Monte Vista Village, Toxic Soup (The Survivor Diaries)

by Lamb, Lynn

  Me, red faced: “No, all of you who I spoke to helped. I know that you were a little suspicious, which is totally understandable, but so many of the ideas came from all those who would speak to us. So, thank you all.”

  Katie: “Laura, I suspect that you have more to share with us. From our brief encounter when you came to the door, it seems like you are very full of ideas.”

  Me: “Well, I do have some things I would like to put out there; things we can do before we can leave our homes and some more things we can do once we are free to leave. The latter are things I need to formulate a little better, but may I bring up one idea I have about what we can do right now?”

  Male unknown person: “You sure can. We don’t have any formal rules. At least not yet. So the floor is all yours.”

  Me: “Thank you. First, I want you all to know that I am taking notes on all that we are saying. When I am talking my mother is taking the notes. I hope that’s okay. I just thought that we might want to refer to them later.”

  Pause

  Me: “Okay, I got this idea from Katie, actually. She said that we have to try to occupy our time, so I thought that, for those of us who have enough batteries for their walkies, we could start a few clubs. For instance, maybe we could have a book club for readers. We would all have to have the same book, but I think we could figure it out. After we read the book, we could get together at a certain time and discuss it for a half hour.”

  Female unknown person: “Oh my gosh, I love that idea. We have kids here, maybe we could do something like that for them. They are getting very antsy.”

  Different female unknown person: “Me, too. What about a book like Pride and Prejudice? Everyone has that one.”

  About three people said yes they do.

  Me: “Great, I love that one. How about a three o’clock meeting of the book club in four days, which is July twenty-fourth? Before we agree, can you say your name before you speak? That is a good practice until we get used to each other’s voices.”

  Katie: “This is Katie, and, yes, we should say our names every time we speak. And I would love to be in the book club! That’s a great idea, Laura.”

  Me: “Laura speaking. I had a few other ideas. How about we have a few clubs having to do with how we are making do with the basic day-to-day living like we are. What ideas you have for, let’s say, cooking. We don’t have a camp stove, so I have a great tip for making one with a can of beer and rubbing alcohol. Also, we found ourselves really lacking on our knowledge of HAM radios, so if there are any people who know about how to use them, we need your expertise.”

  Shelby: “Hi, I’m Shelby, and I really could use some help and ideas. We aren’t doing too well.”

  Me: “Laura again, and that leads me to my final idea. I think that a support group would be helpful. Katie, if you could lead it…”

  Katie: “Katie here. Laura, when I meet you, I am going to give you a big, fat kiss. YES, I will absolutely lead a support group. Several if we need to break up different problems. I will get started figuring out exactly how it can work and will give you the information at tomorrow night’s meeting. I am going to change the topic now. Laura, would you be able to lead the nightly meetings.”

  Me: “Laura, ah me? Yeah I can do that.”

  July 20, 9:15 PM

  The rest of the meeting was setting up the sub-groups and meeting times. Mom stopped taking notes because it was getting confusing, but I will work to make sure the next meetings go smoother.

  I am not exactly sure how this came about, but I am actually looking forward to leading the meetings. Go figure.

  I am excited to re-read Pride and Prejudice. It will keep me from thinking about what is going on. Yes, I want to figure out ways to make our lives now, and after we get out, somehow work, but I know that I need to think of other things, too. Katie was right, and I know it’s something I have to work on about myself.

  So, good night, dear diary. I am about to enter the world of Ms. Bennet and Mr. Darcy.

  July 21, 11:30 AM

  After our morning coffee, hot this time thanks to the internet, we decided to clean up the mess in our house that was left in the wake of the attack. It has been so dirty and dusty that I think it is adding to our listless moods and bouts of coughing fits. Even Hershey is coughing and sneezing.

  Thank goodness for the fake grass patch we found at the pet store for Hershey. He is so confused why he is going “potty” in the house now but it is doing the trick. Mark said that it is starting to smell some but he is able to clean it when he cleans our buckets.

  I took a deep breath and opened the doors that lead to the stairs. I needed to know the severity of how badly we were hit in other parts of the house. In the downstairs level, I have spent all of my time in the living room and bathroom. On the second day, I peeked into one of the bedrooms but it really was too dark to tell and I thought better of grabbing a flashlight and taking a good look at the time.

  I am fully mobile again. My rib area still hurts but it is not as debilitating as it was at first. I am getting better every day, but I fear that my poor Annie’s wrist is getting worse. I wish we could at least ice it. For the first few days Mark had her putting the ice packs from the first aid kits on it, but those are only one-time-use items. She did try to keep them on, even after they were no longer cold, but she finally saw the futility in it and just left the wrist wrapped.

  But it’s not just Mom’s wrist that is worrying me. She looks so exhausted and she is having trouble catching her breath. She didn’t mention this to Malcom when he asked and I didn’t think it was a good idea to say anything at the time. I have decided that I will talk to the Doc about it privately, when I can.

  So, I braced myself to inspect the house. First, I would check the three downstairs bedrooms, and then on to the upstairs.

  “I need you to stay claim when you do this, Laura,” he said in typical Mark fashion. “I know how you get.”

  I felt like blasting out a reply but we have actually been getting along well since that day. Maybe this is a silver lining in this horrific catastrophe. We can start again fresh now. We don’t need to make the same mistakes as we have before.

  “I’ll keep it together,” I replied with an honest smile.

  He brought over my tennis shoes. “Here, put these on.”

  I picked up the lantern and turned it up to its brightest.

  “When I opened the door, the first thing I noticed was how hard it was to open. The debris that had settled in the carpeting was fairly thick. I pushed the door completely open. I heard a gasp coming from my mother who was standing behind me.

  One of our family jokes has always been about my mother, the neat freak. The girls and I would laugh at her obsessive cleaning of the kitchen counters and sweeping of the floors. We poked fun at the way she would re-sweep the entire floor if she found even a small speck. She always said that she enjoyed cleaning. I sure hope she wasn’t kidding.

  Our room looked like a hurricane hit it. Ha, ha. I guess that expression will now be passé. So I will correct myself for this new world we live in. It looked like a bomb exploded.

  The bed was turned over and there was glass on the floor from the television and the full sized mirror we once admired ourselves in. Maybe it was good that it was gone because I know I am a disheveled, dirty mess now.

  I shut the door and moved on to inspect the other two bedrooms. It was more of the same.

  I took a deep breath and opened the doors that led to the stairs. I was surprised to see that some of the wooden stairs were split and others were just gone. I made my way up carefully, skipping those that I could tell, even in the lantern light, would not be able to hold my weight. I stopped mid-way through. “Mom, you can’t attempt this. It’s too dangerous. Please just stay down there,” I implored.

  “This is my house. I need to see the damage,” she argued.

  “No,” I yelled. “You really don’t. At least, not now.”

  I guess that she is
not used to her mild-mannered daughter using this tone with her. I heard a “humph” and saw her go back behind the doors.

  Mark came from out of nowhere and grabbed me by my arm to support me and a look passed between us. We both knew the severity of the damage and in that instance I think we both knew that we were in this thing together for the long haul.

  At the top of the stairs I held up my lantern. Our house looked like a warehouse with rows of the plastic tub that contained our food and water. We had moved most of the furniture out of the kitchen, the formal dining room and the living room when we started to stock up. The containers of water were so heavy that they looked like they had stayed put pretty well.

  “I got the food and other items back into place,” he said. “Right there are the potty patches for Hershey. I used the baggies to clean his poop but there isn’t much we can do about his pee. I was going to use a cleanser on it, but I realized I can’t, because the smell would throw him off.”

  “It’s okay, Honey.” I wrapped my arms around his big chest and held on for a long time while I took in the scene. “You have done an amazing job here. I am sorry if I haven’t seemed grateful enough. Thank you! And from now on we will do it together.”

  “You have been too hurt, Laura. I need to tell you how thankful I am that you are alright. When the rumbling stopped, I went over to you and it was really bad. Sit down, Laura,” he pointed to one of the chairs that had weathered the storm.

  “I didn’t tell you this because I didn’t want to completely freak you and Annie out, but when I lifted the table from you, you were lifeless. Your mother was unconscious, but breathing.” He kneeled on the ground next to me. “Laura, you weren’t. I started CPR but I wasn’t getting a pulse. I just kept going, I don’t know how long for. It was like I was floating above us, looking down at myself, pumping your chest and breathing into your mouth. All of a sudden, you took a deep breath on your own. I checked and found your pulse. Then, I sat back and just crumpled into a ball next to you and cried. I cried like a baby, Laura.”

  I knelt down with him, and we held each other, silently rocking, while the tears rolled down both of our faces.

  “Laura, I am sorry for everything from before…”

  “Shhhh,” I interrupted. He didn’t have to say another word.

  Has the blast really wiped clean our past sins?

  July 21, 5:15 PM

  We went back downstairs and started to clean. We put piles to put into the guest room of things that were too broken to bring back to life. One pile would be for things we can burn in the fire place when we can use it again. The other is just trash.

  I wonder where we are going to put the trash now. Certainly, it would be sometime before we had an official garbage collector.

  I have mixed feelings about all of the things we have lost. On one hand, we have our lives and our home. That’s really a lot if you think about what we have gone through. But what about the things that mean a lot to us? Most of our things that bring back treasured memories are now thrown about the house, mangled and shattered. Will we lose those memories in the future?

  I found our wedding album, ripped and dirty, but I think some of it can be saved. I wrapped it in a towel, placed it in an empty box, and stowed it away on a high shelf in the closest. This is going to be a sad process, but I wouldn’t let Mark see it on my face.

  I have begun to wonder what is left of our city. I sure hope that the furniture stores we okay. We are going to need a lot of new things. Our clothing did fly out of the closets, but most of it just needs a good cleaning. On the other hand, I don’t think we have any of our china left.

  Mom has been trying to clean but we have to keep stopping her. We ask her what kind of help she will be if her wrist does not heal properly. The questioning stops her for a little while but then she is back up at it again. I wish she would just listen. I am worried about her.

  July 21, 7:30 PM

  Annie taking minutes

  Laura: “Hi, everyone. This is Laura. Can we do a role call?”

  All present

  Laura: “Thanks. How is everyone this evening?”

  Several replies that they are fine.

  Laura: “Good. So, I hope you have all been considering what kinds of groups and clubs you are interested in joining. Liz has a great idea. She wants to add a teens club and kids club. Neither of us was sure how many younger people we have. Elizabeth has three kids; Pete is seventeen, Kristi is seventeen, and Ronnie who is nine. Do we have any other kids in our group?”

  Veda: “Hello, my name is Veda and my husband’s name is Pranav, We have three children, two girls and one boy: Chandra is sixteen, years old, Gita fourteen years old, and Padma, who we call Paddy, is our thirteen month old baby boy.

  Tiffany: “Hi, I am Tiffany and my husband’s Robert we have two kids: Jayden, twelve and Tommy, nine.”

  Shelby: “Hey, Shelby and Matt here, and we have a two year old girl, Camella.”

  Laura: “Anyone else? Okay, well I think that sounds like enough kids to start off some groups. Liz and I were talking, and we see some of these clubs lasting after we get out in a couple of weeks. I feel certain there will be plenty of people out there who don’t have walkies and will be ready for some new companions. Liz has been helping me figure out schedules, so I hope you all have pens and papers, because she is going to give you the list and schedules. At the end of the meeting, stay on and you can sign up for the different groups.”

  Liz: “Here it is:

  Mon, Wed, Fri @ 9 AM, channel one: Kid’s Club to discuss video games, tv shows, movies, and books. Those are just suggestions you guys. You can talk about whatever you want and no one will listen in unless we make our selves know. And that’s a rule for all of the clubs.

  Mon, Wed, Fri @ 8 PM, channel three: Teen’s Club to discuss whatever they want to talk about.

  Daily @ 10:30 AM, channel four: Survival Talk. This is for anyone fourteen and up. This is where we will discuss survival tips, ideas and education, for now and when we get outside. We decided that this might be a little too much for the younger ones, but the teens might have some good ideas, so we hope they join too. In fact, we hope everyone fourteen and up joins. We think that this really imperative for our survival.

  Mon, Wed, Fri @ 9 PM, channel five: Group Therapy, same age groups as the Survival Talk group. This is for all of us to get out some of our emotional hurdles we are over coming.

  Wednesdays@ 3 PM, channel six: Book Club, fifteen and up.

  Katie has also been so kind to volunteer for individual and couple’s therapy groups to be set up with her.”

  Laura: “All groups will start tomorrow since it is Monday. We will probably need to keep up with these 7:30 meetings but we would like to change them to 7 o’clock to accommodate our groups and clubs. When we get out, we thought we could change the times and dates and actually meet in person! That brings us to the next order of business. Do any of you have any questions, comments or needs that need to be addressed immediately? Liz and I have realized that we haven’t opened up the floor for these topics.”

  Shelby: “Hi, it’s Shelby. I am wondering what you are all doing about, umm, bathrooms?”

  Laura: “Okay, that’s something we could usually talk about in Survival Group, but it is definitely an immediate concern. My handsome husband has been dealing with the toilets at our place, so I am going to let him explain what we have been doing. It has really worked for us, so maybe you could modify it to work for you all. Before I have him start, is there any other business? Okay, so thank you, everyone, for your input. I think that we are really going to be able to help each other with these groups. And for everyone in the book club, I’m on page 270. So keep reading! So, here is Mark.”

  July 21, I just excused myself from the meeting

  I already talked about the toilets in this journal, so I don’t think I need to record it again. I am concerned that people haven’t worked this out yet. It has been six days since we had plumbing.
I know I should be listening, but I am just too grossed out. I don’t want to hear their details. I just hope that they can make themselves some saw dust. Saw dust is the trick to keeping the smell under control.

  It went well tonight. I am hoping more people will have a chance to talk with our new group set ups. As one big group of twenty eight people (if I have counted correctly) it is just too hard to have everyone talk. Not only would the meetings become just too long, the walkie talkie set up is not meant for meetings like this. We are making do, though, and everyone has been very polite.

  Tomorrow is the one week anniversary of “it”. It seems like we have been living like this forever, but I am not going to complain. I know that our situation is better than some in our group.

  And what about all of the neighbors who have survived but don’t have walkie talkies? I blame myself that they don’t have what they need to communicate and maybe even survive. I have been selfish from the minute I saw the live video streams of D.C. and New York burning. That’s the truth. I scooped up my mother and her credit card and went out and bought tons of everything. What if others couldn’t find what they needed when they realized what was happening? Why didn’t I go to the neighbors’ houses sooner? Our neighborhood is a fairly good size and I barely hit a small percentage of it.

  I remember the first time my mother took me, my brother, and my grandmother to see our new house. The first thing I saw was a hanging sign announcing that this is Monte Vista Village. There is a small strip mall that runs less than two city blocks in length. It consisted of a market, liquor store, a movie theatre and a few random businesses. The market and liquor store survived all this time, but they changed the movie theatre into a ballroom dance studio. It has actually built itself up pretty well over the past three decades. Now we also have a bakery, insurance office, dentist, hair salon, Automobile Club, and the Elks Lodge, along with a couple hundred homes. What will it look like when we reemerge?