Scarlett knew what was coming and quickly intervened.
“Sara! Oh, my God! It’s so good to see you again! I’ve missed you so much!”
Scarlett grabbed young Sara by the arm and whisked her away, leaving poor Tony in a cloud of dust and with a “what the heck just happened?” look on his face.
Scott just stood back and chuckled.
Sara was understandably confused.
“Uh, I’m sorry. Do we know each other?”
Scarlett waited until they were out of Tony’s earshot before responding, “We do now. I’m Scarlett Butler. You don’t know it now, but I’ve just saved you from an incredibly awkward moment.”
Sara was even more confused.
“Uh, okay.”
“Oh, Tony means no harm. And actually, my heart aches for him. Ever since he lost his wife and children to marauders he’s been a lost soul. We all give him plenty of attention and love, but he continues to feel starved for more. When he’s sober he’s the most wonderful guy in the world. But when he’s had a few drinks he becomes an incredible pain.”
“How so?”
“He’d have bored you to death with a series of terribly bad jokes, and within half an hour would have made a very bold attempt to gain access to your pants.”
“Ouch. Well, in that case, thanks for the rescue.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I’ll introduce you to him another time when he’s sober, and you’ll find he’s really an incredibly sensitive and wonderful man. He’s just hurting, as we all are, and he eases his pain in a rather… bizarre manner.”
“I understand, and I won’t hold it against him.”
“Now, then. Let’s make the rounds. Everyone here has been so looking forward to meeting you. Did you accomplish your mission?”
Sara was a bit taken aback.
“You know why I came here?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I should have told you up front. I’m the neighborhood busybody. I’m just not happy unless I know everything. And don’t blame Scott. I sort of pried it out of him. No one else knows. They just think you wanted to see what San Antonio looked like two years after the blackout.”
“Well, I have to say, it’s changed so much. I mean, so many of the buildings are gone. I’m amazed that not just the residential areas are so barren, but also the business districts as well. We drove down Loop 410 on the way here, and my jaw dropped to see both sides, that used to be wall to wall strip malls and businesses, reduced to just vacant lots and piles of rubble.”
“Well, the city leaders struggled with that decision for quite a while. The vacant homes and buildings had become havens for marauders and gangs of nomads, as well as vagrants and rodents. As they were able to get more and more pieces of heavy machinery working again, it just made sense to raze them. Now, the rule is, if a building doesn’t actually have someone living or working there, or a claimant who has agreed to open a business or move in within sixty days, down it comes. It sounds harsh, but it’s worked. The thugs and undesireables have fewer places to take refuge, and are either having to join polite society or move on.”
Sara stood in the center of Baker Street and slowly turned full circle, taking it all in.
“I’m also amazed at how so many residential streets have transformed themselves into… farms, almost.”
“Well, it only made sense, really. As the houses came down, the yards became places to grow crops. We could no longer rely on supermarkets to buy our foods. The yards gave us the chance to grow our own. It’s healthier than processed food was, and it forces us off the couch and outdoors. The work involved makes us physically stronger, and working together with our neighbors makes us stronger as a community. I never thought I’d call myself a farmer, but now I proudly do so.”
As she finished the last part of her statement, Scarlett suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and had to catch her breath. At the same time she placed both hands on her midsection.
“Oh, my,” Sara said in alarm. “Are you okay?”
Scarlett laughed.
“Yes. Listen at me, bragging about getting back into shape and then having to stop to draw a breath. Silly me.”
The pair continued on, mingling with the crowd and introducing Sara to her new friends, but Sara was careful to keep a wary eye on her hostess.
-25-
After having met all the residents of Baker Street, Sara broke free long enough to reconnect with Scott.
“Hey, Sunshine. Is Scarlett taking good care of you? Are you having fun?”
“Yes, and she brought me an apple turnover she said they made over a campfire, in a cast iron thing she called a Dutch oven. I took one bite and thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”
“Yeah, they’ve really refined the art of cooking and baking under primitive conditions. They’ve come a long way since dried beans and out of date canned goods.”
“Two things, Scott. First, I haven’t met the love of your life and my new step-mother, Becky. She’s the one I was looking forward to meeting the most, other than maybe Scarlett. Is she hiding from me, or am I just missing her?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. She had to split a second shift at the hospital. Her replacement fell on her way in to work and hit her head. They say she’ll be okay, but they made her one of their patients temporarily and put her in a bed for observation. Becky’s working four hours longer to cover for her, and the third shift nurse will be coming in four hours early to relieve her.”
“Oh, that’s nice of them.”
“It’s kinda the way they have to run things in a hospital where they only have a third as many nurses as they need.”
“Wow. How come they’re so short-handed?”
“It was just the way the numbers played out. Very few trained nurses survived the chaos of the blackout. Then they were on the front lines during the plague, and their numbers dwindled even further. Many of them hadn’t even heard of the pandemic until after they were already infected, because communications were so spotty back then.
“Now, the few nurses left are so overworked that many of them are running themselves into the ground. Becky has worked seven days a week for fifty-something days now, sometimes pulling double shifts or covering for a co-worker who has a bad back or an illness.”
“Oh, my goodness. I didn’t realize it was that bad.”
“Yes. But do me a big favor, sweetheart, and don’t mention anything about the nursing shortage to Becky. She already feels horrible because she’s moving up to the compound with me next Wednesday. She deserves the chance to relax and start a new life and enjoy herself after all she’s gone through for the last two years. None of her coworkers or friends begrudge her for getting a chance to get away from it all. But she’s been beating herself up about it. She feels terrible for leaving, thinking she’s abandoning her friends and fellow nurses at a time when they need every qualified person they can muster.”
“That’s crazy. She lost her husband and children. She’s sacrificed at least as much as anyone. She should rejoice in knowing she’s paid her dues and deserves to retire.”
“Thank you for recognizing that. She doesn’t see it that way, though. She’s worked some kind of deal with the state licensing agency to contribute in another way. She’s only taking a short leave of absence for three weeks, and then she’s opening up a nursing school at the old Kerrville Community College.”
“I thought those buildings were abandoned and boarded up.”
“They have been since the blackout. But it turns out that before the blackout, they taught some great courses in medicine. They degreed people as surgical, or scrub nurses. Emergency medical technicians, dentists, radiologists. Licensed Vocational Nurses, or LVNs. It turns out that all the materials… the lab equipment, the textbooks, the training materials… it’s all still there, under two years’ worth of dust.”
“And she’s going to bring everything back to life?”
“Precisely. Kerrville and Junction and the surrounding towns have atr
ocious unemployment rates. Most of the businesses simply don’t exist anymore. The state has agreed to start up a program to address both the unemployment problem and the shortage of medical professionals. It’s going to accept applications for the medical training programs at what will be renamed the Kerrville School of Medicine. Those who are accepted will be given a stipend while they attend classes, provided they maintain their grades and the school’s standards. After they graduate, they’ll be placed directly into Kerr County General Hospital, or in one of the six hospitals operating in San Antonio.”
“It sounds like she’ll be doing her overworked co-workers much more good by training a lot of new people instead of just being a single additional body.”
“Thank you! I’ve been trying to tell her the same thing. And I guess it’s understandable that she feels so bad about leaving her overworked friends behind. But if she’d just focus on the big picture, she’d see that her leaving is the best thing she can do for them.”
“I’m sure she does see that, Scott. But from her point of view, the hundreds of unnamed nurses and medical technicians she’ll put into the system in the future is still just a pie-in-the-sky concept. The people she’s working with now have names and faces. She knows them, and their stories. She’s shed sweat and tears with them. They all have places in her heart. They’re part of her. She wouldn’t be human if she didn’t feel bad for leaving them when she knows how overworked they are already.”
“I know, sweetheart. I can see that side also. That’s why I’m careful not to mention it. Right now she’s being torn between how she can help them in the short term, and how she can help them to a much greater extent by leaving them behind. And it’s tearing her apart. That’s why I’d appreciate it if you just wouldn’t mention it to her.”
“I won’t. It does make me wonder, though…”
“About what?”
“Jordan and I have been talking a lot lately about where we go from here, now that the world is starting to get back to normal again. As you said, there aren’t a lot of employment opportunities in or around Kerrville. Maybe this program would be something to think about.”
“You know, Sara, I was hoping you might consider it. I think you’d be a fine nurse.”
Sara stopped dead in her tracks and looked at him.
“Actually, I was thinking of Jordan.”
-26-
Scott swallowed hard, not sure whether she was kidding. Her face was resolute, without the hint of a smile. But with Sara, one could never be sure. She had the ultimate poker face, and never gave anything away.
“What?” she prodded, “You have something against male nurses?”
“No. It’s just that you’re such a kind soul. You’re the kind of woman who could empathize with your patients. To give them the kind of care most people couldn’t. You’d move heaven and earth to not only make them well, but to show them that you genuinely cared for them.”
“Don’t sell your son short. He’s the most caring individual I’ve ever known. He saved my life, after all. He was there at the compound, after Joyce died, comforting and consoling everyone, attending to their needs. Even though he was hurting as much as anyone, he wouldn’t let it show. It was important to him that he be everyone’s rock. It was him and him alone that kept everyone from going insane in those troubled weeks.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that.”
“You never knew because he’s not a guy who likes to take credit for the good things he does. You were only there a couple of days for the funeral, remember. It was after you came back to San Antonio, when we started breaking down one at a time, that he wrapped his arms around us and propped us up, until we got past the worst of it. One of the things I’ve talked a lot to Linda about, that you haven’t seen yet, is how he became a man in those weeks.
“You’ll see, when you get back. He’s as strong a man as you are now, and as Tom. Tom can see it too. He’s mentioned it to me. Yet as strong as Jordan is, he’s still a very gentle soul. You’ll see it in the way he carries little Christopher. With capable hands. Strong, yet pliant.
“He’s there by Christopher’s side at every step, willing to let our son make mistakes, and even fall occasionally, so he can learn and grow and toughen up. But at the same time careful not to let him learn his lessons too quickly, or too painfully.
“It’s a fine line he’s walking with little Chris. Teacher, mentor, father. But he’s mastered it in no time at all. You’ll see when you get back, and you’ll be supremely proud of him. And you’ll agree with me, too. He’d be a fine nurse.”
“Well, I have been gone for way too long, and I have missed seeing him grow into a man. So I’ll take you at your word. But if you don’t take this opportunity to go to nursing school, what will you do?”
She hesitated, but only slightly, and a warm smile came over her face.
“Well, I’ve already talked to Tom Haskins about it, but I swore him to secrecy until I could tell you myself. But I’ve already decided I want a career as a peace officer. To enforce the laws, sure. But to help people in other ways, too. And there would be times when I’d be called upon to deliver a baby, or to help apply first aid to an accident victim. So I’d need some first aid training also.
But I think my biggest strength, and where I could most empathize and help people, would be those circumstances when I interviewed young girls about the monsters who were abusing them. Or maybe wives who were being beaten by abusive husbands. Women who were unable or unwilling to help their children because they themselves were victims.
“I mean, if I couldn’t spot the victims and empathize with them and help them get out of those situations, then who else could?”
“Do you think maybe that’s the situation your mom was in?”
“I’ve gone back and forth for years. At times I’ve tried not to judge her too harshly, in case she was a trapped victim herself. But then again, I never saw any bruises or other proof. It was just a feeling I had. To this day I don’t know. And in all likelihood I’ll probably never find out. But I sure would like to know.”
“I think Becky might be able to help you answer that question once and for all.”
Sara gave him a puzzled look, but he didn’t elaborate.
Instead, he asked a pointed question.
“So, you’ve discussed this with Jordan, I assume? Please tell me you haven’t decided to move to San Antonio to become a cop. As much as I love this city and its police force, I’m not going back to the compound just to see the three of you move away.”
Sara laughed.
“Don’t worry. As I said, I’ve already talked extensively to Tom about it. As soon as you’re settled in enough to babysit Christopher during the days, he’s going to take me under his wing and make me his newest deputy sheriff.”
Scott mulled the thought and seemed okay with it. But he had one last question.
“A little while ago when I pulled you away from Scarlett, you said you were concerned about a couple of things. You were concerned that you hadn’t met Becky. You never mentioned the other thing. What was it?”
“Well, actually Scarlett was the other thing.”
“I don’t follow you.”
“Scarlett had to stop and catch her breath a couple of times while she was showing me around. Also, she seemed to have some discomfort in her midsection, although she tried to play it off. Do you think you could ask Becky to take her aside and make sure she’s okay?”
“You’re a very observant little thing, aren’t you?”
“It’s a gift.”
“A keen observation is a gift that could be put to great use in the medical profession.”
Sara smiled.
“Or as a law enforcement officer.”
“Touche. It’s probably nothing. She probably just ate some of her own cooking and has indigestion. But I’ll ask Becky to check into it. Now then, my dear. Shall we rejoin the party?”
“Why, certainly.”
-27-
At just after two p.m., Randy Rhodes pulled his own police cruiser onto Baker Street and sounded a short bleep from his siren to announce his arrival. All heads turned, and more than one head shook from side to side.
“Showoff,” Scott murmured, but without a hint of animosity.
“Hey, who’s that he has with him?” Sara asked.
Scott responded, “Well, I’ll be damned.”
Randy and Becky stepped out of the patrol car. Randy yelled to Scott, “Hey Scott, I picked this dame up from the hospital and gave her a ride. I think she belongs to you.”
Then, in a great show of mock sincerity, he turned to Becky and said, “I beg your pardon, ma’am. I didn’t mean to call you a dame.”
Then he turned back toward Scott and shouted, “I didn’t mean dame. I meant broad.”
A hush fell over most of the crowd and some of the men winced. A couple of the women looked slightly peeved. But to Randy, there was no going back.
“What? I could have said floozy, but that would have been tacky.”
Becky, used to Randy’s antics, responded in a loud voice, “If you say anything else, you’ll say it in a high pitched squeaky voice.”
The men winced again, the women smiled, and Randy wisely said nothing more.
Becky rushed over to Scott and kissed him.
“Hiya, Doll. I thought you weren’t getting off until four.”
“Things were slow for a change. They decided they didn’t want my company after all and made me leave. I was very offended.”
“Oh, I seriously doubt that. Come here with me. There’s a delightful young lady I’d like you to meet.”
The two worked their way through the crowd, fielding hugs and well wishes from their friends. Many of them were secretly jealous that the pair was ready to make the break from the city and lead a more laid-back country existence, but no one begrudged them the opportunity. The sentiments expressed were genuine and heartfelt. Each of them had open invitations to visit anytime, provided they could find a way up to the compound and back. The number of working vehicles had increased substantially by this time, but could only keep pace with the factories in Ohio and Oklahoma City putting out new batteries and kits for rebuilding starters, alternators and electronic ignitions.
The Homecoming: Countdown to Armageddon: Book 5 Page 10