Christmas Gift
More months went on, slowly in the winter as we trudged along. We butchered the beef cow that Jim gave us at Christmas, making sure that we preserved most of the meat, but we did gorge on steaks on Christmas Eve, a special treat indeed. The last time we had beef had been out of a can, and prior to that was probably when the whole thing just started and they found the freezer of meat.
Christmas itself had changed so much. It was strange to compare the years before, complete with the latest gift trend and fancy device, with the Christmas we had now. Gifts were still exchanged, of course, but they were special. We did revive the tradition of putting up a tree. The previous people of Wilsall seemed to be fans of Christmas. Each house had boxes of Christmas decorations in their sheds. We made a very special section of the store with all of those discovered decorations, and it was fun looking for ornaments that fit our personality. I saved one ornament from the box that came from our house. It was a handmade ornament built from flour and paste, cut from a cookie cutter in the shape of a bell, apparently made by a very young child. The date on the back said 1977, the year I was born. I hung it on my tree in a discrete place as a memorial to the people that had this house before I did, and as a memorial to the ornaments each one of us made in our youth that had to be left behind.
In school, Lacey led the kids in Christmas craft projects. They made the red and green advent chains to count down the days until Christmas, paper snowflakes, and, using a discovered stash of wooden clothespins, the kids painted the pins to resemble British Soldiers as tree ornaments.
Trent held a woodworking class where he taught everyone who came how to make a wooden box. The boxes had been constructed using hand cut dove tails, and not a single nail. Small brass hinges were delicately attached so the top could be opened. The workmanship that was put into this was stunning, and as I learned later, most of the kids needed very little intervention in their construction, even though Trent made sure that Derek and DaWayne were on site to lend a hand. Since the kids pretty much had this handled, they both made a box of their own. Drew was one of the kids that took the class and the pride in his eyes as he gave me the box was beautiful. He decorated the top with a wood burn etching of a Celtic knot and the inside was lined on the bottom with felt. This box was an absolute treasure, and the attention to detail was amazing.
Kristen was teaching the kids basic crocheting and Drew made his dad a scarf. Trent didn't have one, and with how cold the winters were, he really needed one. The colors he chose were a mixture of his dad's favorites, blacks, grays, and greens. His stitch work was amazing, the precision of each perfectly even stitch, and I began to wonder if he would have an interest in working in medical with me.
Trent made me a book shelf to hold the medical books I had collected. It was built like the box, with no nails, and it looked almost like something that would belong in a history museum. I loved that he used reclaimed wood because it made it look more rustic and weathered. I shocked Trent when he learned that I had exchanged stitches and a few tubes of triple antibiotic cream for a set of vintage tools: an old plane, hand drill, and a clamp that was discovered in a barn. He was over the moon.
Drew loved the book I made him of pressed leaves pasted into a hand bound book, most very local, including the fruit trees in people's yards, that explained what plants had useful berries and what tree had what fruit. He traced his fingers around the shapes of the various leaves. He smiled a huge smile, and said that the book was going to be used all the time, and he loved not having to try to decipher what the drawings were trying to say. Trent made Drew a toolbox to hold the collection of tools and other supplies that he would take on a run, and we shocked him when we produced a crossbow for him that had a laser sight in it, and a collection of new bolts, with razor sharp heads on them as well as a collection of target bolts for him to practice on the target we had already outside. I was very careful to call them bolts after I was chastised for calling them arrows when I was using a crossbow. In a few months he would be thirteen and he was going to want to go on runs, and we were going to have to let him. Matt and Lucas often took the twins on their runs, and it was smart to get them trained while they were younger to be able to know how to manage the risks that were part of scavenging. The mom part of me was terrified to think of my son outside the safety of the walls, but that voice was silenced when the logical side of me thought about how we were getting old, and we weren't going to be able to run forever.
Jack and the guys from Clyde's Park surprised us with a very welcomed gift. They found a storage facility that had track run gates that they took from the place. None of us liked our current gate situation of buses, but we didn't have another plan, and they knew it. We all worked at installing them at both ends of town. The guys took apart old refrigerators and welded the metal to the wrought iron bars so nothing could reach inside. By the time we were done with the metal plates, the gates were too heavy to be run by hand, so we put together a pulley system to make running the gates easier. Our new, secured gates made us feel like we were safer, and we weren't going to be dependent on our rapidly reducing fuel supply.
There was a knock at the door that startled us with its unexpected sound. Trent got up from the floor and answered it. When the door opened, a beautiful smell drifted in the house, and for the life of me, I couldn't place it. Trent invited our visitor in and Derek stepped inside.
"Merry Christmas, Grandpa," Drew called out. Derek leaned over and wrapped his arms around his grandson.
"Merry Christmas, buddy." Derek replied. "Cali, Trent, I just came over to tell you that dinner's at 4:00 in the café, alright?"
"Dinner?" Trent asked, "Is that the source of the beautiful smell out there? For a moment I thought I was hallucinating the ghost of Christmas past."
"Not a hallucination, son. My gift to the town is a pair of turkeys I nabbed while hunting. Gotta say, it wasn't easy to sneak these two past you guys. They weren't little birds, after all." Derek beamed at the appreciative looks Trent and I were giving him. Derek excused himself to let everyone else know about dinner.
We were done opening presents, and it was going to be a little while before dinner, so to pass the time, Trent and I took a walk around the walls. We were bundled up, Trent in his new scarf, and we walked slowly along the icy shipping containers. On the north side of the town, down a snow covered road, a little spot came into view. It was moving slowly towards us, and after a moment we both realized that the shape was a dog.
The dog was very thin and scared, and seemed wary of the town, but it kept sniffing the air, drawn by the smell of the turkey that was roasting over the fire next to the café. As the dog got closer, I could see that it was a pit bull mix, and that it was a she, a very pregnant she. Her eyes were low and she approached the wall cautiously. I climbed down the wall and ran to the pile of waste from the steaks that were supposed to go to the compost heap. I found a few scraps of beef and a bone that still had some meat attached to it, and jogged back to the gate. I climbed on the stand we put up to see over the gate and in the process, I startled the poor thing. I tossed the scrap of meat near her and the indecision on her face over trusting a stranger was heartbreaking. I was still as she inched closer, her tail tucked behind her and her ears pressed down. She got just close enough to reach the scrap, and she backed up as she grabbed it. She ate it quickly and looked back at me, like she was asking me if there were more. Her ears were relaxing as I tossed another chunk of meat to her. She was less cautious approaching that one. I motioned to Trent to pull the gate opened up enough so she could get through, so he climbed down to pull on the ropes and let it roll open. I held the bone in my hand and I stepped off the stand. She never took her eyes off of me.
"Come on, baby girl. Come on, momma." I called out to her softly, taking a step back with every step forward she made until she was very clear of the gate. Trent got into place to move the gate back and the sound of the rolling metal startled her. I kept calling to her with a soft and gentle voice and she came to me. I handed her the bone and she took it from me. I expected her to run away as soon as it was in her mouth but she didn't. I gently put my hand on her head and scratched her head behind the ears.
Her eyes were a warm melted chocolate color with a sliver of green near the pupils, and her fur was a swirl of caramel and cream. She was beautiful, and she looked so tired, like she had been traveling across a great divide and finally found her home. She decided to lay down on the ground at my feet, chewing on the bone, trying to free every last morsel of meat off on it. I crouched down to pet her some more and she didn't seem to object at all.
I looked up at Trent and softly asked, "Can we keep her?"
Trent smiled at me and said, "Now how did I know you were going to ask me that? Well, I guess I don't really have a choice on that one, do I? Looks like Santa left us a gift, and with her belly that large, looks like all the other houses are going to be getting a puppy for Christmas, too."
I didn't even think of that. Yeah, Santa had left us a gift, hadn't he?
I patted the dog's shoulders and asked her if she wanted to go home. Her eyes looked up at me with a look that I read as 'sure, if you have snacks.' I stood up and patted my leg and said, "Okay, momma. Let's go home." She stood up, with her bone in her mouth, and walked alongside me.
Drew was outside, shooting his new crossbow, dialing in the sight. He looked over to our direction and did a double take when he saw our companion.
"Drew, baby, move slow, alright? We don't want to freak her out. Put down your bow and keep your hands in sight, and let her come to you."
Drew's mouth was shaped in a soft O. We hadn't really been around a dog since Tesla was murdered, and I knew that he missed having a dog. "What's her name?" Drew's voice was soft and gentle as he admired the dog from a little distance.
"I have no idea. She wasn't wearing a collar. Since she's pregnant, I've been calling her Momma or some variation of that." The dog looked up at Drew like she was trying to decide if he was a good person or not, and she cocked her head to the right as she watched him.
"Well, hi, Momma Dog. Who's a good girl?" Drew was speaking softly and calmly and she seemed to be responding positively. She tilted her head the other way and her ears flopped in the motion. Her tail was swishing back and forth, and I took that as a good sign. Drew called the dog over to him. Momma Dog looked at me like she was seeking permission to check out Drew.
"It's okay, pup." I said, and she stood up and went over to the fence to sit down. Drew walked to the fence and Momma Dog stayed sitting as he approached. She looked up at him expectantly, and Drew fished something out of his pocket. He had an oatmeal cookie wrapped in a napkin. He unfolded the cloth and broke off a chunk, then tossed it over the fence. She practically inhaled the cookie bit and Drew gave her another and another until the cookie was gone.
When we moved into the house, the enclosed back patio that had been turned into a mud room was also very clearly a dog's room. That dog was well loved and had more dog accessories than I ever thought one dog should have; well, until now. I wanted Momma to have everything a dog should have after her life on the road. Since no one in our circle of people had a dog, I moved everything over to the shed to keep it out of the way.
I worried about the reception of stuff that had another dog's smell on it, but I didn't have other options. The most important order of business was to locate this poor girl some food and water. I ran inside and pulled a couple of bowls from the cupboards and filled one with water and the other with a can of beef stew. I didn't really have anything else just yet. I lured her inside the mud room with the food. She made a beeline for the dish and scarfed down every last morsel.
While she ate, I pulled out the dog stuff in the shed and knocked off the dust that had collected on it. I put the bed in the corner and she wandered over to investigate what I was up to. She sniffed at the bed and eyed me with suspicion. I had Drew find a small throw blanket to put over the bed and when that was in place she climbed into it, curled up and looked up at us. Those eyes melted my heart. She was beautiful. I couldn't help but to think that she was a loved pet at one point with how she reacted to people. She was well behaved and I fell in love with her instantly. She had to have gone through hell being on the road on her own. While zombies didn't infect other animals, they did eat them, and I wondered if this poor baby had any close calls. I bet that her keen sense of smell served her well in avoiding the dead.
The news that a dog was around spread fast, and was the main Christmas dinner discussion topic. When the kids heard that the dog was pregnant, they all wanted a puppy of their very own. I had to break it gently that there was no way that every kid was going to be able to have a dog of their own. I tried to imagine life at Lacey's house if every kid had their own dog. She would have five kids, including a toddler, and five dogs all over the place, taking over her house. I could see the chaos now. I hoped that each house would be able to have a puppy, but there was no way to know if that wish list item would be able to be filled until they were born.
Everyone wanted to meet her, and I wanted her to meet them, but I was worried that she would feel threatened if too many people crowded around her. I wanted her to know everyone and be comfortable around them so I decided that we would do introductions a couple people at a time. I suggested that we start with the adults to see how she was around them, and Derek volunteered to be a visitor Guinea pig. After dinner, he and Louise went over to our house. Momma Dog wagged her tail and seemed to do fine meeting them. The next day, DaWayne and Shayla came over, and hung out with us. The older kids came by, and I asked them to move slow around her for now. They went into the yard to play catch with a tennis ball, like they often did anyway, and Momma went outside with them. She wanted to play too. As Liam and Drew tossed the ball back and forth, she ran back and forth. Drew rolled the ball in her direction and she scooped it up in her mouth and returned it to him. Drew tossed the ball to Liam, who tossed it into the yard, and Momma went after it, grabbed it, and brought back it to Liam. The girls were sitting on a set of steps that led up to the house and when Momma was tired of playing games, she wandered over to where they were sitting and sniffed at them. They put out their hands and after each hand was sniffed, she wagged her tail and let them scratch her ears and back.