Life Continues On

Life continues on

Donald Kirstine

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2012 Donald Kirstine

No part or portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the authors' written permission.

Thank you to the John Deere tractor company for permission to use their name.

Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com

This book is dedicated to a short red haired maniac that is a great friend of mine.

In memory of Pepsi, Muggsey, Mocha and Mr. Pig Four of the finest pug dogs that ever lived. May all four of them rest in peace at the rainbow bridge.

Table of contents

Prologue

1. Beginning our new life together.

2. The coming fall and winter.

3. Our first winter in our new home.

4. Criminal imposters come to call.

5. My second winter.

6. My first trip to another galaxy and planet.

7. The grand parade.

8. Home at last.

9. What happens next?

10. Jim comes home for a visit.

11. New equipment and new homes.

12. New machines and a new way of farming.

13. A gardener's nightmare.

14. Teaching new farmers.

15. The summer changes.

16. An addition to the family.

17. Back home and back to work.

18. The lone star state.

19. A fast and furious hunting trip.

20. A big surprise for all of us.

21. Five days of shopping and visiting.

22. A winter of rest.

Epilogue

Prologue

Earth had been cleansed of all the uncaring, cruel, vile, greedy people, diseases, and crime. What were left were people that cared for the earth and each other. There were only about 500,000 people left on the entire earth. Three of those people were Don, Redd, and Jim. Redd had found his wife and son and moved to a farm near where Don and his new alien wife lived, and Jim lived by himself just down the road in the other direction.

1.

Beginning our new life together

A few days ago Goru had installed some new equipment on our state of the art craft that the Grand Council had given us. Redd, Jim, and I were spending time getting good at finding wild dogs and shooting them from the air. There were so many dogs that had turned wild that they were running in packs and killing wild game and livestock just to be killing. Jim was getting really good at it and Redd was almost as good, I was a bit slower on the trigger and had more misses than they did.

We also did some scouting to find grain bins that held wheat, corn, rye, and barley. In between times of hunting and scouting we worked the farms and tended our crops and gardens. My new wife and I had decided where our new house was to be put and what we wanted for size and number of rooms.

Wannameaa's parents had given us a new house as part of her wedding dowry. The house I had was ancient and small. Redd and I had repaired it enough to live in when we first moved to the sandhills. Now that I was married to an extremely rich alien farmer's daughter, I felt it was time to upgrade. Besides I didn't want my rich relatives coming to visit their daughter in a ramshackle home. I was hoping that we would have time to build it before fall turned to winter and it would be too cold for the construction.

We had found thirty or forty bins of grain nearby so I had Wannameaa call her parents and arrange for a cargo freighter to come and take a load of wheat back to her home planet. We would also have about six or seven bushels of tomatoes and other garden products to send back with them. With what I intended to send them I figured my share would sell for enough to get us all through the winter. Both the grain and vegetables were highly prized on some of the other planets and brought vast sums of their money.

I had several million earth dollars but I had none of what they called prera (their form of money). With the one shipment back to her father, Redd Jim and I should be looking fairly wealthy.

Wannameaa, through the intergalactic network hub, made the arrangements for her parents to come with the freighter so they could visit for a day or so and we could get more information on new homes from them.

Routh and Wanae arrived the next morning just as I was giving the chickens some feed. I felt the familiar tingle as the gigantic galactic freight hauler came down and hovered about seventy feet off the ground. Wannameaa was as excited as a little kid at Christmas time as her parents ported down to the ground. She squealed and went racing to meet them as they walked towards the house. I mentally let Redd and Jim know they had arrived as I walked towards them.

Don, how are you doing? her parents both ask as they walked up and shook hands with me. It looks as if our baby girl is happy here with you.

And I'm very happy that she's here with me. I don't know where she learned to cook but by this time next year I will be as big as this house if she keeps cooking like she has been, I jokingly replied.

We laughed and talked for a few minutes when I felt the tingle again, Redd and Jim must be coming in, I said as I looked up.

He can feel when a ship is coming in, He is so lucky, Wannameaa said. First Jim then Redd and family silently settled to the ground in their ships then came walking up to where we were standing. There were more greetings then we all went inside to visit.

Redd, Jim, and I had coffee while Routh and Wanae had a drink that they had brought the ingredients for. We knew Wannameaa would want some thortha so we took the liberty of bringing some along. We have twenty pounds of the powder in the ship we will leave for you folks, Routh explained. At Wannameaa's insistence I tried some. It tasted like a mixture of coffee and tea, with a touch of garlic and cinnamon mixed in. The taste wasn't bad but the smell was something else, almost like a wet, dirty stinky old boot.

We spent the next two hours visiting and finding out more on the construction of the new house. Then Redd, Jim, Lynn, Routh and I went outside.

I do hope you folks are going to stay for a day or so, I said to Routh.

He grinned and admitted; "We brought our own personal craft so I could get the freighter headed back as soon as we get it loaded. My farm is in capable hands and we can be gone for an earth day or two. My crop collecting is done for another season and things are slow right now. Besides Wanae and I need a few days off and away from the farm.

You fellows want to come aboard my freighter and look around? I will give you the grand tour and have the crew unload my personal craft. About all this ship is, is a big hollow container with a huge power system. There is a small aria for crew and the rest is for cargo."

How do you intend to get the grain from the bins to the ship, Lynn asked?

Before we left home I had a big suction attachment mounted inside and we are hoping that we can suck the grain up like water.

That sounds reasonable, Redd replied; I'd hate to have to load this behemoth with a scoop shovel.

Better you than me, I added laughing.

As we stood there talking the crew closed a big door on the side of the ship after they had floated Routh's ship outside and down to the ground then proceeded to bolt the door into place with a strange gun looking device.

What you think guys; shall we go try it out? Routh asked. We all went to the pilot room and Redd directed them to his farm pointing out the bin that the grain was stored in. We hovered above the bin and watched the monitors as a long hose descended down and a crewmember guided it into the top of the bin.

You might want to have him open that other door on the top or the suction may collapse the bin, I suggested to Routh. He spoke rapidly into a devise using their native language and the crewman scrambled over to open the second door. Routh looked at us and raised his bushy eyebrows.

Ready? he asked. Redd and Jim nodded as Routh touched several switches and buttons on the control panel. The big ship trembled as a distant rumble shuddered through the hull. A few minutes later the crewmember on the roof sent word that the building was empty.

That was quick, Lynn said.

Any idea how much you got? ask Jim.

About twenty five thousand of your bushels, Routh replied looking at a display in front of us. If we can get three more buildings like this we will have enough for each family to have about fifty million prera, maybe a bit more it depends on the markets.

I directed him to the next three buildings close by and we repeated the procedure. We quickly returned to the farm and Routh gave the pilot last minute instructions before we ported down to the yard. We walked out from under the ship and it gave a quiver as it rose into the sky then disappeared, on its way back to boron5 where it had come from.

The next ten days were spent with family, we explored the area where we lived and then branched out to see some of the places that had at one time been tourist attractions and parks. Routh and Wanae were awestruck as we saw sites like the Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone Park.

They were amazed at the herds of cattle, deer, antelope, buffalo and other wildlife as the animals roamed freely throughout the country side. They laughed as I played tag with a big shaggy buffalo. He would charge our ship and just as he was about to hit us I would rise to about fifteen feet off the ground and watch as he went thundering under us. The confused animal would turn around and paw the ground throwing dirt and dust in the air, then charge again. After the third or fourth charge I decided to let him be and not irritate him anymore.

We saw many small towns and big cities that were slowly being taken over by trees, weeds, and grass. We saw a few small farms that were being tilled by someone that had survived and were trying to continue on. The beauty of the earth was increasing daily as the pollutants dissipated and the earth again became pure and clean.

The last two days were spent discussing and planning our new home. We wanted it to be near the current house but yet not have to remove the old house until after the new one was finished. I wanted some assurance that it would be well insulated to keep out the cold in the winter and the heat out in the summer. We wanted something that would last forever, something that our great grandchildren could be proud of after Wannameaa and I passed into the next life.

Wanae took lots of notes about what we wanted and how we wanted it arranged. Routh knew of someone that did an excellent job of assembling homes and promised to contact them when he returned home.

Jim had spent several hours in a deep conversation with Routh about a better education and how to proceed with that.

Redd, Lynn and Marie would stop by from time to time to visit and went with us on some of our trips. They also had many questions about different things that only the aliens could answer.

George stopped by on the third day after the freighter had left with our grain. He told us that the freighter had a run in with thieves on the way home but had managed to save the ship and our grain.

Each of the three families was now fifty-five million prera richer. Because of Routh giving me the use of his freighter as a wedding gift the shipping of the grain cost us nothing. His business connections had dealt with one planet for the entire shipment which made it simple to deliver the load. They also told us that they could sell another dozen shipments like the last one any time we could