No Normal Day

by Richardson, J.

  “Yes-sir”

  “And what if the citizens do not wish to be removed?” said Jason.

  “Sir, we have orders to accomplish this goal. The citizens will be safe and fed and have shelter. It is not safe out here now.” The soldier was standing at attention.

  “And where is this camp, soldier?” asked Jason.

  “It's about two hours south, sir. Closer to the military base.”

  Jason moved his hand to his .45. Lee has the AR at his side. Jason said, “Soldiers, I want you to lower your weapons and I need to have a talk with you.” The two soldiers did lower their guns.

  Jack watched in fascination and listened to as much as he could make out. He saw his son-in-law take the bag off of his shoulder. Lee had his finger on the trigger of the AR. Actually, the four of them seemed to be laughing. Jason unzipped the bag and Jack saw two bottles of his whiskey and two cartons of cigarettes being handed to the relaxed soldiers. Mu-ther Roachin' Son of a bitch! The kid is giving away my whiskey. Jack was smiled, though. The soldier with the paint can, turned and sprayed a big red X on the door of Casa Dos. They all walked like best buddies, over to Jack and Beth's and marked that door. The soldiers got in their truck, motioned to the body trucks and they moved on a little farther. Jason and Lee stood at the end of the hedges. Lee motioned for Jack to stay down. His knees were not working again and he plopped down in the corner. They sadly watched the body bags come out of the Carpenter's. In less than 45 minutes, they could no longer hear the engines. The military was gone, not a shot was fired. Jason and Lee gave Jack a hand up, they tapped the entry code rap and Eric opened the garage door. “Oh-my-god...are they gone...wha-at?” Eric stammered.

  Jack shook his head and said, “Well, you won't believe this story. But, first we have to go in and tell everyone to relax. Beth will not won't want to miss the tale. And I need a drink...that is, if I have a drink” he gave Jason a scathing look but patted him on the back.

  Everyone piled out of their hiding places and gathered in the common room. Beth brought Jack that drink. It was about two hours until dark and the first of the night watches. So, there was time for Jack to tell the story of his smart and heroic son-in-laws. Stories had become a favorite of the family. Sometimes before memories and sometimes, new and exciting tales of their life now in the after. In a world without TV and all the other gadgets that had been taken for granted, your entertainment expectations change greatly. All were clustered around and looked at Jack with interest. There was the usual amazement, questions and laughter that accompanied a tale. When the story was told they dispersed to their duties, chatting about the events of the day, one on one. The fires were lit, dinner was started. The kids moved to the yard in the last of the day light, restless from their afternoon of confinement. Big Dog and Little Dog traipsed around behind them. The owners of the first watch prepared to start their vigil.

  David was walking the perimeter, he felt so sad. Jason told him that Shawna and her brother were not taken away. But, where could they be? What happened to them?” He had been sneaking some extra food to them. He knew they were barely surviving. He had been trying to work up his courage to ask if they could join the compound. He knew his Gram's giving heart but he did understand that they already had a lot of people to protect and feed. He had been so impressed that Shawna and her brother survived this long, all alone. He truly did not think he could be that strong. He was so grateful for this family. Lost in his thoughts, he stopped as he heard something.

  It was just a whisper, “David? Are you there, David?”

  David rushed to one of the little hatches and opened it, “Shawna, is that you?”

  She located where his voice came from and moved to the hatch. She placed her fingers on the opening and David touched them. He could see the pretty features of her face, soft in the light of the moon. Had she been crying? Her brother stood right behind her, looking around nervously.

  She said, “We hid in the woods. I don't want to go to that camp. Are the soldiers gone?”

  “They are gone. Shawna, come around to the big garage door. I will let you in.”

  David ran, speaking to Lee who was sitting on the patio as he dashed by, “Cover my spot for a minute, Lee”.

  David let Shawna and her brother in and secured the door. He led her in the house, to Gram. Beth grabbed them both, “You poor darlin's”. David breathed a huge sigh of relief. He already knew, Shawna and brother would not be leaving the compound. As Beth fretted and fussed over the two, David gave Shawna a smile and returned to his post.

  Humans do need companionship, family, partners...it is just natural to them. The compound had grown to 21 inhabitants now. Shawna's brother was welcomed in to the boys space. They all just seemed to like calling him Brother, so his name never really came up. Shawna asked to stay in the little trailer which she thought was perfect. No one knows for sure, was Brother gay? He and Dane become close friends and no one bothered to ask any questions. After all, friendships were very important. Matt and Cody now both turned 19, were unattached. However, the friends on the lake and some of the survivor groups that the family stayed in contact with and bartered with, those groups had girls among them that were in the age range of Matt and Cody. As time goes by, five years or more age difference, means very little. Even though, neither young man had formed any real attachments, it was great for them to have friends and perhaps eventually girlfriends, still in their world.

  Through the network of survivors and from contact on occasion on the ham radio with more distant groups, they had formed a somewhat accurate picture of what happened that caused the turning upside down of this world. It was possible that a natural occurrence, such as a solar flare was the cause. It was more likely that a man made event took place, an explosion at a very high altitude, not near enough to the earth to nuke us, sufficient to cause the death of the power grid and everything electrical on most of our planet. All modern nations suffered the same apocalyptic consequences as America. A few isolated and more backward areas on earth were of course, not nearly as devastated. They were living more primitive and basic lives before the event.

  It would be years, before anything resembling the Before World would return. It was said that the event set back progress a hundred years. The knowledge was still here, in a few survivors. However, the resources and people to clean up the mess, restore and rebuild were just not here. It would be a very long and slow process, maybe years, even decades. The dangers of these times were not gone. Perhaps they had diminished a small amount. Thousands, millions had perished because they had no idea how to survive or just gave up. And there was the decay and disease. Multitudes of the evil and decadent, finally died from their own stupidity, caught by their own mean actions. Jack didn't worry about the military returning now. Their resources and the US government's resources were gone. The physical condition of the world would deteriorate much more before a new world grew from the ruins. More evil would certainly rise up. These original survivors would continue to protect and provide for the communities that they built into safe havens. They, were the hope and the citizens of this present world. Not unlike the first pilgrims to set foot on American soil, they would build a new society from scratch. They could adapt and persevere.

  Beth and Jack know that their years to live in this world were not endless. They were oddly content, at peace with the fact that they had saved their family and even a few others. Pleased that these people of their compound had developed the skills and the strength to survive and maybe even prosper in this After World. Each days work was hard. But there was a bonding, a new found tolerance and respect for the many diverse personalities of each other. The dependence on each other had brought moments of great joy. As another day ended, the two of them lay down to sleep, their hands entwined. Jack raised on his elbow, his face above hers, he looked into her eyes in the moonlight from the window. She placed a palm on each side of his face and brought him to her, for a kiss. They parted and smiled, “Just another normal da
y,” whispered Beth.

  I hope you enjoyed reading No Normal Day. I so enjoyed writing it for you.

  No Normal Day II (Unity) and No Normal Day III (West) are now available on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Kobo.

  If you would like to “zap” me a message, I would love to hear from you.

  richardsonjo66@gmail.com

  Regards, J. Richardson