Community Garden
“Have you ever thought of changing your name,” Karen asked John.
“What,” answered John, a little insulted. “What do you have against the name… John Smith?”
“No, I meant like. We have lived through a starting over point. The old rules don’t apply. Complete and total freedom. Before, it was this whole process, but now, there is literally nothing stopping anyone from just disappearing, or declaring themselves king, or just changing your name, so why not. Plus, after having my name become synonymous with privilege and racism, I think I’d prefer something different.”
“So, what would you like to be called then,” asked John.
“From now on you can call me Andromeda, Empress of Corcoran, but maybe just like, Andi for short.”
“You are a giant nerd.” Said John.
Andi scoffs. “Well that’s no way to speak to your empress. Anyway, how’d the hunt go?”
Still plenty of squirrels even got a couple rabbits, but every once in a while, some poor idiot will shoot a crow and people will have to deal with their backlash. Mostly though, I’ve been spending my time at the Lake St. cemetery. I still don’t trust people to not hurt Artemis or Diana.”
“How are they doing?”
“Plenty to eat, they find shelter. But I swear to god, if someone shoots either of those deer, I will hunt them down, so those are my days. How is the community garden coming along?”
“It’s good. I was able to get a good stalk-up of carrots and potatoes from them. But they said they were having trouble with cops. Apparently, the police are trying to take back power by attempting to starve us, but they were able to take care of the problem.”
“Speaking of Pigs,” said John, “there have been sightings of boar in neighboring areas.”
“Oh, god. It still amazes me that they took over what was the entire state of Iowa.”
“You know what, I’ve thought about it,” said John. “You can call me Grimnir, Duke of Powderhorn, or Grim.”
“I’m sorry, who’s the giant nerd,” said Andi. “And why Duke?”
“King seems like a lot of work.”
The next day Grim set out to the cemetery as Andi went down to the creek, with clothes to wash and water containers to refill. She lugged her trailer down Hiawatha, an old stretch of now ruined highway that left a large communal travel way cut into the city, where she ran into a friend of hers.
“Hey Karen, glad to see you’re doing all right.”
“Hey Cindy, yeah I’m holding up, and it’s Andi now.”
“Oh, you changed your name, what brought that on?”
“I just figured now was a good time for change.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” said Cindy. “Did you know there was a forge within the neighborhoods, at George Floyd Square on the outskirts of Powderhorn.”
“Really,” said Andi.
“Yeah, the front of the building had collapsed in the attack, so no one thought to check it out before. I decided to finally venture in, and I found the forge, intact, so I figured I’d get it up and running again.”
“That’s great,” said Andi. “I certainly wouldn’t mind some new silverware, and you could provide tools to the garden.”
Grim, found his friends, Artemis and Diana, among the headstones, laying under a tree. He handed each of them a carrot. Artemis took hers, nuzzled his side, and laid her head back down. Diana grabbed hers and wandered off. After Grim had checked in with the girls, he made his rounds in the cemetery to check the rabbit traps. He was in the northwest corner of the cemetery when he heard gunshots and a horrid squeal coming from the south. He grabbed his rifle and ran off in the direction of the commotion only to find the southern gate completely torn off of its hinges and a trail of blood. Than he heard another round of gunshots to the east and then silence. He followed the trail, and soon came across the people responsible for the shooting. A group of seven. He drew his rifle on one of them.
“What did you do? Where are they,” he shouted at them.
Grim then recognized the guy he was holding his rifle on, Grant, an old friend from the beforetimes.
“Grant, is that you?”
“Johnny, it’s been a while. How have you been?”
“Well I lived through the end of the world, so I can’t complain, and it’s actually Grim now. Now, where are they?”
“Where are who, and could you please stop pointing your rifle at me?”
“The deer, what happened to them?”
“The deer? We never saw any deer. We were tracking a boar that tore though here, and it looks like we finally got it.”
Grim then saw the large beast lying motionless on the ground. Immediately, he turned around and shot off to the usual hiding spots that they would go to whenever they would get frightened. He quickly found them, safe but scared. Grim approached slowly and gave both of them another carrot each for comfort. Relieved, he turned around and made his way back to the group of hunters.
“So, are they all right,” asked a member of the group, a young woman. Grim didn’t recognize her
“Just a little scared from the loud noises,” said Grim
“Good, now, since you’re here, do you think you could help us with this beast,” another member of the party asked. “This thing weighs a few hundred pounds, and we’re gonna need all the help we can get.”
“Sure,” Grim replies
“You know where the butcher is? it’s a straight shot down cedar,” they asked.
“Yeah, I know the place,” responded Grim. “It’s about a mile from here.”
The group of eight hauled their kill down the road. coming upon the northern entrance to the Dolal Idd street-market, the market goers and stall owners burst into applause once they recognized what it was being carried through the street which really helped the hunting party make it the final three block to their destination. Finally they made it outside of a half abandoned grocery store except for one man sitting behind the large front windows sharpening a set of knives. Grim looked up the the large, torn, black awning that read: Ever Foods.
“Well this calls for a celebration,” said the man exiting the store to see what they had brought him.
“Hey Pete,” Grant said to the man. “We brought you a present.” The group finally dropped the beast, and they, all eight, had to sit and stretch in the road.
“Good meat,” said Pete. “It’s gonna take some time but I can dress it far you. all I want is the legs, liver, and intestine. Just help me get it over the counter and I’ll get started.”
“Oh no,” said Grim. “I’m not lifting that thing again.”
The hunting party was able to move the boar the rest of the way while Grim took a look around the market. He was able to find a variety of spices at one vender and some sweets at another. Eventually he wandered back to the butcher and was able to collect a portion of the meat and helped hand out meat to the people around the street market. Once all the meat was gone he headed back home.
Andi brushed the sweat from her brow as she pumped air into the furnace, hotter and hotter until the metal melted down. She poured the molten metal into the cast, and allowed it to solidify. Then she got to work smoothing and twisting the still soft metal and finally throwing it into water to cool it down.
After the work was done, and the metal was cool, she packed up her new silverware and headed on home. She was excited to make dinner and share the events of her day with Grim.
