Chapter 16

“To put it bluntly, you. Hank, I want romance from you or know the reason why not.”

“Uh.” I stammered. “I knew we liked each other but had thought no further. I meant not to do anything to make you uncomfortable. I wanted you to be comfortable around me.”

“In that, you have succeeded quite well. However, I want more from you. You are a good guy and want to feel you as part of a couple with me.”

I gently put my arms around her and pulled her to me as we fell lightly onto her bed. I kissed her lips. “I’ve wanted to do that ever since we met.” She pulled my head back down and kissed me with more passion. Our hands started to roam and clothes were removed.

It was a long while later when she said, “Hank, that was better than I thought rt would be. I hope for repeat sessions.”

“Sarah, that’s good, However, I’m not much on sharing.”

“That’s okay. Alice suggested that was true from your past. That will work for me. I also think our little community will be good on that, too.”

We were lying on the bed holding each other. I found that Sarah’s body fit mine quite well. She seemed happy with me. “Hank, I want to make this permanent. How should we go about that since we will set precedent for the rest?”

“Sarah, I guess we make an announcement and move in together. I hadn’t thought much about setting precedent but, you’re right, it will. I think an announcement will be enough for a long time. I like simple and, in a small group, that works.”

She smiled. “That’s good. Right now, I want to be loved again.” Being the nice fellow that I am, that’s what I did, twice.

We slept together for the remainder of the night. We got up together and cleaned up. “Hank, are we going to move me to your room or you to here?”

“I think both of us should move into the master suite. As newly wedded, I don’t think anyone will mind though I expect we will be kidded, particularly by my niece, Alice.”

“Oh, yes, she will enjoy us being together finally in her mind.”

Holding hands, I opened the door and Sarah led us out into the kitchen. Alice was there first, “Ahh, my possible parental unit, you have made an appearance!”

“If so, you’ll have to show proper respect.” She grinned.

Ed asked with a grin, “Who finally made the first move?”

Stella answered him, “I’ll bet it was Sarah. Hank is too timid to make a first move.”

I blushed. Sarah grinned even more, “Stella, you have it. He was worried about upsetting me as though this whole situation isn’t upsetting.

“I’m just glad we met even though the overall situation could have been better.”

Jane grinned, “Are you moving? The master suite is available. Do you just hold hands or can we look forward to an increase in our population though internal growth?”

Everyone was laughing. Sarah said, ‘We had thought to take that room and look forward to that possibility.” The laughter continued even louder.

I decided to grin and bear it keeping my mouth closed with a happy smile. I also had an arm around Sarah’s waist which was good, too.

Stella and Jane were there to help Sarah and Alice with breakfast. We had to manage without eggs since the ones in the stores were bad and we had no chickens. We did have coffee, sugar and sugar substitutes and fake creamer. Sarah and Alice had been using dried milk and powdered eggs to substitute for what we didn’t have. Over time, we expected our garden to bear fruit along with our efforts to find animals. I figured it would be many years before beef steaks reappeared on my menu, also.

We had pancakes with maple syrup and sausages. We had picked up cases of pancake mix and of maple syrup. I had “liberated” a large case of sausages though I was pretty sure that this was the last of them. We ate heartily and happily.

I looked at Sarah and asked, “What’s on the ‘to do’ list for today, Dear?”

“We will move clothes to our new room. I think more study on the radios would be productive. If we really get ambitious, we can check out some houses for future people.”

I smiled, “As long as we’re doing it together.”

Alice said, “Eww. That’s so sticky it’s sweet.”

We smiled and went to each of our rooms in turn. We cleaned each room after clearing our things out. I noticed that Sarah had some slinky underthings. I hoped she would wear them in the future. He body was slim and taller than average. I liked what I had seen of her last night and looked forward to seeing more of her as time went on.

We joined a few others to listen to Ed talk about the radios and then talk on the radios. We found no one on the “two meter VHF” radio ... Ed said the repeaters were silent. He then went to the larger radio which he called an HF radio. He said that it doesn’t use repeaters but you talk directly and usually for much further distances.

He then said, “This is a frequency popular in Georgia before the Eclipse.” He tuned the radio and we heard two men talking.

At a pause, Ed said, “Contact.”

One said, “Go, Contact.”

“Hello. I’m Ed Samples speaking from east Newton County, Georgia. I’m a Tech who was studying for General and ready for the test. Then, the Eclipse happened. I think this situation fits the emergency definition.”

“It does in my mind,” said the same voice. “Are you part of a group? There’s twenty of us here north of Gainesville. My name is George.”

“We’re getting organized down here. This portion of Newton County has a number of horse farms which we’re using and starting to farm them. Our leader, Hank Rivers, is moving us to farming because there will be no more deliveries.”

The other voice said, “I’m Larry in east Alabama. This is a rural area where I’ve been living on a lake. It’s peaceful and the folks here are working together pretty well. I guess you’re like the rest of us and were sick for the Eclipse.”

Ed smiled, “I think Hank was the exception who proves the rule. He had to work in his windowless cubicle. He has since turned in his notice.”

That got a chuckle in the room and over the air. Ed continued, “Let me put Hank on to talk for a moment. Go ahead, Hank.”

Ed handed me the mic. Sarah nodded. I said, “Gentlemen, it’s good to hear you. I’ve been gathering survivors because, once all the crazies are gone, we will have to rebuild and that will take a long time. Our lifestyles have been built on the many conveniences that we have. All that takes infrastructure and there will not be the numbers of people to maintain it. We’re used to having gasoline. Who’s going to pump it from the ground? Who will refine it? Who will transport it to our area? The answer to those questions is that those persons are dead in this tragedy. We have to figure out how to work around or do without. To rebuild, we will have to band together and work together.”

It was quiet for a long moment. The voice that identified as Larry said, “I can see where all that is going to a problem. It’s a reasonable worry that you have identified. It’s going to change some of my plans to consider what will eventually happen or change.”