The Last Tribe

by Brad Manuel

  Antonio stood in his doorway waiting for them to get to the stairs. When the door closed behind Kelly, he turned to his room and shut the door. He went to his single bed, lifting the sheet that blocked the underneath. He had several boxes of food, energy bars, breakfast bars, breakfast drinks. Most of the boxes were empty or almost empty. His supplies were low. Empty cereal boxes were pushed behind his dwindling food.

  He sat on his bed and thought about his options. If he stayed, Sal might come back. Antonio did not like being alone with Sal. If he went, he would get a hot meal. He looked out the window, the people were almost done loading. Antonio jumped off his bed and ran downstairs. He made it to the SUV as the last door shut. He held up his hands for them to wait.

  Kelly opened the back door.

  “I’ll take that dinner, but you better not try anything funny.” Antonio said, using his best tough voice.

  “Not even a knock knock joke.” John said in reply. Kelly shut the door and they pulled away towards dinner.

  They were a few blocks east on 22nd when Kelly began to talk again. “You have to tell me the story of the dog. Hubba is it? I haven’t seen a canine or feline in half a year. How is it you have a dog?”

  Antonio sat in his own row behind Kelly and looked out the window in an obvious effort to appear disinterested. When Kelly mentioned a dog, he looked towards John and Solange. “You have a dog?” He asked. Antonio loved dogs. He had three dogs in his apartment in the Bronx. While his friends bought Rottweilers and Dobermans, Antonio picked up strays from the SPCA. His gang nickname was ‘Mutt.’

  Solange saw the first spark of interest from Antonio. “We do have a dog. John’s sister in law rescued it from a house in Raleigh. It was left behind, and lived in its own filth with no food or water for months. Like all of us, the dog is a survivor.”

  “He looks great now.” Kelly replied. “I can’t wait to check him over.”

  Antonio gave a simple, “that’s cool,” and went back to staring out the window. Instead of a sneer, he had a faint smile on his face. Solange could see his mood brighten as she continued to talk about Hubba.

  “He smells up the RV. Something about the breed, he has horrible gas, but he is a good dog. He is very friendly with the kids, sleeps most of the time. He loves to have his belly rubbed.” Solange crinkled up her nose when she talked about Hubba’s gas.

  “Bulldogs know how to make it funky, that’s for sure.” Kelly spread her arms across the back of her bench seat.

  “How long did you stay in your building? You know, waiting for the world to end?” John asked Kelly.

  “I had enough food for five weeks. God, if I knew how horrible this winter would be, that food would have stretched for twenty weeks.” She wore a wry grin and shook her head.

  “I filled bathtubs in every apartment, assuming the water was going to run out at some point. I saw this movie about zombies taking over London, and this father and daughter had plenty of food, but they ran out of water, and it didn’t rain, so they had to leave their safe apartment.”

  “28 Days” John replied. “I love that movie.”

  “Yeah, well, I learned from that one, make sure you have water. I filled all the bathtubs. I watched the smoke rise from the other side of the park. I heard the gunfights at the Metropolitan. I stayed low in my penthouse, but no one ever came. Two weeks after the fires and firefight, I didn’t see anyone on the streets. There were no cars. There were no sounds. I would hear an occasional airplane, but that was maybe once every other day. I decided to go outside, walk around. I went down the stairs and out the front door. There was a big black ‘X’ painted right on my building’s door. My building was marked as dead. No one was going to bother me if I stayed there, but my food would not hold out.” Kelly looked out the window at the buildings.

  “You see all these buildings? They probably have food in them, but the food is behind these dead bolted steel reinforced apartment doors, and you can’t even get into the buildings without smashing some triple pane wire sewn glass. Then you get into the apartments and there really isn’t much food. A box of pasta or some cans of soup or my favorite is a box of cake mix. That’s all I could find when I finally got into places. New Yorkers weren’t big on pantries or stockpiles. The bodegas were everyone’s pantries, and they sold out in the second week of the panic. Food is not easy to come by. I’m not the strongest person, but even someone who has strength, like Antonio,” Kelly motioned with a flick of her head towards the boy. “He expends more energy getting into places to look for food than what he gains in the food he can find.”

  Antonio looked forward and nodded. “Manhattan was a horrible place to stay. I kept telling everyone, we need to go to Queens and go to neighborhoods. We need to find places we can get into by breaking windows, not smashing through metal doors, but then it snowed, and we got stuck. I kept telling you, didn’t I Kelly?”

  Kelly nodded. “He did, and we should have listened, but we were scared, and we had the kids by then. Bernie had this great place with a fireplace, radiant heat, and she had some food stored, and we thought we had enough, but we didn’t have close to enough, so here we are.”

  They were almost to the park. Antonio looked out the front window. He could see the tables and fire pits. He saw the kids, girls, Ahmed, Bernie, and Jamie eating off plates. He saw cups and pitchers of something white.

  “Holy shit.” He said. “You have milk? How the hell do you have milk?”

  “My brother has goats.” John was excited to hear Antonio warming to the dog and milk aspects of his group.

  “Damn, I told you we should have left Manhattan, Kelly. I told you.” He leaned forward in his row, his head sticking over Kelly’s seat. He licked his lips, almost visibly drooling. “Damn, we should have left Manhattan. Milk? I’d drink monkey milk right now.”

  They exited the van. Todd walked towards John and Solange. “Everyone is eating well, that’s for sure.” He turned to Antonio, his hand outstretched. “Hi, Todd Dixon.”

  Antonio looked at Todd’s hand and did not take it. “I’m here for the food, fool. I’m not here to make friends. Where’s my plate, and I want some milk.” The boy’s chest was puffed out. He stood as tall as he could.

  “Everything is over there.” Todd replied, pointing to the buffet style table of food.

  “Wow, everyone else in the group has been so friendly.” Todd told John and Solange.

  Antonio stopped and turned back around. “What did you say?”

  Todd turned to Antonio. “I said the rest of your group is friendly. You are not. Am I wrong in that statement?” There was a pause in the table conversation as Antonio looked at Todd, moving his eyes up and down. He looked at John, standing behind Todd, then over at Peter and Matt at the table. Antonio realized his situation, his weak position. He backed off.

  “Whatever, fool, just give me my damn food.” Antonio turned back to the table and piled pasta on a plate. He poured himself a glass of milk, drank it, and poured another glass. He found an end seat at the table next to a fire, and sat to eat.

  Everyone was silent, nervous Antonio spoiled their dinner invitation. John dismissed the tension and walked to the table. “I’m glad you came to meet us. Everyone enjoying the food? Thank you for coming.”

  The first person to speak was Avery, the young woman who John judged to be between 17 and 21 years in age. She was so thin it was hard for John to be accurate with her age. “I’ve used up most of my faith and hope over the last six months, but I can honestly say this is the best meal I have ever had in my life. You have come into our lives when we needed it most. Thank you. Thanks to all of you. Meredith and I will come to New Hampshire with you. We can’t stay here anymore. We won’t.” She turned to Bernie. “I’m sorry, Bernie, but faith hasn’t fed us. Hope hasn’t fed us. I need to go with these people.”

  Bernie nodded to her. “It’s okay, Avery. You’re right. We can’t stay here. My faith kept us here, and it brought us salvation through meeting these
people. I understand I’m the only one that might believe that.” Her plate had bread and corn bread, but no meat sauce covered pasta or chili. Emily opened a can of tuna fish for her. Bernie explained that it was a Friday during Lent, and she could not eat meat. “It is Friday. Would you consider letting me have one last Sunday in my chapel? We can leave after service on Sunday morning.”

  Antonio muttered something in Spanish under his breath, then looked at John with anger in his eyes. “No agenda, huh? You bring us up here, give us food, lure our people into your group? You want us to go to New Hampshire? “ He looked down the table. “Are you people crazy? Do you know anything about this guy? These people are nice to you for 30 minutes and now you’re leaving your family because he makes a box of pasta and some jarred red sauce?”

  Antonio said additional things in Spanish. “I’m not going anywhere.” He sat at the end seat at the table, his left arm was firmly blocking the girl beside him, Meredith, from getting near his food. The boy was territorial and selfish.

  Peter ignored him. “Jamie, these people, I only met them a week ago, but they are good. I considered staying behind, living out my days alone, but we’re not that old. We can make contributions and help.”

  The woman looked at him. “Why are you talking to me like I’m 80? I’m only 68. Of course I’ll come. I have years left, and I hope to spend them with people. I’m weak because we don’t have any food. Once I get my strength back, you’ll see who I really am. I’m actually a hell of a lot of fun.”

  Kelly was not at the table, she sat on the ground petting Hubba. Emily sat next to them, and was in conversation with the young veterinarian. Kelly locked eyes with Bernie, nodding to let her know she was going with Jamie and the new people.

  Jamie looked down the table at Antonio. “Things happen fast now, kid. You see a good opportunity, you better grab it. You were right when you said we needed to leave the seminary, none of us listened to you, and we almost paid the price. You need to listen to us now. There is strength in numbers. People are scarce, let alone good people. They aren’t staying, so we need to be going. Don’t let your pride or machismo get in the way of your life.”

  “You’ve got some moxie in you.” Peter laughed. “I like that.”

  “Life’s too damn short to hold it in.” Jamie told him. “We learned that the hard way.”

  John turned to Bernie. “What do we do if Sal isn’t back by service on Sunday? We can’t leave without him. Can we?”

  The adults of the New York group looked at each other, some of their eyes fell. The young children were asleep. They ate and curled up in their chairs.

  “I can leave that man, and do it with a clean conscience. He would leave me in a second.” Jamie answered. “It may not be the Christian thing to do, but it’s the world we live in. Besides, if you don’t have Duane Reade’s where we are going for him to search for his pills, I doubt he’ll leave New York.”

  Antonio let out a laugh. “You’re alright, Jamie. You’re alright.” He told the older woman.

  “We can’t leave him.” Bernie said quietly. “but I don’t want to wait a week and deplete our resources or keep you from your family. We can worry about Sal if he doesn’t come back by Sunday.”

  Ahmed sat next to Jamie, silent during the conversation. He looked at Todd and John. “If we come with you, what standing will we have, what voice? I hope we’ll have some sort of agreement that gives us rights to food, that we will distribute work fairly.”

  Todd answered quickly. “I understand your question, and your concern, but both are founded in an old paradigm. There is no ‘society’ anymore. We are a group, a tribe. 75% of it happens to be my family, but we are a group that has decided to work and live together. We share food and labor. I am not prepared to give you any promise other than, right now, you will receive an equal share of everything. When we have food, we all eat. When there is work, we all work.”

  “That isn’t very democratic. Your family should get one vote, not multiple votes.” Ahmed negotiated.

  “There is no voting.” Todd said flatly. “Don’t you get it? We just do. Did we discuss coming to New York City? Yes, but instead of putting stones in a bag, we discussed and did it. You’ll have a voice and a decision to make every day. Do you want to stay with the group or leave.” Todd was blunt. Life was different now. He sensed Ahmed did not want to let his old life and status go.

  Bernie stood and motioned to the three children. “We should go home, or at least get these three, and maybe Meredith a bed.”

  Meredith’s eyes were half closed. She perked up at the mention of her name. “I’m okay, just a little tired. I’ll go home with Avery. I’m okay.”

  “Let’s all go home.” Jamie said. “I’m sure we have a lot to talk about separately.” She turned to Peter. “Thank you for your hospitality sir. I hope to see you tomorrow. “

  “We’ll be here.” Peter replied to his new friend. “Don’t worry. We’ll be here.”

  “Good bye Hubba.” Kelly said to the dog, rubbing his ears. Hubba snored loudly as she rubbed him. Kelly walked over and picked up Cameron, carrying him to the church van. She placed him on the seat against the window. He did not wake up. She walked around the van, got into the driver’s side, and started the engine.

  “Can we help clean up?” Bernie asked.

  “No worries.” Todd told her. “We’re going to fold the plastic tablecloths up and throw everything in the trash. I’ll clean the pots tomorrow.” He gave her a quick hug. Todd put his hand out to Ahmed. “Get a good night’s sleep. Think about our offer. We don’t need a decision tonight or even tomorrow.” Before John and Solange arrived with Antonio, Todd and Emily briefed Ahmed, Bernie, Jamie and the rest of the group on the master plan of traveling to New Hampshire.

  “We’ll see you tomorrow.” Ahmed said to him.

  “We have eggs and pancakes planned. Just as Antonio said, we’re luring you with food.” Todd gave Ahmed a pat on the back and a smile. The former banker picked up one of the little girls and took her to the van.

  Avery thanked her hosts before grabbing the last sleeping child. “They are tired from hunger. It makes you so weak.” She told them. “Thank you.” She and Meredith climbed in the van together, placing the sleeping girl in between them.

  Antonio finished his last bite of pasta, walked over to Hubba, bent down and gave the dog a quick pat on the head. He looked at Emily, “cool dog,” was all he said. He opened the passenger door to the van and jumped in.

  Bernie shut the sliding side door, and the New York tribe headed down 5th Avenue.

  “Well, that was a quick strike.” Emily commented. “Matt, did you even say anything?”

  Matt shook his head. “I set up the kids in the RV watching some cartoon movie and came back out, but everyone was stuffing their faces. They seem nice. Obviously Antonio is a little rough, but he likes Hubba, so he can’t be all bad.”

  “He is not so tough. He is scared. He, Ahmed, and this Sal guy are the only men in his group. Now he is entering a group of almost all men. He needs to find his place.” Solange was a keen observer.

  “I’m interested to meet Sal. I mean,” Todd chuckled, “Jamie wanted to pack up and leave from here tonight. What kind of person must he be?”

  “Did you catch the little girls’ names? I heard Cameron for the boy, and Meredith and Avery, but what about the youngest girls?” John was at a loss.

  “Wendy and Bridget.” Craig spoke up. “I talked to them on the ride up. They are 5 and 6. They went to kindergarten together. How weird is that? They told me, every day, Wendy and Bridget would show up, and another person would be gone, until it was just us and the teacher, then the teacher didn’t show up. Wendy’s parents died, and Bridget’s parents were still alive, so they took her in, and they knew Cameron’s parents, and when they died they took Cameron in too. So the three little kids were together until Bridget’s parents died. The kids went outside, started walking around the upper East side.” Craig paused.
“I don’t know what that means, but anyway, they are walking around and were told to head to the seminary. Bernie had the word out that she was accepting people and orphans. The kids walked from 89th and 3rd to the seminary, I don’t know how far that is, but Bernie said it still amazes her when she thinks about it.”

  “It’s a long way, let’s just say that.” Todd told his nephew.

  It was 7:30 and dark. Todd stretched out his arms after the long day. “I’m exhausted. I’m going to clean up and go to bed.” He walked over to the trailer where the kids were watching television and opened the door. He slipped inside to say goodnight to his sons, and make sure they were ready for bed. Melanie was in the RV, hiding from the New York group.

  “I almost forgot you were in here.” Todd said to her. “I didn’t realize you weren’t going to come out and meet everyone.”

  Melanie gave Todd a bashful look. “I fell asleep. Honestly, I was going to come out, but Matt set the kids up with a cartoon, I put my head down on the pillow, told them to wake me up in five minutes. Yeah, I just woke up.”

  Melanie slipped out the door and sat down at a table. Solange and John were eating cold pasta and bread. “Did you miss the party too?” She asked.

  “We never got to eat.” Solange filled Melanie in on the new people.

  John gave his opinion. “I didn’t meet anyone that wouldn’t be a great addition to the tribe.” He twirled his fork to get another bite of dinner. “Ahmed and Antonio are good people, they just live in the past. Once they step into the new reality, they are going to be great contributors. If you saw Ahmed with the little kids, he’s a natural.”

  Todd came out of the RV. “The kids are all down.” He whispered. “Where am I sleeping?”

  Emily looked at the group seated at the table. “He doesn’t know it yet, but I booked us a room at the Plaza.” While Todd and Solange were on their adventure at the Metropolitan, Emily and John scouted out rooms in the hotel. Peter, Melanie, Craig, Todd, and Emily would stay in the hotel while Solange, Matt, and John took a night in the RV’s. Matt pulled the kids’ trailer duty for the evening.