storage shelves into the space that held the water heater, solar battery bank, utility tub, and furnace further down, off to the right.
Daniel entered the left of two bedroom doors that were separated along the main partition wall. This bedroom had been repurposed into a pantry and kitchenette. The other bedroom held what little was left of the supplies his father had gathered together before his death. A sideways, walk-through closet linked the two bedrooms with doors on opposite ends.
The pantry consisted of two, wide, black plastic racks that were lined top-to-bottom with canned and jarred goods. Stacks of old plastic bottles were penned-in against the walls like cords of split wood filled with dried rice, corn, wheat, beans, and oats. Daniel had converted a long, folding, poker table into a work space by cutting off the padded rails and attaching a length of counter top to it. This created a sturdy and ample surface that held all the various stoves and the hand-crank grain grinder, used to make fresh flours and meals. Odds and ends such as garbage bags stuffed with thin grocery bags and boxes filled with printer paper poked out from underneath the table.
Four slices were cut from one of the newly purchased loaves, two thick and two thin. Daniel then stashed the rest of the loaf inside the bread box; crafted to sustain the preservative-free bread’s freshness longer. Once he removed two eggs from the carton he wiped the rest down with mineral oil, then he put both the eggs and the tenderloin of dog into the garbage can that lined the dug root cellar in the closet. The eggs would keep quite a long while this way, whereas the meat might only last for two or three days before the rancid bits would need to be cut away.
Lunch was made quickly and eaten slowly. Rebecca thought it hilarious that her Father had chosen to eat with her at the scaled-down child’s table that dominated her little corner of the world. Other than on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when Rebecca’s days were spent at the community daycare center, this corner was where she spent most of her time.
Daniel used the poor air quality outside, which was a genuine concern at times, as his excuse for not letting Rebecca explore the world as he had. Sadly, the truth being the greatest danger that young girls and boys faced while growing up was strangers, who were without ample reason to contain their impulses. Rebecca was kept hidden away from the beginning; it was just safer for everyone that way. Temptations were very powerful drivers in this new world and in most cases easier to fulfill. Daniel and Corinne had to accept that they were going to be at higher risk when their child was born, especially when the child turned out to be a girl.
After putting the new supplies away in the storeroom, Daniel vacuum sealed the finished jerky and carrot crisps, accomplishing this using lung power and a straw. Keeping busy to avoid having to talk to Corrine, he replaced the wicks in all three of the household lanterns and topped off their oil. The new wicks were made by trimming loose cotton coils from a mop head and then soaking the strands in a salt water solution before hanging them to dry. After readying light sources for the oppressive evenings he went outside to draw three buckets of water from the rain barrels for use in the kitchen and bathroom.
At the end of the upstairs hallway amidst the three bedrooms the main bathroom received two buckets of untreated water and an old phonebook. They used the water to rinse urine down the toilet and the ubiquitous yellow books had extremely thin paper pages that could be ripped out and softened by repeated crumpling as you sat on the crap bucket. The bucket was fashioned from nothing more than a 5-gallon bucket with a plastic grocery bag suspended under its plywood lid and an oval cut into the center with a toilet seat glued in place.
The body’s solid waste, caught by the plastic bag in the bucket, was removed and tied-off then placed inside a large garbage bag housed within a snap-lidded bin to aid in keeping everything sanitary. Having tried several versions of this system over the years, he knew there was no way to eliminate the stench altogether, but it made disposal of feces easier and less frequent.