No Normal Day (3 page)

He
gave her a brief hug, “Well, it's really hit the fan, hasn't
it, girl?” Before she could answer, he said, “Where's
Jack?”.

Beth
explained. Joel shrugged, “Jack'll be fine, he's on his way
home right now, you can bet. What about you, you okay?”.

She
sent him a smile, “Yeah, I am holding up, just need to keep
busy. I am thinking of dragging out our old propane fish cooker and
putting it on the back porch. I am not sure that I remember how to
hook up the bottle. Will you help me do that?”

Joel
followed her out to the storage building near the back fence. The
cooker sat in the corner. Made of steel, it was one big burner
standing about three foot tall on three sturdy legs. A greasy old
cast iron pot was wrapped in a grocery bag, it sat on top. Beth
grabbed the deep pot and Joel toted the cooker to the back porch and
placed it next to the Bar-b-que grill. Instead of disconnecting the
propane grill, Beth walked into Jack's large shop and found another
propane bottle. Joel hooked up the bottle and she paid attention. He
located a click lighter from beside the grill and tried the cooker.
The flame sh-wooshed up. “Alright, you're in business now,”
he said.

She
followed Joel back through the house to the front door. He reached in
his pocket and handed her a small two way radio, “You keep this
and try to let me know when Jack is here.”

“
That
reminds me, Jack has a pair of those somewhere in his hunting gear.
I'll have to try and find them,” she said.

“
Well,
keep this one for now, I have a couple of more,” said
Joel.
She walked
out
behind him. They stood
on
the front walk and looked
around
the neighborhood. “Listen, Beth, things look pretty calm around
here
right
now and that's probably going to hold for a few days. But, you lock
up and stay right near the house. It might take Jack longer than you
think to make it home. Use the radio to reach me, if you need me. I
am headed
back
to Sandy and the dogs, for now”.

She
watched as Joel moved with a slight jog back towards the distant
woods. Back in the house, she secured the doors again. All the
digital read outs were black. The battery clock in the kitchen tick-
tocked away, still not late, nearly three hours before dark. Jack had
been gone over 6 hours now.

The
pork chops that she planned to cook for dinner were
on
the cabinet, thawed out now. Out of habit, Beth opened
the
refrigerator to put them away. No light, of course. Wonder how long
the freezer will keep...a day or two? She decided that if she was
going
to
cook she would take out some ground hamburger and cook it up, too.
I'll worry about the rest of the freezer stuff later. She took
out
a pound of ground meat and then decided
on
a second pound.
Don't
need to stand here with the fridge open, ninny,
she
scolded
herself.
The meat was still firm but she could
cook
it slow on the burner and cook the pork chops on the grill. Maybe put
some veggies in and make soup or some chili with beans. Not much
matter, the refrigerator would
not
be cool for long and then all the food would
have
to be trashed, it was a sickening thought. Somewhere in the back of
her troubled mind she seemed
to
remember reading that if you dig down in the ground deep enough, the
temperature stayed
a
constant cool. There was a notebook in her storage closet that she
had
made
notes, printed out tidbits of information, cut out articles, etc. She
would
go
through that later and see if she kept that info. One good thing, the
soil in this back yard was very soft and sandy, easy to dig in.

Out
in the original garage attached to the house her fairly new SUV
crouched, not even that ever present light on the dash was flashing.
There was a window on the street side of this garage, flowering
hedges grew up about halfway outside, covered most of the window.
Shelves with various and assorted junk sat in front of the window.
She reached through the shelves and checked to be sure the window was
locked. Two oil lanterns and some candles sat on the shelves, she
thought
better take those in and get ready for the night
, the
dark that was going to be heavier than any she had ever known. Jack
forbade the burning of candles in the house, too many bad scenes that
he had experienced. She would have to be very careful but candles
were going to be needed. The folding table from the corner would be
handy, she toted it inside the house and returned for the lighting.
Was anything else going to be useful?
she took a box and put
the lanterns and candles in, once the box was inside she locked the
door to the garage behind her. As an afterthought, she moved a stool
in front of the door.

After
some plates were found to put the candles on, she placed one lantern
in the kitchen and one in bedroom. In the living area and bathroom
and the storage closet off of the office, more candles were placed,
with matches or lighters by all of them. In the bathroom she
remembered that she needed to bring bottles of water in from the
storage building. Since the division was originally rural they have a
septic system, as long as they have some water, the toilets should
flush. Earlier, she had turned on the faucet and there was barely a
trickle. The power did go out on occasion, due to winds or storms or
even rarely an ice storm that takes down lines. She didn't remember
the water ever being off.

The
storage building had
already
become a
bit
dim as the late afternoon shade was closed
in.
They had
never
bothered to install lights in the building, so it was not unusual to
only have the light from the open door and a couple of small side
windows. Beth let her eyes focus. Down one side, dozens of cola
bottles and bourbon bottles filled with water lined
up.
She took
about
ten bottles, placed
them
in the garden cart. Out of the corner of her eye there was
a
movement. She scuttled
backwards,
tripped
over
a dropped bottle. The bottle just rolled
up
her back and away, she landed
flat
on her behind. She absolutely despised
anything
in the rodent family and freaked
out
if she was anywhere near one. A flash of fur dashed
over
her outstretched hand and she squealed and kicked
her
feet like a pig under a gate. Quicker than she dreamed her plump body
could
move,
she was up and
saw
a
cat flying over the fence. “Damn cat!” They loved
to
camp out under the storage building. She refused
to
feed them but someone in the neighborhood sure was, probably Jack,
behind her back. At least, they did
keep
the rodents away. Her heart still raced
as
she rolled
the
cart up to the back door. Work would always get
your
mind off your problem, so she was certainly distracted.

Another
hour had
passed
and she needed
to
get to the cooking. She moved
the
bottles of water into the kitchen and bathroom, she unfolded
the
table and started
to
gather the things for preparing the food. Thank goodness, there was a
soft breeze and the evening would
bring
coolness. These days were
numbered,
the blazing heat would
soon
hang heavy, even the covered concrete patio would
not
be immune to it. It had
now
been nearly 8 hours since Jack left and the dark was less than two
hours away. She lit
the
propane cooker, sat
the
pot with the hamburger on, covered
it
with a lid and adjusted
the
flame to low. The grill was fired up, she put the pork chops on,
sprinkled
them
with salt and pepper. She recalled
how
her grandmother always said, “Don't put all your eggs in one
basket, little missy”. That basket, that
Jack
basket,
the
one she had
always
put her hopes and dreams and faith in, she wasn't near ready to let
go
of. The pork chops made
a
sizzling sound and she flipped
them
over. Jack would
be
hungry when he got
home.

***

It
was too soon for Jack to worry about Beth or let any thoughts of “the
girls” enter his head. Beth had no plans to go out, so she was
home and he would be there before this day was over and they would
make plans. He never thought that he would wish for that infernal
cell phone but he sure wished he could give her a call. The cart
trailed along behind him and he quickly figured out that there were a
few less vehicles over on the shoulder of the road. Cody kept up
easily, the not-so-young man with the cart and the skinny young man
moved along the side of the highway that looked like a long salvage
yard. The haphazard collection of vehicles did not lessen as the two
moved along, not that Jack had expected it to. He, of course, didn't
know how widespread this “incident” was but it was not
isolated or contained. A few people still sat in their cars. Jack
said, more to himself than the kid, “what the heck do they
think is going to happen, why are they just sitting there expecting
some kind of miracle or magic to save them?” Cody kept up a
steady stream of conversation, at least it irritated Jack enough to
keep him from dwelling on his situation.

“
You
got kids, Jack?”

“
Yeah,
three daughters, two son-in-laws, a slew of grand kids and one great
grandson,” Jack replied.

“
Wow,
you don't look that old,” said the kid.

“
Thanks,”
Jack frowned and spit some tobacco out to the side.

Cody said, “
All
those kids live here, close to you?”

“
Nah.
The youngest, her hubby and two little ones, live about 100 miles
north of here. The middle daughter's husband is in the army and they
live about 200 miles south, near the military base. They have 5 kids
between them, mostly grown and out of the house. Her daughter has my
great grand-son. My oldest daughter is a widow and she has a couple
of kids and lives on the other side of town.

“
I
never really knew my father, took off when I was little,” said
Cody, “It was just Mom and I. Last year, my uncle Lee came back
here. He got hurt pretty bad in Afghanistan, so he is out of the
Marines now. We always got along so he asked me to live with him. He
only gets his disability pay and I have been trying to get a job. I
applied for a grant, want to go to the Jr. College.” He
continued on, telling Jack about what he wanted to do, some computer
crap that the older man
didn't
quite get. Jack thought that he talked like a pretty smart kid,
though.

They
had walked for about three hours, Jack figured more than six miles.
He was not doing so bad, his hips felt pretty tight and his feet hot
but he was making it. There was still a long way to go, Cody traded
out with him and pulled the caddy. As the afternoon stretched out, he
noticed that a lot fewer people just stood around or sat in their
cars. He didn't particularly like the looks of some of the people
that were around. One guy, pulled on a door handle and cupped his
hands around his eyes to see inside.
Damn certain that's not his
car
, Jack thought, but I just don't have time to go there. He
looked up ahead and two young men were walking towards them, one with
dark skin, one with light. They looked pretty scraggly, their pants
hung a little low and one had a cap turned backwards. Jack never had
understood the purpose of falling off britches and a cap that was
making shade on the back of your head. An over abundance of tattoos
and piercings decorated their bodies.