Johnny and Kimi: On the Run [Published - Sample Only]

Chapter 5 - Off the Grid (Part 1) V2.0

Chapter 5 – Off the Grid (Part 1) V2.0

Johnny and Kimi spent the first part of the day getting settled in at the cabin. They did some cleaning and swept the place out.  She aired the sheets and blankets out on the clothesline for a couple of hours and then they made the bed together. Their first meal consisted of some canned stew and homemade biscuits.  While munching on a biscuit, Kimi commented to Johnny. "This might be the best meal I've ever had."

"Thanks, it's my Grandfather's recipe.  He taught me how to make it on that woodstove.  The secret is getting the fire just right.  I'll show you how to make'em later."

Later that afternoon, Johnny got a couple of flashlights from the pantry and checked the batteries.  They were pretty dim, but Gramps had an ample supply; just in case.  Johnny reloaded the flashlights, checked them one more time and handed one to Kimi and said. "Babe put on your riding jacket, it's pretty cold in the mine."

"We're going there now?" she asked.

"Yeah."  He answered solemnly.

"I want to make sure you know the main tunnel and the side tunnel. Who knows, we might have to hide out in there...also we'll check the first couple places we and might find a pot of gold or least a small bag!"

The two lovers held hands and walked up the rutted trail to the old mine. The entrance was square and only about five feet high. Johnny shined the light in and they both saw some tools and an old mine cart. Everything was neatly stored off to one side of the entrance...almost like it had been abandoned 100 years ago. Johnny grabbed a small shovel from the rack. They ducked their heads and entered the dark, cold and to Kimi, very creepy mine. To alleviate her fears, Johnny said. "My family started this mine in the Colorado gold rush of 1859. It's been in the family ever since. No one bothered with it until Gramps came back from Korea. He never, I mean never spoke of the war, but I know that he saw some serious shit. He was at Chosin reservoir...Once in a while when someone complained about the cold, I'd hear him say under his breath, "I've been colder..."

"Wow. I remember reading a little about that in history class."

"Anyway," Johnny continued. "He started coming up here in 54 or 55. I think it was his way of dealing with PTSD or whatever they called back then."

Kimi shook her head. "They didn't call it anything! A lot of those guys just came back, went back to work and never talked about what happened to them."

"After his combat tour was over, he still owed the Army another year.  They brought him back to the states and taught him to be a mechanic.  When he got home, he started the bike shop.  First just Harleys and then BMWs and by the 70's they worked on all the Japanese bikes that were so popular back then.  My dad learned OJT and started working full-time when he graduated from High School.  The shop did great in the summer, but slowed way down in the winter."

"Makes sense. Too cold to ride around here about six months a year."

Johnny went on, "anyway, it was my dad's idea to start fixin' snow machines too.  Once they started working on snowmobiles, Arctic Cats and the like, things really took off."

"So," Johnny went on. "Here it is. Gramp's tools and equipment. It's all old as hell but it works fine. What he mostly did was to rework old parts of the mine. He basically spent 15 years running tailings through the shaker table and it paid off okay. In the last couple of years of his life, he told me that he had found a couple of good hard rock veins."

Kimi looked around a bit and asked. "He did this all by hand?"

"The original part of the mine was dug in the 1860s.  They used dynamite back then.  But when he started it back up, Gramps just went old school pick and shovel, and mostly by himself. Dad and I helped him out now and again with grunt work. He kept his secrets to himself more or less."