“No need to decide that way.” Harper flashed a mischievous smile. “I’m going to need both of you.”
Lorelei and Madison laughed, and their laughter spread around the whole table.
21
Precious
Despite it not being Saturday night, Harper found herself stuffed into the back end of the bathtub, washing Madison’s hair. Her little sister sat in front of her, washing Lorelei who sat in front of her attempting to sing Let it Go. Not having seen the movie—or any video—in ten months, the little one completely mangled the words except for the main chorus. But at least she had the melody right.
The reason Harper had decided to invoke bath night, a normally once-a-week ritual, early was due to the power being stable all day long. That meant the water heater had a chance to produce hot water, which made for a highly normal feeling bath. Normal, except for the three of them sharing the tub.
When they first started taking baths together to save firewood, they’d both been numb from the shock of losing their parents, home, and entire world. Too numb to care about trivialities like privacy or embarrassment. Every single time Harper sat in the tub with Madison, she remembered the first time in that house by the mall when her sister leaned against her, asking her to ‘become Mom.’ She’d come to think of bath night as a symbol of it being the two of them against the world. Now, them plus Lorelei.
Madison would turn eleven in three months on October ninth. Hopefully, by then, Harper would be able to decide if she wanted to make a big deal out of it to make up for the complete nonevent of her tenth birthday not quite a month after the nukes went off. No one had time to care about birthdays amid that chaos. Calling extra attention to it might make Madison think of their parents’ deaths or the war itself. She’d been mostly back to her old self lately, and Harper didn’t want to upset that delicate balance.
She still looked too thin, as did Lorelei. Then again, Harper considered herself underweight, too. None of them appeared unhealthy or close to starvation, but they all had the sort of physiques that would get the health counselor at school asking if everything was okay at home.
Underfed isn’t abnormal when everyone looks like this.
While cleaning her sister’s hair, she thought about people back in Pioneer times, wondering if anyone in those days cared about counting calories or getting fat. Probably not. If someone handed me two Big Macs right now, I’d scarf them both down and not even feel like a whale.
Harper caught herself salivating at the thought of fast food. She’d never been all that big a fan, thinking it woefully unhealthy, but couldn’t argue it tasted yummy. Now? She’d eat whatever landed in front of her.
Except maybe escargot. But, the odds of that happening roughly matched the odds of the Universe hitting rewind and undoing the war. No, they’d permanently gone into a frontier world where families shared bathtubs and didn’t think it strange to have fifteen people gathered around a dinner table every night, not just on Thanksgiving and Christmas. She knew the names of mostly everyone who lived in her patrol area, but couldn’t think of the names of her old neighbors back in Lakewood even two houses over.
“Okay, stand up,” said Madison.
Lorelei obliged.
Madison proceeded to wash the girl’s legs and feet.
Having cleaned her sister’s back and hair, Harper washed her own hair, then the rest of herself.
Once she’d finished bathing Lorelei, Madison stood to clean her lower half. “Harp? Do I have a big black mark on my butt?”
Harper looked. A noticeable bruise darkened the left side of her kid sister’s rear end, but it hardly counted as a ‘big black mark.’ “Little bruise.” She poked it. “What happened?”
“Fell and landed on a rock at the farm. Hurt like a bitch.”
Lorelei gasped. “That’s a bad word.”
“Not that bad,” muttered Madison. “Not like I said F—” She stopped herself and glanced over her shoulder flashing an impish smile, like she never intended to actually say it, merely tease Harper.
“Ha. Ha.” Harper tickled her sides.
Madison squealed and whirled to face her.
This, naturally, caused Lorelei to tickle her from behind. Madison again squealed and shouted, “Stop!”
A brief tickle battle ended after water started splashing out of the tub and Harper called a ‘cease fire.’ Eventually, bathing finished and they all got out to dry off.
“Harp?” asked Madison while toweling off her hair.
“Yeah?”
“How long are we gonna have to keep sharing baths?”
Harper pulled her towel down off her face, unusually saddened by the thought. Of course, she expected her sister would eventually outgrow it. “As long as you want to. But, if you’d rather have privacy again, we should at least take turns in the same water, especially when we’re on firewood. Everything’s precious now, even water.”
Madison shrugged and shifted the towel around to dry her body. “Whatever. I’m just thinking we’re gonna run out of room in there when I grow up. It doesn’t bother me anymore. I used to be a brat.”
“Nah.” Harper play-punched her sister’s shoulder. “It’s not bratty to want privacy. That’s normal.”
“Nothing is normal anymore.” Madison’s expression became fearful, as though she’d just awakened from a nightmare. “I’m still scared of being alone. I’m okay sharing the tub, the bed… I don’t want you to go.”
Harper wrapped herself in a towel dress, then hugged her. “Relax, Termite. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Cool. Guess it’s childish to be afraid of being alone.”
“It’s not. We’ve been through some crap.”
“Eww,” said Lorelei.
Harper smiled. “Not actual crap. Just bad stuff.”
“Oh.” Lorelei bent forward, letting her hair hang down to the floor while shaking her head side to side and making a whirring noise.
“What the heck are you doing?” asked Madison.
“Post mapoc-a-lips bow dry,” said Lorelei.
Madison giggled.
Harper chuckled and ‘captured’ Lorelei in a towel, drying her off. “You are a nut.”
“I know.” Lorelei laughed.
“Umm…” Madison bit her lip. “Is Logan gonna move in here if you guys like decide to stay together?”
“Haven’t really thought about that. I dunno. If that happens, probably not before you’re a teenager. You and Lore would end up sharing a bed then, since I’d probably room with him.”
Madison stared pleadingly at her.
“But, I’m not ready to outgrow my two favorite stuffed animals.” Harper clamped Madison and Lorelei together in a hug, making them laugh.
Madison appeared to relax and traded the towel for her nightgown. The instant Harper released her towel grip on Lorelei, the child zoomed out the door. Not wanting to streak after her, Harper merely sighed and finished drying herself off. Madison got another case of the giggles.
A moment later, happy squealing approached the door.
Carrie walked in, holding Lorelei. “Got an escapee.”
Harper laughed, tossing the girl’s nightgown to Carrie. “Thanks for the assist.”
“No problem.” Carrie set the child on her feet and dressed her. “Glad you’re okay with me being around.”
“Oh, stop.” Harper pulled her nightgown on and collected the towels. “It’s fine. Feels good having a mom again.”
Lorelei hugged Harper, but smiled up at Carrie. She still reacted to Harper more like a mother than big sister, but she also still loved everyone, having zero fear or apprehension around strangers. Everyone—including Harper—expected Darci to have a kid before high school ended, but the girl had gotten way lucky. However, Harper never expected to be a mother before eighteen, much less before she’d ever had sex.
“Yeah.” Madison smiled, then hugged Carrie. “It’s cool. Harper needs the help. I like having you here, too.”
; Whoa. Harper blinked at Madison. A happy tear hung at the corner of her eye. All the dread that had been haunting her about medicine, that everyone she loved would die within five or ten years from lame stuff that wouldn’t have been a worry in the modern world, evaporated. Seeing her little sister accept Carrie into their family gave her hope.
And Harper’s world needed all of that she could find.
22
Judgement
July plus no air conditioning made for uncomfortable sleeping, especially with her two little sisters sharing the bed. Being high up altitude wise resulted in some nights having a pleasant, even cool, temperature, but tonight decided to be stuffy. Somehow, the tiny one didn’t care and passed right out. Madison joked in a half-awake, delirious voice about going to sleep outside. It probably would be cooler if for no other reason than a breeze.
Harper drifted in and out of sleep. Eventually, the need to pee forced her out of bed. She crept across the hall to the bathroom. On autopilot, she flicked the light switch, nearly yelping in shock when it worked. Squinting at the glare, Harper fumbled around to close the door and took a seat, holding her head in both hands while unloading her bladder.
Once finished, she shut the light off—blinding herself—and felt her way out into the hall. Faint light from the front of the house pulled her down the hall out of curiosity. Cliff, in olive drab boxer briefs, sat at the table swishing something around in a mug.
“Hey,” rasped Harper. “You okay?”
“Hmm?” He looked over, then away. “Aww, geez. Put something on.”
“I am wearing something. A nightgown.”
“Can see right through that thing. Put on something we grabbed from your old place.”
She chuckled, looking down at the faintly pink fabric. Somewhat more opaque patches covered the sensitive areas, but the garment had an amount of transparency that would have mortified pre-war Harper. “It’s hot. I’m channeling the spirit of Lorelei. What’s up?”
“Just thinking. I don’t really sleep like normal people anymore.” He sipped from the mug.
“Well, no kidding if you’re drinking coffee at two in the morning, or whatever time it is.”
“Tea, not coffee. Had some chamomile left. Want a cup? This stuff’s supposed to help ya sleep.”
“Thanks, but it’s too hot for tea.” She sat in the chair. “Ugh. Even the chairs are warm. Isn’t it supposed to be cool up here in the mountains?”
“This is cool. You’ve just gotten used to it. Now, if you want to talk about hot, Iraq. 117 in the shade some days.”
“Eww. I’d melt.”
He chuckled.
“So what about your sleep isn’t normal?”
“Four hour blocks. No matter how tired I aim, I can only stay out for four hours. Basically, I’m permanently on fire watch.” He winked. “I’ve gotten used to it.”
“Right.” She yawned. “I just can’t sleep because it’s warm.”
“Go stand in the yard for five minutes, that’ll cure it. It’s much cooler out there.”
She smiled. “Good idea. Oh, it’s probably too late now, but…”
“If you’re pregnant, I’m going to—”
“No.” She folded her arms on the table and bonked her head a few times. “No, gawd, please no.”
“It worries me that you are worried.”
Harper lifted her head, a thick curtain of red blocking her face. “Dr. Hale gave me some BC pills. And Logan pulled out.”
“’I’ll pull out’ is the greatest lie ever told right after ‘no new taxes.’”
“Logan’s not like that. Look, can we maybe change the subject?”
Cliff smiled into his tea. “You brought it up.”
“I did not. I’m talking about tracks.” She sat up, pulling her fluffy hair out of her face to drape down her back. “The guy I found dead on the farm. Weldon. I followed a trail from the body like you taught me. It went straight off the farm to the west, but I lost it. He wasn’t killed where we found him. I’m pretty sure whoever killed the guy knew him and killed him for a specific reason.”
“Roy’s been saying that, too. But, he hasn’t said anything about tracks.”
She resisted the sleep tugging at her eyelids. “Will you take a look in the morning? Maybe you can figure out where that trail went.”
“After this long, it’s doubtful much of a track will be there, but I’ll check it out. Exactly where did you find what so far?”
“We found his body in the third row of tomatoes from the left. Go north to the end of the row, then left. Basically straight west from there, all the way out of the farm into the hills.”
“All right. I’ll check on it once the sun’s up.” He drained the last of the chamomile in his mug. “Might as well give that sleep thing another chance for now.”
“Yeah, me too.”
They stood at roughly the same time.
“Hey…” She grasped his hand. “You make a really good dad.”
He shrugged. “Just doing what anyone would in my position. Except putting a gun to your forehead.” He cracked a wry smile.
“Hah. That scared the shit out of me. But… thinking back. Now? I’d probably do the exact same thing if I saw someone running after Jonathan with a rifle. Guess I changed. Or grew up.”
“We’ve all changed. I used to be a mall cop who didn’t really give a god damn if I saw tomorrow. Lost too many damn friends, most of them after the war. Just couldn’t fit back into a civilian world. One day, I’m an elite Ranger commanding respect, the next, I’m chasing fat kids out of Cinnabon for shoplifting and getting laughed at.”
“Sorry.” She hugged him. “You’re definitely elite and worthy of respect. And, just in case you didn’t notice, we all really like Carrie. So if anything happens between you guys, we’re totally cool with it.”
Cliff coughed, glanced off to the side, and set his hands on his hips. “I… umm… Logan seems like a good kid. I trust your judgement.”
She snickered. “I’m not sure I trust my judgement, but thanks.”
“Heh. Well, if I’m Dad, then… go the F to sleep.”
“Night, Dad.”
He smiled, gestured for her to go first, and followed her into the hall. “Night, Harp.”
“Oops,” whispered Harper, upon reaching her bedroom door.
“What?” Cliff, paused in the midst of stepping around her.
She looked down at herself. “I’ve spent the past like twenty minutes not having a gun near me. Feels like I’m naked.”
“In that thing, you basically are.” Cliff averted his gaze and shuffled to his bedroom.
“It’s not that thin.”
“Maybe to Logan, it’s fine. Not to your old man.”
Grinning, Harper slipped into her room and tried to get in bed without waking either of the girls. No sooner did her head hit the pillow than Lorelei rolled over and clung. Fortunately, trying to stay awake to talk to Cliff made her tired enough to drift off despite the warmth of a tiny human clinging to her.
Never too old for stuffed animals.
23
Important
The next few days brought a welcome dose of calm, and even happiness.
After her patrol shifts, Harper took the kids to the former country club by the golf course so they could swim in the pool. Quite a few people wanted to escape the heat, resulting in a fairly packed crowd that would have felt normal if not for the hazy sky and numerous improvised—or omitted—swimsuits. Fortunately, no adults opted for skinny dipping, though several women went topless. Oddly enough, exposed breasts and a handful of small streakers—which naturally included Lorelei—made her more uncomfortable than Marcie, Fred, Dennis, and Sanchez standing watch over the swimmers with rifles in case outsiders decided to attack Evergreen.
Being the proud owner of a real bathing suit, Harper decided to take advantage of the water while she could. Given the food situation in this world, she didn’t expect to put on weight by her thirties and
lose the ability to fit into the suit. However, it would probably fall apart by that point, anyway. Not to mention the pool itself had a good chance of turning into a stagnant mess once the chlorine ran out in a few years.
Aside from swimming for a little while most days, Harper made some time to sneak off with Logan. In a rare feat of telling Follows Rules Girl to go to hell, she brought him to one of the fancier houses at the edge of the old golf course that hadn’t been assigned out to any resident. At a huge black lacquer table, they had a romantic dinner of sandwiches she’d assembled ahead of time, then made love in a queen-sized bed. Much to her surprise, he’d found condoms somewhere and used one. Of all the things people would scavenge, those seemed fairly low on the list compared to food, clothes, and medicine—but maybe someone had left them in the house he called home.
When they finished, she lay in his arms staring up at the ceiling, wondering who used to live in the house they’d helped themselves to. Had to be someone who used to have a ton of money. What would the former owner say about a couple of eighteen-year-olds barging in and doing it on their bed? It probably didn’t matter, anyway. No more so than her opinion of anything someone did in her old house in Lakewood.
She brushed thoughts of the past out of her head and let herself revel in the strange feeling of getting away with something naughty—even though no one would really care they borrowed the house for a few hours.
Cliff mentioned that he’d found signs of a trail leading about 200 yards west from the farm and off to the south. Significant disturbance to the dirt at the point where the tracks changed course suggested the killing most likely happened there, but other than trees and forest detritus, he didn’t find anything useful to explain who killed Weldon.
Harper still found herself dealing with random people approaching her to express their fears over a killer on the loose. People she spoke to appeared to tentatively accept her opinion that the killing hadn’t been the work of a psycho, but a specific grudge against the victim.
Evergreen (Book 4): Nuclear Summer Page 19