THE TRASHMAN (3 page)

“I missed by a lot.”

“Not really,” I told her. “I want you to shake your arms to loosen them and fire another round. Do everything the same as before, except aim a foot above the knot.”

Her second shot was an inch to the left, but still low by four.

“Hey, I got as close as you did,” she said, smirking a little. I think she’d momentarily forgotten why we were out there.

“You sure did, but we can’t have you aiming high with every shot.”

I went into the shop to fetch a screwdriver. The rear sight took a flathead to make adjustments. I adjusted the elevation and had her fire again. The knot was probably eight inches in diameter. The bullet knocked a chunk from the left side. Becky was ecstatic.

“I hit it! I hit the target!”

“You sure did. You’re amazingly good at repeating your stance and grip. Let me make one more adjustment.”

I moved the windage screw a tad. This time she was an inch low and in line with the knot. A round of applause greeted her success. Unknown to us, Sam, Lucy and their two boys were on their front porch watching the shooting exhibition.

“I’ll be dog-gone girl, you’re a natural,” I said, adding my praise to her achievement.

Becky turned to give a small bow to the family and said to me, “I’ll bet I can hit it again next shot.”

“I think you could, too, but Sam only brought us two loaded magazines and a box of fifty more rounds. I don’t know if he has more. We’d better save what we have until we can resupply.”

I could tell she was disappointed. I led her back to the shop. As we approached the building, I saw two little heads looking out the single front window. I noticed two folding chairs leaning against a fence post.

“Hon, take the chairs to the porch and give the kids some sort of snack to keep them occupied. I’ll run an extension cord out so we can listen to the radio. I need to relay some info Sam gave me earlier, too.”

She took care of the children, giving them granola bars and orange juice from a can. By the time I located an extension cord and untangled it, she was outside waiting for me. I plugged in the radio and settled into the chair beside hers.

“Sam gave you some bad news, didn’t he?”

“Hon… Yes he did. Let me tell you in a minute. Right now, I want you to look around you and see this beautiful morning. Can you hear the birds talking to each other?”

“Damn it, Ralph!”

I shook my head. “I’m not kidding. Take a minute to relax and realize that we are alive and healthy. Think about how lucky we are. We have food and a roof over our heads. Most of all, your sister came in time to warn us. Thank God, we’re out of the city.”

We sat in silence. During that time, I did thank God for our blessings. Becky broke the quiet moment.

“You’re right. We do have a lot to be thankful for.”

I told her what Sam said about Madame President, and that the Vice President and Speaker of the House were dead.

“We’re doomed aren’t we?” she said, more a statement than a question. “I mean the human race, not us personally.”

I disagreed. “No, not doomed, but it’s certainly a thinning. When the plague showed up and began spreading, there was conspiracy talk about it being made in a lab and released on purpose. I don’t buy into that; I think the population became so dense it was only a matter of time before something cropped up. Nature has a tendency to balance things.”

“Well at least there’s a twenty percent survival rate. There should be enough survivors to get things running right.”

I disagreed again. “Honey, the twenty percent rate is for healthy young adults, and even then, that’s in a hospital setting pumping them full of antibiotics and using extreme measures to keep them alive.”

“Jesus, Ralph. Give me something to cling to.”

“I did. Right now, we are alive and healthy. All we need to do is avoid people until the plague runs its course and we can stay that way.”

“And afterwards? What will we have? What will we have to look forward to? Society will be broken. No government, no law except survival of the fittest. Rule of the gun. Take the proper stance, raise your arms, aim, and pull the trigger and another human dies.” She was beginning to hyperventilate.

“Becky, slow down and catch your breath. I’m just as frightened as you are concerning our future, but we have to stay resolute, and determined to live through this to even have a future. It’s up to us to survive and protect our children.”

She took my advice, lowering her head and taking deep breaths. “I don’t want to kill anyone,” she said as she returned to a sitting position.

“Neither do I, but I will to protect our family.”

She tried to smile. “At least if I do shoot, I can hit what I aim at. Turn on the radio and let’s see how bad things are.”

Most of the dial, especially the FM band was static. The stations with a signal all had the same message: Please stay tuned for further announcements. On the AM frequency, I let the radio scan past two religious stations and then stopped it where I heard a radio jock broadcasting.

“…. as of now. Let me repeat. A little over an hour ago, FEMA announced that the president has died. There has been no follow up to let us, the citizens, know who is stepping into the office. What boils my blood is that we are getting very little from FEMA and nothing at all from the other branches of the government.

“What about the military, the National Guard? Are troops deploying to disburse medical aid and supplies? Is there any attempt at all to bring security to our nation’s people? Bodies are piling up in the streets. The dead litter the highways. Our cities are burning and there’s no one putting out the flames. This is the end of the world.

“Hold on a minute. As you know, if you’ve been tuned into my broadcast, except for Vern, our electronics technician, I’m alone in the station. Vern managed to activate an old ham radio here in the building. He just put this on my desk. I’m going to read it to you verbatim. Let me remind you, Vern writes using the same vocabulary he uses when he speaks. He’s received several more messages from operators across the nation and around the globe.”

The jock began to read.

“From John in DC: There ain’t no fucking government. A mass of people converged on the White House grounds and now smoke is pouring from several windows.

“From Sissy in Soddy Daisy, Tennessee: I’m across the lake from the Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant. Sirens are sounding and there’s more steam coming out of the stacks than I’ve ever seen. No more from me. I’m out of here. I think it’s headed for meltdown. A lot of my neighbors work at the plant and most of them are dead from the plague. There may not be anybody alive that knows how to shut it down. 

“From Sang in Thailand: Sorry folks, just a bunch of scribbles, Vern’s messed up sense of humor showing.

“From Poppa in Vermont: My wife died last night. I buried her at first light this morning. I have the plague too. I started showing symptoms yesterday. I’m not feeling too bad yet, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to spend my last days hacking my lungs out and gasping for breath. Betty was blowing bloody foam in her last few minutes. I’m going to cook a fine meal to eat and then I’m going to blow my brains out with my shotgun.

“From Cecilia in Tallahassee, Florida: “I’m hiding in my basement. Gangs are roaming the streets, shooting people, and raping women. I think I’m immune to the disease because I took care of my mom while she was sick and I didn’t catch it. I’m using Dad’s old radio. Can anyone hear me? I need help.”

There was a long pause and then the jock began talking again.

“Folks, I scanned through the rest of the messages and there’s nothing important enough to read.

“This is Fish Head Bob, broadcasting from WKLM 240 in Valdosta, Georgia. Vern and I have barricaded the doors to the building and will continue to broadcast as long as we have power and I still control the microphone. We had to block the doors to stop a religious group who want to use our facility to broadcast their doomsday message. They’re trying to break in even as I speak. It won’t be long until they succeed.

“Let me recap what I know. The president is dead. The cities are on fire, and people—what few are still alive and healthy—are running amok, looting, and killing and setting more fires. There have been no FEMA updates for the past several hours.

“The Sequoyah nuclear plant may be in a meltdown situation. What about the rest of the nuclear power plants? With people dying in such great numbers, is there anyone to put them in safe mode?

“Communication systems are failing as power plants go off the grid. Much of the nation will be dark tonight. The internet is down and most areas are without cell connection.

“Let me repeat information from Vern’s earlier ham radio reports. New York City and most of the state of New York and all of New England is without power. Temps are close to or below zero in most of that area. Be careful with fire while trying to keep warm and God have mercy on you.

“The news from other major cities shows they are in desperate—”

I turned the radio off and moved my chair so I faced Becky. I’m sure my stunned expression matched hers.

“That was weird,” I said, an understatement if there ever was one.

“What?” She asked, shaking her head as if to clear it.

“I said that was weird.”

“Yes it was, but it’s probably closer to what’s happening in the world than what the government will tell us. Ralph, we won’t be going home. The cities are screwed. The entired world is screwed.”

“Honey, I agree. I’m still trying to get a grip on this. I never in my wildest dreams thought civilization was so fragile. Let me tell you what I think. The population in the forty-eight states was probably around three hundred million. The plague shows no mercy on the very young and the very aged. Count them a zero. Only fifteen percent of the rest of the population will survive the plague. Civil unrest and gangs along with bad weather will kill a portion of those. Honey, when this is over I doubt there will be more than a few million left alive. Maybe only a few million left alive in the entire world.”

Becky shook her head again. “Two weeks ago, we celebrated Christmas. I remember, at dinner you were saying that after almost two decades, the recession was over and you were thinking of starting your own business. This isn’t supposed to happen. We didn’t plan for this.”

“No we didn’t, but let me finish. On the upside, the plague is killing people so fast that as far as food and other supplies go, the survivors will be set for years. Most of the homes and stores will still be full of canned food. The big stores, Walmart and Co-ops will have tons of clothing and other items. The building supply stores are still stocked. I mean anything we want from generators to toothpaste will be available in abundance.”

“That’s true, isn’t it?” She said. “We won’t have to sink to barbarism.”

“Heck, even the car lots are still full of inventory, but let me finish.” I hated to go on, but I had to let her know how I thought the future would pan out.

“There is a downside, actually a lot of downsides. Most food has a shelf life. In ten years or so, a person will be playing food poisoning roulette every time they open a can. Gasoline goes bad too.

“Think about the early times when there weren’t many people and no centralized government. We’re looking at a return to a feudal system. Violence will be the new norm. Would be ‘Kings’ will try to carve out holdings and rule the territory they claim. America is full of weapons. Not just rifles and pistols, but tanks and rockets and artillery on all the military bases.

“I see a time coming where everyone is armed to the teeth and danger is everywhere. We need to start thinking, formulate a plan about where we fit in the scheme of things to come. Not today, but soon.”

We heard a knock on the shop door and Jen opened it to poke her head out.

“Can me and Will come out? It’s boring in here.”

“Put on a sweater. It’s chilly. Stay on the porch and try to stay clean until I figure out what we’ll do about washing clothing.” Becky rose from her chair. “I’m going to see what to fix for lunch. I’m leaving it up to you to plot our course.”

I remained seated.
Up to me, she said.
I took my advice from earlier and stopped thinking about anything serious.

Jen and Will joined me on the porch. We’re a family of brown hairs. I’d like to say that Jen was beautiful and Will was handsome, but the truth is, like their parents, they’re just average looking. That’s on the outside. On the inside, our children are as lovely as they come. Well behaved, good-hearted youngsters are what we have.

Jen settled into the chair Becky vacated. She had her Kindle and promptly became absorbed in the story she was reading. Will had brought a box of toys with him. He implored me to play with him. I joined him on the porch floor and engaged in shoving tiny cars back and forth between us. The idea is to push the cars towards each other, hoping for a head-on collision.

*****

Over the course of the next three days, we settled into our new digs. There was an old refrigerator in the shop that Sam said was broken. I tinkered with it and found that if I rapped the thermostat housing, it would come on and cool until it reached the set temperature. As long as one of us remembered to smack the housing every so often, it worked great.

Becky tried several different arrangements with Sam’s workbenches and shelving until she was satisfied with the results. She arranged the food we’d bought during our frantic spree through the health food store and I was impressed with the quantity. She said we had enough for at least three weeks, more than enough to see us through the quarantine period without rationing.

Sam’s cable didn’t come back on so there was no need to run a line from his house to the shop. Four days after our arrival, in the midst of eating supper, the lights went out. The inside of the shop went pitch black. Thankfully, Becky knew where she’d put our flashlights. I took one and went outside. The security floods weren’t on and the interior of Sam’s house was dark, too.

I shouted for him, and moments later, he came out onto his porch.