They generated their own power, made their own material for clothing, and grew their own food. It had taken awhile, but they had achieved their dream: becoming totally self-sufficient. The only thing they had ever wanted more of, were kids. But that wasn’t in their deck of cards. When Joseph was born, Wendy’s uterus had ruptured and she and Joseph were lucky to be alive. That had been the end of her childbearing years.
When Joseph was in high school they had tried to adopt, but were turned down the first time because there were guns in the house. It made no difference that all the guns were in safes. Arthur loved guns and Wendy loved shooting guns with him, so they’d given up. Then three years later, they had tried again and were turned down because they lived too rural.
Walking into the bay door of the shop, Wendy saw Arthur in his metallic suit, guiding a four-foot sheet of steel with long tongs that were glowing red. This was one of the first things Arthur had built, an induction furnace to melt metal.
When the sheet of metal hit a bar on the rollers, Arthur pulled a lever to shut the flow of metal off and hit a button. She could hear the hum of hydraulics as a thick metal blade slowly extended, cutting the glowing metal. Moving down the conveyor roller line, Arthur lifted the stop and pushed the glowing sheet down the line rollers on the table until it hit another line of rollers that moved perpendicular to the first.
As Arthur moved back up to the furnace, Wendy looked at the three sheets of glowing metal and was guessing it was half an inch thick. She knew it was four-foot-wide and eight-foot-long. “If he builds a tank, I’m going to throw a fit,” Wendy vowed.
Looking at the far wall, she saw the entrance into the machine shop. Glancing back and seeing Arthur rolling out another sheet of metal, Wendy moved over to the door walking past the metal sheets and felt the heat radiating off the glowing sheets. Stepping into the shop, she grinned at seeing the rows of shelves that held the assorted junk, or as Arthur had put it, ‘merchandise we can get for nothing’.
Everything was neatly organized in bins around the machine shop. Glad to see the machines silent, she moved down and passed the small area Arthur had set up to work on electrical components. The last room was his woodworking area and was sealed off from the machine shop by a door. Two years ago, Arthur had put a small bay door in for the wood shop because he was tired of wood dust getting into the machine area.
Again, glad to see the wood area not set up to do work, Wendy moved back to the furnace room and closed the door to the machine shop. The only reason she could stand in the room was two huge fans that were sucking the hot air out. Seeing Arthur cutting the sheet and then move back to the furnace, Wendy knew the vat was near empty.
Confirming her guess, Arthur opened a slot and the molten metal poured out like syrup into a stone cistern. Grabbing his tongs, Arthur guided the sheet of metal down the line as Wendy saw the flow of metal slowly stop several inches from the top of the cistern. “One day, he’s going to miscalculate,” Wendy mumbled as Arthur turned around, taking the helmet off.
Wendy couldn’t help but smile as Arthur grinned at her. Even at forty-four, he still looked good, making her heart skip a beat. “You done?” she yelled over the vent fans.
Not hearing her but reading her lips, Arthur nodded and pointed out the bay door. Taking the silver fire jacket off as he headed for the door, Arthur hung it up as Wendy stepped outside beside another building and when she glanced at it, couldn’t help but laugh.
Inside that building was the largest saltwater battery Arthur had ever built. The reason she laughed was his first try had been in the power house fifty yards from the house. The battery Arthur had built was six feet tall, seven feet wide, and ten feet long and when he had filled it with water, the two-inch slab he had poured busted. Wendy had chuckled for a week, but never when Arthur was around because she had told him that was going to happen.
The battery he’d built for the machine area was twice the size of those for the house. When he had set up the power building for his shop, Arthur had poured a ten-inch floor. “What’cha got, gorgeous?” Arthur asked, coming out of the shop. He looked Wendy’s five-foot-six body over with a grin.
Turning around, Wendy laughed to see the mischief on Arthur’s face. “Daniel called to make sure we were coming to wire up the new fellowship hall,” Wendy said in-between chuckles.
Reaching back and pulling his sweat-soaked ponytail off his neck, “I told the pastor, my ass was going to be there at noon, it’s not even nine,” Arthur huffed.
“Hun, everyone we know has come to realize when you get into a project, you forget the time,” Wendy said, watching Arthur wipe his hand over his sweat-soaked brown hair.
Dropping his hand to his beard and stroking it, “Not when I give my fucking word,” Arthur mumbled.
Giving a long sigh, Wendy overlooked the only flaw she had with Arthur. He was a potty mouth no matter who was around. “So, we are still going?” Wendy asked.
Pointing past Wendy, “I have my stuff in the work truck,” Arthur answered
