Jeanway

The fish now was cooked as well as the peas. Lida brought the platter and Taffita took care of the peas. They all sat and ate quietly. Then it dawned on Lida. She said to Addie. "You must be Abe's niece then, right Addie?" Addie spoke, still with food in her mouth. "OH, Uncle Abe! Where is he? Is he gone too? How do you know Uncle Abe and all my cousins?Are they coming? Are they coming here?" She fired at Lida. "Yes, Addie, they are coming. They will be here soon." Addie began to cry again. :(

"Well, Addie, are you going to come out now? You see we are harmless, don't you? Lida asked. "Yes, I was listening to you talk through the door. You all seem very nice. And yes, I will come out now." She stepped into the cellar. "Let's go up to the kitchen now, you must be starved Addie." Lida asked. "Yes, I am very hungry and when I smelled the fish cooking I got even hungrier. I was about to cry from the pain in my stomach." Addie said. "Come on then, let's eat." Lida said.

They all sat at the table. Addie came up and immediately set out the plates and cups from the cabinet. "This was my job, since I was the youngest and stayed with Mama much of the time. She was teaching me to be a good wife and mother." Addie's eyes began to fill with tears. "My Mama, and my Papa, I shall never see them agin, is that right Lida?" She asked in a pained voice. Taffita put her arm around Addie's shoulder and tried to comfort her. "It's alright Addie, we are here with you now, your not alone in your little room anymore in the dark. We will be your family now." Addie broke down in a shower of tears and held onto Taffita like she was her sister. Lida and Aaron just watched. :(

The girl continued to explain. "One day I just found all my familie's clothes in piles all over the farm. Papa's were in the Outhouse, on the floor. My Mother's were on the floor in front of the stove in the kitchen. My six brothers were out in the fields and my five sisters were in the barn near the cows and chickens. They were collecting eggs and milking the cows. I didn't know where they had all gone. I was very frightened and I hid in here. But when I started to go out into the barn and to the house for food I realized they weren't coming back. I have been taking care of the animals all by myself." Lida, Aaron and Taffita just stood there for a minute in silence. Then Lida said. " Well, we're all here now. We don't know exactly what happened but we'll try to figure this all out together, alright, um, what is your name by the way? I am Lida and this is Aaron and this is Taffita." She said. "Oh, excuse me, yes, my name is Adelaide but everyone calls me Addie, I mean everyone DID call me Addie, til this happened." She said sadly.

They all backed away from the door. Aaron called out to whoever was behind it. "Is someone in there?" He said in a loud voice. "It's just me." A tiny voice answered. When the next thing they heard were the clicks and snaps of locks being opened. Then the door opened in and standing there was a young girl, about Taffita's age. All dressed in black. A cap on her head covering her hair. "Hello." She said meekly. "I didn't mean to scare anyone. This is my hiding place." She expalined. "But how did you get in there if all this stuff was in front of the door?" Aaron asked her. "From the tunnel that goes to the barn. That's how I get in and out." She answered. Lida spoke up and asked. "How long have you been in there?" The girl answered. "Just since last night when I heard you coming in your plane. I watched you land out front from the kitchen and then I ran out the backdoor to the barn when you came into the house." She told them. Just then it dawned on everyone. Lida said. "So you MUST be a member of STF.Net then. That explains why your still here." The girl stood silent for a second then answered. 'My parents or my brothers or sisters didn't know. It was my little secret." She explained.

Aaron pulled on the knob, which came off in his hand. "Damn!" He said. "We need a crowbar to get in there now." After trying to pry it open with his fingertips. "Tools, tools," He said as he smacks his forehead. "I need to go to the barn, be bright back." He said. Taffita and Lida cleaned up the fallen spice rack and all the small bottles on the dirt floor. Luckily none of them had broken. Lida picked up one of the bottles which the label said 'Cardamomn' on it. "Eww, Taffy, I can make a nice coffee bread with this. You want to learn to bake? We have barrels of flour right over there and let's see, we need milk, butter, sugar, eggs and yeast. AWW crap, where do we find Yeast, Taffy?" She asked Taffita. "Oh, I m sorry Taffita. May I call you Taffy, it just slipped out." Lida explained. "The names are so close."

Just then Aaron came back down the ladder wielding a huge crowbar. "Here we go, get out of my way girls, this could get ugly." He said jokingly. He forced the flat end in between the door and the jamb. "Uhh, uh uh." He grunted as he worked it down the side. "It's moving but it won't open." He said. "Like it's locked from the other side." Just then they heard someone on the other side of the door 'Cough' :( They all stood there frozen in fear.

Cleaning anything within the ship's small conduits or the long hallways of Federation Starships. :(

273403[/snapback]

:( That's ironic, considering your Username

Evening Primrose

And I also felt this two-parter would have made an Excellent last Episode for the Season back in May. Instead of torturing us with that major Cliff-Hanger they left us with. :(

Like a volcano :(

Hey, didn't someone already do this thread??? :( :(

Aaron began to read:

~ Come to Eden ~

"We have hundreds of empty, self-sustaining farms here just waiting for you. Everything you need is here. Food, water, pets, a new home, friends and companionship. We CAN all survive here. We don't even NEED electricity. We are in the upper NorthEast corner of Indiana. If you have a map just aim for the town of Angola. It is right in the center of our community. If you get to Angola and see no one around just ring the church bell, it can be heard for miles and we will come to you. Come as soon as you can. Your Friends, Jeanway and Fenriz."

They sat a the table and drank their mint tea. Lida had found a Mason jar of honey in one of the corner cabinets, it still had a piece of honeycomb in there with it.

"What do we do now?" Lida said. Aaron thought for a minute then said. "Any chance Abe's brother had a generator around here? I know they are forbidden by the Amish but Abe had one. Maybe his brother did too. They looked at each other and at the same instant a light went off in their heads. They both said "The Loft!" :( at the same time. Out the back door they bounced, down the steps and ran across the yard to the barn. Then up the ladder to the loft.

They stood there in amazement. They thought Abe's barn was stocked. This one looked like an explosion at the Sony Factory. "Wow" Aaron said as he looked around. He started the generator, one of three. The computers are all ready to go. Shall we?" He said as he bowed and waved his arm towards the nearest computer. "I know Abe knew about this. It's too much of a coincidence. I bet that's where his boys got the idea in the first place and why they are coming here too." Lida agreed and kept typing. "I'm logged in now. I'm going to invite everyone to come here in a thread. Now let's see, what shall I say. Lida typed quietly to herself as Aaron logged in as well. "Done." She said as she hit the 'Add Reply' button. "O.K., now where is it?" Aaron asked. "Just look, at the top." She answered. "Oh, I see it." He said then clicked on it then read it outloud..........................

Lida, Aaron and the girls stood in the front hall and looked from side to side. :( The kitchen was to the left, the parlor to the right. The stairs straight ahead on the left side of the hallway. Lida went to the kitchen and looked around. It was a very large kitchen. A huge trestle table with matching benches flanking it. She estimated that with the two chairs at either end it could seat up to 16 people, comfortabley A huge wood burning stove sat at the far end with a large window above the soapstone sink on one side. The sink had a pump. Large wooden corner cabinets in each corner of the room that went to the ceiling with glass doors. She could see all the dishes and glasses and cups through. There was a back door next to the stove. It led out to the side yard. She went out it and noticed there was alot of mint growing around the small porch, she could smell it.

Meanwhile Aaron went upstairs, to the second floor. He counted five bedrooms on the second floor. Then up another set of steps he found three more bedrooms on the top floor. These bedrooms were even larger than the ones on the second floor. He came back down to the kitchen where Lida had picked a mass of mint and was trying to lite the stove. "Here, let me help you." Aaron said. He took out the three logs she had put in and replaced them with handfuls of kindling then lit them. Slowly he added more until the fire was going well. Then he stacked a few very small logs on top of that. Once they were lit he put the three large logs back in on top waited a few minutes until the fire was established then he closed the door. "O.K. All set. You can cook now." He said jokingly. Lida just glared at him :(

Lida had the water boiling in a huge kettle on the wood burning stove. The steam gently wofted into the air. The gentle breeze lifted the white eyelet curtains away from the window then back down again. The kitchen smelled of freshly baked biscuits which were lieing on the table in front of the open window in the sun. "Hold on Taffita. I have to go down to the cellar and get the butter, it stays cooler down here." She told her. "Oh, may I join you?" Taffita asked. "Sure come on down. I love it down there. Wait til you see." She answered with a giggle.

They both climbed down the sturdy, wide, wooden ladder to the cellar. At the bottom Lida had left a candle in a holder and some matches. As Taffita climbed down Lida lit the candle. "See." she said as she held up the candle and walked outer walls of the cool cellar. The walls were lined with shelves that went right to the ceiling. Each shelf had Mason jars filled with every sort of fruit and vegetable. "Look, there are peaches, plums, applesauce, cherries, tomatoes, green beans, beets, potatos, corn, baked beans, sauerkraut, pickles,melon, asparagus, peas, tomato sauce. The list went on and on. "I see what you mean Lida." Taffita said. "and over here are the crocks with the butter, enough for a month. There were also baskets filled to overflowing of fresh sweet potatos, onions, white and yellow and red potatos, unshucked ears of corn. Baskets lined the entire cellar in front of all the shelves. Lida hadn't even discovered everything that was there yet. The cellar was as big as the kitchen above it. Then she showed Taffita to another small door, which she opened and they entered. Inside there were huge pieces of meat. Some wrapped in cotton cloth that had been in the smokehouse out back. "You have a smokehouse here? Taffita asked. "Yep, I'll show it to you in a minute, come, look at this." She said. She led her to a large crate that was filled with smoked fish. And to another packed tightly with smoked turkeys. "Wow" Taffita said. "We won't go hungry here, that's for sure. Now what would you like for lunch?" Lida asked. Taffita thought for a minute then said. "Got Cheese?" Lida laughed. "Sure, right over here. She opened another door and before them were huge vats with cheese brewing in them. Another far wall with shelves with solid cheese lined up neatly in rows. "Take your pick." She told her. Taffita grabbed a nice mild cheddar wheel and they went back through the meat room where she grabbed a smoked fish then back into the first room and she grabbed three Mason jars. One with stewed tomatos, one of peas and one of peaches. Lida helped her carry the food back up the ladder to the kitchen. They put everything on the hoosier and began to cook. Taffita watched as Lida put the smoked fish into a large iron skillet with some butter and placed it on the stove. Then she opened the jar of stewed tomatos and dumped it over the fish. Then she opened the jar of peas and dumped them into a pan to cook."OOPs, we forgot, we'll need an onion." Lida said. "I'll get it." Taffita said and went right back down the ladder and back up in a flash. "Here you go." she said as she handed it to her. 'No, here YOU go." Lida said. "Peel it and slice it and put it in with the fish, ok?" She asked. Taffita, not accustomed to cooking, hemmed and hawwed but did it anyway. "There, done." Taffita said as she placed the last slice of onion in the skillet with the fish.

Orca

Julia Roberts

After a while of good-byes and Abe assuring them that he and his whole family would also be going to Angola, Abe loaded up his children in the buggy and headed back to Lafayette. Lida and Aaron watched and waved as the buggy clip-clopped out of site. with tears in their eyes they got back in the plane and started their pre-flight, once again. Then they took off, heading East now, Towards Angola.

According to the map Angola wasn't very much futher now. They had been flying for about an hour. When they recognized the lake Abe had told them to watch for, Pleasant Lake. He told them his brother's farm was right next to it and he had visited there many times. He told them to go to that farm and stay there and he would get the family there as soon as he could.

They flew over the farm and recognized it from Abe's description. "Many out buildings." He told them. "And painted red." There it was, below them. Lida flew around the house and barn and the fields then they decided to land on the long dirt road that led up to the house. "Well? What do you think?" Aaron asked her. "Couldn't ask for a nicer spot. Looks like Eden to me." She said. They got out of the plane and went into the house.

After eveyone had eaten they all sat around on the floor in front of the fire. Everyone was exhausted. Baby Tongue and Kes had climbed a small tree. It's roots firmly imbedded in one of the small fish pools and gone to sleep. Lida could see them from across the atrium.

As they chatted Abe told Lida and Aaron somethings that surprised them both. It seems Abe and his children had already done the release at the final zoo in Gary. So to their surprise, Lida and Aaron's Mission was over now. He told them he also visited few small animal parks along the way and did release there also. So relieved now Aaron layed back on the warm stone floor and fell asleep. Followed by Lida, Abe and the children.

At dawn the sun woke all of them at the same time. The East facing windows allowed the sunlight to flood the entire room. They all got up and looked for something to eat. They washed in the small pools and used the facilities. "Where are you going now Lida?" Abe asked her. "Well, I really hadn't thought about that yet." She answered. 'I want to tell you about a place you and us and the rest of the STF.Net members could all live, very nicely too I might add. It's up state, East of here. A little community of Amish. I'm sure they are all gone now. But it is very beautiful there and lots of crops and animals are still there." He told her. "Do you have a map?" He asked her. "Yea, outside in the plane there is a map, let me go get it." Lida went to the plane and got the map. Brought it back and unfolded it on the floor. "Here." Abe said as he pointed to the town of Albion. "All this area around here, for miles and miles, nothing but great farmlands and great farms. You must go there." He said again and pointed.

Inside the pavillion they found the Snack Bar. They all were starving by now and rummaged through all the shelves and drawers and boxes the could find. Taking all the candy bars and snacks they opened up the refrigerator, which was still cold inside. They found boxes of unopened meat. Hot dogs and hamburger patties and bags of frozen french fries. "Sure wish there were a way to cook up all this." Abe said. "Well, Paw, there's alot of wood over there and I saw a woodpile somewhere around here too for that big fireplace over there." He pointed. "AHH, the fireplace, I hadn't noticed that. Aaron said. "Yea, I been here in the wintertime bafore and they have us all roastin marshmallows on sticks in the fire." Abe told them. "O.K., Cain and Abel, go get the wood and be careful out there we don't know if that warthog is still hangin around here, they can be nasty ya know, chew ya foot right off." Abe laughjed. The boys didn't.

After the fire was blazing in the huge fireplace Lida and the girls began to attempt to cook the hot dogs and hamburgers. The hot dogs cooked up fine on the ends of long sticks, but those hamburgers were another story. Even with the long handeled spatulas it was difficult since there was no grate to lay them on. "Just lay em on the hearth, close to the fire, they'll cook." Abe suggested. and sure enough, it took a while but they did.

This was a very active and noisy zoo. Not at all what they had expected. Perhaps the animal keepers at the last zoo weren't doing their jobs very well and all those animals were in bad shape before this happened. The animals here all seemed to be very active and alert. As if there had been no interuption in their care and feeding. When all of a sudden a familiar face appeared on the otherside of one of the pens. "Abe!!" Lida yelled. "Look Aaron it's Abe over there." She said to him. It seems that Lida and Aaron's quest to save the animals had hit Abe right in the heart and here he was doing the very same thing. "I knew I'd run into you two eventually if I stayed here long enough." He said as he walked towards them. "Are you here by yourself Abe?" Aaron asked him. "Naw, I got One of my boys with me and two of my girls. They've all been helpin me." "Where are they? Lida asked. "Oh, they're around here somewhere." He said. "Well, you know why we are here then, let's get to it." Lida said. "I'm right behind ya." Abe answered. They set out doing the release. Abe called to the three children and they joined them. This release went very quickly with so much help. And without any casualties. At the very end, they all ran into the pavillion and closed all the doors and waited for a while. This gave them a chance to talk.

They flew into the tiny airport at Columbia City and refueled then took off again. next stop, South Bend.

Circling the zoo just North of South Bend they landed on the street. Lida spotted an empty stretch, touched down and rolled right up to the front entrance. The lizards were awake now and hungry. Trying to crawl all over Lida and Aaron to tell them so. "O.K. Sweetie. You can come with us this time." She said to Kes as she held her up in front of her. Lida had little hope now of finding very many live animals after the last zoo. and thought carrying Kes and BT wouldn't interfere with what they had to do. Once inside the entrance pavillion there were numerous small ponds with fish in them. Lida checked the depth with her arm and found them to be fairly shallow plus with all the plants sunk down under the surface the lizards had plenty of things to grab hold of. Lida put Kes and Baby Tongue in the pond. Surprisingly enough they spotted the fish and went after them. "Boy, they sure ARE hungry, aren't they?" She said to Aaron as they dashed around under the surface churning up the water by whipping their tails. The side of the ponds were high and slippery so they decided to leave them in there while they did the release. They had to come back out this way anyway.

Lida reached the plane first, opened the door and was climbing in when Aaron flew at her and pushed her and himself in on top of her. "Get off me!" Lida yelled, nearly upside down in the c o c k -pit of the tiny plane. Aaron tried his best to right himself yet stay inside the plane. As they scrambled around trying to get into their seat the boar ran right under the plane and out the otherside into the field. Totally forgetting what he was chasing. "Whew! Now that was close." Lida said. As they watch the boar run into the woods.

"Well, now what?" Aaron asked as they sat there trying to catch their breath. "Well, I think we are going to have to find a fueling station somewhere. Hand me the map. I hate to fly all the way back to Fort Wayne since we aren't too far from the next zoo, which is in South Bend." She said. He handed her the map and she looked for perhaps a small municipal airport on the route. "Ah, there's one, only about 10 miles from here, let's get going." She said as she began her pre-flight. Aaron knew what to do now so it took alot less time than before.

Lida and Aaron laughed. Taffita obviously had a sense of humour. Something we all needed more of in this situation. "We are about 3 miles South of Angola Taffita." Aaron said. "I go up there to raid the electronic stores and Radio Shack. You should see their Warehouse. We'll never run out of anything." Aaron added with a laugh. "So how then are you able to still contact the site? Can you show me? I haven't been on computer since I left home." Taffita asked. "Sure, come on back to the house. We set everything up in the loft in the barn and we also have computers in every room of the house, every room we use that is. The kitchen, bedrooms and not to forget, we even have a computer set up in the outhouse. You want to see? " OH, yes." Taffita answered. "Well, come on then. We all need some tea and something to eat about now anyway. You like hot biscuits with butter and honey, Taffita? And mint tea? We have a whole patch of mint growing right outside our back door." She told her.

" What I'd like to know is where all these bees are coming from. I got rid of their nest but there are still bees everywhere." Aaron said as he waved at the air around his head. "They seem to be attracted to you Sweetie, that's because your so SWEET." Lida said. Everyone laughed. "Aaron, maybe there are hives around here. We do have jars and jars of honey in the pantry. Some of them even have pieces of the comb in them. After tea why don't you go look way in back of the last outbuilding. I heard that people who keep hives usually put them far away from the house." Aaron just grunted. The thought of more encounters of this kind made him physically ill.

Since this was their forth zoo release the routine had been established. The primary walk through feeding and releasing the smaller, less threatening animals. Then making mental notes as to which would be their final releases, the most dangerous animals would be last. At which time it would be a race to out run the last ones and opening gates and cages before they caught up to them. Sadly there were many weak and dying there already. Their efforts may have caught some of them just in time but some were at death's door. The giraffs were among those as were the elephants whose pond had dried up and they lay in their compound dried up and breathless in the sun. Their bodies swarming with flies. This was a sad,sad sight for Lida and Aaron. All their efforts came just a little too late. The Polar bears and the Grizzly seemed to fare better though. The goats were huddle together in the corner of their pen. Some were dead, some dying, but a few were still interested in food, this was a good sign for them. All this death around them discouraged Lida and Aaron. Knowing how many zoos they would never be able to get to but they had made a commitment to do two more zoos in Northern Indiana.

They were on their final walk-through and were releasing a fiery looking wild-boar. When it looked at them and charged. This was the last animal to be freed so they opened the gate then ran like hell towards the rear entrance and to the plane, wild boar hot on their heels. The need to yell "RUN" wasn't there, they knew that if this boar caught up with either of them they could lose a leg, or worse.

Lida exited the plane and closed the door. She had parked it under a tree so it was in the shade and should remain cool for the lizards still asleep in the back. She walked to the rear entrance. A rosevine covered archway and stood just inside it waiting for Aaron. She could hear that the zoo's sound system was still running and a song was playing over and over again, which was exceptionally appropriate. She remembered this song even though she had only heard it a few times it went like this:

Someone told me

It's all happening at the zoo.

I do believe it,

I do believe it's true.

It's a light and tumble journey

From the East Side to the park;

Just a fine and fancy ramble

To the zoo.

But you can take the crosstown bus

If it's raining or it's cold,

And the animals will love it

If you do.

Somethin' tells me

It's all happening at the zoo.

The monkeys stand for honesty,

Giraffes are insincere,

And the elephants are kindly but

They're dumb.

Orangutans are skeptical

Of changes in their cages,

And the zookeeper is very fond of rum.

Zebras are reactionaries,

Antelopes are missionaries,

Pigeons plot in secrecy,

And hamsters turn on frequently.

What a gas! You gotta come and see

At the zoo.

Lida and Aaron had now taken off for the second time. Heading North towards Fort Wayne. Aaron busied himself with a crossword puzzle and tried to keep his mind busy during the flight. " What's a six letter word for 'not too bright'?" He asked her. Lida thought for a second and replied "STUPID?" HE GAVE HER SUCH A LOOK! The girls slept in the back the whole time.

Coming in slowly for a landing they could see that the Fort Wayne International Air Port was much larger than Wheeling's. The parking lot that surrounded the terminal was packed. "Hey, something just occurred to me." Lida said. "Why don't we just land right at the zoo? Funny I hadn't thought of that before this." She said."That'll save us alot of time." She added. "Go for it." Aaron said. They looked on the city map and located the zoo. "We need to fly West from here." She said as she turned the yolk and pulled back on it." After only a minute or so they spotted the zoo. Right next to it was a large field which Lida thought perfect for a landing. The landing was a bit bumpy once they touched down on the grass. It wasn't as smooth as it appeared to be but still a fine landing. She steered the plane up to what appeared to be a large rear entrance and turned the engine off.

Aaron was the first out of the plane, like a shot, then he headed for a nearby bush. "Be right back." He yelled as he exited the plane. "O.K., I'm going in." She answered.