by Mark Goodwin
“Trying to get money out like everybody else.”
“You cashed the check from Brian, right?”
“I deposited it.”
“I told you to cash it.”
“Yeah, to most people, cash a check means put it in the bank.”
“No. It means give it to the teller in exchange for pieces of green paper with pictures of dead people.”
“Retrospectively, that’s obviously what I should have done. But, you weren’t specific. I know you couldn’t tell me anything, but some kind of nudge, or a nod, or a wink, even a little emphasis on the word cash would have been helpful.”
“How long have you been in line?”
“Two hours. I can’t believe the FDIC issued this cap. If they’d have kept their mouths shut, no one would have thought anything of it. It’s like they wanted to incite some chaos.
“Enough about my troubles. What are you doing?”
“I bought a house. Stocked up on some ammo. I’m going back to the hotel for a while, then I’m going to take Micah with me to stock up on groceries.”
“You’re not kidding, are you?”
“Nope.”
“Should I be doing all that stuff?”
“It’s what I’m doing.”
“Oh, great!” Emilio exclaimed. “They just closed the bank. They’re out of cash! I gotta go.”
“Hang on. Where are you going?”
“To the main branch downtown.”
“Don’t you think everybody is heading there? You’re spinning your wheels. Just focus on getting what you can with your debit card and credit cards. For starters, top off your tank and buy enough gas cans to have fuel to get up here tomorrow.”
“I don’t know, bro. I need cash.”
“Maybe we can help each other out. Why don’t you swing by the gun shop near your house and pick up two AR-15s and a couple of .40 caliber Glocks for me? Buy them with your credit card, and I’ll pay you cash when you get here. Get some extra magazines, holsters, all of it. That should put close to $4,000 in your pocket.”
“You have a personal rifle beside your M-4, right?”
“I do, but I’ve been putting off getting a rifle for Micah. I’d like to have one for Stephanie in case she decides she wants to learn. They should have pistols also if I’m going to be gone for work.”
“Tampa has that day-before-a-hurricane feel about it today. The gun shop might be busy. I still need to get food.”
“You don’t want to be hauling a bunch of food up in a trailer anyway. You worry about the guns, and I’ll make sure you have two months’ worth of food when you get here.”
“Okay. What models do you want on the Glocks?”
“Ideally, a 23 and a 27, but beggars can’t be choosers. Take whatever you can get. But get your gas squared away first.”
“You think we’ll run out of gas?”
“I don’t know, but if the price starts jumping a dollar per gallon a day, people will fill up because they know it’s going to be more expensive tomorrow.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Did you find a place yet?”
“I found an apartment in downtown Louisville, not far from the FBI field office, but now I’m starting to think I want a house with a garage to store stuff.”
“I’d recommend something a little more rural. We’re out near Frankfort. It’s roughly an hour from Louisville. A little town called Shelbyville is about halfway between the two. It might be a good spot to look.”
“I’m kicking myself for not following your advice to the letter on cashing the check. So, I guess I’ll be looking for a place in Shelbyville.”
“Around Shelbyville. Rural is the key.”
“Rural, around Shelbyville,” Emilio echoed the suggestion. “Okay.”
“Call me tonight. Let me know how you do at the gun store.”
“I will. And a quick tip on food shopping.”
“What’s that?” asked Josh.
“I grew up poor in Texas with Mexican immigrant parents. We lived on rice and beans. It might not be your favorite thing to eat, but it will keep you alive. Plus, dried beans and that plain white rice keep forever. And they’re cheap. Even if you don’t want it, get a bunch of that for me.”
“I was thinking more of canned goods. I’m worried that bugs and vermin will get into foods that are stored in thin plastic bags.”
“So, get some five-gallon buckets and lids from the big box home improvement store. Stick the beans and rice in there. Ain’t no rat or cockroach chewing through one of those buckets.”
“That’s a good idea actually. Do you know how to cook rice and dried beans?”
“I’d have never seen my tenth birthday if I didn’t. Mom and Dad had to travel where the crops needed picking. Sometimes, I stayed home by myself for a week or two, so I could stay in school. Usually, beans, rice, and maybe some tortillas were the only things we had to eat.”
“I might let you give me a tutorial on cooking rice and beans when you arrive.”
“Be safe. I’ll call you tonight.”
Josh arrived at the hotel shortly after hanging up with Emilio. He walked into the room. “Good news, the seller accepted our offer on the house.”
Stephanie didn’t turn her attention from the financial news, however, she did twirl her index finger in the air. “Yea, I’m so excited.”
“Well, it’s a roof over our head.”
“I know.” She sat up on the bed. “I’m not trying to be difficult, but this situation really stinks. I see what’s going on around the country, and I appreciate your efforts to try to keep us safe.”
“Why? What’s going on?” Josh looked at the television.
“After the government said people couldn’t get any money out of the bank, suddenly everyone wants their money out of the bank. Most big cities have people leaving work to go stand in lines which stretch around the corner from their local bank branch.”
“Yeah, I called Emilio. He was in one of those lines.”
“Did he say anything about the grocery stores?”
“No. Why?”
“They showed people stocking up with food down in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. I don’t know what they’re worried about.”
Josh thought for a moment. “Because they’ve seen empty store shelves before. Every time a hurricane threatens the east coast, people clean out the grocery stores. People who don’t live near the coast have never seen anything like that. But contagion will kick in soon enough. It will spread to the rest of the country. Micah, help me bring up some stuff from the Charger. We need to make room and then go on a supply run for food.”
“We’re three people in a hotel room. Where are you going to put a bunch of supplies?” asked Stephanie.
“We’re out of here tomorrow morning. I’m getting the keys to the new place. But I’ll get an extra hotel room if I have to. I don’t want to get caught trying to get food after the chaos begins.”
“So this isn’t going to get any better?” Her eyes looked worried.
“Probably not.” He shook his head. “Any word on the selling the juice bar?”
“Nicole called. She said some guy offered 15K in cash. I laughed at the offer. I clear that much after expenses in two months.”
“I think you should take it.”
“The equipment is worth that much. I’ve built a thriving business. That place would be a bargain at 300K. I’m only asking 75. $15,000 is an insult.”
Micah tied his shoelaces. “They smell blood in the water because you’re only asking 75.”
Stephanie looked at her son. “You’re probably right.”
“Take the money, Steph. Otherwise, you’re going to have nothing to show for it. Also, I need your credit card.” Josh emptied his suitcase out onto the bed.
“For what?”
“Groceries.”
“What’s wrong with your cards?”
“I’ve nearly maxed them out.”
“On what?”
&n
bsp; “Bullets. I bought some gold and silver coins.” Josh zipped up his empty suitcase and placed it by the door.
“Are you serious? What about your debit card?”
“I’m waiting to see how much is going to be left in the investment account after closing before I transfer any to checking.”
“We have money in checking.”
“Only a few hundred. Remember, I took out $10,000 in cash. I want to hang on to that.” He pointed to the television. “Obviously, cash is getting hard to come by.”
“Won’t I need to be there to use my credit card?”
“You can come if you want, but if not, I’ll use the self-checkout lane. Besides, I doubt cashiers are as tough about checking credit cards in small towns like this.”
“Do what you have to do. I don’t want to know about it.” She opened her purse. “Which card do you want?”
“Which one has the most available credit?”
“My business Amex.” She gave him the card for the juice bar.
“How much credit is on it?”
“Probably around $7,000.”
“That should do.”
“Don’t feel like you have to spend it all,” she said with concerned eyes.
“Okay.” He shoved the card in his pocket. “Come on, Micah.” Josh extended the handle of his suitcase and rolled it out the door.
The two of them took the elevator to the lobby. “Grab the luggage cart,” Josh instructed Micah. The young man complied and followed his father to the car. Josh opened the trunk.
“Wow!” Micah looked at the boxes and boxes of ammo. He grinned. “We really are going to fight off the zombies, aren’t we?”
Josh didn’t address the inquiry. “Load all of the small loose boxes into the suitcase. I’ll stack up the larger boxes on the luggage cart.”
“If we go through the lobby with all of this ammo, they’re going to call the cops on us. See something, say something, isn’t that your department’s motto?”
Josh frowned at the blatant irony of the situation. “We’ll cover it up the best we can.”
“Why don’t you just flash your badge and tell them it’s official Homeland business?”
“Because it’s better not to get sidetracked explaining myself to the local police. It will use up valuable time that we don’t have.” Josh began stacking the rest of his belongings from inside the Charger on top of the ammunition. He wheeled the cart back through the door and to the elevator.
Once inside the hotel room, Josh pushed the suitcase to the corner and unloaded the luggage cart. Micah helped him stack the boxes along the wall.
“I called the guy who presented the offer to Nicole,” said Stephanie. “He’s having the paperwork drawn up right now.”
“When does he want to close?” Josh asked.
“He said Monday.”
“Push him to Friday. Tell him you need the money for an emergency and that if he can’t close before Friday, you’ll have to stick with your original asking price of $75,000.”
“That’s when everything is supposed to happen? This weekend?” she inquired.
Josh motioned toward the television which was showing people exiting a West Palm Beach supermarket with baskets loaded to capacity. “It’s happening now. I don’t even know if it will hold together until Friday. But I definitely don’t want to bet on making it through the weekend.”
“Okay.” She looked at the ammo piling up against the wall. “This room is going to look like a storage locker. Are you just going to leave your clothes all over the bed like that?”
“No. I’ll get some trash bags while we’re out.” Josh thought about the other items he intended on purchasing. “Why don’t you go ahead and book an extra room?”
“Can we afford it?” she asked. “I know you’re trying to get the stuff we need.”
“It’s a hundred bucks. That’s a small price to pay for a place that isn’t cluttered, where we can think. Good decisions are paramount right now. We can’t afford to have claustrophobia and disarray adding to our stress level.”
She got up from the bed and slipped her feet into her shoes to go book the room. “Thank you, Josh.”
“For what?”
“For everything. For handling all of this.”
“It’s my job.”
“Still, thank you.”
He smiled at her tenderly. “You’re welcome. I’m sorry it’s so disruptive.”
“I have a feeling it would have been much more disruptive if we’d stayed.” She took his hand.
Micah rolled his eyes. “Can we get out of here before you two start kissing?”
“Sure.” Josh led the way to the elevator, then the car. He and Micah drove to Walmart.
“Walmart? Mom isn’t going to eat anything from Walmart,” Micah argued.
“We might have to take a break from the all-organic-minimally-processed diet we’re used to.” Josh parked near the back of the busy parking lot.
Micah got out. “It looks like Black Friday.”
“Yeah. I’m glad we didn’t wait any longer to come.” Josh took long strides toward the building. “We’ll both push a cart so we can load up.”
“Should we split up to cover more ground? I have a pretty good idea of what we need to survive a zombie apocalypse.”
Josh had long since given up arguing that this had nothing to do with zombies. “We’ll stick together, but feel free to make suggestions.”
“We need canned goods, machetes, rope, a crossbow…”
Josh added, “Keep in mind that, unlike some of the popular shows, the zombies we’re likely to encounter may move a little faster and have the dexterity to operate a firearm.”
“Oh, yeah,” said Micah. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Still, that doesn’t mean those aren’t great things to have around. In fact, we’ll start with the canned goods.” Josh secured a cart as he walked through the door.
Micah took another and followed his father. “That guy has some gas cans. I saw lines at the pumps on the way here.”
“Good call, Son.” Josh gave Micah a thumbs-up. “I knew you’d be a valuable asset on this expedition. We’ll get the gas cans first.” Josh turned his cart toward the automotive section.
When they arrived, Micah pointed at the sparsely stocked shelves. “All the big ones are gone.”
“Then let’s get the little ones. Here are five two-gallon containers. Take five more of the one-gallon cans.” Josh placed them at the bottom of the cart so as not to take up room inside the basket.
They rolled the carts past the camping section on the way to the grocery aisles. Micah paused at the machetes. “Dad, we gotta get at least one of these, just in case.”
Josh knew his son would never get the opportunity to behead a re-animated corpse, but saw no harm in the purchase. “Go ahead. Put it in the cart.”
Josh found the rice and beans first. He hoisted a large bag of rice into the cart. “Only one of the big twenty-pound bags left. Load up my cart with those five-pound bags.”
Micah piled bags of various brands on top of Josh’s finds.
“Next, let’s get some dried beans.”
“What kind?”
“Red, black, white, get some split peas, too.”
Micah loaded the cart. “Do you even know how to cook these?”
“Emilio does. He’s coming up tomorrow.”
“That’s racist.”
“What?” Josh was confused.
“Assuming that Emilio knows how to cook rice and beans just because he’s Mexican.”
“I’m not assuming. He specifically told me that he knows how to cook them.”
“Oh, okay.” Micah sounded like a member of the equality police, letting Josh off with a warning.
Josh paused from his task. “Why would you think it’s racist to assume a Mexican knows how to cook rice and beans anyway? It’s part of their culinary culture. It’s not a derogatory statement. People all over the country go to Mexic
an restaurants because they’re hungry for rice and beans. Could you imagine going to La Cantina back home, and all they had on the menu was lasagna, spaghetti, and ravioli? What would you think?”
Micah considered the hypothetical situation. “I guess I’d think I was in an Italian restaurant.”
“So would that be racist? Assuming that Italians serve pasta?”
“I suppose not. But we cover a lot of stuff about sensitivity and bullying in school. That’s the central theme in all our Social Studies and History classes. I’m not saying it’s all on point, but we’ve come a long way since your generation was in high school. I mean, obviously, it’s not okay to own another human being.”
“What?” Josh suddenly realized how long it had been since he’d had a heart-to-heart conversation with his son. He also instantly understood how damaging it had been for him to be so uninvolved in Micah’s education. “Slavery was banned over 150 years ago! No one in my generation thinks that was okay. Fighting human trafficking has been a large part of what I do at work. I risk my life making sure young girls and boys aren’t bought and sold into sexual slavery.”
“Yeah, but you also split up families. White people on this side of the fence. Brown people on that side. Right?”
“No! That’s propaganda from the left. That’s not DHS’s or ICE’s focus. We do everything in our power to keep families together, but a country without borders…” Josh considered what he was about to say. He remembered that those days would soon be over. He felt hostile toward his son over the accusations, but he was the one who’d blindly trusted the public school to educate Micah. Josh had no one to blame but himself. “Listen, I don’t want to fight. I’m sorry I haven’t made myself available for these kinds of discussions. No matter what, I’m going to start being around more. Can we get back to prepping for the zombies?”
Micah laughed at the reference. “Sure.”
Josh led the way to the canned goods.
“Look, Dad.” Micah took a can off the shelf. “Canned beef. All-natural. It’s not organic but maybe Mom would eat this after she’s gone a few days without a meal.”
Josh smiled at his son’s resiliency and ability to remain upbeat in a stressful situation. “Yeah, okay. Load us up.” He stacked several cans of chicken, beef stew, and canned ham next to Micah’s finds.