No Normal Day (10 page)

With
David and a minimum of his gear loaded they were on the road, the
wagon eased along in the dark, they were cramped and weary. Jason
kept his eyes on the road ahead,
at this speed, it may take us
another two hours but so far, so good.
Something bounded across
the road, just in the edge of the headlights. S---! Jason hit the
brakes.
Was it a dog, a deer?

Tate
said, “Jason, something is in the road.”

Jason
slowed and moved forward, he saw what looked like a big dual axle
truck, jack-knifed across the road. A guy was standing beside the
truck, with the door open.
Is he military, he's got a rifle?
Three
other guys came from behind the truck and the guy raised the rifle.
Jason slammed the wagon into reverse and started screeching and
spinning and backing up. There was a BANG! water started pouring down
the windshield. “Tate...roll down your window and shoot that
damn pea shooter at them! All of you, get your heads down!”
Tate fired a couple of shots from the .22. Jason couldn't see a thing
behind him, he was afraid to get off the road and turn around. This
hunk of lead would probably get stuck. He was trying to stay on the
road and kept driving backwards as fast as he could. He yelled at
David, “Son, find that flashlight, it's right close to where
you are sitting. Shine it out the back window and to my side, so
maybe I can spot a turnaround.” The guys had stopped for a
moment and now they ran towards them again. Tate popped another shot.

David
was stretched out across all the gear piled in the back, squeezed
nearly to the headliner and the big spotlight was making a poor beam
but it was showing the side of road. “There! Dad.” Jason
was able to see a gravel entrance. The car whipped back into the
entry, the old metal bumper pushed into a gate. “Whoa-o-a”
shouted David. Gravel spraying and the wheels spinning, Jason pulled
out and started backtracking down the road, quickly leaving the
strangers behind. He realized that a shot must have hit the bottled
water tied on top of the car and turned on the wipers. BJ was crying
loudly now.

“
Dianne,
is everyone okay?” yelled
Jason
over his shoulder.

“
Yeah,
we are fine.” There was an outburst of exhaled breath and
nervous chatter. Matt takes the baby and made
faces
at him, settling down his screaming. Kat was digging around for a
cookie for him and one for her, too. The old wagon rocked along and
moved
at
a high speed.

Dane
raised up from between his step dad and Tate. “O-M-G! Good
thing I didn't need to pee, that was like hell.” Everybody
started to laugh.

“
Hey
David, you see anything behind us?”

“
No,
Dad. I have been shining the light still. I can't see very far, but I
don't see anything.”

Jason
slowed his speed a little,
damn, he was going to kill them all, at
this speed. “
We will have to go all the way back into the
edge of Hughesville and take the other highway. I hate to waste the
gas, we can't take a chance on getting lost. If everything looks
right, we'll stop and take a break. Fuel is still about half a tank.
Maybe this old monster is more efficient than I thought. Of course,
it's probably got a fifty gallon tank.” Nobody laughed this
time, but Tate. Fear still hung inside the car and Jason tried to
shake it off of himself.

The
excitement had left everyone, as well as Jason, exhausted. It was
late and he was beginning to doubt the wisdom of going on in the
night. He had just about rather be beat on the head than consider it,
but if they could stay on his ex-wife's mother's farm the rest of the
night they could head out in the morning. He felt like it would give
them a chance to re-group. His ex-mother-in-law really detested him,
still she probably wouldn't refuse them. Instead of turning on the
highway at the edge of Hughesville, he made his way back to the farm.
He explained to everyone and they seemed a bit relieved. Actually,
Dianne and his ex get along fine, probably a mother thing in common.
He turned up the long drive and hoped he wouldn't get shot, either on
purpose or unintentionally.

***

This
was day three, since the
mystery
event.
Beth
sat
with
Jack and Lynn, Lee and Cody at the dining table for their “status”
meeting. Jack sipped
his
coffee. “Beth, why don't you give us an idea of what our food
situation is?” Beth had
been
the one to actually take prepping for disaster seriously and she knew
what
was stocked in that storage closet.

“
Well,
we will add what you brought from Lynn's, today. I always based my
inventory on four. Of course, we have more mouths now but we have
added some food, too. We are still eating out of the everyday pantry
right now and the freezer, which hasn't ruined yet. I guesstimated
that we have food for about three months that would maybe stretch to
four. I actually have seed. We might try a small garden. I am no
expert, I
have
some guides that I printed out. We will have to see what is
appropriate for the time of year. It will take some of our water, but
we can try.”

Lynn
spoke up, “Three months...a garden? How long do you and Daddy
think this will last?”

Jack
patted her hand, “Lynn, we don't know. It's going to be a lot
longer than three months. Maybe things won't ever be back to what
they were.” We are going to have to be very frugal. We are also
going to have to try to be as self sufficient as we can. Eventually,
we will have to be resourceful.” He gave Lee a steady look. “By
resourceful, I mean we will have to explore every possibility for
keeping us fed. That might mean some looting of our own”.

Lee
nodded in agreement, he got it. Lynn's bruised face had a
deer
caught in the headlights
look.

“
About
water. Of course, that is going to be where we have to be stingy as
Scrooge. I went out this morning and the plastic can was about a
third full. That is a great idea, Beth, but of course rain won't keep
us in water, even if it is a rainy Spring. We have that 55 gallon
barrel and the water in the storage shed.”

“
You
know, Joel has the pond, he will share if he can” said
Beth.
“I have that water filter and several gallons of bleach. Some
will go for cooking, some will be good enough for other uses,
flushing, bathing, etc.”

Jack
said, “If we can keep the mower and trailer going, it will be
very handy for trips to Joel's. We will see how things are going.
There's hundreds of cars out there on the road, with fuel still in
the tanks.” It's quiet for a few minutes. Jack looked at the
faces around the table. He was torn between his need to protect his
family and his long held values.
I can't believe I am talking
about siphoning out other people's gas and looting.

“
My
biggest concern right now is our safety. It is going to be real
important for us to make this place more secure and ...”

A
growling engine is pulled up in the drive. Jack peered out the edge
of the blinds. He turned and had a big grin on his face. “Beth,
you have company.” She pushed him over and looked out. She
raised her face to the heavens, her eyes closed and a tear slipped
down her face. Looking over to the twins, she said, “Girls,
your aunt Dianne is here.”

Jack
went
out
and herded
the
seven, plus baby in through the front door. There was a commotion of
hugs and tears and questions and laughs. Beth took
her
great-grand-son
and
hugged him to her. Lee and Cody stood
over
to the side. Jack pulled
them
right over into the crowd and introductions were made. He moved
past the hall full
of folks and reached
for
the door handle. He said,
“
Lee,
will
you
and Jason come out with me? Beth, lock up” The three men moved
out to the drive. “I don't know for sure why this monster of a
car is running, but I am damn glad. Listen, you see those guys
standing around about two houses
down?”
Lee and Jason looked in that direction. “I have never seen them
before. You know, a running car is a bit of a rare thing these days.
I am going to go around and manually pull up this garage door. I want
you to pull the car in the garage.”

“
Isn't
that little travel trailer in the way?” said
Lee.

Jack said, “
We
can move it enough by hand to get the car by. I have an idea about
the trailer. You know we just added seven people to the house, plus
little BJ. I'll tell you later, when we all talk some more about
security.” They moved
the
small trailer and Jason barely managed
to
pull the long old car into Jack's garage.

When
everyone was back inside, Jack gathered them in the living room.
Our
population just exploded. If Trish and her family were here, I might
could breathe a bit and handle this craziness...can't think about
that right now.
On the sofa and chairs they sat, now they
numbered fourteen, plus little BJ. The kids on the generous area
rugs, cross-legged or sprawled. There was Lynn, the oldest daughter
and her twelve year old twins, Mindy and Michelle. There was their
middle daughter Dianne and her husband Jason. Their daughter Kathryn
and her husband, Tate and their baby, BJ. Their sons, Dane, age 21,
Matt, age 18 and David, age 16. And, there was Cody and his uncle
Lee.

The
boys punched at each other, typically until Dianne snapped, “Stop
it boys.” Dianne and Jason, told everyone the story of their
journey here. The described how the military base and the big
military town had looked and the Interstate. Jason, like Lee and
Jack, noticed no law or military on the roads. “Except”
he said, “the usual military vehicles that travel on the
Interstate and roads around the area. Every one we saw was
abandoned”. Dane joins in and tells about the dangerous
encounter. When they had reached the farm of Jason's
ex-mother-in-law, it had been necessary to stay the whole next day.
They changed a tire that had gone flat, also managed to top off the
gas tank from some fuel in the barn. They had got up early on the
third day. The “old biddy” had actually fixed them
breakfast...chickens were everywhere on the farm, even on the back
porch, “Maybe, she doesn't completely hate me,” mumbled
Jason.

“
More
proof of the danger that is increasing,” said
Jack.
He asks everyone to quiet down and begins, “We got the station
wagon pulled into the garage. We can unload later. Before you all
arrived, we were discussing the food. Jason tells me that you brought
all the food that you could from home. That's good we can add that to
the stores. We will do some more talking about water, as you all get
settled in. Beth, looks like you and the girls are going to have a
lot of sleeping arrangements to work out.”

Beth
says, “I am already thinking about that. I think we will have
to set the boys up, out in your garage.”

There
was a buzz of grumbling. Jack says, “Look, you little
farts...
house, garage,...it's not going to matter much. If you
haven't noticed, there is no TV, no air conditioning, no phones. You
all have just been hired for new jobs. It is going to take a lot of
work to keep this family just fed and safe. We are going to have to
stick together and pull together. Got it?”

They
all smiled a bit and Dane spoke up, “Sure Poppa, we are with
you.”

Jack
continued, “Lee, I want you to help Jason and I. After we get
all of the stuff out of the station wagon, we are going to hook up
the little trailer to the car. On the other side of the house next
door is a short street that dead ends into the back church lot. We
are going to go in there, take down some of our back yard privacy
fence panels and pull the trailer into the back yard. We will replace
the panels. Actually, the septic tank is in the west corner of the
yard, we will dig it up and put the trailer portable potty drain in
it. Lee, if you agree, I think it will make a bedroom for you and
Cody. It's tiny, but it's a decent bed. As far as security, which is
still my main concern, I like the idea of you being out back.”