It was a normally hot August night six years after the fall. A time period that we started calling “Manageable” as we have restored electrical power to many homes and have mechanical refrigeration again. However, many things are still done manually which leads to why we are taking a meal to the Bothian’s home. Her husband had been injured in an accident at work and broke his leg. SInce we didn’t have L&I any more, it was up to neighbors and church members to chip in where we could. They did have children that could help with chores around the home, but food and labor was still needed to get things ready for winter. Yes, we were already thinking about winter. There was food to dry or can, wood to stock up for heat and preparations for the building to handle the months of rain and snow. So, it was our night to lend a hand.
Kathy received us with open arms. John was still stuck in bed. I went in to say hi and see if there was anything specific that he needed. He said he could use more whiskey as the doc did not have a lot of painkillers on the shelf. I gave him something better. I had four CBD brownies and they were sure to knock the edge off of the pain. He thanked me and then asked if I could look at the light switch in the kitchen. Sometimes it doesn’t bring on the light.
I said I’d look at it and left him to rest.
I found Kathy and asked her to show me the light switch John had mentioned. She tried to blow it off, but I insisted.
“I don’t need the head elder doting over a stupid switch.” she said.
“If you don’t mind, I just want to make sure it won’t cause a short and burn your house down.” I said.
With that she showed me to the kitchen.
I took out a ten-in-one screwdriver that I keep in my side pocket to take apart the light switch. Once the cover was off I found so many wires crammed into the 2X4 metal box that it actually pushed the switch out an inch. I removed the switch and pulled at the other circuits to try and see why the box was so full. There were three other circuits using this box as a junction. And the service loop was twice as much as was needed. I cleaned up the box as best I could, shortened the service loops and pushed it all back into the wall. It was no wonder the switch was having issues. Once back in I tested it and the lights turned on and off as they should. I put the cover back on and then went back to the living room.
Kathy and Allison were talking and I sat down. Kathy looked at me and asked, “Well, what's the damage?”
I said it was working but then asked, “Did you have someone do any electrical work on your house lately?”
Kathy thought about it, then said that John had hired someone to run some circuits to the porch because it only had a light and we needed some electrical plugs out there during the summer. The house gets too hot, but with a fan, the back porch was the place to be in the evening. I got up and went back to the kitchen. This was an older house, meaning pushing a hundred years old. Many of these older homes were not built with electrical wires and it had to be added later. I searched the outside wall and there were no plugs. So that meant if you wanted power outside you had to go to the attic or crawl space and then go down the wall and through the lighting switch box. That just didn’t make much sense. A long story short, I found about six code violations in the wiring. Corrected a few and disconnected some others. Then went to see John to ask who did the work and who inspected it.
John said he had a friend help him. He didn’t want to mention his name.
I get that, but this friend just about burned down your house. I need to know who is doing this type of work so we can stop him and hopefully fix any other issues that he might have caused. After some coaxing he finally gave up the name. And it’s not the first time his name has come up. The rest of the evening went well but I couldn’t relax. I wanted to find Paul and stop him. If he’s done this to others, then he needed to be stopped sooner than later. Allison tried to cover for me, but she eventually shot me a look that said, engage here and put your other problems aside.
I spent the rest of the evening talking with Kathy and the kids. We played a board game and then left about 8 pm. By midnight I was still wide awake. Paul Franks billed himself a handyman, but usually it was shoddy work and he should never be running new electrical circuits in any home. And the fact that he has been paid to do this makes it even worse. Again, we face a situation where we don’t have the resources to certify people to certain tasks and then inspect the quality of that work. So, people like Paul are free to do whatever they think they can get away with. We do have the trades and apprenticeship programs, but they are for just a few trades like our manufacturing and agricultural programs, carpentry/masons. But not for electricity. This also means that we need to lock down the electrical supplies. Most of this has been for the taking. We’ve had plenty with the emptying of the containers, but that has to change. We are going to need to make sure that those taking supplies are qualified to install them, especially electrical items.
I made a list of people that I knew were trying to do jobs right. It was a short list, which is why the Pauls among us get work. People don’t know how to work on electricity and others are just too afraid of it to even touch it. I had to get this down to the supply guys and make sure that people not on this list are kept from taking what they shouldn’t.
After that I got some sleep. The next day I marched down to the structure just West of the Commons. It was nothing more than a few containers in close proximity to each other with a roof. Behind that was a semi organized pile of stuff. Some undercover, some in other containers and some still stacked on crates. There were people already picking through the piles when I got there. I spoke with Frank, the current forman and he didn’t understand the prohibition. He objected to having to impose the restriction mainly because he didn't have the manpower to enforce it.
Frank explained, “All this stuff is free for the taking, we’re just trying to pile it so that nothing falls on anyone. I don’t have the manpower to police it as well.” he was shaking his head.
I could see his point. There were only three of them. “Alright, I have a different Idea.”
Frank started yelling at someone, “Get down off of that! That whole piles going to shift!”
I waved to Frank, but I don’t think he saw. So I left. I had to talk with Randy Stimple, our journeyman electrician, to rally the troops and remove all the electrical supplies from the yard and secure it. If I can’t police it, then we we’re going to secure it.
It took me most of the morning to track Randy down. He didn’t have a radio and he wasn’t staying on the schedule that his wife told me. So it was the fifth job that I finally caught up to him. He had three guys with him and they were wiring up a shed. Apparently they were making it into a workshop.
Randy heard my idea and agreed, but he was already three weeks behind and didn’t have the manpower to devote to the stockpile. He assured me that by mid winter he could spare the manpower to separate the electrical supplies and get it secured. But no sooner. I thanked him and left.
The only thing I could do is to drag Paul before the council and forbid him from doing any more electrical work. And if he did, he would be fined or worse. That was still going to take time as the second week of August was harvest for a lot of vegetables. Their canning factories were in full swing and pickers were wearing out their boots getting the crops in. The commons kitchen was hot and steam was coming out of every kettle. Paul was going to have to wait.
I need some coffee and to look up my assignment for the day. So, I went back to the commons and found the board. It had lots of categories with lists of names below them. I found that today I was slated as a driver. Which actually meant that I was going to pick up horse manure. That’s because I wasn’t much of a driver of horses, so they gave me a shovel and I followed along the route removing the piles left behind by our four legged machines. I quickly got my coffee and headed home. I would pull out my three wheeled bike and its wagon. This made it possible to get the manure off the road and down to the mulch piles. I also loaded up the water jugs and put them on my bike.
Allison came out and gave me a hug. “How much sleep did you get last night?”
“About four hours.” I said, I’m going to sleep well tonight.
“I bet. I’ll be at the cannery all day. Green beans came in good this year.” Allison informed him. “You’ill probably be asleep by the time I get back.”
“Don’t work too hard. There are a lot of younger workers this year. Make sure they get their hands in the mix.” I stated..
“I will.” and she was off.
I went to the garage and looked at the charger. The batteries were more than half full and if I stayed in manual mode, they would be near full by the time I got down to the fields. Harvest started in the Northern fields first and then headed South. This would be a good harvest this year. Between more rain than normal, seed that was mixed with new stuff found at the port and mulch that had been sitting for two years as their fertilizer. Almost every field was bursting with vegetables and fruit. Almost everyone chickens were doing well and the hunting parties had come home with six elk, four deer, and a black bear. The cattle farmers were prepared to slaughter a dozen bulls and there were goats, pigs, turkeys and ducks. The smokers were going to be full for months. Some would be frozen, but most needed to be made into sausage, peperoni and salami. Alan relaxed in the knowledge he could go and do a mindless chore and not worry about Paul creating more issues than he already had.
Book 2 is available in paperback or Kindle: "Graham Heights"
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