The soft, velvety caress on his cheek brought Eddie back to the land of the living. Smiling, he opened his eyes expecting to see Lannie, his partner and best friend.
“Aw shit Buddy, stop it already!” His other best friend and companion was standing over him, slobbering and happily licking Eddie’s face. It wasn’t too often that the big Lab had a chance to get in his licks on Eddie and he seemed to be making up for it.
“Okay, okay, already!” He started to get up but the world was spinning again, “Not another ‘quake”, he moaned. (no) he jerked back into focus, remembering the events leading up to his fainting.
“Buddy”, “How do you do it?” (what?) “Do this telepathy or whatever it is that you’re doing?” (always do it) “Huh?” “Always?” “What do you mean, always?”(always do, man not listen)
The world was starting to spin again, “Must be in shock or something”, he thought. Grimacing from the pain in his side and gingerly touching the new knot on the back of his head, he walked slowly to the bar set up under the window and crawled up onto one of his home-made bar stools. Holding his aching head with one hand and groping for the water faucet with the other he soon had a glass of ice-cold spring water in front of him. Further groping in one of the drawers in the bar revealed a bottle of aspirin, which he quickly opened. Shaking out a halfdozen of the white pastilles he hurredly gulped them down with the cold water.
Eddie sat there for several minutes, not saying or thinking anything, just waiting for the aspirin to take hold. As he sat, the big Lab wandered off through the still-open front door. When he felt a little better, Eddie walked over to the door, shut it then took a couple steps to the T.V. and switched it on.
Nothing but the hiss of white noise on all stations. He switched it back off and went to the pantry door and slid it open. The racks and shelves of food and bottled water reassured him, as did the yellow glow of the emergency light that struggled to illuminate the recesses of the pantry.
Moving towards the rear of the little room he fumbled for a lever at the edge of the shelving. Grasping the wooden handle and pushing it down made the shelves move outwards a fraction of an inch. He got hold of the framework and pulled it the rest of the way open revealing a larger room inside.
It took the automatic light almost a minute to start flickering then glow, lighting up the hidden room.
Moving to one side he reached up and toggled a switch next to another light bulb. As this bulb came to life he toggled another, less noticeable switch that produced the purr of running machinery and in a few seconds a draft of cool air whispered around him. He went to the workbench set against one of the granite walls and sat, opening the cabinet doors in a well-practiced, single motion.
Eddie flipped some more switches and the big short-wave radio sprang to life. As he searched for news he was also checking his tell-tale electronic bugs that kept track of his household power grid and the solar power set-up on the roof. Surprisingly he was running 95% efficient which meant that no harm had been done by the quake.
Although he was on the battery system here in the pantry apparently his cabin’s back-up power system had withstood the monster quake better than he had expected.
Just about everyone in the mountain valley had an alternate power source like his, storms were too frequent and the power company was too away for reliable service. The inhabitants of the valley were using alternate energy sources long before it became a popular in the rest of the country and were proud of their independence from the “grid”.
Most household systems weren’t quite as elaborate as his, but there were several that rivalled the power company’s own. The abundance of running water, the steady winds from the mountains surrounding them and even geo-thermal power from some of the many mine-shafts of the region that had been closed by hitting pockets of boiling water and steam, were all great sources of free power, not to mention the sun itself.
Puzzled, Eddie kept searching the bands for some signs of life but all he picked up was the hiss and chatter of emptiness. Once he thought he had heard a voice, sounding possibly Mexican but it was gone before he could pinpoint it.
Flipping the off switch and getting up, he walked over to another cabinet and opening it, fished out a white case with a big red cross. Cleaning the matted hair on the back of his head as best he could, and carefully probing for embedded gravel and dirt, he wrapped a length of gauze around his head turban-style and taped it off.
Starting to leave, he picked up the first aid kit again and walking back out the way he came, he shut the pantry and headed for the front door, meeting Buddy on the way.
“Hey Buddy!” and reached over to ruffle his neck fur. (eddie!) “Jeez” he thought, “when am I gonna get used to this?” “Hey Buddy,” he said out loud, “what was that you were saying about me not listening, or something?” He realized with a shock that Buddy conversing with him felt very natural, like it was meant to be.
(old ones say man listen in before time, not listen now) “Old Ones?” (sire’s sire’s,,,) and a seeming endless stream of sires and dams,,”Wait!” “Hold it,” “You mean to say you talk to these dogs from the past?” (no talk, listen) Eddie was just starting to understand a little, a very little.
“Okay Buddy, maybe we’ll talk about this later,” shaking his head produced a flash of bright pain and Eddie had to gulp back nausea. Grabbing his big parka from the floor where it had landed, they headed for the door and the weak winter sunlight beyond.
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