crop. But, really, it doesn't happen as often as Papa suggested."
"So.... the most dangerous thing about this whole thing.... was your driving?"
"Maybe I was a little enthusiastic." Maxine admitted, after feigning a pout. "Sometimes, when a farm is abandoned, they don't round up all the livestock. Let's see if we can find something for the pot."
* * *
There had been chickens, but they had been nervous birds, and kept running away before they could be caught. In the end, Chloe had taken down two of them with her catapult. The stone stove in the farm house had been primed with embers from the bonfire, and now a chicken stew simmered on top of it.
Chloe was stirring the pot as Maxine entered the kitchen. She looked at the handful of metal Maxine put down on the table, before asking, "Can you be certain they are not coming back? Are we not just stealing?"
Maxine sat on the table and swung her legs as she thought through her reply. "We never take from a place unless it's abandoned. I promise. We are not like the raiders, who charge in and take stuff by force, killing, raping.... I've seen what they do to communities. We're nothing like that."
"I didn't mean to...."
"I know. I know. This place.... the people who used to live here didn't leave in a hurry. Their move was planned. Maybe they got an offer on somewhere better, or found family and went off to be with them. But, they packed as much as they could and took it with them. What's left, they didn't need or didn't want. Or were the size of this table, and they just couldn't move it. Well, maybe they wanted to take the wine stash Papa found. They must have forgotten about it."
"I don't know. Some of that wine wasn't fit for drinking. Okay for cooking, though."
"We are scavengers, sort of. But we do it to provide material for other folk to use. We're like part of the ecosystem, Papa says."
Chloe scooped a sample of stew from the pot. "Come, taste." She said, holding the spoon up and blowing on it. She carefully fed Maxine the stew. "Good?"
"The wine makes it."
"Do you have more stuff to scavenge?"
"Not really, like I said, they did a good job of clearing this place out."
Chloe turned to face Maxine, resting a hand on her waist. "The stew should.... stew for a while longer. There are rooms upstairs." She said.
"There are, aren't there." Maxine stood on tiptoe moving in for a kiss.
Their lips hadn't quite touched when the clatter of the door made them jump and move apart. Tony faltered on the threshold, aware that he had interrupted something. "Ah, er.... We've found a decent amount of hooch fuel in the still. You're the expert at filtering that stuff, can you come and work your magic." He said after a moment's pause.
"Suppose I was wrong, there is still some stuff for me to do." Maxine said.
"The, ah, stew smells good." Tony said before following Maxine out of the building.
* * *
There were two vats of mash in one corner of the barn, foul smelling tubs where starchy and sugary waste fed the fermentation. The result was a beer, of sorts, that only crazies would drink. This wasn't booze for human consumption, it fed the solar still on the south side of the building.
"I'm surprised they didn't take it with them." Tony said as he studied the complex arrangement of copper piping and vessels.
"You couldn't get this out of here without destroying it." Maxine said, tracing the path of one piece of tubing with a finger then giving an appreciative nod at its clever orientation. "And it would break my heart to destroy something this beautiful."
"So they just left it to keep on distilling, meaning there's some alcohol fuel in there for us. Sweet."
"Yeah. You should get some of the mash and prime it so there's some for the next folks through here. I'll find a container for the distillate."
There was an old plastic bucket wedged between the mash vats, the thin metal handle barely holding on to it. Tony took a deep breath and held it as he dipped the bucket into the mash,
"So.... the most dangerous thing about this whole thing.... was your driving?"
"Maybe I was a little enthusiastic." Maxine admitted, after feigning a pout. "Sometimes, when a farm is abandoned, they don't round up all the livestock. Let's see if we can find something for the pot."
* * *
There had been chickens, but they had been nervous birds, and kept running away before they could be caught. In the end, Chloe had taken down two of them with her catapult. The stone stove in the farm house had been primed with embers from the bonfire, and now a chicken stew simmered on top of it.
Chloe was stirring the pot as Maxine entered the kitchen. She looked at the handful of metal Maxine put down on the table, before asking, "Can you be certain they are not coming back? Are we not just stealing?"
Maxine sat on the table and swung her legs as she thought through her reply. "We never take from a place unless it's abandoned. I promise. We are not like the raiders, who charge in and take stuff by force, killing, raping.... I've seen what they do to communities. We're nothing like that."
"I didn't mean to...."
"I know. I know. This place.... the people who used to live here didn't leave in a hurry. Their move was planned. Maybe they got an offer on somewhere better, or found family and went off to be with them. But, they packed as much as they could and took it with them. What's left, they didn't need or didn't want. Or were the size of this table, and they just couldn't move it. Well, maybe they wanted to take the wine stash Papa found. They must have forgotten about it."
"I don't know. Some of that wine wasn't fit for drinking. Okay for cooking, though."
"We are scavengers, sort of. But we do it to provide material for other folk to use. We're like part of the ecosystem, Papa says."
Chloe scooped a sample of stew from the pot. "Come, taste." She said, holding the spoon up and blowing on it. She carefully fed Maxine the stew. "Good?"
"The wine makes it."
"Do you have more stuff to scavenge?"
"Not really, like I said, they did a good job of clearing this place out."
Chloe turned to face Maxine, resting a hand on her waist. "The stew should.... stew for a while longer. There are rooms upstairs." She said.
"There are, aren't there." Maxine stood on tiptoe moving in for a kiss.
Their lips hadn't quite touched when the clatter of the door made them jump and move apart. Tony faltered on the threshold, aware that he had interrupted something. "Ah, er.... We've found a decent amount of hooch fuel in the still. You're the expert at filtering that stuff, can you come and work your magic." He said after a moment's pause.
"Suppose I was wrong, there is still some stuff for me to do." Maxine said.
"The, ah, stew smells good." Tony said before following Maxine out of the building.
* * *
There were two vats of mash in one corner of the barn, foul smelling tubs where starchy and sugary waste fed the fermentation. The result was a beer, of sorts, that only crazies would drink. This wasn't booze for human consumption, it fed the solar still on the south side of the building.
"I'm surprised they didn't take it with them." Tony said as he studied the complex arrangement of copper piping and vessels.
"You couldn't get this out of here without destroying it." Maxine said, tracing the path of one piece of tubing with a finger then giving an appreciative nod at its clever orientation. "And it would break my heart to destroy something this beautiful."
"So they just left it to keep on distilling, meaning there's some alcohol fuel in there for us. Sweet."
"Yeah. You should get some of the mash and prime it so there's some for the next folks through here. I'll find a container for the distillate."
There was an old plastic bucket wedged between the mash vats, the thin metal handle barely holding on to it. Tony took a deep breath and held it as he dipped the bucket into the mash,
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