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summer camp,” Lee Ann said.
    Bobbie leaned close to Mel. “It smells like bum ass.”
    Mel laughed. “Really? And how would you have a frame of reference?”
    Mel and Bobbie walked to the front of the cabin. “At least the view is nice,” Bobbie said.
    â€œYeah, but can you imagine what the mosquitos will be like in the summer?”
    Bobbie ran a hand over the screen in the window. “Thankfully, there are screens.”
    Mel looked around. “Just the thought of being stuck out here . . . no running water, no bathroom”—she waved her hand in the air—“this, this isn’t a house. I don’t know what to call it, really.”
    â€œIt’s still better than sleeping in a tent,” Bobbie said gently.
    â€œWell, if we do come, make sure to bring all the bug spray you can find.” Mel pointed to the ceiling. “Look at all the spiderwebs.”
    Bobbie looked up. “At least they’ll eat all the other bugs.”
    Mel looked back at the three girls, who were working out who would sleep where, and said to Bobbie with pursed lips, “I
hope
we don’t have to bug out. Living here would take a lot of getting used to.”
    I left the ladies to chat more about the house, hoping Bobbie could warm Mel up to the idea of coming here in an emergency. Outside, I drove some of the PVC pipe into the ground to make a makeshift pen and wrapped it with the wire. Danny set up the hot wire and we unloaded the hogs into the pen, all tied up. Now we had a problem: the hot wire was off and as soon as we untied the hogs, they were sure to try to run. So the hot wire needed to be on before we untied them, which meant whoever was inside the pen would have to try to get out without getting shocked.
    Mike volunteered to do it, as he was sure he could jump over the top strand. Once he stepped in Danny turned the hot wire on and Mike started to cut the hogs loose. As he was cutting the last hog free, Sarge walked up with a palmetto stem, the end sharpened to a nice point. With a huge smile on his face he reached out and poked Mike in the ass with the stem. Mike jumped and tripped over one of the hogs before catching himself. He looked back at Sarge, rubbing his ass.
    â€œYou old bastard! I thought I backed into the wire!”
    We all started laughing. Sarge crowed, “I knew you would! That’s why I did it!”
    Mike managed to jump over the top strand without touching it and snatched the palmetto stem from Sarge’s hand. Sarge laughed and ran off before Mike could poke him in the ass with it. Jeff came back from the river with the rods and a bunch of bluegills on a piece of paracord. He held the string up for everyone to see. Little Bit ran up—she just had to touch them.
    â€œHow long did it take to catch them?” I asked as Little Bit ran her fingers over their scales.
    â€œNot long, actually; they were biting real good,” Mike said.
    Little Bit ran over, Mel and Bobbie behind her. She was jumping up and down and asked, “Can we stay here? It’s fun!”
    I smiled and rubbed her head, “
She
likes it,” I said, looking at Mel.
    Mel frowned. “She’s only eight and thinks of it like a camping trip. If we move here, who knows how long we’ll be stuck.”
    â€œBabe, this just a precaution. If we come here, it’s because our home is no longer safe. It’ll be better than sitting under some palm fronds in the woods.”
    â€œI still don’t like it; we need to try to stay home.”
    â€œMel, you need to wake up to the reality of the situation. You do realize what is going on around you, don’t you? You know how many people are living in wretched conditions right now, no power at all, no clean water, no food, no safety? We still have all of that; if we come here we only lose running water”—I pointed at the creek—“but it’s right there and it’s not