Chapter11

 On the way to the Beekeeper's house, James explained to me that the Park I'd gone to wasn't public land anymore.  I stared at him in horror as he told me that all the National and State parks had been sold off as private land - mainly to investors looking for oil and timber and coal.   However, some of the land had been bought by Native Americans, and that land was still protected.  

He looked sick as he told me that Denali National Park was being drilled for oil, and with environmental laws gone, it was a now a wasteland.   The ancient Redwoods in California had all been chopped down for timber.  I wanted to vomit.  

In Yellowstone, the bison, caribou, moose and grizzlies had been hunted by big game hunters to almost near extinction, and the trees were gone.  The Leader had shut down the EPA, and the pollution to the rivers was so bad that the fish population had been drastically depleted.   The bear population that was left were starving.  

The realization that the borderlands were now all private land, and likely heavily guarded and patrolled  to protect the "resources" or stop activists from vandalizing the equipment made me realize how naive I had been, thinking I could just hike my way to the border.   "Oh my god," I said, unable to stop the tears.

James gripped the steering wheel tighter.  "I thought you knew, kiddo. I guess all that stuff happened when you were in the camps."

"No," I said, my voice thick, as I thought of all the places that my brother and I had wanted to see - and now would never see.  It was all gone.   "I - I was looking at the maps - they must have been old ones," I said, sadly.

I placed my hands protectively on my stomach.   "What's going to happen to my baby?"  I asked.  "This is not the world any child should be born into,"  I said, my voice thick with emotion.  

I hadn't planned on having the baby here; there was no way I could report the birth without him being taken from me.  But without papers, the baby would be taken from me anyway.  I shuddered.  

"You'll be safe here," said James.  "No one will be able to detect that anyone is living out here," he said.  

"But how?" I asked, confused.  "You told me that there's heat seeking drones that fly over, looking for shelters or camps or extra people where there shouldn't be," 

"You'll see," James said, mysteriously.  

 I looked at him questionably.  

"We're almost there, kiddo," he said.  

We soon came to a clearing, but there were only bee hives. sheltered by a large rock wall behind it, with steep hills on the side leading to higher ground above the rock wall.  There was no house in sight.  On most of the rock wall, clinging vines hung down.  It was beautiful and peaceful.  To the right of the hives, was a vegetable garden, and the bees were happily buzzing around the plants.   Wild flowers grew in the clearing, as well.  A stream was to the left of the clearing.  When we got out of the truck, James waited in the clearing, and I wondered where the beekeeper lived and if she was coming to meet us. To my surprise, a woman appeared from behind the wall of vines and I jumped a little.  

Wait did she live in the ground?  In a cave?  I stared at the woman, who had long hair tied back with a bandana, and wore jeans and a t-shirt that said, "Hex the Patriarchy".  

"Nice shirt," said James, by way of greeting.  

The woman smirked slightly, and said, "thanks," and then turned to me with a smile that was warm and friendly  "Hi," she said.  "I'm Dee - short for Diana."   She held out her hand.   "It's nice to meet you.  I think you'll find this place to be safe and peaceful".   

I shook her hand, and her grip was firm and strong.  

"Thank you," I said, hoping I didn't cry or something stupid.  

"Come," she said, motioning towards the vines.  "I'll show you inside."

I followed her into a small cave behind the vines, where some natural light from a hole in the top made things just visible.  She moved towards the back and walked straight to the back wall. I wondered what she was doing there; it was a dead end.  But she put her hand in small hole to the right, and I gasped as the wall opened outward like a door and revealed another corridor.  At the end of this corridor was a wooden door.  After we had entered the corridor, she put her hand to a similar hole on the wall and the wall closed back up again.   We followed her to the door and when she opened it, I gasped in surprise.  Inside was a well lit area with a high rounded ceiling, and a hole at the top covered with glass that let in natural light.  

I looked at the hole questioningly. "Won't someone notice the hole and see everything?" I asked.

Dee smiled at me.  "No," she explained.  "There's a hollow tree over the opening, so anyone walking on top  wouldn't notice.  And the glass is dark on the other side so drones can't see or detect any light."

"Wow," I whispered.  The room was  well lit even though we were in a cave. I noticed mirrors positioned to reflect the light so that it bounced off the walls and created more light.  

The room was cozy and warm and I noticed a woodstove in the kitchen area, which was on the left, and a fireplace in a cozy living area, to the right.  A pipe from the stove went along the wall to the chimney from the fireplace which went into the wall. "

Dee noticed me looking at it and explained, "The smoke goes into another part of the cave, which goes quite far back.  I noticed some natural crevices on the stone wall, which she had made into shelves.  There was a rocking chair in front of the fire place and an old, but comfortable looking recliner.   Behind the chairs, were several shelves lined with books and I wanted to go over and look at them.  It had been ages since I'd read.   Most of the books had been banned, and we weren't allowed to read unapproved texts at the camps.  

There was a wooden table and 4 chairs in the kitchen, and Several shelves lined with canned goods and pots or other dishes.  Some pots/pans hung from the walls.   The most surprising thing was there was also a sink, and a pump over the sink.   "The cave has an underground stream which feeds the pump," Dee   explained.  "The water never freezes because the cave never gets below freezing," she added.  "Part of that feeds the stream you see outside," she added. "We keep our food  cold by using the a cold box in the stream," she added. "It's all completely off grid," she said, proudly.  "Come, I'll show you."

She led me to another door, which opened into another, smaller cavern, and I could see where part of the stream flowed into a pool and the pipe that led to the pump.  In the water, there was a Cold box sitting slightly above the water's edge, and a rope tied to the top.  The rope was attached to a pulley system a handle and she showed me how to pull the box up to get food, which  stayed dry in the cold box.    To the right of the pool, was a tub (which was actually a stock tank) for bathing and a curtain for privacy.  A pump was behind the tub, and  pipe ran from the pump, and connected to a large metal pot on top of a small stove that was near the the tub, and a pipe on the other side of the pot connected to the stream. 

Dee pointed to the stove.  "This heats the water as it goes through," she explained.     I saw several candles placed on crevices in the stone, and it smelled faintly of lavender.  

Okay, this would be much better than trying to survive in the woods.  

"Um.... what about -" I stopped, embarrassed. unsure how to ask the question.  

"You're probably wondering where the toilet is," Dee said, kindly, and I blushed, but nodded.  

"We actually have a composting toilet," she explained.  "It works because you don't need indoor plumbing and it turns the solid waste into compost, and then you can use the compost on plants or flowers you aren't going to eat.  You do have to dump the liquid waste, which is separated, but nitrogen is good for the soil. and there are plenty of trees.   

She led me to the back part of the cavern where there was a stone wall covered with  moss.  Pointing the moss, she said, this is where I make peat moss for the compost - you grow sphagnum moss, in these pots, and once it has grown enough, then you want it to start decomposing - that's how it turns into peat moss.   This area is perfect for that.  It's mostly dark, humid from the pool and heat from the stove keeps it bout the right temperature.   So this kind of system works great for me.  Behind the wall of moss was the toilet.  I was pretty impressed.  It looked so - normal.  And yet it was in a cave in the middle of nowhere.

"This is amazing," I said.  

"Thank you," said Dee.  "It's been a haven for me, not just a home, and I hope you will find it a haven and a home as well."

"Thank you," I said, feeling a lump in my throat. 

It had been a long time since I'd had a place to call home.