by Pamela Davis
Lisanne turned to him, frowning. "Why the hell is everyone so excited about fishing? Can you explain to me what the big attraction is? You sit in a boat for hours or you stand in the water for hours, and when you catch the slimy little suckers, then you've got to clean them. Yuck!"
"Now, ma'am," Tommy said seriously, "Fishin's just about one of the best things there is on earth, that's for sure! Didn't you ever try fishing? There's nothin' like it, hauling a big bass into your boat and then eating him grilled over an open fire later on. It's totally awesome!"
Totally awesome, Lisanne questioned, staring at his flaming red hair and freckled nose. Where, she wondered, was this guy from? He's a modern day Huck Finn! Before she could ask him any questions, John called her over, frowning.
"Sergeant Wachowski has good news and bad news. The good news is that our properties are all on the side of town that uses hydroelectric power. The bad news is that he's going to need more than himself and Tommy here to keep things up and running after the quake."
Lisanne shrugged. "So we get more people."
"We don't have that many people to use for this!" John said, clearly exasperated.
Lisanne sighed. "Okay, I'll volunteer. How hard can it be?"
Wachowski grumbled, "Harder than you think." He leaned against his desk and thought for a minute. "We do the shutdown tomorrow afternoon. We wait out the earthquake. Then we'll have to go around and see if any lines are down. And if the roads are blocked like you said, that could be difficult."
"No problem," Lisanne retorted. "We've got horses."
Sergeant Wachowski blinked. "Okay," he said slowly. "Tommy, you ever been on a horse? Doesn't matter, you will be soon."
Tommy grinned at him, saying, "Cool! Horses. Can they talk too?"
Lisanne smirked at him. "Not on the computer. But they do talk to Janine."
Sergeant Wachowski continued. "We're going to need recruits after the inspection. Workers to help get the lines back up. Then we turn the power back on. But I'll need crews 'round the clock to man the station here. And if they can't get here by car, they might want to live here for a while until we get things sorted out."
John nodded as Lisanne complained, "Here? What are we gonna do? Sleep on this concrete floor?"
Wachowski chuckled. "No, no. If what you say is true, and I've seen the evidence with my own eyes, people are leaving from all around here. We'll have our pick of the resort homes. I'll find a large one closest to here. But John," he said, turning and motioning with his arms widespread to take in the control room, "we're going to be up against the wall on this one. It'll be touch and go and we're gonna have to work all the time. There's no way we can help you out with gathering food and whatever else you need done in Cape Fair."
"Not a problem. Our group had already decided to offer you power station folks a deal where we provide you with food and anything else you need, if you provide us with power. Oh, and also security. We have a guy, name of Black, and I'll send him around to you as soon as I can. You guys are our biggest asset now, so we'll do everything we can to help you out and keep you safe. And in fact," John paused as he pulled out his spiral notebook and pen from his jacket. "Let's get a list started right now. What you need in terms of clothing, tools--anything you think you might need for, well, for the foreseeable future?"
Lisanne left them to it as she moved to stand in front of Merlin's computer.
I CANT BELIEVE YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE ME LIVE HERE
CANT YOU HEAR THAT HUM
DRIVING ME CRAZY
Lisanne wasn't sure if the last line was about the hum of electrical power Merlin was hearing, or if it was about her. She picked him up and crooned softly in his ear. "We have to help out, big guy. There's not much use for an alcoholic astronomer in this place. So we gotta learn new jobs. But you don't have to stay in here all the time. There're woods out there, trees and stuff that you'll like. And there will be a house you can stay at. I promise, Merlin, it won't be so bad."
Merlin suffered her attentions grudgingly, tilting his head back for her to scratch under his chin. Woods and trees! Hmphf! Probably filled with bears. Still, he had to acknowledge that Lisanne was coming along. Slowly, but coming along. And at least here he wouldn't have to live with drooling dogs trying to lick him and be friends. He could rule the roost here. He'd be top dog--well, no, not that, he thought wildly--top animal, that's what he'd be. Tommy's excited voice cut through his reverie.
"Hey! Can I go get a puppy from the pet store? Maybe then I can talk to him and he can talk to me!"
Merlin growled.
Dr. Mark Shapiro's office, Cape Fair
Mrs. Philpott watched as Dr. Shapiro struggled to accept what he'd just seen. Watching Perceval type on the computer appeared to have erased all doubts, but she also knew what it was to try and accept this extraordinary event in one fell swoop. They didn't have time to ease him into it.
"Do you believe us now," she asked. "You're the one who's been asking him the questions, not me, not Harmony. And we even stood behind him and across the room, so we couldn't give him signals or anything, just like you asked. This isn't a trick, Dr. Shapiro. It's really happening."
"I-I-can s-s-see that," he admitted. "But it's just so--so--so--"
"Amazing is the word I think you're looking for Doctor," Mrs. Philpott observed. "But we don't have time for you to be amazed, I'm afraid. I know this is a lot to take in, but you've got to because we need your help."
"My help?" he asked, still staring at the remarkable Siamese sitting on his desk.
"Yeah, doc," Harmony interjected. "You're, like, our only medical guy, except for our vet, Clay. And we're gonna need drugs. Lots of drugs."
He looked startled, and then slowly smiled. "And by drugs, you mean?"
Mrs. Philpott glared at Harmony. "Pharmaceutical drugs. Antibiotics. Pain pills. Birth control pills. Whatever we can get our hands on, really. Our group has bought a lot of supplies, including basic medical supplies you can find at any drugstore. But we haven't been able to get our hands on prescribed drugs."
"Right. Well, I can put in an order for what we might need, take about a week to get here," Dr. Shapiro offered.
"That's no good, doc," Harmony replied. "We got an earthquake rolling through tomorrow night and a flood starting at the same time. No supplies are ever gonna reach us here. It's the end of the world as you know it."
"Earthquake? Flood? What the hell are you all talking about?" he demanded to know.
Mrs. Philpott muttered to Harmony, "How about you let me handle the rest of this conversation and you go call Black on the cell phone. Tell him we'll need this place secured."
Harmony smiled sunnily, grabbed the cell phone, and sauntered out of the office and into the waiting room. Mrs. Philpott, she thought, was way too uptight today. But Doc Shapiro--well, he was just a cutie. Maybe she'd become a candy striper.
In the car, Cape Fair
John was driving toward his house, preparing to drop off Merlin so he and Lisanne could pick up Black, Max, Abby and Clay to do some final shopping for the day. This power thing could actually work, he thought. Sure it'd take a lot of work, but it would be worth it. Electricity would mean--
Lisanne interrupted his thoughts. "Um, John? There's something I need to give you, I think. Everybody was around this morning and there wasn't time, but I brought it with me."
John's brow furrowed as he wondered what on earth she would spring on him.
Lisanne turned in her seat and reached back to tug a good sized duffle bag into her lap. She unzipped it and reached in to grab a handful of cash out, which she thrust at John.
"Here," she said.
The car swerved as John got a glimpse into the bag. It was filled with cash.
Pulling off the road and parking under a group of Redbud trees, John turned to her and said in confusion, "Lisanne, where the hell did you get this?"
Lisanne said nervously, "Oh, I didn't rob a bank or anything. It's mine. I took it out of the b
ank when I left my condo in Florida. And I want you to have it."
"Me? Why?"
"Because we need to buy so much stuff today. And where am I gonna spend it all once the world ends?" She paused, and then said haltingly, "Besides, I know I don't have much to offer to the group. And I can tell you don't really trust me." She put up a hand to stop him from speaking. "I know I can be a little crazy, and I'm working on it, really, I am. But you guys, you've been so nice to me and Merlin. And Andy. Taking us in and giving us a safe place to live."
John said, "Lisanne, you don't have to buy your way into our group. We're all working together here to survive. We're a team. And you're part of that team now."
Smiling shyly at him, she said, "You mean that, don't you? I'd like to be part of something, part of the team. But I really don't need all this money, John." She paused and then said in a rush, "Except for maybe $10,000 or so. I want to get another telescope. I know it's not a necessary item, but it would help me to have one. And even if our world is ending and there won't be anyone going into space anymore, I still think we should look at the stars sometimes. So we don't forget what we can accomplish. Where we can go again, someday."
John looked at her in astonishment. Definitely more here than meets the eye, he thought, noticing she was wearing slightly less make-up than yesterday, although still clothed in the ubiquitous black and purple with a short, black leather jacket. And he realized for the first time that her eyes really were lavender colored! Eyes that were now watching him somewhat nervously.
"Lisanne, you buy all the telescopes you want. I think that's a great idea. And if you're really serious about this money," he said as she nodded quickly, "then we'll put it to good use today. But I have a better idea for part of it than spending it at the mall." He leaned forward and started the car.
"What?" Lisanne inquired.
"You and I are going to go visit a coin dealer I know. I hope he's still there."
"But why a coin dealer?" she asked in confusion.
"Because paper money," he replied, "is probably going to be worthless very shortly. Eventually people may come here to trade and someday, when money starts exchanging hands again, it won't be in paper dollars. People will want gold and silver. So we're going to stock up on coins."
"How do you know this stuff," Lisanne asked, impressed but surprised by his foresight.
"When you write books for a living, you do a lot of research. A few years back I read a bunch of survival books when Y2K was such a big fear. And the coins instead of paper money issue was well-discussed by all the survivalists and end-of-the-world crazies." He stopped and looked at her ruefully. "Which I suppose is what we are now."
"Hey, I don't care what they call us as long as we survive," Lisanne replied. "But you know we really should have a name. We keep calling it 'The Group' or 'Our Group' or 'The Safe Zone,' but we should have a real name."
John chuckled. "Like what? I'm open to ideas."
Lisanne mused. "Well, I guess we could be called 'The Safe Zoners'--which teenagers would eventually shorten to just 'The Zoners'--but I'm not sure about that."
"You know during Y2K there were those who talked about TEOTWAWKI--which stands for 'The End Of The World As We Know It.' So we could be the TEOTWAWKIANS."
"How about 'The Dreamers'?" she suggested, laughingly.
"Not bad. Sounds like a jazz band," John observed.
"Or 'The Cape Fair Gang,'" she said. Merlin hissed at that one.
"'The Predictors'?" John said.
"How about the 'Psychic Prognosticators'?" Lisanne asked, chortling.
John laughed. "No, Jess could tell you little kids would shorten that to its initials and we'd be hearing them calling us 'pee-pee' all the time, thinking they were hilariously funny. That one's out."
Lisanne looked at him seriously for a moment. "Did you and Jessica have a big fight today?"
"What?" John asked, startled.
"Well, we all kinda heard some yelling after she brought Sam back with Harmony. But I have to tell you, John, I heard Jessica's side of things, and I don't think she meant to take Sam there."
John snorted, frustration in his voice as he asked, "Then why did she do it? Why did she knowingly take our little girl into a situation where there could be gunfire?"
Merlin looked up at Lisanne and nodded to her. This had to be said. Unfortunately, Lisanne was the one available to say it, but Merlin had no choice.
"Look, you know that Merlin and I are close, right? It gets easier and easier for him to talk to me every day. Not always a good thing, but, anyway, he says that Jessica really didn't want to take Sam to Mr. Johnson's. I'm not completely clear on where he got this from--I think from the trees, if that's possible."
John's head jerked around to stare at her. "The trees, you say? Jessica has a thing for the trees."
Lisanne nodded. "So anyway, Merlin says that Sam, well, I don't want you to take this the wrong way or anything--oh, brother, I don't know how to say this. Sam may have 'made' Jessica take her there."
"What do you mean 'made Jessica?' Sam couldn't have talked Jessica into this!"
"Well, no, she didn't talk her into it. More like she, well, um, she kinda coerced her."
"What?"
"We all know that Sam's a special kid. And she has these powers, or whatever you want to call them, skills, abilities, whatever. Anyway, she used that skill to change Jessica's mind. To get Jessica to take her with Black to Mr. Johnson's cabin."
"Oh, for Pete's sake!" John exploded. "You're serious?" He glared at the cat, who stared back at him calmly. "You are serious," he said, his voice a bit shaky.
"Hey, I'm sorry," Lisanne said, uncomfortable with how shaken John was now.
"Okay, that's okay. It's not okay if she really did this, but you and Merlin--I'm not upset with you two. Just need some time to figure this out. I've got to talk to Jessica."
"Well, we're out of it now. I've done what Merlin asked and told you, so I'm just going back to thinking up names for the group, okay?"
"Yeah," John replied, distracted. "You and Merlin keep working on it, that name thing. Then we'll all vote on it tonight." He paused. "And Lisanne? Merlin? Could you guys keep this quiet among the rest of the group? I don't want everyone to--well, to--"
"Be scared of her? Yeah, that's why Merlin said to wait until we were alone for me to tell you."
"And are you scared of her now?" John asked.
"Naw, I'm not scared of her. Besides, Merlin says I have such a hard head nobody could make me do anything I didn't want to do." She laughed. "You just worry about Sam and Jessica. Merlin and I will forget all about this and concentrate on the name thing."
Merlin curled more tightly in Lisanne's lap, now divested of the money bag, ears flat against his head. More work for him. Naming the group. No way he'd leave this one up to Lisanne. And no way was he going to just forget about what Sam was capable of doing. No way.
Hardware Store, Branson, Missouri
"So, did you and Rachel get your eye thing squared away?" Nathan asked Andy as he sorted through plastic pipe in the hardware store. They'd paired up again after Andy's eye appointment.
"Yep, we sure did. We went with Mrs. Philpott and fortunately they had my brand of lenses in stock and could get them done for me right then. But I went ahead and got some eyeglasses, too, just in case."
"Oh, ho! And when are you going to spring those on Lisanne?" Nathan asked.
Andy groaned. "There's never a good time to spring anything on Lisanne, trust me."
Nathan said, "I wonder if we should buy some tools that aren't power tools. Who knows whether we'll have power for long."
"John said he has a bunch of older tools in his shed. But I think you're right. You can never have enough tools, especially if they aren't made anymore."
"I have been on so many shopping sprees in the past week that I'm literally stunned by how much money we've spent," Nathan observed.
"But even with all that shopping, I'm sure
there's going to be some absolutely vital item that we've forgotten about. And we'll be kicking ourselves later for not getting it," Andy told him.
Nathan started to laugh wryly. "Well, there's one thing we won't run out of anytime soon. And you have Alex and me to thank for it, just remember that when you and Lisanne get together."
Andy looked at him, puzzled.
"Condoms, man, we bought a ton of condoms."
Andy's mouth fell open, and he started to laugh. "I knew I liked you, Nathan, I just didn't understand completely why. But wait a minute, I thought you said that you and Alex weren't--"
"Not for us! I mean not for us to use together. Alex brought up the idea about tampons for women, and then that got me to thinking and I remembered about condoms. We both agreed that getting pregnant in the middle of all the coming chaos would not be smart."
Andy's face grew serious as he thought about it. "That's the thing, isn't it? We don't know what kind of world will be left. What the 'After' world will look like." Shaking his head, he said, "No, there's no way I want to bring a kid into this mess until we know we can survive."
He walked up to the counter to stack up boxes of nails next to their other purchases of wrenches in all sizes and other assorted tools. He glanced at the small TV the store owner was watching next to the cash register and stood there riveted to the spot.
Nathan arrived with an armful of pipe connectors and noticed Andy glued to the TV screen.
"What is it?"
Andy pointed to the large, white, truly huge cloud formation spreading up the middle of the country. "That--that--"
Turning to stare at Nathan, he said, "I'm standing here looking at the biggest weather story of my life, and I'll tell you, buddy--right now I know for damn sure I don't want to bring any kids into this nightmare."
Nathan nodded thoughtfully. When the weather guy looks scared by the weather, maybe nightmare was the right word for it.
The Mall in Branson, Missouri
Black and Max walked down the rows of the shoe store, looking for Max's size.
"Ah, here we go," said Black, hefting a pair of black leather boots into Max's hands. "These here are the ones you want. They've got the steel toe. We'll have to get you some others for working in the fields, but these boots here are the ones you'll wear when you're on duty with me."