by EE Isherwood
“Well, were you?” Carmen repeated louder.
The attractive young woman had changed her clothes since the last time I’d seen her in my garage, but her new outfit went the wrong direction for what was appropriate in a national disaster. Her high-heeled gold sandals wrapped around her shins, drawing attention up her tanned legs to the shortest summer dress I’d ever seen. The peach-colored sleeveless number, with a swooping neckline, looked like she was soon expected at a rich-person garden party.
“Look, all I know for certain right now is that it had all the signs of being an EMP. It could be a million other things, from sunspots to aliens, but it does us no good to speculate. I went with Penny to get her daughter, and I’m thankful we were able to bring her back safely, but I also went up there to learn more about what’s going on, so I could bring news back to you. On that score, I didn’t get all the information I wanted, mainly because I didn’t see any police or city officials.”
“Okay, now we know what it is.” Carmen spoke fast, with an almost unintelligible Hispanic accent. “So, what the hell do we do about it? That plane crash was real. Those screams from the next street were real. I tried for half an hour to call my mother in Miami. Nothing is working like it should. I can’t just stand here and talk. I have to do something.”
It struck me that maybe she hadn’t been trying to call her mom the entire time. Based on her styled hair and fresh change of clothing, it was more likely she’d used her time to play dress-up, but I had no idea why she’d waste the effort.
“Yeah, Frank, will you help me find my husband?” Evelyn shuffled forward. “I’m sure he heard that boom. Why isn’t he home?”
I glanced toward her, but immediately noticed the sprinkler in her yard. “Uh, why is that on?”
“Well, you said the water would soon be off. I don’t want my Elephant Ears to dry up, so I figured I’d get them real good one last time.”
“That’s great,” I chuckled. “Did you also fill up your tubs?”
Evelyn shook her head. “It messes with the water pressure. I’ll fill them when Ben gets back…” Her words hung out there.
I was mildly annoyed that she hadn’t taken my advice, but we were in totally alien territory, so I couldn’t expect her to get it right away. I had to be patient with her and anybody else who messed up, since we were now a team whether we liked it or not.
“Okay,” I replied to her. “I’m counting on you to do that as soon as he gets back.”
“What else should we be doing?” Luke asked in an even tone. Of my three neighbors, he seemed the least skittish.
“Did you get the water flowing in our houses?”
“Yep. The tubs are full at my house and yours. I’ve mentioned it to these two…”
“I’m not doing anything until my Ben gets home,” Evelyn said with finality. “It’s ridiculous to fill tubs and waste all that water.”
I looked at her soaking wet plants.
“I’ve got mine running, Frank.” Carmen held up her hand as if she were in class. “I don’t care about water, like some people. But that’s no big deal. If planes are landing on our heads, we need to do more than collect water, right?”
If we were going to cooperate with each other, I had a lot of work ahead of me.
“Okay, guys, there are some very easy things we can do right this second. You’re going to want to prepare some gear such as flashlights, candles, and so forth, for when it gets dark. If you have food sitting out, you might want to put it behind a locked door, mainly so you know it’s all in one place…” After seeing those two guys picking through the back of the mail truck, I was preparing my friends for the possibility of a visit from thieves like them. “And grab a pad of paper and a pen. Go through your food, water, toiletries, and any camping or emergency gear you have. Unlike earlier, when I told you to give things in your houses a once-over, this time I want you to write it all down. A master list will help us share when one of us runs out of certain types of supplies.”
“I won’t share anything until Ben returns,” Evelyn answered. “He’ll know what we have, and what we can give away.”
There was no doubt she was going to be the boat anchor of our group.
“That’s fine, Evelyn. Just head home and make notes about what you can, so Ben doesn’t have to do it all himself. When he returns, I’m sure he’ll help you fill in the gaps.”
She seemed to think on it. “All I have to do is write it down?”
“Yep. It will really help out your husband, I promise.”
“I’ll move the sprinkler before I get to work.” She smiled briefly, then headed for her driveway.
“Sounds great,” I replied.
Luke and I shared a knowing look, like he knew she was difficult, too.
“I’m here!” Penny called to us, rushing across the middle of the circle. She still wore all her biking gear, minus the helmet, suggesting putting her daughter to bed had been fast and easy. “What did I miss?”
I turned back to Evelyn. “Hey, don’t go just yet.”
Penny took stock of Carmen’s new look. “That dress is darling, and I absolutely love your necklace and arm bands. What are they made from?”
Carmen beamed, holding the greenish-blue elephant charm off her chest so everyone could get a good look at it. She also wore similar-styled jewelry wrapped around her upper arms, making her almost look like a Greek goddess. “Thank you, Penny. It’s all turquoise. The necklace and wraps were gifts from my mother after I divorced my husband, whom she hated.”
“I just love it,” Penny said again, pointing to her dress. “The color goes perfect with the dress.”
Carmen bowed with gratitude.
“So,” I continued, “while we’re all here, I’m afraid there’s one last thing I need to ask. I don’t want to scare anyone, but if you have any guns, I strongly recommend you clean them, load a few spare magazines, and have at least one ready to go.”
“At least one of them?” Evelyn snarked. “Who needs more than one? Benjamin and I lived in New York City for ten years. We were never mugged, and our apartment was never broken into, so I can’t see how it’s more dangerous out here in the suburbs, even with the power being out.”
“I assume you don’t have any guns?” I asked her.
“You’d have to ask Ben.”
“What about you?” I asked Luke.
“Melanie and I aren’t big into guns. Funny story, though. Her dad put it in his will that when he died, we would get his firearms collection. He had AK-15s, or whatever, out the wazoo. Probably ten of them. Of course, we didn’t have any use for war guns, so we sold them at auction after he passed.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your father-in-law,” I said.
“It was a few years ago, but thanks.” Luke smiled gracefully. “And it wasn’t a total loss. Mel and I agreed to keep one shotgun from his collection, in case my son ever wanted to go hunting. We have a lot of ammo for it, too. I think we have a box of fifty rounds.”
He stressed the word fifty as if it were five thousand, which is a number that would have impressed me. Fifty rounds through a shotgun was a warm-up during an afternoon at the shooting range.
“Fifty, huh?” I said to be polite.
It would have been easy to blame Luke for not knowing anything about firearms, but it was pretty common with guys in their thirties. I’d seen the same thing with younger drivers the last several years. My older contractors carried concealed pistols regularly, or at least hid them inside their trucks. The new guys went out on the highway unarmed, like they were in Lollypop World, a place only populated by well-meaning individuals.
I moved on to Penny.
“You said you don’t have any, either, right?” It was one of the things we’d discussed briefly on our bike ride.
“Correct, but I have to admit, after being out with you today, I really wish I had one. I don’t want anything to happen to Daisy.”
That was the type of thinking I liked to hear.<
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“We’ll get you something. I have a few guns I can loan out to those who want them.”
“Isn’t that illegal?” Evelyn gasped.
I winked at her. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
The woman was at a loss for words, so I turned to Carmen. “What about you?”
She cocked her head in an “as if” pose, then came closer. I was overcome with her vanilla sugar perfume, which hit me extra hard after having my nose filled with the stench of jet fuel. “Do I look like a woman who would live alone without a weapon? When my cheating ex-husband left me for that slut, I went down to the gun store and bought myself some protection. If he ever shows up…”
“What kind did you buy?” I asked.
“I have no idea.” Her expression of confidence faded. “It’s still in the box. I can get it for you, if you want? Yes, you need to see it. I’ll bring it over.” Without asking, she started toward home as fast as her heels would carry her.
It appeared as if my small sampling of neighbors wasn’t going to be the wealth of firearms I’d hoped, but if Carmen could prove she had one ready to go, she’d be one less person I had to worry about. I watched the pretty lady walk away for a bit, but then returned my full attention to the group.
“Does anyone else have trouble understanding her?” I asked.
“Here.” Luke raised a hand. “I barely caught what she just said.”
The older woman crossed her arms in apparent disgust. “I heard her just fine, but I don’t like her or anyone else’s excitement about guns. Someone is going to get shot accidentally for no good reason. It happens all the time on the news.”
“I’m not worried about accidents,” Penny replied. “We’re all grown-ups here. When Frank and I were getting Daisy, we saw strangers who tried to harm us, and now I wish Frank had brought a gun to scare them away.”
I still had the pistol on my hip, but I didn’t tell her I’d been carrying it during our ride. My rule, drilled in by countless books, was a gun shouldn’t come out unless you intended to use it. There were a few times I’d been mentally prepared to pull it out, but I was lucky it had never risen to that level of danger.
“We haven’t really needed a gun, even in North Pointe,” I said with ease, trying to keep Evelyn from being even more afraid. “Those people up there were more scared than wanting to do us harm.”
“But it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared,” Penny pressed on, reading my thoughts again by not mentioning the chasing, fighting, or theft we’d witnessed. “That’s why I’m more than happy to have this discussion.”
“If you say so,” Evelyn replied, smacking her lips as if the topic was distasteful.
Carmen came out through her garage. “I found it!”
She hefted a huge olive-drab gun case as she came across the street.
“You said it was a pistol,” I called out to her. “That looks like you’re carrying a machine gun.”
The case was about two feet long and eight to ten inches thick. It wasn’t big enough to hold a rifle, but it was still much larger than a typical pistol case. The drab military green box looked out of place being held by a beautiful young woman in her colorful little dress.
“This is what they gave me,” she replied as she handed it to me.
I held it against my chest and popped the two latches. When I tilted the top open, I had to remove a layer of gray foam before seeing the contents.
“Holy shit,” I blurted. “This is what you bought for yourself?”
“Are you saying it isn’t good enough?” She flared out a hip. “The man at the store promised this would stop anyone from messing with me.”
I chuckled as I admired the Smith and Wesson Model 500 revolver. It still had the paperwork sitting on top of it, and a factory gun lock installed, suggesting Carmen might not have opened the case since the purchase. But the most remarkable thing about it was the size. The steel revolver had an eight-inch barrel and looked like it had been designed to be held and fired by Bigfoot, not a petite woman with manicured nails.
“The guy at the gun store said you needed this?” I tried not to groan.
“Yeah, why do you say it like that? He told me it was the biggest pistol sold on the market, so why wouldn’t you think this is good?” Carmen was getting defensive.
I turned it around to show the others.
“I think it’s awesome, actually, and I’m not going to lie to you, I have a strong desire to fire it. For the record, the guy at the gun store was right. This is, by far, the largest pistol I’ve ever seen in my life. However, it also has some downsides. Didn’t the salesman ask how you planned to carry it around comfortably? Didn’t he ask if you could hold it in a shooting stance for any length of time? Even I wouldn’t buy a gun this large for self-defense.”
That was a harmless lie. If I had the spare fifteen hundred bucks I would have dropped it in a heartbeat. However, unless we planned to down elephants or shoot through cinder-block walls, the Model 500 was overkill for Carmen.
Carmen’s shoulders relaxed, as did her tone.
“I guess I thought I’d keep it in my purse.”
“That’s outrageous,” Evelyn remarked. “A proper woman shouldn’t stuff something that big and dangerous in her bag.”
The two of them glared at each other, while I held back my urge to let go of a “That’s what she said,” joke.
Still, I chuckled in a friendly way, closing the container. “I don’t think anyone could carry this in their purse because it would rip through the bottom.”
“Did I get ripped off?” Carmen took her gun case back.
Evelyn replied under her breath. “If you dressed like that for the salesman, I’d bank on it.”
The brunette spun on her high-heels.
“What did you say, jintera?”
“Is that more of your Havana-speech?” The older woman wagged her finger. “It’s not an insult if I don’t know what it means.”
“You’ve heard me use it before,” Carmen snapped. “It means bitch!”
I’d begun to suspect the two neighbors already knew each other fairly well which was an outcome I hadn’t considered until that moment. Evelyn seemed restrained while talking to me, but she didn’t hold back with Carmen. On the other side, the Cuban-American bombshell didn’t seem to have a “dial-it-back” setting anywhere on her. The two women began shouting before I knew what was happening.
I put two fingers to my lips and whistled as loud as I knew how.
They both stopped immediately.
“Ladies. I’m not sure what this is all about, but it has to stop. I can’t say for sure what’s happening out there, and I know the unknown is making us all anxious, but we’ll get nowhere on our cul-de-sac if we’re fighting with each other. Why don’t we all go back to our houses and do the bare minimum, like I said earlier. Check those tubs. Get your lists started. Pull out your guns, those who have them. Can we all agree on that?”
I did my best to scowl, hoping to make it clear I wasn’t playing around.
At first, they met my gaze, but soon they became distracted by something behind me.
I turned to see what had captured their attention.
A male voice belted out.
“Hey! Are you people fucking around with my Ferrari?”
It was a young guy from the frat house. He strolled under his big palm tree, then across his lawn, avoiding several of the vehicles parked in the grass, until he strode behind the fire-engine red supercar sitting at the end of his driveway. The guy was barefoot, and shirtless, and his blond hair was matted on one side, as if he’d just woken up.
“We’re on this side of the street,” I stepped in front of my neighbors. “Nowhere close to your car.”
“Well, you guys are making enough noise to scratch my whip.”
Another pair of young men stood by his front door, lurking. As I’d imagined, they could have come directly from a fraternity house. They all appeared to be around twenty years of age.
> I tried to defuse the situation.
“There’s been an EMP, fellas. We’re all in danger. These neighbors and I are working together on—”
“Yeah, whatever,” he interrupted. “We heard the hurricane sirens. It’s the same shit as always. I’ve been listening to you all talk and yell at each other for the past few minutes. I found it funny you would ask about guns because I happen to have one. I need you to know if anyone is going to lay down the law around here, it’ll be us.”
The asshole pulled a pistol from the front pocket of his khaki shorts and waved it wildly. His two front teeth on top were missing, but the remainder of his grin was anything but friendly. “Any questions?”
CHAPTER 6
“Look, there’s no need for the gun, son,” I said in a calm voice. “We’re all on the same team.”
The guy paced menacingly near the back of his Ferrari, though I was more concerned with his jerky arm movements than his bad attitude. I held my ground while the others stayed behind me, but my muscles went taut with anticipation whenever he waved the barrel of his gun in our direction.
“My name is Trevor, not son. Don’t ever call me that, Pops.”
A stream of two dozen twenty-somethings came out of the mansion, including many young ladies. Most looked as ragged as the kid with the pistol, with rumpled clothing, wild hair, and dazed looks. If they were still in the house at mid-day, it must have been one hell of a party last night.
“Sorry, old habit. Let’s start over. Nice to meet you, Trevor. I’m Frank.” I kept my hands up to avoid any threatening gestures, and I forced myself to appear relaxed, even though my stomach remained in a knot. I also got a good look at his pistol, which was a Ruger LC-9. “These friendly folks behind me are Luke, Carmen, Penny, and Evelyn. We’re your neighbors.”
“Yeah, I know you people. You all liked to give me dirty looks.” Trevor paced quickly back and forth, trying to see those standing behind me.
I motioned to my new friends not to get involved. It was important to keep Trevor’s attention on me, so we could talk, rather than having him feel ganged upon by the whole block.