Conflicted Home (The Survivalist Book 9) by A American (learn to read books TXT) 📕

added another flat to the pile that was already four-feet tall.

“Holy crap. See any lids?” Danny asked.

“There’s all kinds of stuff here,” Thad replied as he slid a large box full of lids out. Picking one up, he inspected it, “These are Tattler reusable lids. This is a gold mine.”

“I’ll start loading it,” Danny replied as he hefted the top three flats and headed for the truck.

They loaded all the canning supplies and got back in for the short ride home. As Thad pulled out onto the road, Danny said, “Be careful or we’ll have a bed full of broken glass.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Thad grunted, then said, “Hey, did I tell you I found a greenhouse?”

Danny shook his head. “No.”

“It’s a little rough. Ain’t been used in a long time. You care if I disassemble it and bring it to your place and set it up?”

“Not at all, I’ll help you. That would be great to keep the garden going.”

“And for starting seed. That’s where it’ll be really good.”

Thad backed the little truck up to the back porch to make unloading easier. Aric and Fred were sitting in rockers, staying out of the rain, and they came over to help. They made a chain of sorts, passing items to the two of them.

“Look at all these jars!” Fred shouted.

“Yeah, you just made Miss Kay’s day,” Aric added.

“Now, we ain’t got to use all them peanut butter jars and other weird ones we found,” Thad replied.

Taking the last case from Thad, Fred replied, “Yeah, she didn’t know how she was going to get them to seal.”

Aric had a stack of jars in his arms and said, “Come on, babe. Let’s take these in and surprise her.”

He pushed the door open with his foot and stepped in, shouting, “Miss Kay, we brought you something!”

Kay was at the sink and turned around, wiping her hands on an apron Jess had found in another house during the wedding dress search. “What is it?” She instinctively asked before seeing the cases of jars Aric and Fred were carrying. “Wherever did you find those?” She shouted as she started towards them.

“I don’t know,” Aric replied as he deposited his load onto the island. “Thad and Danny found them somewhere.”

As he said that, Thad stood in the open door, wiping his wet feet on the rug. Hearing Kay, he looked up and smiled, saying, “I thought you would like these.”

Kay picked up one of the jars and inspected it. “Where did you find them? We searched all the houses.”

Thad shrugged and replied, “At the hardware store,” as though it were as normal to say today as it once had been.

Kay looked up, “The what?”

Bobbie came in from the back porch with a large pot swinging from one hand. “We need more water for the canner,” she said. Then she saw Danny coming through the door with another stack of jars in his arms. “What in the world?” She asked.

“Wait till you see what Danny has,” Thad replied.

Danny slid the two cases of jars and the box sitting on top of them onto the counter. Thad took the box and opened it. Reaching in, he took out one of the Tattler lids and handed it to Kay. Her eyes immediately lit up.

“Reusable lids!” She shouted.

Thad pulled back one of the flaps and looked down into the box. “A whole bunch of ‘em too.”

Kay pulled the box over and looked down into it. Her excitement grew even more, and she hugged Thad. “I don’t care where you found them! This is amazing! We’ve been trying to reuse lids and so many of them have failed to seal. This will really save us!”

Bobbie set her pot down and patted Danny on the ass. “Good job, babe. Where did you guys find them?”

“At the hardware store,” he replied. Which naturally made Thad laugh as he shouted, “That’s what I said!”

Picking up a case of jars, Kay said, “Well, I don’t care where you found them. I’m just glad you did.”

Bobbie gave Danny a sideways look, “What do you mean, hardware store?”

He leaned in and kissed her quickly before replying, “Just that. The hardware store.”

Bobbie wasn’t buying it though. “Hardware store my ass.”

“Don’t look gift jars in the mouth!” Kay shouted from the sink.

Jess and Mary walked in from the back porch. Though it was very overcast and relatively cool, Jess’s forehead was beaded with sweat and her hair clung to it. Brushing it away with the back of her hand, she said, “Kay. These jars aren’t sealing.” She shook her head and looked at the ceiling in exasperation. “We’re going to lose so much.”

“Where did all these come from?” Mary asked, a smile beaming across her face.

Kay smiled and nodded her head at Thad. “Your man there found them.”

Mary looked at him and gave him a timid smile. “You found all this? We looked in all the houses and didn’t find them.”

Thad jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “Me and Danny found them. They weren’t in a house though.”

Mary stepped over to him and raised herself up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. Thad’s face flushed as he was still getting used to the public affection, not that it was much of a secret to everyone. And to Thad’s relief, the small act went unnoticed. Or at least, there were no comments.

Jess lifted a case of quart jars up, saying, “I’m getting these into some boiling water now,” and she disappeared out the back door.

“I’ll help,” Mary called after her, grabbing another case as she followed.

I was startled awake by banging on the door of the truck. Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes and cracked the door open. “What?”

Mike was standing on the step up to the cab. He had a pile of something in his hands and asked, “What size pants do you wear?”

Still trying to come to my senses, I blinked and asked, “What?”

“What size pants?”

Fumbling for the answer, I mumbled, “Thirty-eight,