“Sounds good, boss lady. I’ll tell Piers when we get to the ranch.”
Chapter Four
Her plan worked for the next few days and Tamsyn relaxed a bit. The government website was useless, still under construction, with only minimal information about the symptoms to watch out for and a warning not to try treating it at home. The section where names of loved ones and friends who’d been hospitalized could be checked for status was unpopulated, with a brightly blinking banner advising the viewer to try again later. She’d done endless comcalls to the hospital, seeking more information, but no one was picking up the calls and after her fifth attempt the message line was overloaded and refused to take her voicemail.
When her handheld signaled an incoming call on the fourth day, a zing of adrenaline spiked through her and she answered eagerly. “Tamsyn Wendover here.”
“Hey, Tammy,” drawled Benjy Slocum, the younger of the brothers who ran the feed store, using a nickname from elementary school she loathed. “Good news, we got that part in for your greenhouse central controller.”
“That’s great.” She tried to inject enthusiasm into her voice. “Can you send the driver out here with the part? I’ll pay the delivery fee.”
“Sorry, no can do. We’re running a few employees short right now. Actually just Stevr and me minding the shop and neither of us can be spared for making the long ass drive. You want the part, you come in and get it, and don’t take too long. If it isn’t picked up by tomorrow, I got others who’ll buy it and then you can go on backorder again.”
Tamsyn was highly irritated and thought dark things about his lack of customer service but bit her lip. Slocum Feed and Tack was the only source in town and she sure didn’t want to go to the city right now, in the middle of a big flu epidemic. “All right, I’ll send Rasty or Piers.”
“Sorry, that doesn’t work. You have to pick it up in person,” he said, further raising her ire. “Government regulations on account of some of the parts are controlled items. You have to sign for it as the ranch owner.”
Grinding her teeth, she said, “I’ll be there in two hours or less. Don’t you give away my controller.”
“Wouldn’t be giving it away,” he said with a smirk. “See you.”
After changing out of her work clothes and into clean jeans and a pullover top, Tamsyn drove into town. There was no traffic at all and when she reached the feed store she found the windows all boarded up as if preparing for a big storm. The door was locked and she peered through the glass, knocking hard. “Benjy!”
Eventually he came to the door and unlocked it, letting her in and slamming it shut on her heels. She took note of the blaster at his hip. “Overreacting much?”
“Trying to be prepared,” he said, unperturbed, leading her toward the rear of the store. “Things fall apart as a result of this flu, my brother and me got a lot of valuable stuff in this store. Things people like you are going to be wanting and needing. We figure it’s better to be ready than to be caught flatfooted. Jonny Fafield is thinking the same way and so are some of the other store owners. You don’t listen to the news much, do you?”
Tamsyn was unboxing the parts she’d ordered and examining them closely to make sure she’d gotten what she needed. “Should I?”
“Might be a good idea right now. Listen, this flu is no joke. We’ve got it bad here in Rosewater but it’s a hundred times worse in the cities. Government’s barely keeping control.” He tapped a finger on the box in front of her. “Delivery driver said this was his last haul out here. He’s quitting and taking his family somewhere safe to ride out the epidemic.”
She sighed and shoved the new unit back in the box. “All this doomsday talk. Honestly, there have been flu outbreaks before, doesn’t anyone remember? Eventually it peaks or the scientists come up with a vaccine and then the crisis blows over. How much do I owe you?”
Benjy quoted an exorbitant sum which she paid with no further argument. If things were getting as bad as he said, then she needed her greenhouse to be up and functioning so she could keep growing food for herself and the two remaining ranch hands. They’d been managing so far with manual watering, weeding and pest removal but being shorthanded she didn’t need any extra tasks.
Walking to her truck she was unhappy and disgruntled and on a whim called her friend Sally. “Hey, I’m in town unexpectedly today— want to have lunch?” she asked.
“I’d love to. The school is deserted this week since the school board declared a holiday and I’m so bored,” Sally said. “I can only do so many lesson plans ahead. Meet you at the diner in fifteen?”
Tamsyn didn’t have much hope of getting a table at the diner, which was reliably crowded at the lunch rush but to her surprise the place was nearly deserted and the two waitresses were gossiping by the coffee machine. She got her favorite table at the back and soon Sally was rushing in to join her. They made a quick business of ordering.
“What brought you in today?” Sally asked. “Weren’t you here a couple of days ago?”
“Yes, I came in to visit Drake and cheer him up but he’d been med evacuated, which was kind of weird. No news on him since either. I should probably bug the doc while I’m here.” Tamsyn accepted her soft drink from the waitress and took a long sip. “But what I’m really here for today is to hear all about your date in the big city with Greg.” She drew out the man’s name in a sing song voice and they both laughed. Tamsyn was happy her friend had found a compatible man to date through the colony’s dating app but she was more than a little afraid Sally would end up moving to the city to be with Greg if the couple got any more serious. Tamsyn rarely made it into Rosewater. She never ventured willingly into the city.
Sally made a face. “It was weird actually. Not because of anything Greg did but people in the city are scared to death of this new flu. The transit hub wasn’t nearly as busy as usual and when Greg picked me up there was hardly any traffic on the streets either. He’d made reservations for us at a swanky restaurant we’ve been wanting to try and we were the only people there. And this is a place where you have to make reservations weeks ahead of time.”
“Wow, I’m surprised.”
“I was too. And then to top it off the chef had called in sick and so the owner was manning the kitchen and the menu was limited, so I didn’t get to try the special dishes that got written up in the Randal Four Gourmet. They wanted to close early because one of the waitresses had a sick kid, so the owner comped our dinner, gave us the entrée and the dessert in boxes and basically threw us out.” She frowned. “So disappointing. We were going to sit and finish eating in a park nearby but the police had it blocked off and an officer told us to go home.” Now she was blushing. “So we did and at least that part of the date was spectacular. Greg is a tiger in bed?—”
Tamsyn held up her hand. “I don’t want any details. Some day I’m going to meet this man and I don’t want to be visualizing the two of you rolling in the sheets.”
Sally nodded. “I get it. Let’s say he outdoes the steamiest romances we used to read when we were in high school. Remember?”
“Yeah we had to sneak them out of the house when your mother wasn’t paying attention. Fun times.” Lunch arrived and there was a break in the conversation as they each dug into their sandwiches and fries. “So the weekend turned out okay in the end though?” Tamsyn asked, wiping a drop of stray condiment off her hand.
“It would have except Greg got called in to work. He’s a nurse at the central hospital and he was supposed to have the entire weekend off but they’re swamped with flu patients and staff calling out sick, I guess. He‘s too much of a good guy to say no in a crisis, even with me there. I admire him,” Sally said convincingly before admitting, “But I was upset, I won’t lie to you.” She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Greg told me not to repeat this but this flu is scary stuff. The mortality rate is sky high and it’s spreading. He said there are new mutations and the newer strains take effect faster.”
