Part 13 - May 21 - The University
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Carl woke up, just as he always had, with the rising sun. When everyone else had decided to go to bed, he had walked across the campus to the agricultural complex to sleep in his old office. He had noticed Tim looking around as if he were lost and offered him one of the rooms in the agricultural hall.
He lay on his back on the old foldout bunk, mentally ticking off what needed to be done before he would walk over to the student dorms, but first, he needed to take care of the animals housed in the barns. It was a good thing that he and Frank had walked over to the barns after supper last night. The animals had needed attention; three cows without calves had needed to be milked. He had put the milk in the big walk-in fridge in the food court and left a note for the women to shake or stir the milk to mix in the cream.
He was impressed with the way that teacher, Nancy, had gathered up the children and protected them. He smiled to himself as he thought of the woman. He shook his head: the world was falling apart and you’re checking this woman out. He smiled at himself: old soldiers never lost the habit of checking out the lay of the land wherever they went. There was that matter of the “Mrs.” in front of her name, though. But then, what was that stupid line—if I was the last man and you were the last woman in the world? Could a nice lady like her be attracted to an old troll like him, even if he was the last available male? I’ll dazzle her with my country boy charm and six gallons of fresh milk for her kiddos, he grinned. She was a very brave lady to have pulled it together under these circumstances and kept those kids safe.
Carl finally got up, dressed, then checked on Tim. They strolled to the barn to milk the cows. He could hear the cows bawling; they had been in pain last night with their need to be milked, and this morning they were ready again. One old cow had her calf, so she had been all right. He might take the calf off her later if they needed the extra milk, but that calf was a little heifer, and he wanted to keep her. The calf looked up at him with large liquid brown eyes lined with beautiful long lashes. The children will be enchanted by this baby. He was sure that if he took the calf off her mother there would be plenty of children who would want to take over her care and the bottle feedings. He felt sure that many of the children would benefit by taking care of some of the animals just for their own emotional well-being. It would be a great distraction if nothing else.
But for now, the other three ladies needed to be milked. He considered using the milking machine and letting the machine do the work, but by the time he cleaned up the equipment and put everything away, he could have the ladies milked by hand and the liquid refrigerated. So, he got some buckets, gave Tim a lesson, and they set to work. He gave the ladies hay and grain while they worked. Next, they took care of the chickens. There appeared to be two days of eggs in the nest boxes; he threw grain to the chickens and checked the water. He’d definitely need to train some of the children to help him with the animals as soon as possible and see to it that things were done properly, but right now he needed to get a cart to take the milk and eggs back to the kitchen.
He and Tim pushed the cart down one of many brick-paved sidewalks crossing the quad, this one headed toward the east side of the old campus. Carl pointed out the different buildings and what was taught in each one. The barns, greenhouses, coops, fields, and stables were the result of the newer upgrades on campus, located on the far side of the botany and biology colleges. Carl scanned the sky; it was shaping up to be another beautiful day. There was a light breeze blowing through the trees, and the robins and chickadees were chirping as they flitted through the shrubs and trees, preparing nests for this year’s chicks. He wheeled the cart past a koi pond that he had patched up last year. They paused for a moment to watch the koi as they lazily pivoted and performed pirouettes around the water lilies. The lilies were not quite in full foliage yet, allowing for a full view of the brightly colored fish. Carl loved early mornings; he and Sammie had become good friends partly because they both loved to be out during the quiet morning hours.
Carl watched the boy. He had been far too quiet. “You know, Tim, if there's anything you need to talk about, I can listen just as well as I can talk.” He smiled at the boy.
Tim smiled. “I think it’s just starting to really sink in that this is all happening.” He looked down at the koi in the pond. “Thanks, I guess I’m just not ready yet.”
“When you’re ready then.” Carl gave the cart a shove and continued the trip to the food court to put the milk away.
