Day Thirty-Five

Another hard night for both of us. Lisa tossed and turned most of the night. I held her head in my lap and kept a damp cloth on her forehead hoping it would bring her fever down. I dozed off several times during the night but I really couldn't sleep. I was too worried about Lisa. I felt like I was losing her but I didn't know what else to do.

Then I thought about that small Gideon Bible in her backpack. Maybe if I got that out and read a little I might discover some way to pray more effectively so God would heal her. I had always believed in God. I just didn't have much confidence in organized religions.

I found her Bible and the page of hymns and the page of scripture verses. I really didn't want to invest the time it would take to read that little Bible, so I decided to read the single page of scripture verses. Each scripture verse was followed by a short comment that explained what the verse meant and I hoped that would help me figure it out a lot quicker. Maybe there would be something on that page that would tell me how to be more successful at getting God's attention.

I read the page. And then I read it again. And I read it a third time. And then I prayed. Lisa's condition didn't change one bit. She was still asleep, she still had a fever, and the place on the back of her hand was still red and swollen.

But something inside me had changed. I knew in my heart that Lisa was going to get well. I still didn't know when she was going to wake up. I just knew beyond any doubt that she was going to live.

No, God didn't speak to me. And I didn't hear voices of any kind. All I know is that I was praying as hard as I could and I was extremely worried about whether Lisa was going to live or die. And suddenly I wasn't the least bit worried anymore. I somehow knew she was going to live. I had no idea prayer was like that. I am copying that page of scripture verses here into my diary so you will have access to them in the event you ever feel the need to get God's attention.

Let's take a look at few special verses from the New King James Version of the Bible.

THE SECRET MYSTERY

"To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God;" Mark 4:11

Comment: The answer to a great mystery will soon be revealed to you.

SPIRITUAL TRUTH or FOOLISHNESS

"These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2:13-14

Comment: The things you are about to learn are common knowledge among Christians. Once they have been explained to you, you will understand the most important truth about life and death. And you will probably want to share your new knowledge with others. But the Bible tells us that some people do not have the ability to understand these truths, because they are spiritual truths. To some people these spiritual truths will appear as foolishness.

Let's look now at the first of these spiritual truths.

THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE GOD

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1

Comment: God was alive in the beginning. He is alive now. And the Bible also tells us that God will live forever.

THE SON OF GOD

"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us," John 1:14

"For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

Comment: One day, about 2000 years ago, God visited this earth in human form. He was born as the baby Jesus in the town of Bethlehem (the city of David).

THE FATHER AND THE SON

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me." John 14:1

"I and My Father are one." John 10:30

Comment: In the above two verses, Jesus tells us that He and God are the same. God (the Father) stayed in heaven, while Jesus (the Son) visited the earth to tell us about the Father.

THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE

"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised" 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26

Comment: In the first verse above, sleep refers to death. And the change refers to the gift of a new heavenly body that will never die. In the second verse above, Jesus said that anyone who believes in Him will not die but will live forever. And then Jesus asked this question, "Do you believe this?"

THE PENALTY OF SIN

"if you do not believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins." John 8:24

"For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin." Ecclesiastes 7:20

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23

"For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell." Matthew 10:28

"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26

Comment: The Bible clearly tells us that no one can live their entire life without committing some type of sin. (If the truth were known, all of us commit many different sins over the course of our lives.) However, it only takes one sin to make us a sinner. And the penalty for sin is the condemnation of our eternal soul. The Bible mentions Hell more often than it does Heaven. Hell is a real place where condemned souls spend eternity in agony. The Bible also asks this question: "What can you offer God to redeem your soul from an eternity in hell?"

THE GIFT OF GOD

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

Comment: God has provided a way for us to avoid Hell so we can spend eternity in Heaven. That way is through faith in God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

FORGIVENESS OF SIN

"There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.'" Luke 23:32-34

"Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once," 1 Corinthians 15:3-6

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." Romans 5:8-9

"for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." Leviticus 17:11

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Comment: Christ was crucified and shed His life's blood on the cross at Calvary. God accepted the death of His only Son as full payment for your sins and mine. Three days later, Jesus returned from the dead and took possession of His dead body. The grave could not hold Him. The grave won't be able to hold us either, if we believe that Jesus Christ is God's only Son, and that He died that we might have eternal life in Heaven.

ACCEPTING JESUS CHRIST INTO YOUR LIFE

"if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:9-10

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." Acts 16:31

Comment: How do you become a Christian? It's easy. Just believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And then tell someone, anyone, that you believe that Jesus Christ is God's only Son, that He died on the cross in payment for your sins, and that He rose from the dead and is in Heaven right now waiting on you. Can you do that? If you can, then you will spend eternity in Heaven instead of Hell.

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand,. Repent, and believe in the gospel." Mark 1:15

"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2

Comment: When should you become a Christian? Today. Right now. Don't put it off another minute. Unlock the doors to heaven with the only key that will fit: faith in Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of the Living God.

CONCLUDING COMMENTS

God only grants forgiveness to sinners. It doesn't matter what you have done in the past, God will forgive you (unless you have accepted the mark of the beast on your right hand during the end times). You don't have to clean up your life to become a Christian. I am a Christian and I still make mistakes, and I still occasionally yield to sin. But God forgives me and He will forgive you too. But you must take the next step. God has already taken a giant step toward you. He allowed His only Son to die on the Cross to pay for all of your sins: your past sins, your current sins, and all the sins you will commit after you become a Christian. But you have to accept God's forgiveness by believing in His Son. Please do it now. We don't know the day of our death and tomorrow may be one day too late.

Lisa's condition was not improving. I spent all my time thinking about it and it finally occurred to me that she hadn't eaten since she had been bitten by that spider. But how could I get some food down her? My biggest fear was that she would strangle on it in her sleep. My only option was to boil some deer jerky in some water and gradually put the weak soup into her mouth.

Night fell. And Lisa was still sleeping. Sometime during the night I fell asleep with her head in my lap and my back against one of the pine trees.

Day Thirty-Six

I woke up. Lisa was staring up at me. She wasn't moving. She was just looking at me. I tried to speak but my words choked in my throat. I coughed and then I asked, "How long have you been awake?"

"I don't know," she said. "A few minutes. I have to use the bathroom really bad but I didn't want to wake you. You look awful. Do you feel okay?"

I laughed. I said I felt magnificent. Then I told her I would face the tree while she used the bathroom and put her jeans on. She didn't reply. She just waited for me to face the tree and then she got up and moved a short distance into the woods. A few minutes later she came back and told me I could turn around. She was wearing her jeans.

She said, "I remember reaching out to move a branch out of my path. I was looking at the ground to see where I should put my feet when I felt something on my hand. I looked up and that's when I saw a huge ugly spider on my hand. It bit me. I remember screaming. And I remember getting sick very quickly. I really don't know what happened after that. Please tell me."

I told her everything. I explained why I went through her stuff and why she didn't have her jeans on when she woke up. Then I asked her about the little pills with the "J" on them.

"Those are prescription antibiotics. I had a prescription refilled so I would have some medicine in case of an emergency. I put them into that unmarked bottle so no one would know what they were. In light of what just transpired, I don't suppose that was very intelligent, was it?"

I didn't answer.

Then she said, "You saved my life. Thank you. I think I owe you a complete explanation. The first time I saw you was the day before I bought some food from you at gun point. I was resting a short distance from the dirt road I had been following when I saw you coming down the road. I hid myself and waited. You were traveling southeast and that was the same direction I was headed, so I waited until you passed and then I quietly fell in behind you on the road. You were always completely focused on the area directly in front of you and to each side of you and you never looked behind you. You were relatively easy to follow. I was completely out of food so I was more or less forced to make contact with you to see if you had any extra food to sell."

"I see," was all I said.

Lisa continued, "Immediately after I bought that food from you, I only retreated about 200 yards into the woods and I waited for you to count to 5000. You didn't try to follow me so I decided to follow you. You were heading roughly southeast and that was exactly the direction I wanted to go. I always stayed a reasonable distance behind you but I rarely lost sight of you. You became so predictable that following you was really easy. You always stopped about the same time each day and set snares. And you always set your first snare about 100 yards ahead of you in the direction you had been traveling. I thought that was smart because I realized you were scouting ahead a short distance before you made your final decision to camp where you had stopped. You always returned to camp after you set each snare. And you would always collect your snares about the same time each morning and then resume your trip. Each night it was easy for me to find a camp site and get some sleep and I was still able to return to your camp the following morning at least an hour before you departed. I admit I was using you the same way some people travel a reasonable distant behind another motorist who is speeding so the motorist in front will trip the radar first and get the speeding ticket. I sincerely apologize.

"My biggest decision was whether or not to wait for you to continue your journey when you stopped to visit with those people who were living in the cave. I spent a couple of days watching all of you from a safe distance in the woods. I followed you several times and watched you set snares. I learned a lot from you. I tried setting snares the way you did but I rarely caught anything. I became envious of you because I realized you must have some special wood lore instinct that guided you to the best spots to put your snares.

"I had just returned from checking my snares the day you found me in my camp and told me to freeze. I couldn't ask you about the people you were with because then you would have known I had been spying on you. But when you told me you were returning to your base camp the following morning, I decided you were probably going to stay with them, at least through the winter. So the next morning I started off on my own again.

"I traveled for a day or two. But the further I traveled the more depressed I became. I don't know why, but I also began to get scared. Therefore I decided to return to the cave where you were staying and see if I could join your group. I was trying to get up enough courage to enter your camp the morning you said good-bye to everyone. I watched the way they said good-bye to you. It was obvious you were someone they trusted. That made me want to be your friend even more. But I wasn't exactly sure how to approach you. The major problem, as I saw it, was how to be friends with a really great guy and travel several hundred miles with him and never make love. It's not that I'm cold natured or anything, it's just that I really don't want to be carrying a child at this particular time in my life. So I kept following you and I stopped to make camp each time you did.

"I was behind you that day when those two ruffians ambushed you. I saw them make you drop everything you had. I wasn't sure what their intentions were until I heard them laugh. Then I saw one of the men lift his rifle so he could shoot you in the back. I already had him dead in my scope so I simply squeezed the trigger. And then as quickly as I could I lined up on the second man and I drilled him too. I saw you make your escape into the woods so I pulled back a short distance and kept my rifle trained on the two men lying in the road. I didn't know if I had killed them or not, but if either one of them had moved I was going to put another round into him. They never moved and then I saw you come out of the woods with that stick in your hand. The rest you know. That's my story." Lisa had finished talking and she was waiting for me to respond.

I didn't say anything for a moment or two. Then I asked, "Do you think it would be okay if we traveled together from now on?"

Lisa laughed and threw her arms around me and gave me a hug.

Day Thirty-Seven

We spent the day in our little shelter. Lisa was feeling much better but she was still too weak to travel. But there was nothing wrong with her appetite. I knew she hadn't eaten in several days so I didn't say anything when she consumed an entire day of rations in one meal.

Mostly we just talked. We learned a lot about one another. I was two years older than she was and her parents' home was about 100 miles south of where my parents lived. We had both accepted jobs in the mid-west because that was where we could earn the most money. And we both had an adventurous spirit so we weren't afraid to move to a new city a long ways from our home towns. We both survived the first onslaught of war when it destroyed the cities where we were living and we had both decided our best alternative was to hike back to our home towns. We had both left in the early spring and it was now early fall. My hometown was the closest but it was still about 300 miles away. We agreed to go there first and try to find my family. Then we would continue together to the south and try to find her family.

Day Forty-Two

We spent the last few days hiking southeast. Each evening we would listen to my radio and find out how the war was going. This evening we turned the radio on and we heard the good news. The war was over. We had won. We listened to several shortwave stations in different parts of the world just to verify this news. The same story was being repeated in every nation. The war was over and they had won. We laughed together. Every nation was victorious. Lisa said she didn't think that was possible and then she asked me what my opinion was.

I reminded her that very few people have access to a shortwave radio and therefore the only information they receive is what they hear through their local news media. Most people believe almost everything they read or hear in the news. They don't realize they are being fed carefully worded press releases.

Then I told her the war probably ended because a very small but select group of people had achieved whatever objective or objectives they had originally desired. We would probably never know who those people were. They enjoyed remaining anonymous and directing the events of the world.

This small group of people probably initiated the peace settlement from behind the scenes. Every nation had probably experienced as much destruction as they could tolerate and they had also probably lost a significant percentage of their population. Therefore they would be very receptive to any peace solution that allowed them to save face. All the negotiators had to do was make one or two small concessions to each nation. This would provide each nation with something they could brag about and thereby convince their people they had won the war.

Lisa complimented me on my analysis of the situation. I thanked her but I told her I couldn't take the credit for it because I was just extrapolating from a book I had read prior to the war.

Day Forty-Four

We entered a small town today. There were a number of people moving about. Since the war was over they were no longer afraid to reveal themselves in public.

We were shocked to find that the bus service had been restored. The military had released a large supply of their gasoline (and diesel fuel) and it was being issued exclusively to the bus companies and the truck lines. We were able to buy two bus tickets to my home town for four silver dollars. It was the best deal I have ever negotiated. It saved us almost 300 miles of walking.

Day Forty-Five

We arrived in my hometown today. It was almost completely destroyed. My parents' home was burned to the ground. My oldest brother's home was still standing but it had been looted. My oldest brother was at home. He told me the bad news. Both my parents died in the fire that had destroyed their neighborhood. And my other brother had died of malnutrition and dysentery about six weeks ago. I looked at my brother and I could see the bones in his face so I asked him how he felt. He said he felt fine. He had been eating well for the past few days. I asked him how that was possible. He said he had traded his gold necklace for three week's supply of food.

I told him about our plans to continue south to Lisa's hometown. He said we could borrow his car. I looked at him sideways and he explained that it had almost a full tank of gas. He had filled his gas tank the day before the bombs and the fire destroyed our town. And there was no place he wanted to go so he had spent the entire war barricaded inside his home. He left occasionally in search of food and on one of those occasions his home had been looted while he was absent. He said that was lucky for him. He was glad he wasn't home when the looters arrived. There was nothing he owned that was worth defending with his life.

Day Forty-Seven

We said good-bye to my brother this morning and I drove his car south to Lisa's hometown. We were pleasantly surprised to see that the war had not destroyed her town. Many of the buildings had been shot up and most of the glass windows had been destroyed, but almost every building was still standing and they could be repaired in a short period of time at a reasonable cost.

Lisa's parents were at home when we pulled into their driveway. Her married sister was also there with her husband. It made me feel really good to see the welcome Lisa received from her family. Everyone was crying and hugging each other.

Lisa introduced me but I already knew everyone's name. Lisa had talked about them a lot during the time we were together.

We all sat down to lunch together. I was surprised to see the variety of food that was being served. However, I kept my curiosity in check and I didn't ask any questions. Later that afternoon I discovered how Lisa's family had survived the war and why they all appeared to be in such excellent health.

Lisa's parents had heard the war rumors just like everyone else. The main difference was that they took them seriously. They explained their action this way, "It is better to be prepared for an event that doesn't happen than to be totally unprepared for an event that does happen."

They had purchased a used 26-foot bunkhouse camper for about $6000. Lisa's Dad told me that used campers fall into two categories. Ones that have been taken care of and are therefore in really good condition and ones that are completely worn out. And you can't get that information from a seller over the phone because everyone believes their camper is in good condition. You have to go and look at the camper to see what kind of condition it is in. Generally, you have to look at a minimum of five or six used campers before you find one that is in "almost new" condition.

The camper they bought had one bedroom with a queen-size bed at the front end of the camper. It had twin bunk beds next to a small bathroom at the other end of the camper. In the middle of the camper there was a small kitchen and a cafe table that seated four people and a sofa that seated three people. I looked inside their camper and I asked them how four people could live for almost six months in such cramped conditions. They all laughed and reminded me they were family. And then Lisa's Mom told me it all depended on how you viewed things. I saw it as crowded. They saw it as cozy.

Then Lisa's Dad gave me a tour of the outside of the camper. He had bolted two strips of heavy angle iron to the front tongue of the camper. On this he had strapped down four plastic battery cases with a deep-cycle marine battery in each one. The positive terminal of each battery was connected to the positive terminal of the batteries on each side of it. And the negative terminals were connected in the same manner. At one end of the chain of batteries a wire was attached to the positive terminal of the end battery and the other end of the wire was connected to the positive terminal of a small Solar Controller where it said "Battery." At the opposite end of the chain of batteries a wire was attached to the negative terminal of the end battery and the other end of the wire was connected to the negative terminal of the Solar Controller at the "Battery" connection. The two wires coming out of the camper (which were originally connected to the battery) were now connected to the Solar Controller at the point where it said "Loads." The Solar Controller also had a positive and negative terminal that said "Panels" and a long coil of wire was attached to it. Lisa's Dad showed me two 100-watt solar panels he connected to that wire when he was ready to activate the system. He said he hadn't mounted the solar panels on the roof of the camper because he liked to park his camper in the shade. He could then place the two solar panels in the direct sunlight and run the wire to them from the Solar Controller. I asked him how much the entire solar system had cost and he said about $1400 and that included the four marine batteries.

He also told me he couldn't plug the camper into a standard 120-volt outlet the way it was currently wired or he would destroy his Solar Controller. To use 120-volt power he had to disconnect four wires. First he had to disconnect the two wires between the two end batteries and the Solar Controller "Battery" connection. Then he would have to disconnect the two "Load" wires from the Solar Controller and reconnect them to the end batteries. Then he could plug into a 120-volt outlet. The option was his. He could use either 120-volt power or solar power, but not both at the same time.

There were two 30-pound propane tanks mounted on the tongue of the camper directly in front of the row of batteries. Lisa's Dad showed me two additional 100-pound propane tanks he used as emergency backups. He said that after he had his camper parked, he would place them on the ground next to the 30-pound tanks. When the two 30-pound tanks were both empty he could easily switch over to one of the 100-pound tanks.

Their last investment was about $2500 in emergency food supplies. Mostly white rice, wheat berries, beans, noodles and other such stuff. They made their investment based on the cost per calorie of food and the shelf life of the food. White rice, wheat berries, beans, and noodles were the best investment from a nutrition standpoint. And since they were dry foods they didn't weigh very much. They had also bought a decent variety of canned goods, such as vegetables, fruits, chili beans, beef stew, Spam, and tuna canned in oil. Plus some extra-virgin olive oil, sugar, pickling salt, pepper, powdered milk, dry yeast, dry gravy mix, and hard candies. Except for the yeast, all the food they bought had a minimum shelf life of 4 or 5 years if they stored it in a dry, cool place where the temperature could be kept above 40 degrees and below 70 degrees year round. The white rice had a shelf life of at least 10 years and the wheat berries had a shelf life of at least 50 years. The salt and sugar would last indefinitely. They refrigerated their yeast to triple its shelf life.

Immediately after the war irrupted overseas, Lisa's parents invited their oldest daughter and her husband to move in with them just-in-case. They tried to get Lisa to come home but she wouldn't quit her job in the mid-west.

Lisa's Dad visited the closest national forest and he identified several potential camping spots which they could get into with a camper but which were also a short distance off the primary forest road. They loaded their camper and they stacked their emergency food and the other emergency supplies they would need in a closet near their garage door so they could load their three vehicles without any unnecessary delay in the event of an emergency.

Lisa's Dad also bought four five-gallon gasoline cans. He filled them with gas and stored them in the corner of his garage. He also asked everyone to refill their car's gas tanks whenever they got down to one-half full.

During the day Lisa's Mom listened to the news channel continuously while everyone else was at work. At night each person took a two-hour shift listening to the news channel while everyone else slept. It was a smart decision. The bombs started exploding on United States soil around 2 o'clock in the wee morning hours and the person on "news duty" quickly woke everyone up. They loaded their vehicles and were on their way towards the national forest within 30 minutes of when the news was first reported. They were inside the national forest before daybreak and they continued to listen to the news on the radio throughout the day.

Some folks might say they were lucky. I don't see it that way. They were just prepared.

After they parked their camper in the national forest, they let down their awning at an angle so it would direct rain water to one spot where they placed a large, clean 40 gallon plastic water barrel. They didn't need their refrigerator because Lisa's Mom always prepared just enough food for each meal and they never had any leftovers.

Their camper was originally built to run off either 120-volt power or 12-volt batteries. Only the air-conditioner and the microwave wouldn't operate off the batteries. Lisa's Dad said that was the reason he hadn't installed a solar inverter. An inverter changes 12-volt DC power into 120-volt AC power. They didn't mind doing without the air-conditioner. And even if he had installed an inverter, the A/C would have drained his batteries in less than an hour of operation. And they really didn't need the microwave because the camper had a propane stove.

The 12-volt water pump had a manual wall switch. When they wanted water at a faucet, they would flip the switch on, run the water they needed, and then flip the switch off. The hot water heater was a fast-response propane unit. However, it remained off during almost the entire war. They had four camping shower bags. Each bag held 5-gallons of water. On the days they wanted to shower they would hang those bags in the sun and in the evening the water inside them would be very hot. And they would heat a little water on their propane stove at the end of each day to do dishes.

The camper had three water tanks: a fresh water tank, a black water tank, and a gray water tank. The fresh water tank was connected to the water pump which supplied all the faucets. They refilled the fresh water tank each time it rained.

The toilet stool emptied into the black water tank. The toilet was very neat. It had a two-position flush. The first position used a few tablespoons of water to rinse out liquid waste. The second position used about a cup of water to flush solid waste. Lisa's Dad dug a pit about twelve feet away from the camper and he connected a large drain hose to the black water tank and about once every two weeks he would dump the contents of that tank into the hole. He would wait for the water to drain into the earth and then he would shovel a few inches of dirt on top of the residue in the hole. This controlled the smell and the flies.

The gray water tank contained the sink and shower drain water. Immediately after a goodrain and after their fresh water tank had been refilled, they would drain the gray water tank into another hole and let it disappear into the earth. Lisa's Dad told me that on one occasion during a three-week drought he had been forced to recycle his gray water. First he dug a conical hole about four-feet in diameter and about two-feet deep in the center. It sloped gradually from the sides of the hole to the center. He dug six small holes about half-way down the cone and about equal distances apart. Then he dug out the center of the big hole and placed a large, clean, empty stainless steel cook pot in the bottom of the hole. Then he barely opened the gray water tank drain valve and gradually filled six one-gallon ziplock bags about three-quarters full. He did this directly at the value. He didn't let the water run through his black water drain hose. And he didn't seal the ziplock bags but left them open at the top. He put one ziplock bag of gray water into each of the six small holes around his stainless steel pot. Then he put a clean, clear plastic tarp over the entire setup and weighted down the edges of the tarp with rocks. He carefully put a medium size rock on top of the tarp directly over the large stainless steel pot in the bottom of the hole. This caused the tarp to form a cone in the same shape as the original four-foot diameter hole. But the tarp didn't touch the sides of the hole anywhere. The only place the tarp touched the ground was at the very top of the hole where it was weighed down with rocks. During the day, the sun did its job. The gray water in the six ziplock bags gradually evaporated and formed tiny water droplets on the underside of the tarp. The tiny water droplets flowed down the tarp as a result of gravity and collected directly under the rock in the center of the tarp. When the water drops got too heavy, they fell directly into the stainless steel pot in the center of the pit. At the end of each day, they had a full pot of fresh water to drink. And the ziplock bags still contained the soap and dirt that was originally in the gray water.

After they explained everything to me, I realized Lisa had inherited her brains from her parents.

Day Forty-Nine

Lisa's parents followed us in their car when I returned my brother's car to him. Lisa's parents had filled the trunk of his car with food and I also gave him the four silver dollars I had left. My brother and I shook hands and I said I would keep in touch. Then Lisa and I returned with her parents to their home.

Day Sixty-Two

Lisa and I were married today in her home church. We both have jobs and we found a small apartment that we could afford to rent. The future has never looked better to us.

This will be my last entry in this diary because I hope the rest of my life will be too peaceful to be of any interest to anyone other than Lisa and myself.