The Switch (3 page)

She answered immediately. “No,
I don’t really care what you take, as long as we record it all and I have your
Sears Card number, we will be fine. I think I will probably do about the same
thing. I plan to wait until maybe noon tomorrow. If the power is still off then,
I am leaving too. Kale will have to make his own decision.”

John asked Steve, “What do
you plan to do? It looks like you won’t be in any shape to walk or pedal a bike
for a few days. I can’t wait for you. I have been thinking about this
situation. I have two daughters and three grand kids in St Louis. They will
need my help right away. I have to get there as fast as I can. I am leaving
early in the morning.”

Steve said, “I understand. Hell,
I can’t ride all of the way to Oregon anyway. I will stay around this crappy
town a few days and hope the juice comes back on. When my leg gets better, I
will find some sweet young thing to live with.” He turned and smiled at Linda.

Linda grinned and pushed his
head backwards until it hit the wall.

John asked. “Is there any
food in this place, any vending machines?”

Before Linda could answer,
Steve said, “Just order a couple of large pizzas, I’ll buy.”

Linda pushed his head against
the wall again, with a thump this time. She said “We have vending machines in
the associate break room. We still have a ton of the Christmas chocolate in the
candy room too. I’ll get keys to the vending machines.”

Before she left to get the
keys she said, “We can sleep in the bedding department.”

Steve said, “We?”

Linda tried to push his head
against the wall again, but Steve knew it was coming this time and ducked. “Missed
me, missed me, now you have to kiss me!”

Linda left laughing to get
the keys to the vending machines.

When she returned, Kale was
at her side. He spoke with an arrogant and defiant tone when he said he did not
like having anyone in the store and protested their plan to remove food from
the machines without paying.

John told him to relax and
that he would pay for everything they took from the machines. He said that he
would pay in cash and would even pay for anything he and Linda wanted. Kale
shook his head in agreement and said thanks.

Steve put his arm over John’s
shoulder and all four walked to the break room. Linda pulled the cart carrying
the lit candles.

As they sat at the table
eating cold sandwiches, chips, candy and drinks, they discussed the events of
the day.  The conversation always returned to the most obvious question. How
long will this power outage continue?

It was obvious they could
only guess. But the best guess was it would be a long time. The only educated
opinion was that expressed by the old man with the white hair at the airport.
After an hour or so of conversation and food, Steve’s head was resting on the
top of the table, he was snoring.

Let’s get my injured partner
onto something soft so he can get some rest.

Kale said, “Wait a minute and
I’ll get the wheel chair so he can stay off his feet.”

Linda told John to follow
her. They went to the bedding department and removed the fancy bedding from the
display beds. Linda removed four comforters from a rack of dozens and opened
four. She threw one on each of the four closest beds.

Kale arrived pushing Steve in
the wheel chair. Steve was groggy but not asleep.

As the others climbed onto
their beds, John walked down the dark aisle of the store to the merchandise
pick-up door where he and Steve had left their suitcases. He opened his bag and
removed his bag of personal toiletries. He carried the bag into the men’s room.

While he sat quietly on the
commode, he thought of Sue in Alabama and his daughters and grand kids in St
Louis. He was developing an action plan. He had to get to St Louis to gather
the kids and get them to go to Alabama with him. He lived on a lake and the
lake would provide food and water. His house was in a remote area. It should
prove to be safer than the city.

The trip to St Louis from
Chicago would be fairly easy. He would gather the supplies he needed for the
trip from right there in the Sears store. He would ride a bike and carry a small
tent and sleeping bag.

The trip from St Louis to
Alabama with two families would be tougher. He would have to first convince them
to come to Alabama. He believed they would agree that his house on the lake
would be better than the city.  Even without electricity he could provide food
by fishing and hunting. He had enough fishing tackle and hunting gear to last
for years. Surely they would agree to come south.

He continued to sit in the
dark and think. How was Sue doing? She was surely worried. He was pleased when
he thought of their last conversation. He remembered telling her that he had not
made the flight. He was confident she would know that he was safe and that he
would get home to her, somehow.

He sat on the toilet until
his butt hurt. He finally got up, removed his shirt, pants, shoes and socks and
gave himself a good wash in the sink and brushed his teeth. He put only his
pants back on and returned to the bedding department.

The hard cold store floor
felt good on his clean feet as he walked the dark aisles.

As he climbed into his bed he
was happy he had taken the time to clean up. He always slept better when he was
clean. He closed his eyes knowing that he needed his rest. He had a very long
trip ahead.

As he lay in bed, he thought
about what supplies he would need. As the others snored, his mind was in high
gear, planning the future.

John was the first to awake.
He looked at his watch but it was not working. It had stopped when the
electricity had failed. He assumed it was about 5am. He looked towards the
windows at the end of the aisle, and he could see the sky was still full of
static electricity.

He turned towards the others
who were sleeping soundly. The candles had burned all night but were still
burning. He got out of bed, still wearing just his pants, picked up a candle
and carried it for light down the aisle towards the restroom. He brushed his
teeth and washed his face in cold water. He left the restroom and headed to the
men’s clothing department.

As he walked past the housewares
department he found a serving tray and set the candle in the middle of it. The
tray made carrying the candle easier and less likely to fall over and start a
fire.

He found the men’s department
and removed three packages of underwear in his size, thirty- two. He found the
athletic socks, and put two packages under his arm. Next he went to the jeans
and cargo pants. He had planned to take some jeans, but when he looked at the
cargo pants he changed his mind. The cargo pants had an elastic waistband and
he believed that they would probably be far more comfortable riding the bike. Another
thing he liked was that some of the cargo pants were the type that had zippered
legs that could be removed and converted to shorts. They also had more pockets
than the jeans, six pockets to carry things he might need on his trip. He tried
on cargo pants until he found the size that felt best. He took four pair.

Next he was onto the shirts
and jackets. He tried on sweatshirts, long sleeve shirts, short sleeve shirts,
and jackets. He selected two short sleeve shirts, two long sleeve shirts and
one heavy sweatshirt. He could not make up his mind about the jacket because he
wanted to see if there were rain jackets in sporting goods.

He gathered the collection
and carried them over his shoulder down the aisle towards the area of the store
for sporting goods. He did not have any trouble finding his way around the
store. Almost every Sears store was similar.

When he reached the bicycles
he dropped the clothing on the floor and looked over the bikes. He found a mountain
bike with eighteen speeds and big tires. He pulled it from the rack and parked
it on the aisle beside the pile of clothing. He looked at the shelf containing
the bike accessories and found a luggage rack that he believed would fit the
mountain bike. He picked up two of the racks and placed them on the floor
beside the bike. 

He walked around the
department and selected a small tent and lightweight sleeping bag. Again, both
were placed on the floor by the pile of merchandise which was getting big,
maybe too big he thought.

He was near the glass windows
along the side of the store and he could see the sky was getting lighter. He moved
across the aisle to the tool department and picked up a small socket set. He
used the light from the candle to see as he began bolting one of the racks to
the rear of the bike. It went on easily, but putting one on the front of the
bike was a different story. It was not designed to fit the front but with a
small amount of bending the racks thin frame, he was able to get a fairly tight
fit.

He removed the tent and
sleeping bag from their boxes and realized he needed rope or bungee cords. He
moved through hardware and found a one hundred-foot package of soft braided
rope.  He went back across the aisle and found a hunting knife and two duffle
bags.

He placed the tent and
sleeping bag into one of the duffel bags, cut a short piece of rope and tied
the bag onto the rear rack.

He then took the tags from
the clothing and placed the tags into a plastic bag he removed from under the
register counter. He stepped into a display tent and put on a new pair of
underwear, socks, pants and long sleeve shirt. The new clean clothes were
somewhat stiff but they would have to do.

Shoes, he had forgotten to
get new shoes! He picked up one pair of the new socks and the candle and walked
back to the clothing side of the store. He went straight to the athletic shoes
and picked up a hiking shoe. He liked these best and he knew Sears carried
these in the wide size he needs. He carried the shoe into the stockroom along
with the candle to find his size.  He found the correct stock number on the
shelf and then found the nine and one half wide he needed. He sat on the cold floor
and put on a pair of his new socks and the new shoes.

He said. “Super, they feel
perfect.”

When he arrived back at the
bike, Linda was there. She was looking at his pile of merchandise. She saw him
approaching and looked up with a big smile on her face. “Do you think all of
this will fit onto that bike?”

“If they put a man on the
moon, I can get that stuff on that bike.”

He began folding the clothing
as tightly as possible and placed it all neatly into the second duffel bag. He
tied it onto the front rack with another piece of the rope.

Next he picked out two tires
and two tubes that fit the bike. The tubes went into the duffel bag and the tires
were tied to the rear rack over the duffle bag.

All he needed now was a rain
jacket or rain suit. He found a light weight rain suit that was in a small clear
package. He peeled the price tag from the suit and put it into the plastic bag
with the other tags. The rain suit was placed into the front duffel bag.

He stepped back from the bike
and inspected it thoroughly. He grabbed the frame and shook each rack and
duffel bag to check their security. All seemed tight and secure.

He looked at Linda. “How much
of the food in the machines will you let me buy and take with me?”

“You can have as much as you
want.”

“Linda, come over here, I
want you to witness this.” He pulled a sales slip from under the counter top
and began recording the price and stock number of every item he was taking. He
also displayed his Sears associate identification card and Sears Charge Card so
Linda could record those numbers on the sales ticket herself.           

With that done, he asked
Linda if he could buy her breakfast.

They went to the break-room
and ate a package of white powdered doughnuts and drank warm Cokes for their
breakfast.

When he finished his
doughnuts he searched through the machines and picked out a variety of
sandwiches, cakes, candy, and chips. Since the sandwiches would spoil quickly,
he only took what he thought he would eat during the next couple of days. He
placed these into another plastic bag.

He turned to Linda, “Well, it
is about time I hit the road. I have a long ride ahead of me.”

They walked together to retrieve
the bike where he placed the food sack into the front duffel bag, which was now
bulging full.

He took a step back to admire
his ride to Alabama.

“I just thought of a couple
of more things I might need.” He went to hardware and picked up a small pry bar,
and then went across the aisle and found a small tire pump. Both items were
squeezed under the rope holding the rear duffel bag onto the rack. Linda took
the price tags and put them into the bag with the others.

John pushed the bike towards the
bedding department so he could talk to Steve if he was awake. They stopped at
the corner of the bedding department when they heard Steve snoring. John shook
his head no to Linda and turned towards the doors at the rear of the store.
Before leaving the building he stopped at the men's restroom for a quick stop.

When he came out he was
carrying two rolls of toilet paper and his small bag of personal toiletries. 
He jammed them into the rear duffel bag and gave it another shake. The bike had
a water bottle attached to the frame so he pulled it free and filled it at the
water fountain outside the men’s room.

He turned to Linda, “Thank
you for your help and cooperation. Linda, don’t let Steve scare you. He is a
flirt, but he is harmless. If he gets too aggressive, just kick him where it
hurts. Tell him I said good luck, I hope his leg is ok.”

She leaned forward and gave
him a fast hug. She said, “Be careful,” and unlocked the door.

With that, John pushed the
bike through the door. He put his leg over the bike and pedaled away. He waved
as he headed south.

The bike was top heavy and
steered a little hard, but he handled it well. He pedaled slowly but steadily
as he maneuvered his way through the many cars left abandoned in the mall and
then on the roadways. He was not surprised to see that there were still some
people waiting with their cars. As he pedaled past them, he wondered how long
they would sit on the road waiting for everything to return to normal. He
thought most looked helpless.

The weather was cool and
clear but the sky still was full of lightening or sporadic static electricity.

As he began to leave the city
he felt a real sense of freedom. His mind seemed at ease with the situation.
His thoughts were only of his trip and his family. He was surprised that he had
not thought of his responsibilities to Sears or any of the urgent job
responsibilities he had left pending last week before he left the south to
attend the national meetings.

He pedaled on, he was smiling,
he was enjoying the day. His only concern was weaving between the hundreds of
cars abandoned on the highway and pedaling up the hills of the interstate.

At about noon he coasted the
bike off the side of the highway, down a grassy hill to a shady spot under a
large white oak tree. He leaned on the highway fence as he sat in the grass and
ate smashed ham sandwich. As he sat in the grass he became aware of the lack of
sound. It was very quiet. There were no planes, no cars, and no tractors. The
only sound was the leaves and the wind. It was pleasant.

When he stood up to leave, he
discovered his knees had stiffened. He was in fairly good shape for being
fifty-two years old, but the hours pushing the pedals and sitting on the skinny
bike seat had already began to take their toll on his knees and backside. As he
pushed the bike up the hill and back onto the highway, he thought about how he
would feel the next morning. But that did not matter, he had no choice. He
began pedaling south slowly and steadily.

He pedaled all afternoon and
stopped only once to answer nature’s call. As he stood in the middle of the
interstate highway urinating on the concrete he spelled his nickname,
Appleseed. As he did so, he grinned and spoke aloud, “Here’s to you Steve.”

It was beginning to get dark
when he stopped where the highway crossed over a small river. He lifted his
bike over the guardrail and walked it down a slope to the river. He set up his
tent under the bridge on the flattest spot he could find. He walked along the
river among the trees and gathered small logs for firewood. After starting a
fire he opened his small bag and found his soap and shampoo. He removed his
clothing and hung them over the top of the tent. He walked naked to the river
and waded into the cold water. He sat on the sandy river bottom as he washed
his hair and body.

When he climbed from the
river, he realized he had no towel. He walked naked back to the tent cursing
himself aloud for not thinking to bring a towel. He had no choice but to use
his shirt to dry himself. He put on clean underwear, pants and a short sleeve
shirt and sat down in front of the fire to eat another smashed sandwich.

His muscles were sore so as
soon as he finished eating he crawled into the tent and laid on top of his
sleeping bag.

He had not yet fallen asleep
when he heard the first sounds of thunder. The lightening or static electricity
had never stopped, but until now he had heard no thunder. Slowly and steadily
the rain began to fall. It fell harder and harder until it was an absolute
downpour. The thunder also increased in intensity until it was getting
frightening.

He laid and listened to the
thunder until he fell asleep. When the sun woke him in the morning he felt
tired and stiff. He had no idea what time he had finally fallen asleep, but the
sleep did not seem to help his tired legs all that much, they were sore and
stiff.