Desperate Times (17 page)

Cindy blushed. The black clothes were gone as
was the black hair dye. Her amber hair had been freshly cut and her
face had been painted with just a touch of makeup. She wore a white
blouse over a pair of denim shorts and the transformation couldn’t
have been more dramatic. “Thanks,” she said. “What do you think of
the
new
me?”

Jimmy smiled and held out his arms. Cindy
hopped down from the bed and gave him a hug and kissed his cheek.
“I’m so glad you’re okay. I… We were all worried about you.”

“You look lovely,” Jimmy whispered into her
ear. “The boys aren’t going to leave you alone.”

“Yeah right!” exclaimed Cindy.

“He’s right,” said Julie with a bright smile.
“I’ve already seen them checking you out.”

“Oh,” said Cindy, who was clearly
uncomfortable talking about such things. “I’ve got to go now… I
think I hear my mother calling.”

“Very funny,” said Jimmy.

Cindy waved and walked out the door, her
footsteps creaking across the carpet sample rug. Julie reached out
and took Jimmy’s hand and squeezed it tightly in her own. “I’m so
happy you’re all right,” she said as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“Oh Jimmy, I was so worried about you. Here, drink some water. You
need it.”

Jimmy took the offered glass and sipped
slowly. The cool water felt wonderful and revived him even further.
“Tell me about Ken,” Jimmy said, slowly turning his head to the
window in case the news was bad. He dreaded what Julie was about to
tell him, but he had to know.

“Well,” Julie said, pausing to collect her
thoughts. “He’s still out of it. Mark thinks that he should see a
doctor in Ely. Nobody has been to town in three days and nobody
knows what they’ll find once they get there. Still, Ken has to see
a doctor. We’ve got to find one and soon.”

Jimmy sat up in bed and his head swam with
the effort. He took a few deep breaths and tried to move his feet
from under the blankets. The room began to spin and he fell back
onto the pillows.

“Get some rest, honey,” Julie said, stroking
Jimmy’s hair. “Go back to sleep. I’ll be here.”

Jimmy would sleep until the sun was high in
the sky. And Julie, true to her word, was there when he opened his
eyes.

Your constitutional rights may be suspended
indefinitely during a National Emergency. Avoid areas of civil
unrest and hold whatever cards you may still have close to your
chest. Loose lips do indeed sink ships. Try not to sabotage your
own.

“Gone?” Jimmy asked. “What do you mean,
they’re gone?”

“They took Ken out on a board and loaded him
into a van. Patty and that paramedic from next door took him to
Ely. I guess Ken and Patty are good friends with a doctor in town.
He needed to see one, Jimmy. He’s in bad shape.”

Jimmy sat up. He felt light-headed but much
better than he’d felt the night before. He was hungry and needed a
cup of coffee and a smoke. “I’m going to get up,” he said. “What’s
everyone doing?”

Julie stood up and stretched. She looked very
tired, as if she hadn’t slept in days. “A lot of people are down at
the lake or over at that old lady’s place,” she said, stifling a
yawn. “Everyone is just sort of hanging out, waiting. The weather
has been just gorgeous. I think your friend Bill and some other
guys are out fishing.”

“What about the wall?”

“No one’s worked on it since the
accident.”

Jimmy frowned. That was bad news. Without Ken
and Patty’s leadership, their little community was coming apart at
the seams. The wall was important—Jimmy was sure of it. No one knew
what was out there. They had to protect themselves from the
unknown, paranoid as that might sound. After getting some food in
his belly, he would try to organize the men. The group needed
leadership from someone.

Jimmy stood. He was dressed in a T-shirt and
a pair of ill-fitting swim trunks. He didn’t want to think about
how he’d gotten into them. “Why don’t you trade places with me?” he
asked. “You look tired and this is the most comfortable bed in the
house.”

“No, I should get you some breakfast,” Julie
protested.

“I can fix my own. Seriously, you look like
you need a nap. Go ahead and crawl in for a few hours.”

Julie smiled tiredly and put her arms around
Jimmy. “You know,” she said. “I might just do that. I’m pretty
beat. Could you wake me up for lunch?”

Jimmy nodded. “Sure,” he said. “I’ll be up
here at noon.”

She lifted her face to his and quickly kissed
him on the mouth. She then kicked off her shoes and began to unzip
her pants.

“I’d better go,” said Jimmy.

“What?” asked Julie, as she shimmied out of
her blue jeans.

Jimmy wasn’t listening and had already walked
out the door. He could hear Julie giggling behind him as he closed
the bedroom door and headed toward the stairs.

Jimmy found the house empty and quiet. There
was coffee in the pot and he poured himself a cup, spooning in a
teaspoon of sugar. There were some cinnamon rolls on the counter;
he put two on a paper plate and sat at the table. The rolls were
dry and past their prime, but he ate them hungrily and washed them
down with his coffee. He felt better. He refilled his cup, walked
out the door into the back yard and out to his tent. He needed a
smoke and some time to think.

The back yard was as deserted as the house.
Jimmy was surprised to see that many of the tents were gone. Only
half remained of those that had been there a few days ago. Jimmy
wondered if they’d been carried away by the storm. Thankfully, his
was still there and he went inside, surprised to find it no worse
for wear. He fished out a Camel from a stray pack and went back out
into the morning sunshine. He lit up and took a seat at a picnic
table.

Ken and Patty were gone. What they would find
on the outside was anyone’s guess. Jimmy tried not to think about
that. Obviously, Julie thought that their kiss in the garage had
changed everything. Jimmy found that he didn’t want to think about
that, either. He still felt a little weak, but other than that he
felt fine. He had been lucky and knew he should feel lucky. Still,
he wished he could turn back the hands of time to before the
storm.

He knew had to do something to establish some
order and get people working on the wall again. That was important.
He would have to stand in for Ken; someone had to, and if he didn’t
do it soon, there was no telling what might happen. Jimmy snubbed
out his cigarette and finished his coffee. He looked up at the
empty house and thought of the empty bathroom and the shower
inside. The thought got him moving. He returned to his tent and
grabbed his shaving kit, fresh clothes and a towel. He then jogged
back into the house.

The hot shower felt wonderful and whatever
guilt he felt for taking one was washed down the drain. Jimmy
shaved, brushed his teeth and dressed. He emerged feeling like his
old self again. He quickly stowed his shaving kit and hung his
towel over a limb of the elm. He could hear music from next door.
The party was still going strong as if nothing were wrong in the
world.
Fools,
thought Jimmy. He shook his head and walked
down to the lake.

Jimmy was shocked to find that the fallen
pine tree hadn’t been touched. The Ford and the Toyota underneath
the tree looked crumpled and sad. Jimmy began to notice other
things. The lawn was a mess of downed branches from the storm.
Jimmy could see trash littering the yard. It wasn’t much, but Jimmy
felt anger growing in the pit his stomach. Why hadn’t anyone
thought to cut up the tree or rake the yard? Couldn’t someone at
least have picked up the trash? Jimmy cringed when he thought of
Ken having to be carried around that tree. He lit up another
cigarette and strode down to the lake.

He found only a few of the younger people and
some children splashing in the water. All three boats were missing
from the dock. He looked for a familiar face and found Brenda
sitting in a lawn chair with a beer. She was wearing a skimpy swim
suit that revealed entirely too much cleavage. Her skin was pale
white and looked unhealthy. Jimmy had known Brenda Brown for years,
but the two had never been close. Brenda had been a friend of
Julie’s and a little too rough around the edges for Jimmy’s taste.
He walked over to her and sat down in the grass.

“Jimmy,” she said with red-rimmed eyes. “How
are you feeling?”

“I’m okay. Where is everyone?”

“Here, there,” she said, noncommittally.
“Why? Are you looking for someone?”

“You could say that. What’s going on here?
Why isn’t anyone cutting up that tree or raking up the lawn? What’s
going on with the wall?”

Brenda raised her beer and swilled down what
remained in the can. “How the hell should I know?” she asked,
fetching another can from a small cooler. “I’m just going with the
flow, man. You want one?”

Jimmy shook his head. He could see quite well
what had happened and he didn’t want to lose his temper with
Brenda. She wasn’t any guiltier than anyone else. He fought to keep
his anger down. He would have to lead by example. It’d be the only
way. He stood and surveyed the lake.

“Where’s Julie?” Brenda asked.

“Taking a nap,” Jimmy said, turning toward
the house.

“Are you two back together?” Brenda asked
with a slight slur in her voice.

Jimmy groaned to himself and kept walking. He
found the chainsaws where he’d left them before the storm. He
selected one and topped off the gas and checked the bar oil. He
then walked down to the tree. The saw started on the third pull and
he attacked the pine with fury. He worked alone for just five
minutes. Jon was the first to join him. He sheepishly donned a pair
of work gloves and began to drag the limbs into the woods. Jimmy
continued to work at a frantic pace and soon half a dozen men had
joined Jon and him at the tree. They made short work of it. By the
time Jimmy shut off the saw, he counted fifteen people toiling in
the front yard. A few of the women had picked up rakes and were
tending to the lawn.

Jimmy, although weak and very tired, felt
much better. He teamed up with Jon and the other men and they
hauled the trunk of the tree out in four sections. They heaved them
over to the spot where construction of the wall had been halted by
the storm. The exertion had made Jimmy hungry again and he longed
for some real food. But first there was some business to attend
to.

The lawn looked much better as the last of
the branches were raked up. Jimmy called out: “I think we need to
have a meeting. Anyone who wants to attend should meet me in the
back yard!”

They followed him there, taking chairs and
placing them in a semicircle. While many of their group was
missing, Jimmy was glad to see the eager faces in front of him.
Cindy smiled and sat directly across from him. There was no sign of
Bill.

“Listen,” said Jimmy, searching for the right
words. “Ken and Patty are gone. We have no idea for how long. We’ve
got to carry on as if they were still here. Does that make sense to
all of you? We’ve got to have some structure here. We’ve got to
finish the wall. We need to elect that council. Things are falling
apart and we can’t have that. We’ve got to be together on
this.”

Jimmy could see nothing but nodding heads and
he became cautiously optimistic.

The work was slow and tedious. The previous
rain seemed to have hatched entire colonies of thirsty mosquitoes
and biting gnats. The crew had been cut to a third of its original
number. Jimmy worked alone felling trees, feeling as if he’d pass
out with every swipe of his saw. He labored on, all the while
growing more irritated with those who were still out fishing or
next door partying with Sally’s crowd. It wasn’t fair, not to him
or anyone else who continued Ken’s work. He was particularly upset
with Bill. Cindy understood what was at stake here and she worked
alongside the men, hacking away with a limb saw.

They worked until well after six with Jon
directing the small crew at the wall. They worked in silence,
focusing their energies on the task at hand. The good humor and
conversation had all but left the workers. The wind had been taken
out of their sails by all of those who had abandoned them. They
barely finished another thirty feet before knocking off for
dinner.

Julie and Rita worked in the kitchen. They
cooked another ham and sliced it up for sandwiches. They also
served potato salad, chips, and fudge brownies for dessert. The
work detail gratefully dished up buffet style and returned outside
to eat their meal. They pulled the picnic tables together and
gathered at the fire pit.

Eventually Brenda and some others who’d been
next door filed through the line. They sat away from everyone else
and soon they were joined by the men who’d been out on the lake.
Bill showed up, his plate piled high with food. Soon, they were all
gathered in the back yard, those who had worked and those who
hadn’t. The tension hung thick in the air as everyone ate.

“You should say something,” Cindy whispered
from across the table.