Safe and Sound
01. First Day on the Island
(or Reunion)
Authoress Note: Okay I couldn't wait two days…lol here's your second chapter
By the time Auggie finished scanning the flight manifesto he was really glad to have Joan and Arthur in their corner. It was detailed in a way Auggie could appreciate from his days in the army but it was practical in that everything on board would or could come in handy at some point in time. He hadn't fully read it and Daniel said there wasn't a manifesto in a written form other than Braille which meant he and Annie would probably have to spend the first few days taking inventory of what was brought in on the plane and what was already at the house. From what he had gathered from Daniel, Joan and Arthur, it was a spacious two story home that had both a root cellar and an attic. Joan said come winter it would be best to close off the top story to keep the heat from escaping but that would depend on how much fire wood they had stored by winter as to if they could run both fire places on the two floors. He knew there where animals there but he wasn't sure how many and he knew there had to be a garden or room to grow a garden. Daniel's voice coming over the loud speaker startled him he was so lost in trying to get a running start on an inventory as he was directed to put his seatbelt on and that they would be landing momentarily.
When the plane finally came to a stop, Daniel helped Auggie to the door before dropping the hatch.
"Jacob and Sarah are already here. Sarah is going to get you settled in the truck while Jacob and Catherine start helping me unload. This will probably take at least an hour." Daniel said, but all thoughts were lost as soon as Catherine's name was mentioned and he caught the last whiff of her scent, he steeled himself to wait as they had to get the plane unloaded.
"Auggie, my name is Sarah. Will you hand me the manifesto and I'll give it to my husband while you and I go sit in the truck?" she asked, before gently taking the manifesto from him and handing it off to Jacob as he heard Jacob, Daniel and his Annie start unloading the plane.
"Now I know Arthur and Joan have told you a little about this place but I'll tell you more than they probably did. It's wonderful here in the spring and summer time but once winter hits it is brutal. Our first winter here we almost didn't have enough put up; take it from us. The more you have stored the better off you will be. The timing couldn't be better as it's the first of April so that will give us seven months to prepare you; it will be hard work but the first two years are the hardest and after that it seems to slack up a little as you learn to prepare more and more each year so that you have leftovers by the time the next winter rolls around. There's a lot to learn but your Catherine has been here a day already and was already helping me around my home so I think you'll do just fine."
"Thank you Miss Sarah." Auggie said, ever the respectful man to his elders.
"No Miss anything. My name is Sarah, end of story. Me and your Catherine are going to be spending a lot of time together so we might as well be on a first name basis. Now Auggie, can you cook?" she asked, pleased when he gave a positive answer. "Good. Usually the man would do all the hunting and gardening while the woman would do the canning, cooking, sewing, and cleaning but that wouldn't be logical for the two of you. So I'll start you on cooking and cleaning and then teach you how to spin cloth. Lord knows I've done it half asleep myself so that shouldn't be a problem for you. If you're feeling brave I'll teach you how to can but I'd prefer Catherine be there as well because I doubt you want to accidentally pour scalding hot water on yourself and you should be able to at least milk the cows but I'm not foolish enough to send you in after the chickens or the goats, they'd eat your lunch or peck your eyes out!" Sarah said, laughing at the thought, not realizing how much she was throwing at Auggie at one time until she saw his face. "It's not as hard as you think. It will take some adjusting and a learning curve but you both should have everything down pat within two months and be fine to work on your own from there and just meet up with us on the weekends to make sure you're on track."
Sarah and Auggie passed the time going over what was supposed to be on the plane as Annie, Jacob and Daniel finished the last of loading up the heavy-duty truck. When Jacob slid into the driver's seat and Annie plopped herself down in Auggie's lap because of space constraints they headed off on their drive.
"The easiest way to get to the house is to take the fork on the left. It's about an hour and a half's drive but occasionally the road will wash out and you'll have to take the right fork and it will take you twice as long to get there." Jacob said, as they took the left fork and passed the last house they would see until they reached the house that would become Auggie and Annie's home for at least the next five years.
It was only ten thirty in the morning when they reached the beautiful two story house. It was plain white but out here all alone it had a feeling of peace and tranquility that Annie hadn't felt in a long time. It took Jacob, Sarah and Annie about an hour to unload the truck, pilling most of it into the empty living room to sort through later. The only thing that went directly to its position was a bed that Daniel had been able to produce at the last minute, two matching dressers, and two nightstands. It took Jacob and Catherine about thirty minutes to get the bed frame put together and the mattresses added to it. Sarah joined her in helping her make the bed, as it was a brand new California King, which looked small in their new bedroom.
"Enjoy the bed; it is one of the few comforts that you will have. Most people have decent homes out here but so much time is spent in preparation for winter that we don't get to enjoy our homes until winter." Sarah said, it almost sounded wistful but she was a practical woman and left Auggie and Annie with homework before they returned the next day.
"I know you are both exhausted from your trip. Get some sleep. I left you a stew on the stove along with some bread. After you eat explore the house top to bottom so Auggie knows the layout and then start unpacking boxes. If you manage to finish unpacking before you are too tired to continue start taking inventory of what is here. You have a root cellar in the hatch through the floor as well as a walk in pantry through the door to the left of your wood burning stove. If you are too tired we'll do inventory tomorrow. I will be back at five am to help Annie get started. There is a lot to learn and not near enough time. There is one more truck load to get from the dock. We'll pick it up on our way up tomorrow morning." No one could say that Sarah was not a drill master, but they knew it came from years of experience and practicality usually won out over anything else on this island.
As soon as they heard the truck pull way Annie was in Auggie's arms in a matter of seconds as Annie guided them to the couch that was a few steps away, allowing them to fall backwards onto it.
"Annie...I've missed you." The raw emotion that was coming through in his voice told her just how much.
"I'm here Auggie. I'm not going anywhere. We can stay here forever if that's what it takes." She said, before he pulled her to him into a kiss losing themselves in each other for what felt like forever but was only a matter of minutes.
"I don't know about you but I'm hungry; I'm also a bit wired. I slept better on both of my plane rides than I have in months." Annie said, allowing the energy she felt at being in his presence come through in her voice.
"Well then let's eat and then I have an idea or two on what to do about that excess energy." Auggie said, sounding so much more like his older self than he had in the past few months. It felt good just to hear Annie's voice, she felt far too thin but he knew they could fix that with time and a little effort. The stew that Sarah left them was beyond delicious as they ate in a comfortable silence; both to worried about their food than the desire to talk to each other. Once the dishes where washed and put away, Annie dragged Auggie to the room where they had set up the bed; intent on keeping him there for a while.
Annie lay curled up in Auggie's side an hour later as she ran her fingers through the parts of his hair she could reach.
"You still have too much energy. I can feel it radiating off you Anderson." He said, teasing her about her new cover name, even as it made his heart swell.
"I was going to ask you about that, did you have anything to do with the name change on my identification?" she asked, the smile was evident in her voice.
"No, that was all Joan and Arthur but if I'm honest with myself I can't say I hate the sound of it. There is a marriage certificate in with my identification as well. My name didn't change but my birth certificate and country of origin did. I doubt you looked at your passport hard enough to notice it but they may not have changed yours." He said, giving her a kiss on her head before he rolled way to find his pants that he had flung somewhere to the foot of the bed.
Twenty minutes later they had showered and were dressed before they made their way back downstairs.
"Sarah said to explore first and then unpack and take inventory." Annie said, remembering the older woman's instructions from earlier.
"It makes more sense. Why take inventory when we're just about to add to it?" Auggie asked, as he let Annie guide him back to the front door.
"Ok you have the entry way down. When you walk in to the left is an overstuffed couch, and two giant arm chairs with a reading table in front of them. To the right is a doorway which leads to the kitchen which has a partial wall that has bar stools on the living room side. Inside the kitchen is a refrigerator and freezer to the right which are empty, I think they are mainly for looks. To the left is the kitchen table and chairs and probably forty paces back is a wood burning stove off in a corner by itself with wood stacked up beside it. Beside that is an old-style kitchen hearth that has a rod that is holding two iron kettles. Come back to the fridge and the table and take ten steps and to the right is a sink and giant counter and straight ahead is the electric stove. It looks to be a double as it has eight eyes on it and we have two ovens. To the left of that is more counter space and then there is a door…" she opened the door before guiding Auggie inside the walk in pantry. "This pantry seems to be all dried meats. I see venison, pork, beef, turkey but it has all be dehydrated. I also see three dehydrators on a shelf all the way in the back."
The exited the first pantry before making their way down the hallway.
"The first door on the left is the room we slept in. So we'll start with the right." She opened the door to revival what looked like a room that could have been a bedroom but had been converted into another pantry. "On the right is another pantry that is holding canned goods on our left again is another room that is holding several kinds of dried beans, flour, brown sugar, sugar, oatmeal, oats, wheat germ, coffee, instant drink mixes, power bars, wheat, tea leaves several varieties at that, cocoa powder . All of it has a shelf life of at least ten years so we should be okay on that for a while and most of it is in twenty pound bags."
The last door that was downstairs turned out to be their medicine room. It had racks and racks of over-the-counter medicines as well as syringes and vials of medicine that they would inspect later.
From there they turned their attention to the upstairs rooms. It produced their library, which was two bedrooms put into one, a full bathroom, what Annie assumed was a sewing room as it had a spinning wheel and what she assumed was a loom in it as well as a ton of cloth. The last two rooms were left empty, for them to decide what to do with them at a later date if they were there long enough.
When they returned back down stairs Annie guided them through the mountain of boxes back to the couch before she looked out at all that was around her. They needed to get started on going through the boxes but it was such a daunting task that she wasn't sure where to start.
"She said to unpack boxes. The best way to start would be to place each box in the room it goes in and unpack from there." Auggie said ever the logical one when faced with such an overwhelming task. It took them two hours to get the boxes into their respectful rooms with only one of them being able to see but once that was done time seemed to fly by. They started in the medicine room, placing what they could on shelves and sticking the few vials that needed to be refrigerated into the small fridge that was inside their own private pharmacy. The pantry took the longest as the majority of the boxes where for the pantry as they unpacked and reorganized it piece by piece. Their pantry looked almost twice as full when they were finished. Annie left Auggie to unpack the boxes that held clothes and things for their bedroom while she started on unpacking what was for her sewing room.
It took her a while to figure out how to make the cloth bolt holders come out of the wall to add a new bolt but once she figured it out she had the denim bolts as well as the cotton organized by color and feel of the fabric. The thread seemed to take the longest as it was in its own storage container that lined the entire wall, and was divided by color and all the different reds and pinks looked the same to her. About the time she got all her thread organized Auggie had made his way upstairs and was in the doorway listening to her. The last room they unpacked boxes in was the library; the majority of the books that were in this shipment where in braille so she allowed Auggie to place them as she handed them off to her husband, it felt good to call him that, even if the marriage was just their cover story.
The only thing left in the living room by the time they finished where ten large boxes of canning supplies from jars and lids to rings. They couldn't figure out where they went until Annie remembered someone mentioning that the house had a root cellar. Once she located the door to the root cellar that was in the floor she allowed Auggie to hand the boxes down to her one by one, stacking them by the stairs before finally turning on the inside light. The root cellar was almost as big as the house itself in length. It didn't have as many canned goods as the pantry above them but there were still plenty of jarred foods that she assumed Sarah had canned from previous years. She noticed a few jams and jellies among them as well as three wheels of cheese that where coated in the bright red plastic that they were famous for and what she assumed where two cheese presses off in the corner. There were also thirty or so empty barrels that had water-tight sealed lids on them that proved to be empty.
With the inspection of the house finished it was almost eight at night. Deciding on calling it quits for the day and starting on the inventory the next day they fell into a dreamless sleep; glad to be back in each other's arms.