The generator was running smoothly again. It took him the next two days, with some help, to roll the giant fuel bladder close enough to feed the generators. Barring any disasters, it was enough diesel for at least a week of operations. The other two bladders could wait for him to move them in more slowly, by himself if need be.
Sadler also had the help of an old engineer who had worked as an electrician at some point in his career. After discussing it for a while, they both agreed it was best to bury the lines, and Sadler had begun digging near the generators. Nobody was younger than mid-thirties, but he was very nearly the youngest and easily the strongest man there, so help with the trenching was quite unlikely. Fortunately, there was no hurry and he could work deliberately.
The sow approached shortly before lunch. Over the past few days she had made a pest of herself under the guise of being a services coordinator. The other men would groan at the sight of her, but Sadler knew how to handle her. Since she insisted on pretending she was equal to any man, he treated her like one. For her it had settled into a game, having played her entire deck of female cards in just three minutes during their first encounter after the townhall meeting.
Sadler was generally aloof with everyone, so he offered no greeting or visual acknowledgment as she strode toward him.
“Yo, Sadler. Wanna walk me to lunch?”
In his mind it was a form of sadistic torture and he refused to surrender. “You’ve already walked farther than that coming out here to bother me,” he replied as if to the wind. They both knew she had no valid purpose being there.
What slowed the digging was the cool weather making the rocky packed soil even harder to break up with a shovel. It was a long-term project everyone hoped he would not have time to finish. Abandoning everything for the sake of evacuation was never questioned, but eagerly anticipated.
It was not full-voiced, but quite obviously he could sing. “I am a lineman for the county…”
“My God, you have a beautiful voice! Sing some more,” she begged. He ignored her. She wasn’t ready to quit, yet. “Have you no interest in any of the women here?”
“None of them are qualified.” He jumped up and down on the shovel blade, but gently enough not to bend it.
She balanced between dismissive sarcasm and genuine humor. “Okay, you are the biggest stud here, but you ain’t that special!”
Time for the professor to teach a bit. Sadler stopped hacking at the soil for a minute and leaned on the shovel handle. “Did you think I was kidding about not liking Western Civilization? When you start thinking of me as an alien creature, you might almost have a clue what to expect from me.”
She put her hands on her hips, fists half curled. “Aside from the crazy shit you say, you sound just like everyone else here, and your records show you were born in the good ol’ US of A. What are you trying to pull here?”
Sadler returned to digging with far less vigor than before. “Changing my appearance would be pointless, and changing my speech pattern would be a mere affectation. Changing my commitments and fundamental values is the ultimate act of self-assertion.”
“Don’t tell me you’re a damn rag-head Muslim.” She was actually pissed.
Sadler considered this an improvement in the situation. “No, but probably closer to that in some ways than I am to your typical American. I reject Muslim religion, but I don’t belong to any mainstream religion from among Westerners, either. The god I serve has precious little interest in that, either.”
“I knew it! You’re a freaking pagan or Satanist.” Her contempt was palpable.
Though he betrayed not a flicker of emotion, Sadler was enjoying this. “Wrong again, though I have some friends who are both of those.” Then he added, “And some Muslims, too. Not quite so many from mainstream churches, though.”
Throwing her hands in the air, she turned and stomped away. Sadler turned and faced the highest peak on the ridge some miles away from the camp, almost hidden in clouds. For him, it was a purely symbolic gesture. Touching the tip of his right index finger to his temple, he clicked his tongue and thrust the finger forward a few inches. Quietly he said, “Thanks, Lord.”
