Chapter 5

The cell phone rang. Thinking it was important, Betsy answered without checking the caller id.

“Hello?”

William said, “Hello, Betsy.”

“What’s up?”

“Just called to tell you to say: ‘yes.’”

“Yes?” Betsy asked.

“Yes.”

Betsy said, “Okay. I say: ‘yes.’”

“You haven’t been asked the question yet,” William said.

“What question?”

“You’ll know the question when you hear it,” William said.

“I hate it when you do this to me,” Betsy said in frustration.

William laughed. “By the way, you’ve done a great job there.”

“I haven’t done much of anything.”

“Well, almost all of the important improvements to the situation, world-wide, have originated in Hawaii. I don’t think there’s much doubt as to why that is the case.”

“Why is it the case?”

William answered, “Because that’s where the catalyst is.”

“All I’ve done is talk to people. I didn’t come up with the cell phone idea,” Betsy said.

“That’s what a catalyst does. It’s presence speeds up one possible reaction over others, thereby driving the results in a desired direction. Your presence there has done that,” William said.

“If you say so,” Betsy said doubtfully.

“By the way, I let the governor know that a Fusion Foundation ship is arriving loaded with seeds for crops that should be appropriate for Hawaii. Another ship with cooking oil, rice and flour has already docked.”

“That’s great,” Betsy said.

“I’ll let you get back to what you were doing,” William said.

“Thanks,” Betsy said.

After hanging up, she put the cell phone on the nightstand by the bed. Chuck ran a hand along her naked belly. She snuggled closer to him.

“Who was it?”

“My brother.”

“What did he want?”

“He told me to say: ‘yes.’”

“Yes to what?”

“To a question that I haven’t been asked yet.”

“Then I take it that now might be a good time to ask you my question.”

“What question?” Betsy asked raising up to look at him.

“Will you marry me?”

Betsy stared at him. She hadn’t expected that question. Her mind was running a thousand miles an hour thinking about how difficult a wedding would be to arrange in these difficult times.

Worried, Chuck said, “Say: ‘yes.’”

“Oh!” Betsy shouted. Then she screamed, “YES!”

Betsy then proceeded to kiss him passionately. Then she quite energetically conveyed her happiness at his proposal.

It was late that afternoon before things calmed down around the Betsy Carter household. Everyone had reacted with the appropriate excitement to the news that Betsy was engaged. Calls had been made to her family, to convey the news of the engagement. Her mothers were excited. Her fathers were concerned. Her brothers and sisters were happy for her.

Betsy was seated in one of the lawn chairs in the backyard. The weather was glorious and perfect for being outside. She was enjoying the peace and quiet.

Ben was seated in a chair next to her sipping some iced tea. He wondered how much longer they would have tea on the island.

Betsy said, “I’m sorry we haven’t had much time to talk since you got here.”

“You were busy,” Ben said.

“How was the flight?” Betsy asked.

“It was great. I got you a lot of plane for the price you paid.”

“That’s good.”

Ben was quiet for a moment and then said, “I’m really pleased to be here. The situation, where I was, might not have been as bad as in some of the larger American cities, but I would have been in pretty bad shape. One man, alone, who doesn’t know many of his neighbors doesn’t have much of a chance in situations like this.

“It makes it kind of tough to join a group. Married men would view me with suspicion and fear that I would sleep with their wives. Single women would view me as an opportunist. Single men would view me as a competitor.”

“You aren’t worried about that, here?”

“Well, Captain Jack and Gary are both pretty confident men who don’t view me as much of a threat. The women are all strong and unlikely to fall victim to a smooth talking man. In fact, Wheels kind of scares me. That’s one confident woman, and rather plain spoken, too,” Ben said.

“She’s been hitting on you?”

“I wouldn’t say that, although she has been rather suggestive at times,” Ben said uneasily.

“Suggestive?” Betsy asked.

“Well, she makes comments,” Ben said while shifting in his seat.

“Comments?”

“Yes. Little innuendos.”

“Innuendos?”

“Would you stop that?” Ben said.

Betsy laughed. “She’s a big girl and can take care of herself. If she’s interested in you and you’re interested in her, there’s no one who’s going to stop you. Gary has a girlfriend and Captain Jack is interested in having a relationship with Debbie. I don’t think the other women will get into a cat fight over you.”

“Then I guess there’s no harm in going for a ride with Wheels, in her Mercedes Benz,” Ben conceded weakly.

Betsy burst out laughing. She tried to control it, but the more she tried, the harder she laughed. She’d look over at him again, and laugh even harder. Tears were flowing from her eyes.

“What’s so funny?” Ben asked.

Betsy wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes, looked at him, and doubled over in laughter.

Curious, Sam came over and asked, “What’s so funny?” Helpless to answer, Betsy waved a hand at Ben.

Ben said, “All I said was that I didn’t see any harm in going for a ride with Wheels in her Mercedes Benz.”

Sam started laughing. The look of innocence on Ben’s face made her think of a lamb being led off to slaughter. At least in his case, the outcome wouldn’t be that bad.

“What’s so funny?”

She managed to sputter, “There’s no engine in the Mercedes Benz.”

“What are you talking about? How would we go for a ride in it, if there’s no motor?” Ben asked.

Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he hit his forehead with his palm, as he realized that the ride wouldn’t involve the car moving anywhere. That was more than just a little innuendo. It was a blatant invitation.

Recovering a bit, Betsy said, “I’m sorry. That’s just too funny.”

“I guess it is,” Ben said with a chuckle.

“Are you going to take her up on it?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know,” Ben answered with his eyes darting over at Sam

“You should,” Betsy said.

“I’m going in the house,” Ben said getting out of his chair.

Once he was gone, Sam said, “Wheels could do worse. He’s a handsome man.”

“Are you interested?”

“Not at all.”

“Not even the least little bit?”

“Nope.”

“I don’t believe you,” Betsy said.

“I’m definitely not interested.”

“If you say so.”

“I say so,” Sam said.

“You’re sure?”

“One hundred percent.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Betsy said.

Feeling unsettled, Sam said, “I’m going to get back to the garden.”

“Have fun pulling weeds,” Betsy said with a smile.

Sam returned to the garden and went after the weeds with a vengeance. It was obvious that something was bothering her. It didn’t appear to have anything to do with Ben. At least, not directly.

Talking to herself, Betsy said, “We could end up with an interesting little triangle, here. Wheels interested in Ben, Ben interested in Sam, and Sam interested Wheels. That could be a problem.”

She looked down the path, and spotted Bess and George walking up from the beach. They paused to examine the chicken coop. George stood there shaking his head at the idea of raising chickens, pigs, and a cow in that exclusive neighborhood. There was a time when he would have been running over to the town hall to complain. Now, that little bit of livestock made Betsy’s people about the richest on the island.

The elderly couple made their way over to where Betsy was now standing by her chair. She had just finished putting out another chair for them.

“Have a seat,” Betsy said.

“Thanks,” George said.

Bess sat down and then said, “You mentioned that you wanted to talk to us?”

Betsy realized George wasn’t going to sit down until after she did. She sat down, and gestured to the empty chair. He took a seat and then looked at her expectantly.

“I was intending to go over to your place later, and save you a walk,” Betsy said.

George said, “Bess told me that you swam here from Oahu, and got here late yesterday morning. I imagine that you’re still pretty beat.”

“I don’t really get tired. I do get real hungry, though,” Betsy said.

“We thought we’d save you a walk,” George said.

“That was very thoughtful of you,” Betsy said.

Bess asked, “What did you want to talk about?”

Betsy waved her hand around, indicating the entire backyard.

She asked, “Can you believe this? I’ve got a cow over there, and a pig penned up down by the tree line.”

“I saw them,” George said.

Betsy, suddenly remembering her manners, asked, “Would you like something to drink? Some iced tea or something?”

“No, thank you,” Bess said.

“I’m fine,” George said. “We’d really like to know what you wanted to discuss.”

Betsy said, “We need some help and were wondering if we could impose upon you a little.”

“What kind of help?”

“Well, there’s a lot of farm work that has to be done around here. There are animals to be fed, a cow to be milked, and eggs to be collected. In addition, we have to take care of the garden.”

Betsy wasn’t about to mention that no one on the staff actually had a clue how to farm. Sam understood gardening, but that was far different than setting up and running a farm. The whole crew had sat around wondering what to do with the milk from the cow until Charlie had the idea of going to the internet.

Somewhat indignant, George asked, “Are you asking us to be farm hands?”

“No. Actually, we need a supervisor,” Betsy said.

“I’m not following you at all,” George said.

“Before the crash, I told the staff to spend every dime they had on something of real value. They pooled their money together and bought a small piece of land across the street. I would have advised them not to do that, if I’d known what they were going to do. There’s a lot of places around here that are sitting empty. We could have gotten away with using that land, particularly if we shared the benefits with others in the area. However, they did it, and they can’t undo it at this point in time.

“Anyway, they now own this little bit of land. They also own all of the animals and seeds. It’s not much, but the land is big enough for us to move all the livestock from my backyard ... which is great, because I really don’t want to live on a farm. To tell the truth, I don’t want my staff to become farmers, either.

“According to Chuck, there’s a young couple down the way who are pretty desperate. The husband used to take care of a number of places, around here. With the collapse in the economy, they don’t have any way to support themselves. They have a baby and are worried about getting milk and good food for it. The staff figured that they’d have them work with all the animals, and put in another garden. We’re not talking about a little truck farm, but a major farming activity. We are going to use some of the abandoned properties. They’re going to need someone to supervise them.”

“I suppose we could do that,” George said doubtfully.

Betsy said, “The young couple also has a baby. They will probably need someone to watch over it while they’re working. I figure there are a lot of young couples around in that situation, so someone is going to have to help get a daycare center up and running.”

“I could do that,” Bess said.

Seeing one major flaw in the offer, George said, “That’s nice of you, but why not have your staff do it?”

Betsy said, “I own interests in about three thousand little companies. Believe it or not, all of them are still operating. My brother invested my money in businesses like a trucking company, a canning company, and a couple of manufacturing companies. We’re shipping food around on the mainland on behalf of the Fusion Foundation for the moment, but I expect to be growing the businesses before long.

“I’ve got two little motels in rather strategic places. The big hotels around them shut down and they’re all that are left operational where they are. I had seven motels, but I gave five of them over to the Druid College. Business isn’t going to be very good, but they are the only places open at the moment and are getting some business from the truck traffic.

“Debbie owns a fishing boat and will be trading fish for cell phone minutes. She’s going to be busy with that. I’ll be using the cell phone minutes from the sale of her fish to finish the recycling plant. We’re going to be shipping some of the products to Los Angeles where another company of mine will be buying food. The ship will be bringing back flour and a few other little staples that we can’t get on the island.

“Some of my businesses will basically be operating at a loss, but I’m supporting them with food shipments originating from some of the other businesses I own. In a year or two, those businesses that are having problems will start to flourish.”

“Why keep them?” George asked.

Betsy answered, “Because they are important in the long term. For example, the water treatment company that I own a major interest in will be the only company in the world that provides products in that market area. For the next few years, no one will be buying their product. If the company doesn’t survive the next few years, then there won’t be anyone able to provide a very necessary product.

“When the economy has recovered somewhat, that company is going to be extremely important in preventing the spread of water-born diseases, such as Cholera. The whole world needs drinking water.”

George said, “That makes sense. I don’t see how you are expecting to save it. How are you going to pay people when there’s no money?”