“That ain’t good,” Roxie interjected into the conversation.
“No,” said Harold, “it’s not. Not good at all.”
“What do we do now?” Kay asked.
“Pray,” Harold said. “We’ve been preparing for something just like this. Now we’ll find out if we did the right thing. I hope we did.”
“Me, too,” said Kay.
“I reckon’ all them folks that said you was a crazy old man are gonna’ come knockin’ on your door now,” Roxie said. “Not sayin’ you ain’t crazy, mind you.”
“Amen,” said Ashlyn. “Thank God for my crazy cuz that had milk for my babies.”
“Don’t get too thankful yet,” said Harold. “We’re set for a couple of months – at most. And that’s only for a select few people. If I’m right about this, there is going to be a long row to hoe. We’re going to have to work together and conserve what we do have. We’ll need a lot more food than we have now. And medicine.”
“I probably have enough Baclofen to last four or five months,” Kay said. “I can adjust my dose and only take it when I need it. That should buy us another month or two.”
“Maybe I should go into town tomorrow and see if I can get more from Walgreen’s or CVS,” Harold said. “I think we should take stock of what we actually do have and go from there. Mom’s going to run out of insulin in about a week, so I’m going to have to make the trip sooner than later.”
“I can go get what we have at the house,” Ashlyn said. “We can contribute what we have if we can stay here. We don’t have water at my place.”
“Of course, ya’ll can stay here,” Kay said. “There’s no way we’d let those cuties do without.”
Ashlyn smiled.
“What about you?” Harold asked, looking toward Roxie. “What are your plans?”
“I know Kenneth didn’t make it home from work by the time everything fell apart yesterday,” she answered. “I can stay here as long as ya’ll need me. My ol’ man is a big boy and can take care of himself … probably.”
“You’re welcome here as long as you want to be here,” Harold said. “If you do plan on going home, though, you may want to consider doing it soon. I figure things are going to get crazier and crazier with each day that passes. People are going to get hungry. A man will do whatever he has to if his kids are starvin’. I know I would.”
The adults in the room fell silent while they all gazed at the two little girls sitting on the floor, sipping their milk and giggling as they played together.
“I best head to the house soon,” Ashlyn broke the silence.
“I’ll watch these little ladies,” Roxie said. “You need as much room in that wagon as you can get.”
“You should check on your mom,” Kay said to Harold as he stood up and placed his empty coffee cup in the sink. “I’m worried about her.” He nodded in agreement.
Roxie and Ashlyn went outside to unload the bags and bedding from the wagon. Harold walked through the living room and entered his mom’s room. He could hear Kay singing in the background, “Twinkle, twinkle, little star…”
There was very little light coming through the blinds in the bleak bedroom. The O2 concentrator was silent. The glucometer lay in its place with the unused test strip lying beside it. The tape player was on the cart with a small stack of cassettes next to it. The only sound in the room was the sound of the fan blowing. The air it circulated was warm.
Alice lay there with her eyes closed. He skin was pale and clammy. She had a slight fever; he could tell as he gently took her hand into his. He could see that it was difficult for her to breath. He pulled open the drawer of the cabinet that held her medicines and retrieved her albuterol inhaler. He put the mouthpiece between her lips and, timing it to her inhalation, pressed the inhaler and administered a dose of the bronchodilator.
That was about all he could do to help at this point. Her breathing was raspy, but she didn’t really appear to be in pain. He didn’t give her any pain meds.
“Mom,” he said softly. There was no response. He silently wished he could call the hospice nurse and have her come over. He felt so helpless.
“Dear God,” he prayed. “Please take care of my mama. Welcome her in your arms and comfort her.”
Alice took a deep breath. She moaned a little as she exhaled.
“I love you, Mom,” Harold said. He gently rubbed her head as he continued holding her hand. Alice took another deep breath. He could barely hear her moan as she exhaled her last breath.
He wept.
- - -
Ashlyn had her riding mower in high gear as she rode it toward her house. She was glad the girls had stayed behind with Roxie ‘cause she didn’t like them seeing their mama cry. Everything was so crazy. She couldn’t believe this was really happening. She felt bad that she was one of those people that thought Uncle Harold was a crazy old man.
She bounced along the road, almost flipping the wagon behind her on its side. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she wasn’t paying attention to how fast she was going. The back roads she was on were pretty bad, with potholes and bumps dotting the asphalt.
“What are we going to do?” She said aloud, though even she couldn’t hear what she said over the roar of the mower.
Life was just getting on track for her little family. John and she had gone through a rough patch, but they worked their way through it. Their church family had been there for them during those dark days and had probably saved their marriage. It was a hard lesson to learn, but Ashlyn did learn that anything worth having was worth working for. Her husband was definitely worth having.
She rode her mower past several houses and waved as she passed by. There were a lot of people outside, she noticed. The smell of bar-b-que in the air made her belly growl. She guessed that everybody was cooking the meat in their freezers before it spoiled ‘cause every house had smoke coming from their pit.
As she approached the upcoming intersection, Ashlyn felt a sense of comfort wash over her. They had never attended the little white church that lay less than a half mile from their home, but she knew it was also God’s house. She pulled the riding mower into the parking lot, stopped it by the front door of the church and switched it off. Taking the key from the ignition, she walked up the steps and turned the door handle. She expected it would be locked and she could continue her ride home.
It wasn’t.
Ashlyn pushed the door open and stepped inside the dimly lit chapel. She stepped onto the hardwood floor and walked up the creaking aisle, between the rows of pews. She stared at the cross in the center of the back wall as she walked up to the wood railing across the front of the church. She knelt down on her knees, clasped her hands and bowed her head.
Ashlyn prayed from her heart; a passionate prayer that left everything on the line. By the time she said, “Amen,” she had poured all of herself out at the feet of Jesus. She stood up and stared at the cross as she wiped the tears from her face with her damp sleeve. Turning slowly, she walked back up the aisle, past the pews, and into the foyer of the small non-denominational church. She turned and faced the cross once again.
“Amen,” she said.
Ashlyn turned and walked out and closed the door. With that, she left her worries and pain behind her. She knew when she closed the door to that little church she had closed the door to that chapter of her life. From this point forward, she knew, her family would be living a completely different, new life.
She climbed back onto the mower and headed home. It didn’t take but about five minutes until she was there. The doors were still closed; it looked like things were exactly as she had left them. She walked up on the porch and through the front door. She looked around, wondering what she should take with her.
Ashlyn packed three bags with cloths and toys for the girls. Three big bags. She had three totes with holiday decorations in the closet that she emptied onto the bed. She then went to the kitchen and packed as much food as she could. The totes were heavy,
but she knew that she had to get as much food as she could to contribute at Uncle Harold’s.
She struggled to get the totes in the wagon, but she didn’t give up until they were all loaded. She stuffed the three bags in, too. There wasn’t much room left in the wagon, so she had to think awful hard about exactly what else she was going to take. She went back inside, looked around and a light bulb came on over her head (figuratively speaking). She went back to the closet and grabbed John’s bow and sheath of arrows. There was a bag of bungie cords in the corner, which she also snatched.
It took a little maneuvering, but she succeeded in strapping the boxes and totes and the bow into the wagon. Ashlyn walked back into the house and sat at the desk, just inside the door. She scribbled a few words on a post-it and left the pad lying on the desktop. She then walked out the door and slammed it shut behind her.
She climbed onto the mower, started the engine and drove up the driveway. She never looked back and didn’t shed a tear as she pulled onto the road and away from her home. She drove away with the determination of a mother and the will of a woman filled with the holy spirit.
Sitting in the darkness, lying on top of an old wooden desk, was a post-it note that read, “Plan B. You know where we are. We love you.”
- - -
The rusty old truck swerved between the cars that were stopped in the middle of the road. Bailey had to drive on the wrong side of the road quite a bit, but it really didn’t matter since there wasn’t a cop around to see her. She was surprised to see people looting every business she passed; even the Chinese restaurant. She had to slow down when she approached the grocery store because there were a lot of people running across the road pushing shopping carts full of food.
She looked down to see Levi’s rolled up pants leg was very tight around his calf. His leg was badly swollen and red. She knew this wasn’t good.
“Stop,” Arlene screamed from the passenger side of the truck. Bailey jerked her eyes up and slammed on her breaks. She stopped just in time to miss a car in the road. It was one of a short line that had stopped for a train.
“Crap,” Bailey exclaimed. She should have known that there would probably be a train blocking the road. This was Silsbee, Texas after all.
“May wanna’ watch the road there, kid,” Levi said. “I don’t wanna’ die in a wreck today.” He was pale and sweaty.
“Neither do I,” said Bailey.
“Or me,” Arlene added.
Bailey backed the truck up and turned around. She would have to go around the damn train.
- - -
Harold walked slowly back into the living room when he heard the riding mower come up the road. He stepped into the dining room, where the two little twins were playing with a stack of clothes pins on the floor. Jackson was at the screen door barking.
“She ok, Babe?” Kay said with a hint of concern in her voice. Harold looked her way with a blank stare on his face. He still had tears in his eyes. He shook his head.
She knew.
Roxie, who was pouring the last cup of coffee into her cup, looked over at Kay. She looked at Harold. She knew. She sat her cup on the stovetop and walked over to Kay, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her in a tight hug.
Harold took a deep breath. He slowly exhaled as he walked by the giggling girls and went out front to help Ashlyn unload the wagon. Jackson trotted over to Alice’s door and lay down next to it. He didn’t yelp another bark.
Carrying the bags and totes to the spare bedroom Harold remained stoic. Ashlyn had gone into the dining room to check on her girls and learned about the passing of Alice.
“Should I take the girls home?” she asked. She knew this wasn’t a good time for children to be playing and making a lot of noise.
“Don’t be silly,” Harold answered as he walked into the room. “We knew this day was coming for a while now. At least she won’t have to deal with the hard times that are sure to be coming.”
He walked to his wife and knelt next to her chair. “I love you,” he said as he looked into her eyes. He hugged her gently.
“I love you, too, Babe,” she replied barely audible.
Kay didn’t know what to do. Someone had attacked America in a way nobody ever has before. Her mother-in-law lay in the next room; dead. They couldn’t call anyone or drive her to the funeral home themselves. There was nobody to help them, and she didn’t know what was going to happen next. Could this day get any worse?
- - -
It took several minutes to get around town and around the train. Bailey had to weave through abandoned vehicles and, more than once, had to swerve around people who were trying to flag her down. She could tell that they all wanted one thing from her – the truck. She also knew that that was one thing they weren’t going to get. Not today.
There was one lady in particular that really caught Bailey’s attention. She was carrying a small child in one arm and pulling another with her other hand. The poor lady looked so lost and so overwhelmed. She hated to not stop and help her, but right now it was more important to get Levi to Uncle Harold’s house. Much more important.
Arlene continuously rubbed the top of Levi’s sweaty head as he leaned on her shoulder. He didn’t look good; not good at all. Bailey accelerated with gusto as she turned from the farm-to-market road onto the state highway that led to Uncle Harold’s place. They were close now.
Bailey could hear Levi having trouble breathing. It sounded like he was gasping for air. Arlene had an intense, worried look in her eyes. She slowed down to make a left onto a side road. Arlene recognized the road but wasn’t sure where it led. She knew that she had been down this road before.
Just then, the truck lurched and sputtered. The engine died. Three sets of eyes looked at the dashboard. The instrument panel. The fuel gauge.
Empty.
“Oh, shit,” Levi said through squinted eyes.
The truck rolled to a silent stop. Bailey and Arlene looked at each other and spoke not a word. Bailey opened her door and jumped out. “I’ll go get Uncle Harold,” she said before turning and running up the road at a full sprint.
- - -
Roxie and Ashlyn worked in unison as they prepared a late lunch. Nobody really felt like eating, but the girls were whining because they were hungry, and the ladies knew that they all needed to get some nourishment in their bodies.
It had started raining again and there with was no telling how long they would be cooped up inside with two little girls who were full of energy. Harold and Kay went into Alice’s room to clean things up (actually more to just be alone with her). This was hard for both of them. They had been caring for Mom for so long and were disappointed that it ended like this.
“At least she’s not in pain anymore,” Kay said. “She’s with all her loved ones who went before her.”
“I know,” Harold said. “God knew that it was time to bring her home. It’s not up to us to question Him or His will.”
The couple held each other and comforted one another. The sat there, rocking in each other’s arms. Over the fan Harold could hear someone yelling outside. It was a female voice. It sounded familiar. He kissed Kay’s head as he stood and went out to see who it was.
Coming up the road he could see his niece, Beetle running up the road. She was soaking wet and breathing hard.
“Uncle Harold,” she screamed between steps. He could tell she was out of breath.
What was she doing here?
He met her in the road in front of the neighbor’s house. She stopped and bent over, gasping for air. She was still panting when she tried to talk.
“Levi got bit by a snake,” she got out. “He was on the tracks with a woman. She shot it three times. Three times.” Bailey paused for a breath. “We stole a truck from those ugly boys. Train. We went around. The lady had two kids. We ran out of gas.”
“Whoa. Beetle,” Harold said to her. “Take a minute to breath and then tell me what’s going on. I can’t understand a word you’re saying.�
��
Roxie came walking up to the two people standing in the road as Bailey tried to slow down her breathing. She recognized who the girl was immediately but had no idea how she got there or what she was up to.
“A friend of mine got bit by a cottonmouth,” Bailey finally said. “We were bringing him to your house but we ran out of gas. He looks real bad, Uncle Harold.”
“Where did you run out of gas?” Harold asked.
“Just up the road,” Bailey said. “Up where that jack ass lives.”
Harold knew exactly where she was talking about. The house with the donkey.
“Take her to the house and dry her off,” Harold said to Roxie, who nodded as she wrapped her arm around the breathless girl in the road. “I’ll go see what I can do about her friend.”
He took off jogging toward the end of the road. Roxie and Bailey stood for a minute and watched him turn at the intersection and then duck out of sight. They slowly started walking to the house.
Harold could see the old truck parked in the road about a half mile away. He saw a female get out of the passenger side door and drag someone out onto the ground. He could only assume that the person on the ground was Bailey’s friend. He quickened his pace.
The lady kneeled beside the man and started administering CPR. “Don’t you leave me now you asshole,” he could hear her yell as she pumped in rhythm on his chest. She moved up and breathed into his mouth two times, and then back to compressions. Harold was out of breath when he reached the two. He could tell by the young man’s eyes that he was gone. Lifeless.
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