Coastal Event Memories (5 page)

David has found that the electronics still in their original conductive foam packaging had survived the EMP Storm. At the bottom of one box he discovered a wide band scanner. He hooked up an antenna on the roof, and turned it on every afternoon, while he worked on other projects. All he ever heard was static across all bands, but he kept listening. On one Saturday evening at 6:00 PM, he heard “ Breaker Breaker, This is Sutter Butte Base Any Station, Please come back. We will try again next Saturday, again at 6:00 PM” on Channel 16 of the CB Band.

Even with the large Best Buy electronics inventory, there was no CB gear. David worked unsuccessfully to attempt to repair the CB radio from the truck while Tiny made the rounds looking for working equipment. He found an old tube type CB base station in the wreckage of a trailer in Diamond Springs.

David had it set up and tested by Saturday afternoon, and that evening established a communication link with the settlement at Sutter Butte. They reported that their battery power was limited, but that they would send the Wild Goose to the next fair.

Thursday afternoon David and Tiny were up on the roof watching for their new arrivals, when they saw the sail on the horizon. Someone waved from near the top of the main mast. David returned the wave and then hurried down to the dock. The ship dropped the mainsail, and slowly approached the dock under the jib. David saw a freckled faced wisp of a girl fearlessly slide down a ratline to the main deck. She was wearing shorts and a tank top and looked about 13.   She caught the line he threw, and snubbed it to a cleat. An older man was at the helm, and said, “You must be David Russell. I’m Doc Hanson, and this imp is Rebecca Thompson, and her father Delbert.”

The introductions continued, while the Goose was secured to the dock. The visit was productive in several ways. Aaron Johnson asked for a ride back to his house, and was pleased to find it had not been salvaged. He filled both David’s and his trucks with furniture, tools, toys, and household items. David asked him if he ever planned to come back to live there.

His reply was short. “There are too many bad memories here, plus we have a big garden on the Butte. We will be completely self sustaining in another year.” He left his truck, also an old diesel, with David, asking only that it be available when anyone from Sutter Butte came to the Trading Post.

During the fair that weekend, the participants had an extended series of discussions on salvage and property rights. General agreement was reached on several points and David published them in the next issue of the Inland Sea Beacon:

Inland Sea Property Rights

This agreement, by a majority of the known population, will be the law for all property rights.

1.
       
Any physical property owned prior to Day 0 shall remain the property of those surviving owners, or their children. If no one has established a valid claim before Day 0 of year 2, that property will be considered abandoned. A valid property claim must be occupied.

2.
      
Any property unoccupied for 6 months, may be claimed by individuals or families, by occupying the property, salvaging or improving it, marking the borders, and posting that claim on the Property Database at the Best Buy Trading Post.

3.
      
Property claims shall not exceed 160 acres for agricultural property, 5 acres for residential property, 1 acre for business or salvage property.

4.
     
Property claims shall not include streets, roads, bridges, navigable waterways, schools, hospitals, or other property with significant potential for public good.

5.
      
Property may be sold or given to another by having both parties’ record the transaction on the Property Database.

6.
      
The Best Buy Trading Post will maintain the Property Database on a separate computer with backup. There will be no charge for an individual’s initial claim entry. Any additional entries or changes will incur a pre 64 dime, or mutually agreeable equivalent payment to Best Buy Trading Post.

7.
      
A jury of citizens in a trial shall settle any disputes, where both parties directly present their case. 

Zeke was ecstatic, his family was healthy, secure, and happy. Their farm, Casa Jacoby, was providing most of their needs, and the first batch of apricot brandy was ready for barter.

The Wild Goose had appeared one late summer day, and Zeke learned about the other settlements North of them. They traded some junk silver for some empty bottles, six hens and a rooster. He also found out about the Best Buy Trading Post Thanksgiving Fair in El Dorado, and resolved to be there that fall. While the range was too great for CB radio communications, both vessels had 10-meter systems on board. Because of power limitations on both vessels (the sun was never more than a dull glow), they agreed to communicate briefly, every Saturday night at 9:00 PM.

It was great, being able to communicate with the rest of their limited world, and all their excitement grew as Fall season approached. Finally, they departed, four days before Thanksgiving, with the harvest surplus, apricot brandy filling every available container, fuel tanks full of bio-diesel, and everyone but Hector, who insisted on looking after the homestead.

They arrived two days before the start date, and tied up to a dock opposite the Wild Goose. There were lots of small craft tied up along the shore, but the Flush and the Goose were the only larger vessels. Several vehicle, including trucks, cars, and wagons were parked in the Best Buy lot.

Everyone had something to trade or sell. Inside the building was where all the trading action occurred. About half of the people had focused on salvaging what was usable from before the Event. The balance of the people had homemade or grown goods or services to sell or trade. Some folks spent the days trading and re trading in a successions of transactions.

The first day Zeke met with Doc Hanson and David Russell and Tiny Landon, who were staging the event. They discussed the need for something more than barter, to facilitate the trading. The old money except maybe coins was useless. A few people had a little pre-64 (junk silver) coins, but there was not enough available to meet the developing needs.

Both Doc and Zeke had a lot of junk silver, as ballast in their vessels. By the first morning, the First Bank of Inland Sea was established, with a three-way partnership between Best Buy Trading Post, Zeke, and Doc. The Bank provided small, interest free junk silver loans, to be repaid by the end of the Fair Week. The exchange rate was set at:

1 Oz. Gold = 20 Silver Dollars; 1 Silver Dollar = 10 Dimes or 5 Nickels or 10 Pennies or 4 Quarters or 2 Halves; 1 Dollar on Post 64 Coins = 1 Dime, except for Pennies and Nickels.

The process worked, and significantly increased the level of trading during the remainder of the fair. The default level was limited to one individual who had purchased a calf. The man offered to leave his son as security until the next month’s fair. He was told that the Bank would trust him for that limited period.

Every night, groups would gather around bonfires to tell stories and sing songs. Zeke traded a jug of brandy for a battered guitar when he found out that Maria could play. On another night, he fired up the small generator, and used his digital projector and music system to show a John Wayne DVD on a bed sheet tied to the side of the deckhouse. For a few minutes, the crowd was able to forget just how much their lives had changed.

On the last day of the fair, two thugs approached a man and his wife just as they were finishing loading their sailboat. A confrontation resulted in the man being stabbed, and the thugs taking the boat and sailing away. Zeke heard the woman's screams, and saw the boat leaving the area. Running to the aft deckhouse, he shouted for Roberto to help get the jetboat launched.

Ten minutes later, Zeke and Ben Jacobs from the Wild Goose pulled away from the dock. At over 40 knots, the jetboat quickly overtook the sailboat. As they approached, one of the thugs pulled out a pistol and started firing. Zeke pulled the helm hard to port and continued to approach, zigzagging to through off the thug’s aim. Closer and closer, until just before impact, he swerved and swamped the smaller craft. The thug with the gun had stood to aim at the jetboat cabin, and was thrown into the water. His accomplice, clung to the tiller, and screamed that he couldn't swim.

An hour later with the thugs tied up and the sailboat in tow, the jetboat returned to the dock. In these new times, crime was not tolerated. No longer could a criminal expect to retire courtesy of the state or get off by claiming diminished capacity. Before sundown they were tried by their peers, found guilty of attempted murder, assault, and theft. They were hung before dark. There were not many bleeding hearts in the post Coastal Event society.

The jetboat had a few holes, but no serious damage and a bond had developed between the crews of the Wild Goose, and the Busted Flush.

It was a great time for the young people to meet and get to know each other. There was a young, red-haired, lady named Rebecca who captivated the heart of Roberto Mendoza, but she had eyes only for another young man named David Russell.

Zeke had delayed their departure, for an older man, who wanted to bring his family to live and work at Casa Jacoby. Raphael Maldonado was a farmer with four children, and his oldest daughter, quickly made Roberto forget about the redhead.  They also returned with a small diesel tractor and plow, a pair of small pigs, more bottles and containers, farm implements, building materials, a couple of tents, several bolts of cloth, thread, and a portable sewing machine. They had traded the entire harvest surplus, the brandy, and some junk silver, which had become the unofficial currency of the Inland Sea.

In the next two years, the people at Casa Jacoby prospered. Roberto married Miss Maldonado, and both he and Zeke became fathers to boys, named Fernando and Ruben. The weather seemed to have permanently changed. The sun was always hidden behind clouds that produced daily afternoon showers. The plants grew slowly, and drainage was important, while irrigation was not.

The newspaper was too successful. By the end of year 2, the stock of paper and printer cartridges was shrinking. David recognized how important this communications link to the Inland Sea communities was, but also knew that it was going to have to change. He mentioned the problem with Zeke and Doc in their weekly three way 10-meter discussions. Doc replied that they had discovered the CHP AM band Traffic Transmitter and tower on the peak of Sutters Butte. He said it looked like it was old military surplus, and there was even an old surplus diesel generator attached to it.

David said that he might be able to get it running, but with diesel in such a short supply there was no way to have regular broadcasts. Zeke replied that he could furnish bio-diesel if Doc could transport it. Doc made a monthly trip around the sea, trading and supplying medical service. He immediately agreed to transport a fuel drum on every trip.

David agreed to ride the Goose to Sutters Butte and attempt to get the station on line. He ended up spending a month at Sutters Butte, living on the Goose, and working on the station. The equipment was late 1950 vintage with tubes instead of semiconductors. There was a good complement of spares, in their original military packaging. The main problem was the audio equipment was newer, and semiconductor based. The EMP storm had destroyed it, beyond repair. It took a lot of jury rigging, but he was able to patch in a new audio subsystem made up of components from the Best Buy inventory.

The time he spent on the Goose also made him aware that Rebecca was quickly developing into a striking young woman, who was very interested in him.

Finally the testing was done, and the last issue of the Inland Sea Beacon was printed. In it, David explained that the resources required for printing were not available, and that radio 640 would replacing it with a broadcast from 6:00 to 9:00 PM every Saturday evening.  He suggested that older tube type car radios could be connected to a 12-volt battery. The first broadcast was scheduled for the following Saturday.

David was apprehensive about doing a live broadcast. Rebecca looking over his shoulder and hanging on every word made it worse. He opened by playing a recording of Ray Charles singing America the Beautiful. He then spent a half-hour summarizing the news. That was followed by a Beatles recording and then an hour of want-need adds. The program closed with more music and ended with a recording of the Star Spangled Banner.

The feedback at the fair was very positive, with a doubling of paid adds and many music requests.

When the AM broadcasts started, Zeke insured that all families had access to a salvaged radio, a storage battery, and a charging system. The 9:00 PM broadcasts on Saturday nights were a weekly high point. Maria had started a school for all the children, using materials from Zeke's library and computer system. Brandy production had been more than doubled and biodiesel production met all their needs as well as what was required for the 640 transmitter. A salvaged single cylinder diesel generator now provided lighting power to all homes from dark to 10:00 PM.

David’s attraction to Rebecca could not be denied, and a stolen kiss instantly turned serious on Saturday after the broadcast. When they came up for air, Rebecca said, “well, I guess you will have to make an honest woman out of me so Daddy doesn’t have to shoot you. I’m kind of attracted to you.”

They were married two days later, and took the Goose out into the Pacific for a short, but private honeymoon.

Ten months later, Jessica Russell was born, and a year later, Erick Russell joined the family.

The Russell family all lived on the Goose, and they traveled around the Inland Sea, trading, doing business, and visiting settlements all over.

Delbert Thompson married April Hall shortly after his daughter was married. They moved into the home with Doc and June, who were getting frail.