For breakfast I wanted eggs.

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

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 commandeered 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 know, 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 to the tractor and got to work.

I checked the location based on the distance the drain-hose would reach; backed the tractor up and put down the outriggers. Michelle, Sonya and Amos were watching; Michelle was narrating the activity to the two of them, it was nice to have a farm girl around.

I wasn’t an expert with the tool and my hole was a bit clumsy but the progress, while slow, was visible and rewarding. Matilda and Esther joined the audience after about an hour and by the time we broke for lunch the main hole was finished. It had been fairly simple outside of one large tree root that the axe quickly took care of.

Lunch was meat and cheese sandwiches on fresh bread with spring greens, yet another Matilda masterpiece; Amos ate three of them, damn that kid could eat. While both Michelle and I fancied ourselves to be decent cooks, Matilda was on an entirely different level.

Michelle rehearsed her version of the story as we ate, we had to keep at this until it came out like an actual memory. I had decided that after the third round of rehearsals each of us would start adding small embellishments, things that only that person would have noticed; the spice of a story if you will.

Lunch eaten and mid-day chores done it was school time. Michelle and Sonya would work with the children on reading and writing and Matilda would give them short, mostly silent, lessons in herb craft. Herb craft was huge, Matilda focused on the plants to avoid first.

I scouted and surveyed while all this happened, we were far from isolated or safe and that had just been proven to us.

**** ****

My septic project was proving to be the hit of the day; I decided to run two quick demonstrations of what I was doing next and send most of them back to work. We still had a lot of other work which needed to be done.

I dug a quick, short trench and then explained to all of them what I would do next. I then went over to a log I had pulled clear and described to them how we would cut it and create a lid for the tank which we could then cover in several feet of dirt to seal in the odor of our poop. Most of them giggled when I said “poop”.

I took a few questions and then everyone slowly wandered off leaving only Amos and myself to finish the project. I took my time and explained to Amos in more detail on what we were trying to do and what our steps were.

We pulled out all the downed trees I had previously identified using the tractor and a tow chain and Amos went to work cutting them down to proper size with the electric chain saw. It was amazing that he accepted this technology so quickly and simply took to using it. While Amos did that I finished our descending trench which the drain-hose would run through so that it emptied into the pit below the lid level. It was a three foot drop from start of the trench to the end and would protect the hose during the winter once filled in with earth.

Amos had finished cutting the wood and so we laid the hose in so that the outlet barely peaked down into the pit and we shoveled a bit of dirt on it to hold it. We crossed our fingers – Amos did it as automatically as I did – and I hit the switch for the septic pump. We were rewarded with an awful stench from our pit; it worked.

The septic smell of success?

We then started hoisting and lowering the logs to lid the pit, it was painful work as I wasn’t great back-hoe operator and Amos definitely was as green as green could get at working around heavy machinery. We got all the logs laid across the shelf and I tightened them up with the back-hoe.

When we were done for the day. It seemed rather anti-climatic. I thought that perhaps we’d be happier tomorrow after we applied the clay to the lid and covered it all up with dirt. Regardless, it was almost supper time and we were both sweaty, filthy and hungry. I parked the tractor and we went and did our evening chores, then we cleaned ourselves up.

Dinner was cheeseburgers and fries; the kids had never eaten such a thing and we had to teach them how which was fun. Dessert was Root Beer Floats. Matilda continued to amaze me.

After eating and story rehearsal Sonya sat the kids down and read to them, she read simple fables to them out loud; they were entranced. Matilda was also.

I flew my night scouting mission while Michelle tidied up and worked on some tack.

I still had a hankering for some eggs.