A man/woman, frustrated over the end of an affair, decides to date

his/her former lover's best friend.

Approx 831 words

The Survivors, Chapter 7

©2004 by W. E. Lopez

Don exited the garage to investigate the backyard. The first thing he found was the source of the dried foods. The owner of the home had a small garden, about twenty feet by thirty, with a four-foot fence of chicken wire to keep out gophers and rabbits. Many of the vegetables were ready to be harvested and Don made a note to introduce the children to the joy of gardening later today.

He also found a home-built solar drier for the produce. After being harvested, the owner took the vegetables into the kitchen where he could peel and/or dice them and put them in plastic trays for drying. The solar dryer was built from a full size sheet of plywood, inclined 30 degrees to the sun, and had four shelves where the trays could be placed. A plastic cover kept dust and insects away from the vegetables for the day or two required to evaporate the moisture. It was simple, and cheap. Don began to appreciate the resourcefulness of the home owner.

In an eight-by-four shed behind the garden, he discovered the source to the home’s electrical supply. In addition to the solar array he had seen on the roof, two of the three windmills in the backyard generated electricity which was stored in a collection of twenty-four heavy duty batteries. In turn, the battery pack was wired to a stacked pair of DC to AC power inverters powering the home.

The function of the third windmill was a mystery to him, until he found a three-ring binder in the battery shed. The binder contained the owner’s maintenance log for the batteries, inverters, and water supply. Don learned the third windmill drove a small air compressor. The air pressure provided when turning was fed to a copper tube running to the bottom of a well, 120 feet deep. Below the water level of the well, the air mixed with water and the air/water mixture bubbled up a riser pipe to fill a 3,000 gallon water tank located just below ground level. From the water tank, protected from the extreme temperatures of winter and summer, a pressure demand switch and water pump delivered water to the garden and house.

Don was not only impressed by the simplicity and ingenuity of the setup, he had found the answer to a problem simmering on the back burner of his mind for two days: how to get gasoline out of underground storage tanks!

When Don returned to the living room, Doris and Mikey were both asleep. Buddy had chosen a cool spot on the linoleum tile floor of the kitchen to take a nap, and Maggie was watching a soap opera on the VCR. He kept his voice low to avoid disturbing the children. “What’s on, Maggie?”

“It’s The Malibu Madison’s,” Don, “my very favorite soap opera. Evidently the lady here was a big fan too. She has video tapes of every episode for the past year and I’m getting caught up on the episodes I missed while I was at work.

“Right now, Jessica, upset by the end of her affair with Travis, decides to date his best friend and step-brother, Rex. I can’t decide if she’s trying to make Travis jealous because this new affair will keep him always nearby, or if she’s simply planning to get back at him by destroying the relationship between Travis and Rex when she dumps him. I hope the remaining episodes are all here.”

“If I know Hollywood writers, Maggie, and I do know a few, Jessica probably has both goals in mind, and perhaps a few we haven’t thought of yet, no matter how unlikely they may be.”

“Oh, shush, Don! You men never appreciate the emotional involvement that takes place before, during, and after a relationship. All you can think about is sex and football! My husband was the same way!”

“Don’t blame all that on me, Maggie. Men are conditioned by several millennia of evolution, and several hundred years of cultural pressures.”

“Evolution has made couch potatoes from all of you?” she asked.

“Evolution required men to be aggressive in order to provide food for the tribe. The best hunters were the most aggressive. The best hunters gathered the most mates. Society has diminished the value of aggression, but at least in sports, the male can pretend he is still a valuable member of the tribe.”

“Fiddle-faddle, you’re only making an excuse to lie on the sofa all weekend, watching television and drinking beer.”

“Whatever….” He felt he should drop the subject. “While the kids are sleeping, if you’ll clean up the bodies, I’ll dig a grave out back and we can bury them as soon as possible.”

“Can I at least wait until the commercial?” Maggie asked.

“Sure,” Don agreed. He saw no need to remind her, the program was recorded and could be paused or stopped at any time. Adjusting to the the new facts of life would be a continuing effort.