Part 25 - May 21 - University - Suppertime

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Frank and Helen had the children arranging the next load of supplies in the common room. Carl and Frank reported that they had seen to the main freezers at the big box store and had piled all the meat and frozen foods into one freezer. Carl was confident that the solar backup system would sustain the unit until they could get the campus units fully functional, and then they could transport all the food to this location.

Meanwhile, Carl and Frank were again discussing how to get some of the solar cars working so they would have more options for transportation instead of being solely dependent on the old bus. Fuel for the old diesel engine was limited, and eventually, they would run out of diesel. With the solar cars, though, they could recharge the batteries from the charging stations. The problem was how to disconnect the auto commands from the internet to gain manual control of the machines.

Just then, Tim strolled into the dorm with a large smile and announced, “Supper is being served, and would everyone please proceed to the campus food court.” The group walked back to the student union, where Nancy and Helen had the children lined up to be served supper.

Helen turned to the two new adults. “You two just relax and watch as Nancy, myself, and the children demonstrate our routine on how to serve a meal—Colony style.”

Nancy quickly turned to look at Helen. “Colony?” she questioned.

Helen smiled. “The children have decided to call the campus ‘The Colony.’”

This was the first time Nancy had heard the term used for the campus. The fact that one or some of the children were naming or claiming the campus could mean several things. The main takeaway was that at least some of the children had claimed the campus as their space and that they were here for good.

Nancy turned her attention back to the boys. Jeff, Larry, and Tim had prepared an amazing supper. The menu tonight was spaghetti with meat sauce, chicken fettuccini, fresh salad, brownies, and—again—real milk.

Everyone was amazed and complimented the boys profusely.

“How did you boys do all this?” Nancy asked with unfeigned amazement.

“Oh, it’s really easy. You just make two different sauces—the meat sauce and the chicken Alfredo—and a big batch of spaghetti or whatever macaroni you have,” Larry stated. “My dad would set up the buffets for parties this way.” Larry’s voice faded away as he finished, his eyes shining, near tears.

Nancy stepped over and hugged the boy. “Your father would be so very proud of you, Larry. You’ve done a great job, and this is the best Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo I’ve ever had.”

Larry gave Nancy a weak smile, his eyes still wet. “It was my grandmother’s recipe. She taught me how to make it last summer, just before she died,” he whispered.

Nancy tried to change the subject; everything about this meal seemed to bring sad memories of loss to the boy. “Did you make the brownies from scratch?”

Larry smiled. “No, Jeff found a bunch of box mixes in the back, so we had the fresh eggs and other ingredients, and he just made enough for everyone to have a brownie.”

“These are from a mix?” Nancy exclaimed. “These taste richer than any box mix I ever made.”

“Well, we had a lot of whole milk, so instead of water I used that milk with the cream on top. So, yeah, I guess the creamy milk makes them richer.” Jeff smiled proudly.

Nancy smiled at the boys, thinking, This 14-year-old can cook better than I can. She walked around speaking to the children, probing for a measure of how they were holding up emotionally. She was also listening for ideas and information on how to make life better for them under these new circumstances.

Nancy paused and looked down the hallway as three girls came hurrying toward her. Rachel, Kaelyn, and Jaylene all started talking at once about some store they had found.

The entire lower level of the student union had been devoted to the needs of students on campus. Not only was there a variety of food shops, but the main campus store was located on this level as well. The girls chattered excitedly to Nancy about how they could run the store and supply the group with supplies. There was an entire clothing section, and they could organize the clothes and charge money for supplies.

Smiling, Nancy had to almost shout, “Stop!” She finally got the girls to slow down. “Alright, take a deep breath. First, how will the rest of the children get money?”

“Well, they can earn money by doing their chores,” Rachel said.

Nancy held her hands up in surrender, drawn in by the girls’ exuberance. “Okay, we’ll talk about it. First, show me this store.”

They practically dragged Nancy deeper into the student union to the school store, all the while chattering nonstop about the possibilities the store represented to the group of survivors.

Nancy, finally able to squeeze a word in, informed the girls, “You have a great idea. Tomorrow we can start by bringing all the extra clothing down and arranging the supplies we have here. You will need an inventory on what is in here first.”

The girls were excitedly discussing what they would do. Nancy smiled, watching them come to life with their ideas. Carl had quietly followed Nancy and the girls.

“So, you ladies will become our quartermasters.”

They looked at Carl and asked, “What’s that?”

“The officers in charge of the supplies for the whole military base. An army can’t operate without the proper supplies. Cut off supplies and you cripple the army. This is a very important job. Are you ladies sure that you’re up to the challenge?”

The girls burst into exclamations, assuring Nancy and Carl that they could do the job. They beamed with pride that their idea was being met with approval by Mrs. Jackson, and that it was backed up as a vitally important function for the group.

“How did soldiers come and get supplies?” Jaylene asked. “I mean, did they earn money or credits? How did the army do it?”

“Military personnel earned a paycheck, but sometimes the barracks officers would sign a chit and a soldier would go to the PX and procure their supplies,” Carl answered.

The girls looked confused, and then all three blurted non-stop questions:

“What’s a PX?”
“What’s a chit?”
“Is a chit a dollar or what?”

Then Rachel asked, “You mean like they would earn credits?”

Carl tried to follow the questions being lobbed at him from all directions.

He held up his hands to slow the girls down. “Whoa! Okay, yeah. A chit is something like money,” Carl said. “Sometimes a soldier needed certain supplies that were necessary for them to do their job, and sometimes the soldier just wanted something, and they had earned the privilege to receive what they needed or wanted.”

“So, if a student earned credits by doing their chores, they could get permission to come to get something they wanted?” Jaylene asked.

“That’s right. The sergeant would still have to sign off the request before the chit could be used, but that’s the general way things worked.” Carl smiled at the girls as they excitedly started to plan how they would set up the credit system and begin their supply depot.

As Nancy and Carl walked back to the food court, Larry and Jeff approached Nancy to repeat their request to take over the campus cafeteria. They excitedly told Nancy their plans for tomorrow’s meals.

Carl spoke up. “Whoa, I need to check the electrical systems and make sure everything is working correctly. Then we’ll all go to the store and start to move the frozen foods to the campus freezers.”

The boys deflated a little at that pronouncement.

“Why don’t you plan to serve your meals here for at least one more day, and once we make sure that the systems are working, you can start to plan your grand opening,” Carl finished.

“Grand opening,” Larry repeated to Jeff. Their eyes opened wide, and they walked away rapidly planning what they would do.

Nancy raised an eyebrow and asked, “Carl, what about the people who are still in the store?”

“Frank, Sam, and I had planned on going back tomorrow and moving the bodies so you could take all of the children to the store. I won’t let the kids see that,” he told her.

“Thank you, Carl. As long as you are there, Helen and I have made another list. I had no idea how much stuff it would take to run this ‘army,’ as you just called it.” She smiled at the man. “That’s basically what we have here, though—our own little army.”

Carl and Nancy walked back to sit down with Helen, Frank, Janet, and James for a few minutes. Helen looked around and asked, “Have you seen Tim?”

Carl smiled. “He and five of the children have gone back to the barn to collect eggs and pitch hay to the animals.”

Nancy looked closely at the man. “Are the children safe around those animals?”

“I wouldn’t let them go if they weren’t,” he said, returning Nancy’s questioning look. “I have to go milk the cows soon, so I’ll make sure everyone is fine. Don’t worry, momma hen, I’ll take care of your chicks.” He smiled as he stood up and walked away.

Nancy watched his back as he left; there was something he was not saying. But unless she followed him back to the barn, she’d just have to wait.

The adults organized the children to pitch in and clean up the food court and get it ready for tomorrow’s breakfast. Then they all went back outside to let the children play before everyone had to go inside for the night. Many children asked when they would get to play with the pets again. Frank and Sam reminded them that they must clean the kennels before they could play.

Sam stepped up on a bench and called for the children’s attention. “The animals need to be cleaned and groomed. I want half the group cleaning the rooms, and the other half can groom the animals, and then everyone can play. Those of you who want to play with the animals follow Frank and me back to the animal house.” Sam smirked at her little pun but realized that the obscure reference would be lost on the children.

As the group entered the pet rooms, exclamations of disgust about the mess the little animals had made already filled the first floor. The children chafed at the idea of having to do more cleaning—first the food court, now this—but Sam reminded them that the pets must be kept clean or they could get sick. “No one wants to pick up the poop,” Sam explained, “but we’ll start to train the pets to go outside, and the kitties will quickly learn to use the litter pans. Then cleanup will nearly disappear.”

Many of the children continued to back away from the cleanup task when one of the older boys, Joe, stepped up to Sam and Frank. “Why don’t we divide the group into teams like we did in gym class?” the boy suggested. “Then we can take turns doing the messy jobs or the fun ones.”

Frank looked at the boy. “That’s an excellent idea. How did your teacher go about doing that?”

Joe explained, “The teacher assigned team leaders.” He pointed toward some of the older children in the group. “Sarah, Noah, Allie, and myself are team leaders, and we’d put the teams together. So, I think we could set up teams according to who wants to play with the puppies or the kittens, and then who wants to play with the smaller animals. Then each of those teams can take turns cleaning and playing.”

Joe and Allie quickly lined everyone up in the hallway and divided the children into four main groups. Each group was then divided into two subgroups. Joe assigned the groups to the designation of A or B teams, then announced, “Today, teams A will clean, and teams B will groom. Tomorrow we will switch jobs. Sarah and I will take B teams outside with the larger pets and the grooming tools; Allie and Noah have the A teams, who will stay in to clean up.”

The operation actually took very little time, and within a matter of minutes, all the children were outside playing with the animals.

Noah and Allie stayed inside to facilitate the handling of the small animals, which were kept inside, and the children played with them in the common room—with the exception of the ferrets.

Nancy watched as the children brought the small furry bundles out to the quad. She smiled as she watched the grimaces or an occasional “yeeooh!” or “yick!” emanating from a child as one of the little animals answered nature’s call and someone had to clean up another mess.

The adults watched and listened as the older children stepped in and automatically took over, directing the groups they had organized by specific pet interest. There was not much for the adults to do but watch and enjoy. It quickly became obvious that the older children had experience in caring for pets, and Sam and Frank stepped back and let them take charge. Sarah, Noah, Joseph, and Allie were natural leaders. Sam could see how a teacher would choose them as group leaders, as they confidently directed their assigned groups. The two adults needed only to watch and make sure jobs were done correctly.

Sam and Frank relaxed as the young of different species played together and tired each other out. There were very few disagreements about who got which pet next, and after about an hour, the pets and children were obviously tired, and most needed to take a rest.