The World Keeps Turning - Part 2
326 PA
Over three hundred years had passed since the Apocalypse and life had changed for everyone. In the small cities that surrounded the Institute clinics they re-opened textile factories and even printing presses to make their own money, although it seemed like only those living in the cities used money and people living in rural communities’ still traded and bartered products and services. Universities also opened in these cities and those who were discovered to have high intelligence were invited to study at these universities and take the skills back to their communities or stay and become scientists, professors or teachers. Because they were so selective about prospective students, the universities did not charge any fees and offered them simple accommodation and because of the colder winter weather the students were given from mid-November to March as time off in which they could head home to their families and it also meant that they didn’t have to worry about heating costs for all their buildings.
One of the small communities that grown up in the south eastern section of Colorado near a town that was once known as Las Animas, they called themselves after the old town; Las Ani and grew from three families who had escaped the death and set up in several small farms to a decent sized town of five hundred and sixty, with new families moving in from as far north as Wyoming and from as far south as Texas, they were also proud to have tested only A’s and high B’s for the past century.
The community had a small school which all the children attended, a general store which stocked fresh food for those who didn’t live on farms and a small medical center which was run by an Institute trained doctor, there was also a post office which sent and received letters that was sent by rail and horse across most of the country, although during the cooler months everything including mail was limited due to heavy snow and below freezing weather.
Eli rode into the small town on the back of his favorite quarter horse, a chestnut mare named Juliet. Every week he would ride into the town and collect the mail for everyone who lived along their road, it was five miles into town and he didn’t mind making the trip, although today he not only had to pick up the mail but he also was there to trade a few deer hides and some skeins of wool from his mother’s spinning, often stores in these small towns would trade for other items that the farms needed, including replacement parts for farm implements and preserves from others in the community or further abroad. He was hoping that there would be a letter waiting for him at the post office and had butterflies turning in his stomach, he hadn’t heard from his lover in over a month.
Since Eli was a kid he had a way with animals; ever since he could walk he had an understanding with all the animals on the farm, his parents; Patrick and Anne Hayes saw their son’s gift and nurtured it, knowing that their son was different from the other kids in the community. As he grew older the understanding grew stronger and he was often called on to help with problem animals on other farms, Eli didn’t mind, the animals were often more understanding than the humans that owned them. Which is how he got Juliet, six years ago a farmer the next town over, who had heard about Eli’s skills asked if he could help with a couple of horses who needed breaking in, when he was there he noticed an orphaned foal, her mother had died from a snake bite, he offered to take the foal and the farmer agreed, he raised the foal and she turned into a gentle and trusting mare.
As he rode into town he decided to go to the post office last and hitching Juliet’s reins onto the post outside the general store he undid the saddle bag’s buckle and patted Juliet on the neck. “I won’t be long.” He said to the mare before walking into the store.
“Good afternoon Eli, what can I do for you today?”
“Good afternoon Joe, I’ve got a three whitetail hides from a hunt a few weeks ago and a few skeins of mom’s handspun yarn.” Eli said as he took the three hides and half a dozen skeins of yarn from the saddle bag. “She also said should be finished that grey wool yarn you wanted for a sweater by the end of next week.”
“I look forward to seeing it, but what kind of trade do you want for these hides and yarn?”
“We need a new plow blade and got any more of those jarred Denver peaches?”
“Two jars left and I’ve got a blade out the back.” Joe pointed towards the back of the store. “Next time you’re in town bring that old blade in, I’ll send it off to the blacksmith for recycling.”
“Thanks Joe, I’ll let my father know. There are only so many times you can sharpen the blades before they wear out.”
“And if you know of someone who has any cowhides tell them to bring it in.” Joe said as he came back out with the plow blade. “My wife’s begging me for new boots.”
Eli chuckled “I’ll ask around.”
“Have you heard any news from Jacob?”
“I’m on my way to the post office to find out.” Eli packed the blade and wrapped the jars in cloth before putting them into his saddlebag. “I’ll let you know when I come in next week.”
“I appreciate it, the whole town’s proud of him.”
Eli finished packing his bag, thanked Joe and tied the saddle bag before taking the reins and walking Juliet across to the post office.
“Good afternoon Eli.”
“Good afternoon Peter, how’s things on the farm?”
“Everything’s going well, with the rain last week we’re on track for a good harvest.”
“That’s great to hear, we’re always thankful for a good harvest.” Peter, the owner of the small post office handed Eli a bundle of letters. “Here’s the mail for all those along your road. Do you have anything to send?”
“Not this week Peter but there should be some next week.” Eli said, taking the fattest envelope out of the bundle. “Letters home from Jacob.”
“How’s he going up at Salt Lake?”
“After I read them I’ll let you know.”
“See you next week Eli.” Peter said, giving Eli a wave.
“See you then.”
Eli walked out of the post office and tucking the letters into his coat pocket he put his foot in the stirrup and swung himself up onto Juliet’s back. Turning the mare around he started on the road towards home he waited until he was out of the outskirts of town before he let the reins loose and took the fat envelope from his pocket as Juliet plodded along at a slow pace. Looking at the return address he opened the envelope and looked at the letters inside, starting at the oldest date he started reading.
Dearest Eli,
I’m sorry that I haven’t written in a while, we have had a series of exams and I have not had much time to do much else other than sleep, eat and study. I am looking forward to sleeping in and going for a long ride, maybe even visit the north side of the lake, I’ve heard it is really beautiful and the view from the mountains is worth the trip.
I know it has only been a few weeks since I saw you but I really miss you, I remember our last night together when you rode with me to Pueblo, staying in that old abandoned barn where we made love amongst the hay and fell asleep looking up at the stars through the holes in roof. I also borrowed one of your shirts so I could have something with your smell on it, I left one of mine in case you didn’t notice.
I really look forward to your next letter, I miss you so much love.
Jake
By the time he reached the first house he had to drop letters off at he had finished reading three letters. He saw Mrs White out in her small garden, tucking the letter into his pocket he dismounted and walked over. “Good afternoon Mrs White.”
“Good afternoon Eli, how are you?”
“I’m well, I’ve brought you your mail.” He said handing over the few letters addressed to the household.
“Thank you Eli.”
Eli was friends with Yvonne White’s twin sons; Emmanuel and Oscar who he had gone to school with and also made the trip to the Institute with over three years ago.
“I’m guessing Oz is over at Sam’s?”
“He’s always at Sam’s.” Yvonne smiled. “You’d think after three years the two of them would admit it and ask if they could move in together but he’s still living at home.”
“He’ll admit it when he’s ready, they’ll probably be thirty before they get married.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me, Oz has always been stubborn even when he was a kid.”
“I’ll be coming through next week if you have any mail you want to send but for now I better be on my way.”
“Safe travels and I’ll see you next week if not sooner.”
“Good bye for now Mrs White.”
“How many times do I have to tell you Eli? Call me Yvonne.”
“At least once more.”
Yvonne laughed and patted Eli on the back. “See you next week.”
Eli swung himself back up into the saddle and started towards the next farm, which happened to belonged to the Johnston family, home to Samantha or Sam as she was better known to everyone, Sam also was part of the five person convoy that travelled to the Institute in Salt Lake City. It was hard to believe that it was over three years ago that Oscar and twin brother Emmanuel, Sam and Eli’s best friend and boyfriend Jacob Fisher made the long trip from their home town to the clinic for their mandatory testing.
It was at the Institute that changed Eli and Jake’s lives. Jake always had a mind for mathematics, he was able to tell just by looking at a field how big it was and knowing the size of plants he could work out how many plants could be planted and as they grew how much would be harvested from each and every plant. It was his skill that had caught the eyes of the scientists at the Institute, an IQ test confirmed his higher than average intelligence and they offered Jake a position in their elite university where he had been for the last two years and probably would be for the next two as well. Every winter so far Jake would make the trip home, thankfully it wasn’t a three week long trip by horse and wagon that they had made several years ago, and instead Jake was able to get the steam train from Salt Lake City across to Denver and then another that was heading down to Albuquerque, stopping at Pueblo.
He stopped at the Johnston’s farm, dropping their letters in he said hello to Samantha and Oscar before heading to the next farm, he dropped three more letters off before his second last stop at the Fisher farm, which adjoined theirs. He knew that Nancy and Thomas Fisher would love one of the letters he was holding.
Eli found Thomas sitting on the porch outside the house. “Good afternoon Sir.”
“Afternoon Eli, how are you going? I see the fields benefited from last week’s rain.”
“Yes, if we don’t have a flood between now and fall we should have a great harvest.”
“What can I do for you, son?” Thomas asked.
“I’ve brought your mail back from town, there’s one letter in there I know you want to read tonight.”
Thomas chuckled “How is my son going?”
“From the letters he wrote me everything seems to be going as well as can be expected.” Eli replied. “He misses everyone and looks forward to coming home again.”
“I know you miss him.”
“I do. We keep in touch with letters but it’s just not the same.”
“You know you could go and live up there with him.”
Eli chuckled “I don’t think my father would like that.”
“We’re getting along without Jacob, when I was twenty one I already had my own farm and was engaged to Nancy.”
Thomas continued to talk with Eli, who had become like another son to him. Eli knew that it took both his parents and Jacob’s quite a while to get use to the idea of their sons together but now they adored their almost but not quite ‘son-in-laws’.
The two of them grew up living on farms next to each other, their mothers were friends and the two boys would play as their mothers’ talked and as they grew up their bond grew stronger, they would ride to school together every day and sit next to each other. As they grew into teens they became closer until at the age of sixteen when Eli’s father found the two of them making out in the stables. Then they had to admit that they were in fact a couple.
“Make sure to drop in when you’re next heading into town, we’ll have a few letters for you to take in.”
“I will, if you need me to get anything else while I’m in there let me know.”
When he finally arrived home he took the saddlebags off and put them onto a bale of hay before taking the saddle and the bridle off Juliet. Letting the mare out into the small field where the family’s other horses were grazed contently, he then took the plow blade out of the saddlebag and put it near the plow so it could be fixed onto it and took the jars of peaches and the few letters into the house.
“Sorry I’m a bit later home Ma, I got talking with Mr Fisher.”
“That’s alright Eli, what did you get in town?” Anne asked, wiping her hands on a towel.
“The new plow blade and two large jars of those Denver peaches.” Eli replied, putting the jars onto the table. “Joe asked if you know of anyone with some leather let him know, Ruth wants a new pair of boots. Oh and he’s really looking forward to seeing the grey wool you’re spinning.”
“Always nice to know your work is appreciated.”
“And next time I go into town he said to bring in the old plow blades so the blacksmith can recycle them.”
“Any other news from town?”
“You’ve got a letter from Texas and I’ve got a pile of letters from Jake.”
Anne smiled. “Dinner won’t be long, why don’t you go read a few more letters and I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
“Thanks Mom.” Eli kissed his mother on the cheek and sat out on the porch where he read a few more letters.
That night after dinner and a wash Eli sat at the writing desk and penned a letter to Jake.
Dearest Jacob,
I read a few of your letters as I was riding home from town, I also delivered the letters to your parents and had a good talk with your father. He made some interesting points and it’s giving me a lot to think about, especially about our future.
I know we’ve made it this far with our long distance relationship, over two years with only seeing each other during winter and communicating via letter but today your father actually said to me ‘Why don’t you move up there?’, it got me thinking that maybe I could get some sort of job on the outskirts near the university and live up there with you while you study. Unless you think that having me so close every day would be distracting.
I haven’t talked to my parents yet, I wanted to get your thoughts about it before even bringing up the topic with them as I know that my father won’t be happy with the idea but he can do without me for a while, after all, what is he going to do when we decide to get our own farm or we move somewhere else? He’ll adapt, it’s not like I don’t have siblings who can take over my jobs here.
I love you and miss you lots.
E.
Eli sent the letter off with one from the Fisher’s. The waiting for a reply was the most difficult part, he knew that mail was slow, it would take a week to get up there and a week to return, mail only arrived at Las Ani once a week and it took several hours for Peter and his wife to sort them out. He filled the weeks by doing as much work as he could to take his mind off what Jake had written back. When it was time to head into town on the mail run he was nervous, hoping that there’d be a letter waiting for him.
“Good morning Eli.”
“Good morning Peter.”
“There’s another letter for you this week, I’ve put it on the top of the bundle so you can read it on your trip home.”
“Thanks Peter, I’ve been waiting for this all week.”
“I hope it’s good news for you.”
“I hope so too.”
Eli left the post office, put the other letters into his jacket pocket before swinging himself up into the saddle. Nudging Juliet with his heels he started on the road towards home. Getting the letter out of his pocket he took a deep breath and opened the envelope, wondering what Jake had to say.
Dearest Eli,
While I was sitting reading your letter I was wondering why we didn’t think of this sooner? I personally don’t have any issues with you moving up here, I’ve talked with the person who is in charge of my accommodation and have requested a larger place as I told them that my partner is coming to live. They’ve told me that in two weeks I can move into my new room which has a larger bed.
I may have also found you a job, as you know I am studying agricultural science and it is my hope to return back to Las Ani and help farmers with better choices for the land, but the university here has an animal medicine department and as a result have a large number of livestock. I’m sure that someone with your natural animal skills will not only be welcome but you will get along very well with those working there.
I have also written a letter to my father asking him to talk with your father about this decision, that you will be welcomed up here and that we will be coming home during winter and they will get along without you.
To get up here I have written what I do and the trips I travel. The train to Denver stops at Pueblo on Tuesday mornings, there’s a carriage towards the rear that takes livestock and this is where I usually put Cordelia. You should arrive at Denver in the evening and the train across to Salt Lake City leaves Wednesday morning, it takes all day to get here and you’ll arrive at night, let me know when you plan on leaving so I can meet you at the station. It’s roughly a mile or two to get to from the station to where I’m living, so it’s not that far.
Pack your bedroll, a few changes of clothes and we can get anything else you need here. And don’t forget whatever Juliet needs, there’s a stable at the complex where I live so she’ll be close by.
I eagerly await your next letter telling me when you’ll be coming up.
J
Eli grinned, folded the letter back into the envelope and tucked it into his pocket before kicking Juliet into a slow canter. Thankfully there was only two other letters, both of them for the Fisher’s, when he got to their farm he slowed Juliet to a walk and stopped the mare outside the house, he knew that it was lunch time and that Nancy and Thomas would be inside. Dismounting he walked around the corner of the house to the kitchen door and knocked.
Nancy opened the door. “Eli, you’re early.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Not at all, we’re just having a cup of tea. Can I get you anything?”
“No thank you, I just wanted to bring you a letter each.”
Nancy led Eli into the dining room where Thomas was sitting at his seat at the head of the table.
“I’m guessing from that smile of yours that you got good news.”
Eli tried not to grin. “Yes Sir.”
“Come, sit down and tell us.”
Eli sat down at the table across from where Nancy had sat back down and took the letters from his pockets, handing one to each of them. He knew that Thomas would have talked to Nancy about Eli’s plans to move up with their son and they had both sent letters north. He tried not to jitter as they read their letters.
“It sounds like Jacob has just about everything sorted out.” Nancy said, looking up from her letter.
“I think he’s been waiting for it.”
“When do you plan on leaving?”
“I was thinking the end of the month, gives me time to send off another letter and organize everything I’ll need and gives an extra week, just in case the mail runs slow.”
It was almost the end of the first week of May, he knew the trip from home to Pueblo was roughly 90 miles and he knew Juliet could easily do 30 miles a day without worry, meaning that in order to be there by Tuesday morning he would have to leave Saturday morning.
“Have you told your parents yet?”
“No Sir, I wanted to wait until I heard from Jacob before I said anything.”
“You let me know if you want me to come and talk to your father.”
“I will Sir.”
“I think it’s great.” Nancy said, smiling across the table at Eli. “I do worry at times about Jacob being up there by himself, but the two of you can look out for each other.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of each other.”
Thomas stood up. “I know you will son, we’re here if you need us.”
“Thank you again Sir.” Eli said his good byes and walked back outside to where Juliet was grazing contently on the longer grass near the vegetable garden fence, over the years she had learnt where she could and couldn’t graze and Eli knew he could leave her untied and she wouldn’t wander far.
Riding home Eli took a deep breath as he let Juliet loose in the horse pasture and walked to the house, for the past two weeks he had been thinking about what he was going to say to his parents, to break the news that he was moving up to be with Jacob.
“Eli you’re home, can you get me the beans and corn from the cellar?”
Eli nodded and walked down the stairs to the cellar, getting the green beans and a half a dozen corn cobs from one of the shelves before heading back up to the kitchen.
“Thank you. The Peterson’s down the road brought us some meat from the steer they killed recently, they’ve had it curing and brought us some steaks and a roast. I’ve got the roast in the stove and we’re having beans, corn and potato with it.”
“Sounds nice, there’s something I want to tell you.”
“Of course dear, you can tell me anything.”
Eli took a deep breath and sat down on one of the dining chairs. “I’m moving to Salt Lake City.”
Anne stopped what she was doing and looked at Eli, a look of shock on her face.
“We’ve both been thinking about it for a while now. Mom, if Jake hadn’t gone to Salt Lake we would have our own farm by now and living our lives together.”
Anne sat down at the table beside Eli. “Are you sure?”
“I am Mom.” Eli replied, leaning forward on the table. “I wrote to Jake and he’s organizing things on his end, including a possible job where they teach animal science, so I’ll be earning my keep and we’ll still be home for winter.”
“I will miss you but it is your life Eli, you’re twenty one and old enough to decide what you want to do with it.”
“I’m just worried about telling Dad, I know he won’t be happy at all. Thomas has even said he’ll come and talk to him if needed.”
“I don’t know if that will help or not, you know what your father’s like when he’s set in his ways and having you around is something he’s gotten used to, but he’ll just have to get use to not having you around.”