'Til Death Do Us Part (41 page)

“
You
’
re welcome to stay here as long as you
’
d like. You could both even have
your own trailer if you wanted,
”
Mirabelle said.

I got the feeling she was lonely and frightened, and I couldn
’
t fault her on either count.
“
The offer is very much appreciated, but I have to get home. I have a wife, kids, friends
,
and a dog I need to get back to.
”
Hercules perked up when I said dog.
“
You could come with us.
”
The range of emotions from hope
to despair ran across her face, it was like looking at those posters that show pictures of the human face and all the different internal feelings we can emote.
“
I
’
ll tell you what, do you have paper and a pen?
”

She handed me what I needed.

“
Here
is our address and a rough map.
If
you ever have to leave here or just want a new start
,
you come our way. There probably won
’
t be possum pie
,
but we
’
ll treat you like you
’
re one of our own.
”

“
Thank you.
”
She sobbed a little clutching the piece of paper close
to her breast like it was the W
ord of God.
“
We can get you a car and some guns.
”

“
We can
’
t take those things from you,
”
I told her.

“
We have more of both than we could ever use.
”

“
Really?
”

“
Come on, I
’
ll show you.
Luke
,
we
’
ll be right back I
’
m going to get Poncho some supplies.
”

“
Mike,
”
I said.

“
What?
”
s
he asked.

“
My name is Mike. John gave me a poncho to wear when we first met and that
’
s kind of stuck in his head.
”

“
That
’
s funny.
I thought i
t was a weird name for a Yankee,
”
s
he said.

“
I prefer Bostonian.
”

“
Yankee…Bostonian…
same thing isn
’
t it?
”

“
Not really.
”

She laughed again.
“
Come on
, Herc,
”
s
he said to the pony hybrid.

He didn
’
t need the summons when he saw Mirabelle heading for the door
,
he was already up and waiting. We walked a couple of trailers over
,
one of them had a small steel garage that housed two cars.

“
We checked
‘
em all out these were the two best.
”

There was a beautiful Ford Thunderbird
;
looked like someone had poured a lo
t of money into its restoration.
Its
beauty was so overpowering
that
I barely noticed the thing
sitting
next to it.

“
Wow!
”
I said as I ran my hand down its side.

“
That
’
s kin
d of the one we decided to keep,
”
Mirabelle said.
“But this was the second best one,
”
s
he said proudly.

A lime green Gremlin stared back at me like some hideous engineering experiment gone wrong.
“
I can
’
t catch a break,
”
I muttered.
The
thing assailed my vision, even more so because it was next to such a marvel of perfection.
It was the old standard just like high school girls; the pretty ones would surround themselves with the Plain Janes who would invariably make them look that much better.
I
t did seem tha
t this was having the opposite e
ffect
, though;
the beautiful car was making
the ugly one that much uglier—
all the bubbl
ed glass, and lime green color,
the thick set of its body
—
it almost made me want the Terrible Teal machine back.
“
It
’
s wonderful,
”
I told her thickly, careful not to touch it.

“
Full tank
, too,
”
s
he said proudly.

“
This was really the second best car in the complex?
”
I asked
,
hoping against hope.

“
By miles,
”
she said.

Hercules walked next to me.
He
lifted his leg and proceeded to piss a small river coming off the small car
’
s front tire and past my shoes.

“
He doesn
’
t much like that car,
”
s
he told me.
“
I think it had more to do with the old owner
. S
he always yelled at him.
”

“
No
,
I think
it
has to do with the car,
”
I said as I patted him on his head.

“
Come on
,
let
’
s get you some guns.
”
I hoped this was going to cheer me up.
We headed back towards her home.
She
pulled a small key ring out of her pocket.
“
These are your
s
now.
”

“
Thank you.
”
And I meant it. The car might have been uglier than bloated
,
blue
,
bull balls
,
but it was ours
,
and if it was a necessary evil that got me back to my family that much quicker
,
th
en I would suffer through it.
I just hoped I didn
’
t run into anyone I knew along the way.

She opened the lid up to a good-
sized plastic bin more commonly used to house gardening equipment. There were a good ten or twelve guns in there with a decent amount of ammo. Most of it looked to be of the .22 caliber variety.

“
You keep these out here?
”
I asked her. She nodded.
“
What if something happens?
”

“
The L
ord will provide.
”

“
Mirabelle
,
there
’
s nothing wron
g with your faith, but remember…
he helps those that help themselves. There
’
s a lot wrong with the world today and we can
’
t afford to lose more good folks to the oncoming evil.
”
I didn
’
t seem to
be winning
her over with my argument.
“
Okay
, wait new tactic.
You said the L
ord would provide
,
right?
”

She nodded again.

“
Well didn
’
t he provide these then?
”

“
I
’
m not sure that
’
s what that proverb pertains to.
”

“
Listen
,
Mirabelle
,
I
’
m not going to
tell you how to live your lives,
you both look like you
’
ve made it through better than I have so far. You just need to know that the evil that walks this earth is not merely relegated to zombies. And
crap-filled diapers aren’t
going to stop them, more than likely it will alert them to the fact that someone is around.
”

“
I
’
ll think about it,
”
s
he said.
“
I
’
m just not a fan of guns.
”

“
Fair enough. I
’
m going to take two…
a rifle and a pistol.
”

“
What about your friend?
”

“
He
’
s much better off without one.
I
’
m afraid he would think it was a squirt gun and blow his lips off trying to get a drink of water.
”

Mirabelle laughed.

There was a 7.62 caliber semi-
auto
matic that looked Chinese built;
I really wanted to take that one as it was
by
far the best thing in that box,
but
I kept di
gging. I ended up with a twelve-gauge shotgun from the Depression Era.
It was a single-
shot breech load
and
well taken care of
,
but unless we were taking on slow deer
,
it was not the optimal weapon of choice. I added to th
at
a nine-
inch barreled .32 caliber revolver. I
’
d never
even heard of the manufacturer.
All
I could think was that someone had watched
Dirty Harry
with Clint Eastwood and wanted to own the same gun. That same person then went down to the local gun store
,
and when they realized how much a
.
44 magnum cost
,
they opted out for the lesser imitation model.

There was a box of
twenty-five
rounds for the shottie
,
and maybe
thirty-five
to
forty
rounds for the .32. I thanked Mirabelle profusely
, she waved my gestures away.

“
It
’
s the least we could do,
”
s
he said.

“
I really
hope you take
me
up on my offer,
”
I told her as I held her door open. Hercules scooted in after her. I looked out once for any signs of danger and closed the door after me when I didn
’
t notice anything.

Luke
and John were in the midst of some epic laughing and hadn
’
t realized we had returned. Probably didn
’
t even know we had ever left.

“
You want to see the spare bedroom?
”
Mirabelle asked.
“
You look like you
’
re asleep on your feet.
”

“
I
’
d love to,
”
I said as I followed her down the narrow corridor.

“
Can I ask you something?
”
s
he asked as
she led me into the small room dominated by a queen-
size
d
bed that looked like a small slice of heaven just now.