”

Just then my mother cut in as she sat down with a plate of food for herself, “Oh Mike, could you just let him eat his breakfast before you give him his tasks for the day.” She grabbed a piece then before she got to putting it in her mouth looked over at my dad, “I’m going to start work on the plans for the store house today, we really need to get that fixed up before it gets too cold.”

Putting the papers down, my dad nodded, “Probably a good idea, Nancy and Jim’s is going to take a week or so which should leave us more than enough time to finish the shed before we have to start patching up the town hall and the tunnel struts.”

They continued to talk about work while I was enjoying the bacon and eggs wondering what was in store for me after I did my two small tasks, probably helping out on Nancy and Jim’s would be my guess since Jeff one of our helping hands had to take off a bit early to help bring in the crops with his family. It would be a busy day I figured, but I would see my Em at the end of it so it would be worth it.

“Hey Mom,” I asked looking up suddenly, “How’s the water heater working? I wanted to take a shower before heading out to meet with Em today”

Looking over from the same piece of paper my father had been engrossed in she smiled, “Oh it’s working fine, the changes you made seem to be holding up quite nicely. So I guess you’ll be out late tonight at the pub?”

I couldn’t help but smile quirkily back at her, they liked Em which was a good thing since secrets are hard to keep in small communities, “Yeah probably.”

Continued from: August 7 - Part I
Story: The Longest Winter

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

August 7th - Part I

There was a chill in the room that I felt on my face as I heard my mother calling from the kitchen getting me to wake up for breakfast. I looked over at the clock sitting on the side table it read 9:30 and was ticking away happily as if nothing was any different than any other day in the past but the weather was colder and I was going to see Em today. I glared at the clock trying to teach it a lesson with my glare letting it know that today was going to be a good.

The warmth of the bed was tempting me with a few more minutes of sleep when another holler came from the kitchen, “Joseph, get up breakfast is ready!”

Reluctantly I scanned the room looking for some clothes that were handy, the floor was going to be cold and I knew it, my face was cold enough and I didn’t want to get out from under the covers. But breakfast was waiting and I would be that much closer to seeing Em, my sweet Emily. I noticed the jeans I had on yesterday lying close to the dresser, luck, I could get some socks on just after my pants and I had to have a clean shirt and sweater in the dresser.

I took the plunge and threw the covers off jumping out of bed racing for the dresser, the five feet seemed like it was a mile. I pretty much jumped into the jeans without doing them up before I dove for the dresser opening the sock drawer and the sweater drawer grabbing the first things I could before jumping back onto the somewhat warm bed to put my clothes on. The jeans were still cold against my legs as I sat down getting my feet off the cold floor.

The sweater and socks were very welcome but by the time I was in them I was already starting to get used to the woken up used to the cold feeling. It wasn’t really all that cold, my glass of water beside the happily ticking clock still had water in it and not ice so it was just my imagination.

“Joseph are you coming!?” came the yell from behind the door.

Opening the door the smell of breakfast reached me, bacon, that was definitely bacon I smelled. Looks like dad brought in some of the food from the freezer that we got in payment for patching up the Jones’ pig house last month. This was going to be a treat, at least today.

“Morning” I managed to mumble on my way to the bathroom. My father was sitting at the table eating his breakfast looking over a piece of paper that looked like a list of supplies for today’s job. The next house that we needed to fix up was the Bergman’s, they wanted to patch it up before it got cold and they were paying in cash which was a nice change since most of the people this summer had paid in barter or agreed barter for food during the winter months which would be upon us soon.

Story: The Longest Winter

Monday, February 06, 2006

Parents

So what else has changed? Well not nearly as much manufacturing goes on as it used to for rather obvious reasons. In the past there were huge factories that produced anything and everything under the sun, most of the items were useless luxiuries that are no longer neccessary and most of the time there weren’t even any people creating anything it was machines that did the work. Factories still exist, people specializing in creating specific things and then trading them for either money or bartering for things they need to survive like food and clothes. People learned to focus on their strengths, my parents were resourceful when they first got to Florida they knew about snow and took advantage of that helping people remove it and clear it away for money. That’s changed, now everyone knows about the snow and we’ve all gotten very efficient about removing it… we don’t remove it all now; that’s too much work. But I digress.

My parents, I’ve mentioned them a few times but not their names, Michael and Julia Smythe. My dad was in still in university studying mathematics and physics he had a bunch of odd jobs here and there that often relied on the fact that he was a pretty hand guy and resourceful. My mother on the other hand had just finished a college degree in computers, web design specifically. Between the two of them they were able to raise me and start a small business that provided enough money and often traded food that has kept us alive. Smythe House Construction and Insulation is the name of the company and I’ve been working with my family since I could be useful. The winters damage as much as they can kill, each winter houses collapse under the weight of the snow not to mention the ice that gets in and then there’s the matter of cold. So we’re kept pretty busy well into the first snowfalls.

It’s a very efficient operation when it comes to pretty much everything my mom and dad work together to plan everything out, they use my moms computer skills with my dad’s knowledge of math and physics to make sure everything is sound before we start building or fixing anything. I almost forgot, computers still exist, there isn’t many new ones being made but they still exist, it’s a completely different society than in the past but some technology has stayed if it hasn’t prospered in some unique and often limited way.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Frustration

The world has changed drastically since I was born; the first couple winters really brought the worst out in people. I still remember seeing two grown men get into a fist fight over a snow shovel they started scrapping in the middle of the road as I was looking out the window, I couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4 at the time. It was a very clear sign of the frustration the changes had brought to people, I didn’t know what it meant at the time but I understand it now, thankfully we’ve had some extra time to adjust to the situation now when there is a dispute over who wants and needs what there is much more sharing.

Though there is also a resignation to the inevitable and that can be seen in the older people, those that have survived the past 20 or so years and remember the past, how it was the ease of life. Sadly now when these people hit this resignation is when many of them die, not because they’re trying to commit suicide or anything silly like that. They get careless when there isn’t a lot of room for error.

It creeps up on you this frustration; it happens in younger people as well I’ve seen some of my friends going through it though it’s never as bad as when it’s the people who remember the past. We only hear stories about it. I myself have never seen a plane fly though I’ve seen pictures and understand how it works. There aren’t many cars left, but they’re still around, I can see the fruits of past labors, I can see how life must have been in the past.

The frustration really creeps in when you realize that it never really needed to be this way, we had the ability to stop this but we chose not to. The companies of the past were greedy even though a great many of them had started taking care of the planet in their own small ways before things started. It was the ones from 50, 70, and 90 years ago that were the big problem they did things without considering the consequences. Not people consider what they do… mostly.