Chapter 40: The Egg Crisis

For breakfast I wanted eggs.

I asked Amos if he fancied eggs for breakfast also and he nodded in the affimative.

Matilda shook her head no.

I wasn’t amused, “What do you mean ‘No’, I’ll cook them then.”

“No huevos”, she shrugged and turned away.

I looked at Michelle who was grinning, these women loved to spin me up.

“Two of her hens went broody so Matilda took all the eggs that the Millers gave us and stuffed them under the hens.”

“Even that big old goose egg?”, I asked.

“Especially that big old goose egg.”, was her reply.

I cursed, extensively, then apologized remembering the kids. I had really gotten myself wound up for some eggs.

Matilda handed me a plate of oatmeal, beans, sausage, toast and some sweet looking tiny spring berries.

I cursed again, and apologized again. I have never been a big fan of oatmeal.

It was Sonya’s turn to rehearse the story.

Of course she had a little whine first, “I don’t want to be a slave owner, it’s awful and wrong!”

“Let’s ask Amos,” I said, “Amos would it have been ok if Miss Sonya bought you from the slave trader?”

“Yessir,” came his quick reply, “she right nice and very pretty.”

Esther giggled and Sonya had to work hard not to join her.

“So it’s settled Sonya,” I said, “you are about to buy Moses and Esther their freedom by knowing and telling your part of the story like it was historical fact.”

Sonya sat for a minute and thought about that before she started in to the new past from her point of view.

After breakfast we were treated to a fashion show.

They had made Esther a new dress complete with apron, all made with some of the brighter colored cloth Matilda had bought. I’d seen some of the stuff Matilda had purchased on her craft store foray’s during the trip but hadn’t paid any real attention to it. She had packed all tightly away on a couple of the shelves she commandered in the storage room and that I then dutifully ignored.

Esther was freshly scrubbed and her hair was pulled back into some sort of braid, her shoes were still out of place but that couldn’t be helped just yet. She twirled and danced around happily acting just like a little girl with a new dress. It was nice to have something to smile about after the trauma and drama of the last few weeks.

Moses wasn’t quite the character as he showed his new bib coveralls and shirt. The shirt was cotton and the coveralls were canvas, all very functional and manly looking. I hoped they had made him some undergarments out of cotton cuz that canvas was going to be rough until it was broken in.

I started Amos working on the wood while I ran the drone up and did my morning scouting pass. Michelle and Sonya worked to stake out an area for the kitchen garden and Matilda took Esther out gathering down by the creek. A new routine was being created.

After my first scouting run had finished and the drone was charging I walked over to the tractor, I had an idea and made a decision and now it was time to dig the septic pit. I performed a basic maintenance check before I even considered starting it up; I would need to be much more proactive about maintenance the little machinery we had, we wouldn’t be able to replace it. With that done I climbed in and started the tractor up, it caught on the third try and I left it idling to warm the diesel up. The noise of the diesel brought Amos on the run, it was definitely not a sound he’d heard before; Michelle and Sonya soon followed.

Amos simply stared; Michelle and Sonya were full of questions. We stepped away from the idling tractor so we could have an audible and sane discussion.

“Amos,” I said, “Have you ever seen a Steam Boat?”

He allowed that he had seen one but only one.

“This machine”, I said, “is the same thing but it can move dirt. We happen to have the only one around so we can’t tell anyone about it.”

I added emphasis, “This is one of our secrets that you get to share, we have more but you can never speak of these around other people. Do you understand?”

Of course he said yes and I had the feeling we’d be having that discussion often in the near future.

I then explained my plan to all of them, we were putting a septic tank in for the trailer to empty into, we’d continue to use the toilet in the camper and not build an outhouse for the next few months but we had to be able to drain the septic system.

So I was going to dig a ten foot deep hole behind the rig as far from the camp as my septic drain-hose would reach, I would then dig a descending trench into that hole and lay my drain-hose into it. Everything would be covered up and hopefully very sanitary. Nobody voiced concerns when asked so I told Amos to follow me and then climbed on the tractor and got to work.