What does Home mean?

Lumber, lumber... oh wait, there's lumber!

We sorted every board cut to size and stacked it on the trailer.

Brent took it just beyond where we'd planted the trees and offloaded it.

Rinse and repeat until there was enough to fill half of the bunker.

After that, he took all of the scrap and burned it spread out.

He threw branches, limbs, etc until it was a huge bed of embers.

He threw a chain across and dragged a log parallel to the edge of the burning bed.

He looped the chain under the middle of the log and pulled it until there was enough to pull from the other side of the embers.

He slowly rolled the log over it until it was thoroughly burned on the outside before doing it again with the remaining 19 other logs.

Afterward, he used a square shovel to level an area of ground and began marking out a shape with poles and string. Using a string level, he made sure that the whole thing was perfectly flat.

Using post hole diggers, he dug holes until he hit rock at about four to five feet deep and three feet in diameter near each corner of string.

After that was finished, he lifted a log and put it down into one hole, kicking dirt into the hole.

He packed the dirt around it and cut the log at one inch above the string.

Doing that with every hole in the ground, he ended up with a number of logs remaining.

Taking the whole tree timbers that he'd cut, he began laying them in place on top of the logs.

He went to his truck and took out a wood crate.

Carrying it back, he sat it down and opened it.

There was a set square, a Japanese saw, a hand auger, bits, a 4 pound maul and an untold number of boxes that had 20 eighteen inch long rebar spikes that resembled giant nails in each one.

He measured and cut the timbers before drilling through a beam and into the log under it.

The bit he used was a ⅜inch and the rebar spikes were ½inch

He started to look around for something but then went back to the truck.

He came back with two five gallon buckets of pine tar, a container of gypsum, a funnel and a paint brush.

He also had a 2 inch deep pan.

He opened one of the five gallon buckets and my fur stood on end at the smell!

It was horrible with a hint of pine... like a concentrated smell of rancid pine mulch that's been in an oven.

He poured some of the tar into the pan and then scooped out one half cup of gypsum.

Sticking the funnel into the hole on the beam, he dumped the gypsum into the pan and stirred it with a stick.

He scooped more, stirred it in and, finally, it got really thick.

He went to the truck and got a metal coal shovel.

Getting quite a bit of embers, he made a fire near where he was working and heated the tar.

When it became fluid again, he added more gypsum until it was as thick as syrup while hot.

He scooped a cup of the thickened tar and poured it into a hole.

Putting a spike in place, he hammered the beam to the log.

Checking the alignment with the string, he drilled a hole at the other end.

By the time he was finished, he was able to remove all of the string and poles.

Every corner was perfectly squared and the whole frame was level.

He brushed the remaining tar compound onto each log and joint.

Each beam was 10 by 5 inches, exactly and they were arranged to support more weight.

Cutting more beams to length, he used a jack at each end to hold it in place while he drilled six holes total.

Being the end of the funnel, he poured tar in, hammered a spike and did so at the other end.

It took until late afternoon to finish the whole frame.

If not for his armor, he might have taken a lot longer.

He's actually quite strong in his own right but, he's built very lean, so he looks skinny.

He's not built for lifting as much as he is, so the suit really helps him.

We went home and Brent cooked supper.

This was the first day that I have ever felt uselessness.

Brent caught it immediately and I felt happy soon afterward.

Lysle got drunk on mulberry wine and couldn't drive.

Zhane was close to giving birth, as this was her second pregnancy.

Initially, they were concerned about coming out to our home because of this but, Brent is more than capable of handling a delivery and argued as much.

With the two sleeping soundly on heavily padded cots in the spare room, we went to bed.

They couldn't leave the next morning because Lysle was hung over.

Brent gave Charlie a radio and explained that he needed to notify him, immediately, if Zhane went into labor.

Lyla would also be there and could, at least, get Zhane moved to the tub for the delivery.

Everything was agreed upon before we headed out to continue working on the structure.

As we pulled up, we saw a few people looking at the frame.

They were locals who live nearby.

Brent exited the truck and told them that they're trespassing, need to leave and not come back.

They argued that they had every right to be there as Brent did.

Brent quickly drew a weapon and aimed toward them.

"Leave now and do not return." He said.

"Hah! Like an empty weapon scares us.

You can't even get ammo for..."

Brent fired and the guy was knocked back onto the frame.

The others ran.

Walking over to the injured man, Brent pulled out surgical tongs and dug the bullet from his shoulder.

Purging any debris, Brent healed him and said.

"Challenge me once, fool be you.
Challenge me twice, dead be you.

Get the hell off of our land and do not return! AM I UNDERSTOOD!?" He yells in the man's face.

He nods.

Brent moves away from him.

"Go!" He shouts and the guy beats a hasty retreat.

When there was only Brent left, I got out of the truck and walked up to him.

"Are you alright? I can't feel your emotions." I ask.

"These don't need to be felt."

"Bullshit! Yesterday you took away my helplessness!

Don't you dare turn hypocrite on me, Brent Hughes!"

I suddenly felt everything and it was a little overwhelming.

I managed to cope with it and counter all of the negative emotions he was dealing with.

Throughout the day, his thoughts would try to turn back to the man he'd shot but, I'd distract him by bringing up thoughts of other things, instead.

He's mine and if I can, I'll always help him.