Greta laughed again. “Well, welcome to the bunkhouse. If you need anything, let me know. I’d better get back to work. I’ll see you at supper.”

  She stopped when she reached the hallway. “Do you want me to haul some of these boxes down to the storeroom?”

  “That would be really nice. Thank you.”

  Jaden pulled out her backpack which she’d slid under the bed. From it came a stack of notebooks and a handful of pens. She laid one notebook and one pen on her bed and placed the others on an empty shelf. Then she sat on the bed and started a list.

  Rugs

  Aluminum foil and other kitchen stuff

  Sheets and blankets

  Towels

  School books

  Ice chests?

  She set the notebook and pen on an empty shelf and picked up the Luci. When she stepped into her father’s space, she turned her Luci off. She gathered the boxes, nesting them inside each other when possible. She set these outside the room and retrieved both Luci lights. Then, carried the boxes down the steps with the Luci lights inside. She deposited the boxes next to the room they were using as a storeroom and the lights she placed in the far window.

  She called Bella who bounded across the room, her tail thumping anything in its path.

  Allison was folding clothes in the laundry room, just inside the back door. She smiled when Jaden stepped in, Bella pushing ahead of her to run to Allison.

  “Are you done already?”

  “Yep. Got everything put away and took the boxes to the storeroom. I wasn’t sure where you wanted them so I just left them outside. But I had a thought.” She looked away and then back at Allison.

  “Maybe it’s stupid, but I was wondering. In our basement, there is a big cooler that my parents had. It’s one of those that plugs into a car cigarette lighter so you can keep things cold on a trip. Why couldn’t we hook a solar panel to that so we can keep things that need to go in the fridge?”

  “Well, I don’t know. We’ll have to ask Steve.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Can I help set the table?” Jaden asked Mary.

  Mary smiled and pointed at the pan of soapy water. “Please wash the tables first. I appreciate the help.”

  “Well, I know Allison is busy. She said that this was the last day they were going to run the generator so she wanted to get a bunch of things done.”

  Jaden finished cleaning the tables and laid out plates and silverware.

  Allison returned carrying a box of clean clothes which she deposited next to the stairs leading to the bedrooms.

  “Do you want me to put out napkins?” Jaden asked.

  “Yes, please. We’ll start washing them each night when we do dishes.”

  Supper consisted of beef stew with plenty of veggies and meat. The bread was a little stale, but sopping it in the stew made it taste great.

  “This is the last of the store-bought bread. From now on, we’re having home baked,” Mary said.

  Allison leaned forward to look at Steve. “Hey, Steve. Jaden had a suggestion today that got me thinking. She said they have one of those 12-volt coolers in their basement and maybe we could hook it to a solar panel.”

  Steve stopped chewing and his eyes widened. “That’s a great idea! We could do that.”

  “Well,” Allison said. “I got to thinking...” She turned to James. “Remember the Gellmans had a solar refrigerator in their garage. It worked great until a tree came down on their solar panel. They were getting ready to move to Arizona and never bothered to replace the solar panel. The fridge is still in their garage down the road. I don’t think they'd mind if we borrowed it.”

  “What if they come back?” Jaden asked.

  “I don’t think they’ll be back. They put the house up for sale, but haven’t gotten any buyers. They won’t get any now. I’ve got the keys to the house so I can check on things for them. John Gellman was in an accident a few months ago and it looks like he’ll be spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair. No, I don’t think they’ll be back.”

  Rolly cleared his throat. “I know the fridge you are talking about. I sold it to them. That’s a darn nice fridge. It’s the only solar fridge I sell. I’ve only sold three but everyone who bought one loves theirs. It’s called an Eco Solar Cool. It takes a 300-watt panel and a 12-volt 46-amp hour battery. I think the charge controller was a 15 amp.”

  He looked at Steve. “If just the solar panel was broken, the rest of the parts should still be good, right? And, Allison has more solar panels.”

  “Allison also has a few more batteries. I’m not sure what size they are, but if that battery is shot, I’ll bet we could find a substitute.”

  “I might even have a substitute at the lumber yard. I like to keep a few things on hand for stuff like that so I don’t have to order something if a customer comes in with a defective unit. We can check there tomorrow if someone is going in.”

  “We’ve got a few going home from here tonight and packing up so they can move in tomorrow. But we don’t have anyone making a day run to town.”

  Jaden said, “I’ve got a list of things that I think we should bring from our house. Maybe my dad can take Rolly with him in the morning and they can stop at our house and the lumber yard.”

  “I can wait until tomorrow to go get my stuff,” Sam Smith said. “I just live in a small trailer and don’t have a lot of things to pack. I can grab them in five minutes and then help you guys load.”

  Rolly nodded. “I think that will work. Let’s take my box truck and get the biggest load we can.”

  Steve looked around. “Should we go take a look at this solar fridge down the road to see what we need for sure? Are you positive they won’t mind us taking it?”

  James nodded. “If we had a way to contact them, I know they would tell us to take it. When they were building that house, Allison and I helped them a lot. Allison designed their garden. I designed and set up the artificial creek. Yes, I know they would want us to take anything we need.”

  There was a knock at the door. Everyone at the tables turned to see Don Schmidt, the neighbor to the north, step in. He looked at the group gathered at the tables.

  “I brought you a couple extra cherry pies,” he said. “Looks like I got perfect timing.”

  Mary jumped up and picked a knife off the counter. “Can I get you a plate too?”

  “I wouldn’t turn down a piece of Jean’s cherry pie,” he said, grinning as he sat at the end of the table.

  “We were just discussing the Gellmans,” Allison said. “We’ve decided to borrow the solar fridge they have in their garage.”

  Don smiled. “That’s a great idea! Where are you going to put the solar panels? You don’t want strangers to see a sweet set-up and get ideas about taking it away.”

  “Yeah,” Steve said, raising his head. “I’ve been thinking about the same thing. We have a couple guys doing guard duty. And, once we get this bunkhouse finished, we’ll form some sort of detail. We should be able to keep strangers away from the barn, but if they have binoculars, they could spot solar panels from the highway. I need to figure out how to hide them.”

  “You could do what I do,” Don said, taking a bite of pie.

  “What’s that?”

  “Well, James has all his farm implements parked neatly along the east side of the barn. He’s got a disc and a couple bale forks. There are two big mowers for the tractors as well as that big snowplow attachment. It all looks neat and clean.”

  James nodded.

  “What I would do, if I were you,” Don continued. “I’d decide where I wanted my solar panels. I’m thinking that your best spot is in front of the barn.”

  “It is, but it is so out-in-the-open,” Steve replied.

  “Well, if James and Allison don’t mind a front yard that looks like a junkyard, you just move all those implements out front. Park them willy-nilly. If you have any old windows, stack them in obvious places. With all the implements parked willy-nilly and a couple old windows propped up where strangers would notice them first thing, their minds won’t even register the panels - unless they are specifically looking for them. Add something that moves and you confuse them even more. If you have a couple tarps you can tie over a few things and leave one end flapping, that would work. Then tuck your panels here and there where they will get the sun they need.”

  “Genius!” breathed Steve.

  “Now, if someone got close to the barn, they might recognize it for what it is, but anyone spying on you from the highway probably won’t see anything except farm implements that were never put away.”

  Bill Jones leaned on the table. “While Steve and Rolly and Sam go to town tomorrow morning, I can help James move the implements. We are almost done in the bunkhouse. We’ll have the doors converted to walls in just a couple hours. Then we are ready to take on new chores.”

  Steve leaned forward. “Is there any way that you could drill a hole through your wall that you are building for wires? I don’t know if we’ll come up with something new later but, if you could put something in that wall that I could add wires now, it sure would help.”

  Bill nodded. “I saw some 1/4-inch PVC pipe. I can set one in the wall and you can run wires through.”

  “Perfect!” Steve said. “Now, if James wants, we could go take a look at what these friends of yours down the road have.”

  “I’ll go grab the furniture dolly out of the arena,” Rolly said. “We may as well load it up and bring it back tonight.”

  Jaden stood and started gathering plates. “Do you want me to put them in the pan with the soapy water?” she asked Mary.

  “Yes, please. I’ll get the table cleared and then get these washed.”

  “I’ll wash them,” Jaden said.

  “I’ll dry them,” Allison said.

  “Well, then I guess I’ll just tidy up,” Mary said with a smile.

  “Hey, James,” Allison called as the men stepped out the door.

  James leaned back in.

  “I wonder if we should take the patio furniture from the Gellmans? They offered it to me when they moved. I said I didn’t have room for it. But with everyone ready to move in, it would be nice to make that corner over there kind of a living room area.” She pointed at the far corner of the room.

  “The patio furniture won’t seat very many people. After more people get moved in tomorrow there will be about twenty-five of us and I’m sure there will be at least a few more in the next week or so.”

  “I know, but it’s a start. Maybe we can bring one of our couches out. We have two. We also have our own patio furniture we can move in here.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Rolly, Bill and Sam left right after breakfast in Rolly’s box truck.

  Steve brought a solar panel down from the hay loft.

  “Can you grab my little red toolbox, Jaden? Let’s get this panel hooked to the panels so we can start charging the battery. I’m going to haul the panel out. The rest of the stuff will be inside.”

  “Want me to get the charge controller they brought too?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Together they wired the charge controller and then Steve started pushing the wires that would be hooked to the charge controller out the small PVC pipe Bill had placed in the wall. “We’ll need to remember to seal that up when we are done,” Steve said.

  They set the charge controller on the bottom shelf of the bench and then ran wires to the battery placed further down the shelf. From the battery, they ran another wire to an area where the refrigerator would sit.

  “We want to build an insulated closet for the fridge,” Steve explained. “One, to keep heat from the stove from making the fridge work harder and two, in case we have visitors, they don’t need to know we have a working fridge. I’m going to get started on the closet as soon as I’m done with this.”

  “When are we going to wire the solar panel?” Jaden asked.

  “Right now. Bring the tools.”

  Steve stopped and picked up a piece of cardboard before they left the barn. He placed the cardboard over the solar panel. “Want to keep this tight on the panel so no sun hits the panel?”

  “Sure,” said Jaden. “You could get shocked if the sun charged the panel while you were touching the hookups, right?”

  “Well, I could, but these hookups are pretty safe. I always like to be double safe.”

  “Good plan,” said Jaden.

  They were finished in less than five minutes. “I’m going to go build that closet for the fridge. It shouldn’t take long. All the framing is there. Thanks so much for your help.”

  “Thank you for teaching me. I’m going to see if Allison has anything she wants me to do.”

  She found Allison in the house. She was removing towels and washcloths from a closet and placing them in a plastic tote. “Hi, Jaden. I’m just finishing up. We decided that we will be using the tack room for bathing and I wanted to get the towels out there. I need to clean off a shelf.”

  She pointed at a door. “Could you take the shower curtain down and bring it?”

  “Sure.”

  They were approaching the back door when it swung open. Greta stepped in.

  “There you are. Mary thought you’d come over to find Allison.”

  “I did. Is there something you want me to help with?”

  “No. I just thought I’d take a break and shoot some archery and maybe you’d want to join me.”

  “Archery? Like bow and arrow?”

  “Exactly.”

  “I’ve never shot archery.”

  “I can teach you. We have hay bales set up in the arena.”

  Jaden looked at Allison. “Is it okay?”

  “Of course! Go have some fun.”

  “I told Mary that I would help her with supper so I’ll make sure I’m done early.” She grinned and followed Greta out the door.

  ***

  Greta picked up a small bow that lay next to a bigger one on a bale of hay. “This was my first bow,” she said. “It’s about the right size for you and the draw weight is only about twenty pounds.”

  “What’s draw weight?”

  “The draw weight is the amount of force required to pull the string back to shooting position. Twenty pounds might be a little tough for you at first because your muscles just aren’t used to it. I can turn it down a little if you can’t handle the twenty pounds.”

  “I can handle it.” Jaden gave a quick nod and reached out her hand.

  Greta held the bow back. “Now, wait a second. There are a couple of things you need to know before I hand this to you. First, never pull back the string and just let it go without an arrow nocked. It could damage the limbs or the cams.”

  “What’s a nock? What’s a limb? And what’s a cam?” Jaden laughed.

  “The nock is that little slit in the back end of your arrow. It fits into the string. The limb is this part.” Greta pointed to the top and bottom of the bow. “The limbs are what actually propel the arrow.

  “And, finally these are the cams. They are like pulleys. They give you the power to send that arrow flying. They also make it so that once you pull the string back, it’s not so hard to hold it there.”

  She held the bow in front of her and pointed at the part she held in her hand. “The part you hold on to is called the riser. It’s attached to the limbs. Some compound bows have long risers and short limbs. Some have short risers and longer limbs. This is your arrow rest. After you nock your arrow on your string, the front part will rest here. And, this is your sight. You will use this to line your arrow up with what you are shooting at. After you take a couple shots, we will see where your arrow goes and then we can adjust that so that you can hit the target every time you shoot.”

  Jaden held her hand out once more. “Can I try it now?”

  Greta smiled. “Just let me show you how you can safely pull the string back without an arrow so you don’t damage the bow, okay?”

  She pulled the string. “Now, once I get the string back, it’s not as heavy and I could hold this a long time, but since I don’t want to hold it - and I can’t just let it go - I carefully hold the string back while I let off. See?”

  Jaden bounced up and down. “Now can I try it?”

  Greta handed the bow to her. “Let me see you pull the string back all the way and then slowly let it come back to normal while you hold on to it.”

  Jaden did as she was told.