The next day, the elderly pair of original station hosts were anxious to continue their story.
“Long before we could figure out the water system, or start on the animal-proof fence, we had to get familiar with our neighborhood,” Jimox explained.
Teina grinned with her few remaining teeth. “The Cage.”
Jimox nodded and cleared his throat.
About a month after arriving in Similand, Jimox and Teina had found the master keys, unlocked everything, and knew what supplies were available.
Food that needed to be kept cold with electricity, and hadn’t been for the last seven years, had no value. Every few days, they worked up the courage to clean out another refrigerator or freezer. A fair amount of edibles remained, but many things were missing. No one had come to Similand to buy basic groceries, hardware, or work clothes, so the pair of monkey mammals was forced to explore the city around them.
They found everything they could possibly want, stacked on store shelves waiting for them, often enough untouched by vermin. But thousands, maybe millions of wild dogs roamed the city constantly.
Three times they watched, safely perched in trees or on stone walls, as a pack of hungry canines, unable to get fresh monkey-mammal meat, rummaged through the cart of supplies Jimox and Teina had just spent all day gathering, spoiling most things. Sometimes they could shoot one or two, but
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the nearest safe place was often too far for accurate pistol shots. Even if their aim was good, the carcass just attracted more dogs.
Every time it happened, Jimox fussed and fumed for several days. Teina directed his frustration into helping her clean out old refrigerators and freezers.
One day they were exploring the Similand service area when they came upon a large animal cage on wheels, big enough for a lion or two. Jimox’ face lit up, and he quickly determined that it rolled easily on rubber tires. “It’ll protect our stuff from the dogs!”
Teina was just as happy with the find, and helped Jimox pump up the tires, then fit pieces of plywood to the insides of the bars, from the floor to about halfway up, so that nothing could even drool on their supplies.
Twice it worked as intended. The pair watched from a balcony or a rooftop as dogs tried desperately to get at the food within, but eventually had to give up and look elsewhere. Other dogs, and starvation itself, were always close.
The third time was different.
The mobile cage was half-full of food, candles, and batteries, when a group of dogs appeared in front of them, and another behind. Both monkey mammals scanned for a safe place. Everything was too far. Jimox pulled out his pistol, ready to make a stand.
“Too many!” Teina shrieked. “Inside the cage!”
Jimox blinked a couple of times, saw the dogs approaching fast, and knew in his heart that Teina was right. He scampered after her onto the supplies inside, and she pulled the cage door closed just as the first dogs arrived.
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While the attackers fruitlessly tried to jump high enough to see the tasty morsels within, Jimox and Teina slowly relaxed and got as comfortable as they could.
“I’m sitting on a bag of corn meal,” Jimox said with a smile. “How about you?”
She looked down. “A deep-cycle battery!”
They both laughed heartily as wild dogs continued to snap and growl all around them.
An hour later, they were able to continue their journey homeward.
Teina laughed so hard from the memory that she almost cried. Eventually, she settled down enough to speak. “The next time we went scrounging, Jimox had cut a hole in the wooden roof of the cage, just big enough to climb up through, and I had put a little tent up there, complete with sleeping bags, books to read, and some emergency supplies.”
“We called it our Monkey-Mammal Cage, and it became more and more important as the years passed, and we had to go farther and farther from Similand for supplies.”
