Walk A Different Path 🤍 Jaa/First

Chapter 15 ~ community spirit ~

It was a few days later when Sam received a message from Maskwa, he had written that they were experiencing intermittent power outages so he was having difficulty charging up his phone.

Sam replied asking what was causing the power outages but he didn't get a response, no doubt Maskwa would reply when he had the chance, in the meantime he had a real estate agent coming to take pictures of his apartment to put it on the market.

A tiny voice kept whispering in his ear, what if you're making a mistake, what if Maskwa is losing interest now that you've gone, out of sight, out of mind and were the power outages just an excuse so that he could cut back on the messages?

'don't be a fucking idiot Sam, didn't the guy tell you himself that he doesn't lie?' Sam thought as he waited for the real estate guy.

He already had some offers on the car and after the real estate agent had been there was nothing to stop him making travel plans to go back to North America. He intended to give the agent power of attorney because he had no intentions of sticking around until all the i's were dotted and t's crossed.

He looked at his watch and saw that it was 5.30pm, the real estate guy should be here any time now.

Back in the village all was eerily quiet but then it was 6.30am in the morning and no one was up yet, it had been snowing non stop for days and the power had gone off again late last night.

Maskwa's mother had managed to make a large batch of seasonal vegetable soup, it would just need reheating later then the men could distribute it to the village people who needed assistance and another woman in the village had baked bread so they were ok for the time being.

Maskwa dragged himself from the warmth of his bed, dressed and washed quickly before heading downstairs to turn the generator on ready for when his mother and father got up.

He donned his coat and boots and went out to the yard then he hauled the tarpaulin off the top of the generator and used a yard brush to clear the snow away from the machine, he had to make sure the intake area was free from any blockage before covering it again with a dry tarp'

Opening the fuel valve, Maskwa turned on the choke then turned the ignition before grabbing hold of the recoil cord ready to pull. It took three attempts before the generator thrummed to life chugging out a few thick clouds of black smoke before it settled down then Maskwa turned off the choke and set the engine to run.

He would need to keep a check on it throughout the day to make sure that the snow which was still coming down thick was not blocking any inlets or vents and they would be good until tonight when it was time to turn it off.

After starting up the generator, Maskwa fed the chickens and horses who were all looking pretty fed up, the horses hadn't been out for a few days but it was safer to keep them inside where it was warm and dry, they loved the snow if it was an ordinary snow fall but this one was pretty bad.

He stood with them for ten minutes chatting to them and petting them before heading back inside to find his mother and father in the kitchen, his mother was making bacon and eggs while his father made coffee and cut some crusty bread.

After washing his hands, Maskwa sat down with his family to eat before he went out again to distribute hot coffee and oatmeal with baked apple to those without generators.

Back in Thailand, Sam was oblivious to the struggles of the people of the Aurora Springs tribe, he had met the real estate agent, let him take some pictures then given him full power of attorney and carte blanche to do whatever he thought best regarding the property.