This World We Live In (The Last Survivors, Book 3) (6 page)

"I don't know what happened," she said. "I was al right, waiting for you before I began working again, and then I must have passed out."

"It doesn't matter," I said. "I found you. You're fine."

"Would I have died?" she asked. "Could I have real y died that way? After al we've been through, could that have happened?"

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I knew she was asking herself those questions, so I didn't say anything. She'd stopped shaking, and for me that was enough.

Neither one of us mentioned going back to the cel ar. Let the house sink into the earth. Mom's avoided the mound of death for one more day, and that's al that matters.

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***

Chapter 5 May 13

Mom was a nervous wreck waiting for Matt and Jon to return. She kept looking at her watch like they were late for curfew.

I was anxious for them to get back, too. The past few days without them hadn't been particularly pleasant.

At least Mom didn't make us go back into the cel ar. I was afraid she would, to give us something to do while we waited. But instead she leafed through one of the mysteries I'd taken without permission. It's Saturday, so I don't have to do schoolwork, but I pretended to read my history textbook anyway.

We both heard them, the sounds of their bikes, the sounds of their laughter, at about the same time.

I got to the door first, opened it, and waited for them to cross the threshold so I could hug them and keep them from ever leaving again.

But when they did cross the threshold everything was different. Forever different.

There was Jon, holding on to a trash bag fil ed with fish. There was Matt, looking even happier than the day

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he got into Cornel . And there, clinging to Matt's arm, was a girl.

"This is Syl," Matt said. "My wife." He grinned. "I love the sound of that," he said. "Syl. My wife."

"Your wife," Mom said, and it was obvious she didn't love the sound of that. "Matt, Jon, come in.

Miranda, take that bag and put it in the garage.

We'l deal with it later."

"There's another bag," Jon said. "I'l go with you, Miranda."

"Great," I said, taking it from him and walking to the bike. Jon got the second bag, as ful as the first, and we began the walk to the garage.

"Wife?" I whispered. "What happened? Who is she?"

"We were at this motel," Jon said, like he was bursting to tel me. "It was the second night. There are empty motels al over. You find a room and take it. You know how there's a door to another room right in yours? We could hear a man screaming at a girl in the room next door. It sounded like he was hitting her. Matt broke the door down, and he ran in there and grabbed her and told the guy to keep his hands off her if he knew what was good for him."

"Matt did that?" I asked. "And the girl was Syl?"

Jon nodded. "He brought her back into our room, and we got our stuff and went upstairs to a different room. The guy could have tried to find us, but he acted like he didn't care when we took Syl away. He said she was al ours, as far as he was concerned.

He meant it, too, because the next day, he was at the river fishing, and he said hi to us like we were old friends. Syl didn't seem scared of him, but I don't think she scares easy. The next night, though, we stayed at a different motel."

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He paused for a moment. "Syl said I should take a room to myself, that she and Matt could share. That was Thursday night. Yesterday we went back to the river, and Matt said he and Syl had exchanged vows and in the eyes of God they were married. There was a guy at the river whose wife had died months ago, and he took off his wedding ring and gave it to Matt to put on Syl's finger. It's too big for her and it keeps fal ing off."

"Mom is going to kil him," I said.

Jon nodded. "Matt won't care," he said. "He's crazy. Everybody's crazy, Miranda. It was great at the river because there were people there, and we talked about stuff, like how NASA must be working on ways of growing plants without sunlight so we'l al have food again, but you could tel everybody was crazy. Anytime someone caught a fish, there'd be singing and dancing like they'd won the lottery."

"Do you like her?" I asked.

"I think so," Jon said. "She talks to me like she's interested. She talks to everybody that way. On the ride home she and I talked. She and Matt were on his bike, and I was on mine, and Matt kept whistling and singing, but Syl and I talked. I told her about you and Mom and Dad and Lisa and Horton. We talked about basebal , too, but she doesn't know anything about it."

I knew we had to get back into the house, but I had so many more questions. "Where's she from?" I asked. "Did she tel you anything?"

Jon shook his head. "I did most of the talking," he said. "But she must have told Matt. He wouldn't have married her if he didn't know more about her."

I had a feeling there was a difference between exchanging

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vows in a motel room and actual y being married, but Matt apparently didn't care. "We'd better get inside," I whispered. "Before Mom divorces them."

Jon laughed nervously. I guess he'd been thinking the same thing since yesterday morning.

"You're back," Mom said as Jon and I walked in.

"We were just chatting. Syl's such an interesting name. Is it short for something?"

"It wasn't the name I was born with," Syl said. "It's for Sylvia Plath, the poet."

"I know who Sylvia Plath is," Mom said.

I looked at Syl then, and I could understand why Matt had fal en in love. She's gorgeous. We're al thin now, but she looks intentional y thin, model thin.

It was like the entire world came to an end just so you could real y notice her cheekbones. And her hair. None of us have much hair, since we cut it months ago when it got hard to wash. But Syl's hair is a braid to her waist. And even though the ash in the water makes everything look dingy, somehow her hair and clothes look clean. Or at least cleaner than I'm used to.

"Syl's great," Jon said. "She cleaned the fish." He bent over and stroked Horton, who was the only happy one in the room. It probably helped that Jon reeked offish.

"That was very nice of you, Syl," Mom said. "I doubt Miranda was looking forward to that."

I hadn't given cleaning fish any thought whatsoever. "The cel ar's flooded," I said, to hold up my end of the conversation. "Mom and I tried to dry it out yesterday, but it was too much for us."

No one else seemed interested. "I thought I'd take the sofa-bed mattress," Matt said. "And move it into my room

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for Syl and me. If we push the furniture around, the mattress should fit on the floor."

"I found an electric space heater," I said. "You could keep it on, and whenever there's electricity, it'l warm the room up."

"That would be great," Matt said. "Thank you, Miranda."

"We moved the firewood into the pantry," I said.

"We were thinking about using the dining room and the kitchen as bedrooms. Maybe you'd prefer that."

"No, we'l have more privacy in my room," Matt said.

Mom looked like a volcano waiting to erupt.

"Saying a few words doesn't make you married,"

she said.

"Of course it does," Matt said. "That's what marriage vows have always been, saying a few words. Yeah, Syl and I didn't have a minister or bridesmaids or rice, but that doesn't make us any less married. Not in this world, Mom. No one has bridesmaids in this world."

"They could go to City Hal on Monday, Mom," Jon said. "If the mayor's there, he could marry them."

"Jon, stay out of this," Mom said. "You, too, Miranda."

It's kind of hard to stay out of things when we're al living in the same room. "Come on, Jon," I said.

"Let's get Matt's room ready for them."

"Stay where you are!" Mom said. "Matt, you and Jon wil sleep in the dining room. Miranda, Syl, and I wil share the sunroom."

"No," Matt said. "Syl isn't some stray cat I picked up on the road. We're married and we intend to stay that way for the rest of our lives. If you can't accept that, we'l leave."

I thought about how I'd run away a couple of days 62

before, how easy it is to get lost forever, how easy it is to end up just another dead body on a mound.

"Don't go," I said. "Mom doesn't want you to go. You know that, Matt."

Mom inhaled, like she was shoving the lava back into place. "Syl," she said. "Please understand this isn't about you. I'm sure you're very nice. If Matt had brought you home under different circumstances, ordinary circumstances, I'd be delighted."

"These are ordinary circumstances," Matt said.

"And they have been for a year now. Mom, Syl's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I feel alive now. I don't know if I'l stil be alive six months from now. But whatever time I have, I'm going to spend it with her."

"And you, Syl," Mom said. "Do you feel the same way?"

Syl looked straight at Mom. "I have nothing," she said. "My family is gone. Everything I used to think was important is gone. Matt says he loves me. How can I not love someone who says he loves me?"

I thought about the man Syl had been with. I wondered if he'd said he loved her and if she loved him because he'd said so.

"You wil not be dead in six months," Mom said.

"None of us wil be. Obviously I can't pretend I'm happy about al this. We're long past the point where you'd believe me. But I don't want Matt to leave, and I don't want him to threaten that he's going to every time we get into a fight. We're a family." She time we get into a fight. We're a family." She paused. "Now the family has one more member,"

she said. "I would have preferred bridesmaids and rice and a little more warning, but that's just the way it is. We'l have fish for dinner and that box of rice pilaf Miranda found. String beans. A wed-63

ding feast."

Matt got up and hugged Mom. "You'l love Syl," he said. "I know you wil . Like a daughter."

Given the kinds of fights Mom and I have, I don't think that's a fate Syl wil relish.

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***

Chapter 6 May 14

We spent most of the day getting the water out of the cel ar. We took turns fil ing the pails and emptying them. It was a long, disgusting, cruddy day. The electricity never came on, which didn't help.

Two things, though. Syl worked just as hard as the rest of us. And we didn't sing, so I guess we're not crazy.

May 15

Matt and Syl biked to town today to get our food, and to see if they could get more now that Syl's a member of the family, and to ask the mayor to make her an even more official member.

Jon and I volunteered to go with them. "I could be your bridesmaid," I said to Syl, "and make Mom happy."

But what made Mom happy was keeping Jon and me home to do our schoolwork. I guess the somewhat more official wedding day of our brother didn't justify ignoring algebra and Shakespeare.

Mom didn't supervise us, though. She spent the day in Matt's bedroom, cleaning it. Matt's been too impatient to bother.

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"We should be going through houses," I said to Jon. "We're going to need more toilet paper now that Syl's here."

"Another bike, too," Jon said. "People left al kinds of good stuff behind."

"I don't suppose they left any steak," I said. "I'm getting tired of shad."

"How do you think I feel?" Jon asked. "It's al we ate last week."

I'd been so taken aback by Syl's existence, I hadn't thought about what she'd be eating. The shad's made a huge difference. Instead of sharing a can of this and a can of that and a can of something else, we've had a can of this and a can of that and some fish. But the shad can't last forever, and then we'l be back to a can of this and a can of that and a can of something else. Only with one more mouth to feed.

Al of which was a lot more on my mind than Romeo and Juliet when Matt and Syl got back.

"The mayor wasn't there," Matt said. "Mr.

Danworth said he'd tel him to come next Monday, so we'l go back then."

"What about food?" I asked. "Wil they give us an extra bag?"

"Not this week," Matt said. "Maybe next week if there's enough. It doesn't matter. Syl and I can share my food."

"No," Mom said. "Syl's a member of this family, so we'l al share."

"That's fine, Mom," Matt said. "But I don't want you eating less so the rest of us can have more."

"Share and share alike," I said, picturing what that would be like once the fish supply runs out. Oh, wel .

I'm used to being hungry.

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"We could go back to the river tomorrow," Jon said. "Matt and Syl and me, and catch some more fish."

"We should," Matt said. "I don't know how much longer the shad wil be running, but we should get as much as we can. Syl and I wil go. Jon can stay home with you and Miranda."

"I never get to go anyplace," I grumbled.

"Jon, you go with Matt," Mom said. "Syl wil stay home with Miranda and me so we can get to know each other better."

"Mom," Matt said, and he sounded exactly like me. I guess whining is a family trait.

"I think that's a good idea," Syl said. "Besides, you'l catch more fish if you aren't distracted."

Jon snickered. Matt looked like he couldn't decide who to kil first.

"We'l leave first thing tomorrow morning," he said.

"And get back Wednesday night."

"No," Mom said. "Stay until Friday. Jon's algebra's a lost cause, and the longer you're there, the more fish you'l bring home."

"Mom," Matt said, "could you and I talk about this privately?"

"There's nothing to discuss," Mom said. "You and Jon do the hunter-gatherer thing. Syl and Miranda can roam around the neighborhood looking for boxes of rice pilaf. I'l stay home and worry about al of you. That's the appropriate division of labor."

Syl burst out laughing, but when none of us joined her, she stopped.

"Come on, Matt," Jon said. "We'd better catch lots of fish before we start chopping firewood again."

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For a moment I felt sorry for Matt. In an ordinary world he wouldn't have to leave his wife of four days to go fishing with his kid brother. Then again, in an ordinary world he wouldn't have exchanged vows with a strange girl the day after meeting her. At least I assume not.