The Emerald Virus (13 page)

    
Charlotte and James laughed about these secret meetings for years, but never
around Charlotte’s father. Charlotte always said she kept the meetings secret
out of respect for her father, but always accused James of doing so out of fear
of her father. While James always denied this, he was never too adamant about
it.

   
They were married the summer after Charlotte graduated from Clark. James Junior,
who came to be known as J.J., was born the following summer and Jamal a year
later. Charlotte raised her boys to be real boys. She knew that they were going
to face a tough future and she wanted them prepared for it. They learned how to
play hard and how to work hard.

    
She and James made sure the boys knew their education ended when they graduated
from college. And they both did. J.J. graduated from the University of Georgia
and Jamal from Georgia Tech. Charlotte and James still laughed about how that
had worked out. The rivalry between these two schools was intense and they had
a tough time finding a livable balance during the college years. The annual
football game between the schools was always a rowdy weekend at the White’s
house.

    
James rarely talked about his service during the war, but Charlotte always kept
a picture of James in his Marine Corp dress uniform on the mantel. She made
sure the boys knew what their father had done and why he had served. She was
proud of James and theirs was a patriotic family. Both of the boys ended up
serving as Marine Officers after college, and while those years were stressful
for Charlotte, it was a stress filled with both fear and pride for her boys.

    
And James beamed. It seemed to Charlotte that James was likely to burst with
pride when he saw the boys in their uniforms together, one a Captain and one a
First Lieutenant. Both young men asked to serve as infantry officers to honor
their father, and while they both understood that being in the military was not
easy, neither considered the time they spent in uniform a burden.

    
Both of the boys now participated in the family business, and while they were
both married with families of their own, the White’s still remained a close
knit family. Charlotte and James knew they were blessed and they gave thanks
each Sunday for these blessings.

    
When Charlotte arrived home James was working in his shop next to the garage.
As always Charlotte kissed him, and then said, “I see you brought the bunk beds
down from the attic. Are they going to be okay for the grandkids?”

    
“I think so, I’m checking to make sure the hardware is all here, and I might add
a couple of new braces from some scrap wood I have here. It’s hard to believe
but these bunk beds are twenty-five years old now.”

    
Charlotte looked at him over her glasses and said, “I don’t know why that’s so
hard for you to believe, you aren’t a spring chicken anymore and don’t tell me
you that truth hasn’t hit home with you yet.”

    
James laughed and responded, “No, I can’t tell you that, but my goodness, this
life of ours had gone by so fast.”

    
Charlotte turned serious with this reminder of how little time they had left.
She again asked James what was going to happen to them. He said, “Babe, we’re
going to use what time we have left to be with each other and the family. I
can’t change this virus, but I can make sure my family is together and as
comfortable as I can make them until the end days get here. As hard as that
will be, we’ll still be better off than a lot of folks who aren’t going to be
with their loved ones for the end. Fate has always smiled on us and we just
need that to hold true for a little longer.

    
“By the way, J.J. called a couple of minutes ago and said that he and Tiffany
have decided to join us with their little one. Tiffany’s parents are having a
hard time with that, but they have a small house and they think it will be
better if they join Tiffany’s sister and her family. Tiffany promised to talk
to them daily, if not more often, and if the streets stay clear and chaos
doesn’t start she’ll be able to drive over each day. They only live about
sixteen miles from here.”

    
Charlotte breathed a sigh of relieve and said, “I’m really relieved. I know how
Tiffany’s parents must feel but I feel so good knowing the boys and their
families will both be with us.”

    
“Yeah, me too, although I feel a little selfish about it, I was really happy
when J.J. told me the decision. Fate is really funny sometimes. It’s only been
a couple of months since we started talking about selling this big house and
moving into something easier to keep up with. We would really be sorry today if
we had done that.”

    
“Did anything new happen while I was visiting with Mom?”

    
“I watched the news of course. Jack Sweeney, the Homeland Security guy we watched
yesterday, seems to be moving quickly. The reporters have been talking about the
latest bulletins and those recommendations make a lot of sense to me. The idea
of asking citizens and communities to help the survivors prepare for their
future life seems to be the right thing to do. I talked to the folks at work
this morning and everyone seems to agree that if we can help, we should.

    
“By the way, I told everyone that today was the last day for work. I told them
I wanted them to spend time with their friends and families from now until the
end. Some of them were shocked it came to this so quickly, but all of them
seemed grateful.

    
“However, George and Maiya are both single and both are from out of town. George
is from New Orleans and Maiya is from Dallas. They weren’t sure if they could
get home since no one knows how normal things will be or won’t be for travelers.
We talked about it and we called both sets of parents as well. We decided that
they were going to take my pick-up truck and make the drive since neither one
of them has a car worth a darn. This is no time to break down on the highway.
Besides, I don’t drive the truck much anymore.

    
“They can make it to New Orleans in about eight hours so they are going to
leave first thing in the morning. George and his parents insisted that Maiya
spend the night with them, and then drive to Dallas the next day. I told George
and Maiya I wanted them to come over this evening and spend the night with us.
They can leave from here in the morning. I thought maybe we could put together
a cooler of food and beverages for the drive. There’s no telling what will or
won’t be open, and I don’t want them to stop if they don’t have to. They’ll
have to find a place to fill up with gas at least twice on the trip. Hopefully
that won’t be a problem.

    
“I hope you don’t mind me setting this up like this.”

    
Charlotte said, “You know I don’t mind. And I want you to know I’m proud of
you. I know you don’t drive the truck that much anymore, but I also know how
much you treasure it”.

    
“Well, I did treasure it. But I remember that sign board in front of the church
on Mission Ave we saw a couple of months ago. It said ‘The best things in life
aren’t things’. That struck us as one of those simple truths of life that is
never properly articulated. It turns out to be truer than I thought.

    
“Don’t be surprised if George and Maiya change the itinerary this evening. I
watched them this afternoon and I think they have kind of an attachment
growing. I don’t think either one of them wanted to overtly pursue a
relationship at work, maybe because they understand the difficulties inter-racial
couples still have in the world. But I got the feeling that whatever their
current relationship, George is being protective.

    
“He mentioned maybe he would take Maiya on to Dallas and then return to New
Orleans. At first she started to get her dander up about being able to take
care of herself, but I think she saw the wisdom of George telling her this just
wasn’t the time to be on the road alone. Then he pretty well settled the issue
when he told her he was going to ask his brother to ride with him to Dallas and
back since he didn’t particularly want to be by himself either.

    
“He asked me if I knew where he could get a weapon for the trip. I think that’s
a smart thing to do so I’m going to give them one of my shotguns to take along
with a box of shells. I hope they won’t need it, but I want them to have it
just in case.

    
“I made them promise to stay in touch with us until they are both home safely
and they agreed they would do that.”

    
Charlotte wasn’t surprised at James’ concern for George and Maiya, or with the
arrangements he had made. He had always been thoughtful, and although he was a
hard man in some ways, he was also generous, almost to a fault. Charlotte
smiled as she watched him continue to work on the bunk beds. After all these years
she still loved him deeply and she was always thankful fate had put them
together.

Wednesday:
Atlanta, Georgia to New Orleans, Louisiana

Thursday:
On to Dallas, Texas

    
George and Maiya left Atlanta at 7:00 o’clock Wednesday morning. James and
Charlotte White saw them off and made sure James’ truck had a cooler full of
drinks and food for the drive to New Orleans. Across the backseat was a 12
Gauge shotgun and box of shells James had provided.

    
Maiya looked at George and said, “I can’t tell you how grateful I am that this
worked out so well for both of us, but I still think I got the better end of
the deal. I really appreciate your going with me to Dallas. Did you talk with
your brother yet and is he going to make the trip to Dallas with us?”

    
I talked to Andy last night and told him I was going to Dallas with you. I
decided not to ask him to go with me until he had some time to think about it.
I’ll talk with him this evening.

    
George continued, “I’m also glad we could make the trip together. One of the
things I always liked about working for the White’s was the outing we made as a
group on Friday nights. I always enjoyed going to Pasqual’s Pub with the other
employees.”

    
“I did too. I don’t know who came up with it but it was a great idea. There was
no other way we would have gotten to know the employees from the other stores
and from the farm. I don’t know about you but it made me feel like a part of
the team.

    
“Me to, It also gave me a chance to get to know you better. I would have gone
to those Friday night gatherings anyway, but I have to confess, I looked
forward to seeing you away from work.”

    
“I’m surprised to hear you say that, although I felt the same way. I always
liked talking to you in that environment. It was nice and casual and I never
felt any pressure about anything. You were always easy to be around.”

    
George smiled and said, “Thanks, I looked at those meetings the same way. I
think the others did also since they always seemed to expect you and I to sit
next to each other. It was a lot of fun.”

    
“It was a lot of fun. Why didn’t you ever ask me out?”

   
 George thought for a minute, surprised that Maiya had been so direct. He then
remembered that there was no time left for subtleties or gaming and said “I
never wanted to ruin a good thing. If you had said no I would have been
devastated. It would’ve also created a problem at work and I didn’t want that
to happen. I really liked the job and the people I worked with.”

    
“Yeah, me too. I was half-way kidding when I asked you that, but I did wonder
sometime if you ever would ask me. I’m pretty sure I would have said yes,
except for worrying about work. I agree that taking a chance on screwing up our
working relationship would have been bad. But maybe we had the best of both
worlds. We got to be with each other every working day and most Friday nights.
That isn’t bad for two people who didn’t date.”  

    
The trip to New Orleans was uneventful if you ignored the unusual nature of
other cars and drivers. Many were driving exceptionally fast, some used the
shoulders to pass slower vehicles when that proved expedient, all seemed to be
full of people and ‘stuff’, some of which was haphazardly tied to the roof. It
was obvious that some of the items tied to roofs had been lost along the way.
The roadside, and sometimes the road itself, had collected numerous items, such
as bedding, clothes, small furniture pieces, etc. George and Maiya kept
commenting on the wide variety of things that had apparently been lost that
people did not know had come lose, or had been abandoned in favor of speed.

    
They stopped for gas once as they neared New Orleans. The first two stations at
which they stopped were closed. One had been vandalized and its front window
smashed. The third stop was a truck stop and it was open, with long lines. They
realized from talking to the cashier that the place was open to serve truckers
trying to get home. The owner would stay open as long as there was a need and a
couple of employees still willing to come to work.

    
They noticed that some of the people at the truck stop were showing symptoms of
the virus. It was the first time they had seen the disease first hand and it
was a sobering experience. They filled the tank as quickly as possible and
drove to George’s home. His parents welcomed them both.

    
George was more than relieved that his family was not yet showing symptoms. He
didn’t know how he would handle that.

     
His Mother hugged him tightly and told him how relieved she was that he was not
symptomatic. They talked briefly about the trip and about the people George and
Maiya had seen showing symptoms of the virus. His Mother kept saying over and
over how terrible this all was, and how she didn’t know what in the world to
do.

    
His Dad told them that there wasn’t anything they could do. The world was
totally helpless in the face of this disease and everyone felt the same helplessness
and frustration. All they could do was make sure the home was stocked with
whatever they needed to be comfortable from now until the end.

    
It was a sobering discussion, but no one disagreed with what had been said.

    
George’s brother Andy readily agreed to join them the next day for the drive to
Dallas. They thought they would spend the night at Maiya’s house and return to
New Orleans the following day. Maiya called her home to make sure her Dad knew
they would have overnight company. Her Dad was thrilled to find that she would
have both George and Andy to escort her home. He asked to speak to George’s
Dad. When the conversation ended he hung up the phone and simply said, “Maiya,
I like your Dad, he seems to be a practical man. All he wanted was to thank me
for taking his baby in and to ensure me that he would take good care of my
boys.”

    
Andy was a graduate student at Tulane University and lived at home in his old
bedroom. George’s old bedroom was waiting for him, as always, but the extra
bedroom had long ago been converted to an office and hobby room for George’s
father. George offered Maiya his bed and said he would sleep on the couch in
the living room. George’s mother made up the couch. The three young folks
stayed up late talking about the crazy and horrible things going on. It was
mostly a conversation about how they couldn’t believe what was happening, and
the devastation the world was experiencing. They talked briefly about what they
might expect on the road tomorrow, and Andy finally said good night and went to
his room.

    
George looked at Maiya and said, “Can you find your bedroom and bathroom or do
you want me to walk back with you.”

    
Maiya smiled up at George and said, “George, I can find the bedroom by myself,
but I don’t want to. I don’t want to sleep by myself in your bed. I’m scared to
death right now. I know we only have a couple of weeks left to live and I don’t
want to spend any of it alone. In fact I’d like to spend as much of it with you
as I can. I’m not trying to be forward but you know I’m attracted to you, and you
told me today you feel the same way, but I’m still not 100% sure this is right.
So if you think I’m nuts just tell me and I’ll go to bed alone and embarrassed.”

    
Smiling softly George said, “I don’t think you’re crazy. I’ve liked you a lot
for a while now. I like the way you talk, your easy smile, the way you laugh,
the way you dress and the way you look. I was just never sure how you would
like a white guy coming on to you so I thought it better if I waited to see how
things might work out. I was afraid of waiting too long, but I wasn’t sure what
else to do”

    
“Yeah, I know.  I think normally I’d be wary of dating a white guy. There’s
just too much that can go wrong, and there is such a big cultural difference to
worry about. I don’t know what would have happened if the world hadn’t changed,
but I do know that tonight I’m not worried about those kinds of things. On the
drive today I worried about your parents and your family and what they would
think about me staying in their house. But they’ve been great. I always thought
there was a big cultural difference between blacks and whites, but maybe it
isn’t as big as I thought. I’ve never stayed in a white person’s house before
and I thought I’d feel self-conscience, but I don’t at all. Everyone has seemed
perfectly normal.”

    
George laughed and said, “I’m pleased you find my family normal, even I’m not
always sure about that. But, more seriously, I know exactly what you’re talking
about. When we made plans this evening for Andy and I to spend a night with
your family I also wondered if I would feel awkward. I’ve never spent the night
at a black person’s house so we’re pretty even on that score.”

    
Maiya smiled and said, “We’ll, I can only hope you find my family as normal as
I find yours. For now let’s go to bed. I want you to hold me all night, I want
to be warm, I want to be wanted and I want to be cared for.

    
“I was afraid you would want something I couldn’t do, but those are things I
really want to do.”

    
With that they went to bed and spent the night wrapped in each other’s arms.

    
Thursday morning they restocked the cooler and were ready to start by 7:30.

    
After George and Andy’s Mom had said goodbye to the three of them their father
looked at them and said, “I don’t want to scare you but I do want you to be
concerned. From what you told me about the drive yesterday it’s obvious that
some folks are starting to panic already. I want you to be as careful as
possible. I want you to be on your guard through the entire drive. No sleeping
on the way. One of you drives and the other two serve as lookouts. Watch the
sides of the roads and the traffic behind you. Danger always seems to sneak up
on people, mostly because people aren’t diligent. Think about what you’ll do if
something goes wrong. Think hard about letting someone force you to stop. Don’t
hesitate to leave the road if need be. That pickup truck will handle off road
driving. Don’t be surprised at anything that happens. The world is no longer
normal. Most importantly, if you have to do something, do it. Don’t over think
it and don’t hesitate.”

    
“Boys, your Mother and I love you deeply; we want to see you back here in one
piece. Maiya, I wish we had more time to get to know you. You’re the kind of
young woman we had always hoped George would meet. I can’t tell you how sorry I
am it happened so late for the two of you. Please tell your folks how impressed
I am with how they raised you.”

     
Maiya started the drive with tears running down her cheeks. Andy took over in
Shreveport only because he was anxious to drive. A short distance later they
crossed the border into Texas. The drive had been quiet to this point, although
they talked a little, all three of them seemed to be lost in their own
thoughts.

    
Andy broke the silence by asking if they thought things would get any crazier.
They had found the highway the same as yesterday with speeding drivers, cars
full of families, an amazing amount of debris littering the roadway and an
occasional car abandoned on the roadside or in the median. People didn’t seem
to be paying much attention to traffic or speed limits and it didn’t seem to
matter who was driving the cars. The women were just as aggressive as the men.  

    
George was explaining that things looked the same as yesterday when a large
black sedan carrying four men in cowboy hats passed them on the left shoulder,
pulled immediately into their lane and slammed on the brakes.

    
Andy yelled, “Hold on” as he hit the brakes hard. As soon as the pickup truck
slowed down the black car accelerated quickly away from them. The two men in
the back seat of the car looked back and laughed at them. The front seat
passenger put his arm out the window and shook his fist.

    
Andy took his foot off the brake but did not accelerate. He said, “I don’t know
what that was about but I’m going to give them some time to get ahead of us. We
don’t need any trouble with the locals.”

    
Maiya asked, “How do you know they’re locals?”

    
“Actually I don’t, but they are from Texas, or at least the license plate is
from Texas, I got a close-up look at it. But you’re right, I don’t know where
they’re from and I don’t care. I just don’t want to see them again.”

    
George was in the back seat and said, “I wasn’t thinking earlier about our
seating arrangement, but maybe I should be in the front seat instead of Maiya.
Maybe there are still people who would try to harm a mixed race couple.”

    
Maiya said, “If we were just sitting around in Atlanta and talking I’d say you
were too worried, but after seeing what just happened I’m not so sure.”

    
Andy said, “Okay, you’ve convinced me. I’ll pull over at the next rest stop or
exit and we’ll shift around.

    
A couple of miles later Andy said, “The sign says the next exit is a mile up
the road. I’ll exit so we can change quickly and get back on the road.”

    
As they approached the exit Andy said, “Oh hell, look on the overpass. It’s a
black car and I think it’s the same one that cut us off.”