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“What?” Scott blinked.
Brendan and Bec had returned to the market to continue shopping. Caitlin and Scott were alone in the park.
“What?” Scott asked again as Caitlin maintained the expression of disbelief on her face.
“When were you going to let me in on your plan?” She tilted her chin up to him.
“Oh, that. Well, I was thinking on my feet and did nae have a chance tae ask you.”
“You didn’t think it was worth discussing with me first? Like, we will have strangers stay with us, for who knows how long, and you asked without consulting me? Me, your wife who has to live with them also?” Caitlin moved her hands to her hips to join her chin in defiance. Scott hung his head, closed his eyes, and rubbed his brow with his thumb.
“I’m sorry, Caitlin.” Scott looked up. “I forgot you don’t ken them yet, like I do.” He stepped closer. “They are good people and we get on well with them. I don’t regard them as strangers, aye? Sorry. You’re right. I should have consulted you first. But it’s a good plan, aye?” He raised his eyebrows and nodded vigorously.
Caitlin didn’t answer his question. She had more. “Will they stay in the cottage with us?”
“Aye, in the room you are...were in. You should move your things into mine anyways, aye?”
“And we have enough food for them? They will eat our stores that should last the two of us over the winter?”
“I had a wee peek at their vehicle. If I’m not wrong, they’re loaded up with supplies of some sort. I’m sure they’ll not mind contributing something while they stay.”
“You said ‘Free bed and board as payment’. What if it takes a long time and they eat everything?”
“Caitlin, Brendan will make it possible for us to get electrical power! We’ll make the food last! It shouldn’t take more than a week at the most.”
Caitlin pouted and didn’t reply, trying to suppress a peeve at Scott not even considering asking her.
“I’m truly sorry, lass.” Scott pulled her closer to himself. “I should have consulted you. Aye, you’ve raised some good questions.”
“Valid concerns.”
“Aye, concerns. Valid ones an’ all but I saw a solution to our problem and went for it. It’s not like you have nae done it!”
“But I have never done it!”
“Oh aye, that’s right, ye have nae yet. When you do it, you will understand why I did what I’ve done today. Sometimes leaders decide as they go and must wear the consequences.”
***
CONTINUING TO STOCK up on supplies at the market in front of the museum, they bought a bag of chicken feed to get them going, saddle soap, buckets and more seeds. Scott bought a few tarpaulins. He would need to wrap the windmill equipment in one for their journey home. Also, a few rolls of chicken wire. There was not much room for more.
“I would still like to know where this windmill will fit. When are you getting it?” Caitlin eyed their stock of supplies.
“At the end of the day. I was thinking we may camp just out of town past the railway station. There’s a nice quiet spot by the loch. We can carry it between us to there.”
The windmill itself was ten feet in length. Scott planned to extend this when he installed it. The disassembled blades were each slightly over four feet. The batteries were large and heavy, and Scott had bought two. They made their way to the camping spot Scott had found and set up the tent and arranged the animals on the grass. It was drizzling, so he double-flied the tent to make a shelter for the goat, the chickens which stayed in their cages, and Scruffy. Scott wrapped the windmill, its fittings and batteries, and the saddles and stores in other tarpaulins and placed them closely alongside the tent. They secured the horses on a grassy patch by the loch’s edge. Caitlin collected wood, made a campfire and put the camp kettle on to boil. She eyed the windmill parts and the storage batteries once more.
“Getting this home will be interesting. No—impossible!”
“Dinnae fash, Caitlin. I’m hoping the Hamilton’s will come to the rescue and offer to transport it in their vehicle.”
“Oh... I see now. You’re not as dumb as you look, are you Scott Campbell? Or am I meant to say ‘Murray’? But what if they say no?”
“They’ll accept. I ken them. He’ll love the challenge, and she’s tired from travelling. Bec needs a rest for a wee while. Besides, you and Bec have a lot in common. You work well together with medical things in the future.” With a beaming smile on his face Scott added, “Bec delivered Angela.”
“Who’s Angela?”
“Our firstborn.” Scott’s grin expanded.
“Oh! Boy, I’m a terrible mother! I have never even asked you about our children.”
Interrupted by the sound of a car engine and bright headlights directed at their camp, Caitlin slipped her hand down her right boot, and grabbed her throwing knives sitting in their sheath strapped to her ankle. Scott took his handgun from its holster around his waist. The group of loud youths at the market had eyed their purchases. Scott’s nerves had seemed on high alert ever since, probably anticipating their appearance during the night. He also had that look in his eye, the one he always had when concerned for her safety. The headlights turned off, and the driver stepped out of the car.
“Only us, Scott.” Brendan’s silhouette emerged from the driver’s side.
Scott’s shoulders relaxed. Caitlin removed her hand from her knives.
“Well, good evening, Brendan and Bec.” Scott said.
“We hope you don’t mind us turning up, but we were wondering if you wouldn’t mind if we camped with you two tonight. Safety in numbers, and all that.”
“Aye right, so there is, Brendan. We would be glad of your company. Ye are most welcome to be with us tonight.”
Bec and Brendan parked their vehicle next to Scott and Caitlin’s camp and set up camp-chairs next to the fire. Caitlin pooled her resources with Bec and produced a fried dinner for four, cooked over the fire in Bec’s cast iron frying-pan.
“Maybe we will have eggs for breakfast tomorrow!” Caitlin said.
“You think your hens will lay eggs in that cage? You’re hopeful. Even a chicken needs to be comfortable and secure to produce an egg.” Scott pointed at the cage.
“Guess I’d better read up on chicken keeping then.” Caitlin made a face at Scott. It received the slight smile she was looking for.
“Have you heard much news of the goings-on then?” Brendan opened the conversation as they sat around the campfire.
“Only what we hear on the radio. I’m sure the government doesn’t allow all that’s happening to be broadcast.” Scott fished for information. Caitlin sensed he was wondering where history was up to—the history he knew.
“Well,” Brendan continued, “after the stock market crashed, everyone’s wealth diminished. Some only by half, some lost all. Small businesses folded then even companies with large workforces went under. The ‘less well off’, shall we say, rose in protest to the Government. Some of them then took things into their own hands, like a revolution. Mobs ransacked a lot of private homes, and even stately homes run by the National Trust! The wealth stolen. Now and then, I’ve recognised something for sale on the black market, and even at these local markets, which looks like it’s from such a place. Some wealthy people, who didn’t have good security, were injured, and a few killed.” Brendan’s voice grew strained. “Lawlessness and violence are rampant. No shopping centre was exempt from looting, either. Goods are in short supply unless you know where to go. People live in fear and bar and defend their homes. We haven’t felt safe anywhere.”
Shivers ran their creeping fingers up Caitlin’s spine as she listened to Brendan. She had followed the progression of events on the radio news and Scott’s warnings of what would happen. But this from Brendan...
“It happened all over the Western world,” Bec continued where Brendan had paused. “The governments of the developed countries are only just holding on, accused of weak leadership, a crisis of this nature only proved it. And well, countries, such as those found on the African continent, and,” she added, “I hate to simplistically malign any country, but they have descended into absolute chaos. Probably never to return to normalcy.”
“So, with people on the move there must be a lot of refugees then, aye?” Scott asked.
“Aye. But do you remember a few years ago, there were masses of refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea and entering Europe via Italy?” Brendan paused while Scott nodded. “Also, there were millions coming from Syria due to the war there. Well, after the problems they had with terrorists who had snuck through posing as refugees, the British, European, and Scandinavian governments have closed their borders. The USA and Australia aren’t letting anyone in. Having trouble enough with their own people. It’s like a wall has gone up around these countries. All borders have a heavy military guard.”
“Oh, the world is a bad place! This country is no better. We just want to go somewhere safe and ride out the storm.” Bec wrapped her coat tighter around her shoulders.
They sat staring at the campfire, each silent in their own thoughts. The fire crackled as the heat made its combustible way through the wood. It warmed Caitlin’s face, and the smoke stung her eyes intermittently. Scott threw more logs on the fire and she watched the sparks fly heavenwards. Caitlin kept her head tilted back, looking at the night sky. An open fire and stars, two things which always aided contemplation.
“Those stars won’t change,” Caitlin broke the silence. “They’ll still be there when this crisis is over. We need to hang in there and be ready; be what the world needs when it’s time for order again. And we must preserve what we have before it is all lost and we have another Dark Age. Don’t we?” She gazed at each of her companions, endeavouring to make eye contact with them.
Bec’s mouth was open as she stared intently at her. Brendan also gazed at her; his head slightly tilted to the side. Scott looked directly at her, a smile at the corner of his mouth. Caitlin might have sounded profound—unintentional on her part. In her relaxed state, she had comfortably expressed herself. She now squirmed in her seat as no one answered her. Caitlin stared into the fire and the tightness of a frown pulled at her forehead. She was reluctant to speak further, as to do so would give Scott away. They watched the flames in silence as the fire crackled and sparked.
“Scott, I’d like very much to help you set up your wind generator. Is the offer still on?” Brendan broke the silence.
“Oh aye, certainly. I need your help and advice with it. Are ye able to come home with us in the morning? We have a five-hour journey, so we’ll be leaving at dawn.”
“Oh, we’ll come with you, but I have a question. How were you going to get the windmill and storage batteries home?”
“Aye, well. I’d try and rig something up between the horses but if you have a better idea, I’m most happy to hear it.”