“Love and Family During the Great Death”
Chapter 07: Helping the Community
Everyone ran out into the yard, where they danced around
marveling at the quiet that surrounded them. There were still several meteors
falling yet, so between that and the three-quarter moon, the visibility was
fairly good. Which wasn’t to imply it was a clear night. As a result of the
continuous meteor showers for the last several days, the sky was covered with a
dirty haze and the ground outside was dusted with a thin layer of ash created
by the incinerated extraterrestrial debris.
Even Bob joined them. Although he couldn’t see anything, he
had a great time spinning in circles, safe in the knowledge that someone would
grab him before he ran into something. Ellen made sure to show David how much
she appreciated him, but she was hardly the only one who felt that way, so she
found her position beside him taken over time and again.
“Oh, David, thanks so much for taking care of us,” Linda
gushed when she wrapped him in a tight embrace. “You have no idea how worried I
was when I first I drove up here. I knew after only a couple of hours that it
was a fool’s errand, but I also knew I couldn’t very well turn around. I was
sure we would all be killed and it would be my fault. It was a miracle we
didn’t suffer any more damage than we did. We saw other cars lying in the
ditches or destroyed, and I knew I was risking everyone just because I
remembered feeling safe with you.
“But when we finally arrived here it was even better than I
imagined. Not only did you provide us with a safe haven, but it was gorgeous
and you made everyone feel welcomed. You gave everyone something to do, and you
kept us too busy to think about what was happening all around us.”
“Yeah, I thought that drive was a bit insane myself. I mean,
I could see doing it when there isn’t any danger, and I understand you didn’t
realize the storm was going to restart, but I just couldn’t imagine putting
Alice’s friends in that much danger myself. Anyway, I’m glad I could help
everyone adjust.”
“I agree,” Sara said as she joined in their hug, pressing
herself against them. “I was terrified on the drive up, sure that we were going
to die. After both Erica and Amy got injured I never thought we’d make it. And
Linda admitted she’d never even been here before, so I didn’t have high hopes
for how it would turn out.”
“Well, given the alternatives, I think it was the best
choice available to us,” Betts added from behind them. “We knew it was
dangerous everywhere, but Linda described how careful and methodical you were,
so we figured you’d have a fairly safe place set up. But as you said, we were
caught by surprise when the storm started up again. We’d assumed the storm had
passed, instead of simply moving west with the setting sun. We were lucky no
one was killed, but we have you to thank for their continued safety after that
first trip.”
“Hey, make way for some other thankful people,” Flora said,
as she edged Linda aside so she and Erica could hug David as well.
“Yeah, after I got injured I was really scared,” Erica said,
as she tried to awkwardly hug her new hero with her bandaged side. They’d
managed to clean and patch her wound quickly, and they’d found some fast acting
cast material in the supplies that Maggie had brought with her for Amy’s broken
arm. “I could see a piece of debris like the one that hurt me come smashing
through the windshield and killing your wife. Then we’d be stuck out in the
middle of nowhere, with no one driving by to help, no police available and no
phone to call for help.”
No one felt it appropriate correcting Erica’s incorrect assignment
of Linda’s relationship to her ex. Flora was just as exuberant in her praise of
David as well. “Well, I don’t care how scared they felt they were, it just
doesn’t compare to lying out in the open exposed to the elements, holding your
dying sister while you’re surrounded by your destroyed house and your dead
parents. I had no idea what I was going to do or where I was going to go. Then
just as I was thinking of walking into town, you drove up and rescued me.
You’ll never know just how relieved I felt. I literally owe you my life.
There’s no way I can ever pay you back, although I wouldn’t mind doing it in a
thousand little installments instead of all at once, if you don’t mind, that
is,” she teased as she managed to squeeze his bum while grinding up against
him. She had no idea if he was receptive to blatant flirting or not, but she
was taking her lead from how the other women were treating him. She figured if
he didn’t like it he wouldn’t allow it, so he must be fair game.
“That’s why Reggie and I decided to leave the supplies with
you,” Maggie said as she waited her chance to show David just how thankful she
was too. “The way you took charge with Flora proves you’re only interested in
others, and we both knew the police didn’t have the means to preserve those
supplies. I’ve always thought the world of you, even though we never got the
chance to talk much in the past. But Reggie’s always thought the world of you,
and now everyone else does as well.”
“Look, girls,” David said, carefully moving Flora’s
exploring hands away from him, “I can understand how you feel, but you’re
really giving me too much credit. Basically all I did was have a house that was
facing the right direction. It’s purely an accident that I had a safe house or
that I had electricity. For all any of you knew, I could have been killed on
the road or buried in an avalanche.”
“I don’t think it’s as simple as that,” Ellen said, giving
the other girls a chance to give her new boyfriend their own hugs. “You weren’t
hurt on the street because you knew what to do. Alice and I weren’t hurt
because you knew enough to get us off the street. If you hadn’t, I’m sure we
wouldn’t have made it. Given what we saw, I’m amazed that the others made it.
“And it wasn’t an accident that your house is safe. Look at
how you designed it. You can tell lot of thought and planning was put into it.
Even if it was facing another direction your window is tilted away from any
falling debris, and it’s sheltered by the overhanging cliff. And even if your
generator had been damaged you know enough to fix it, plus you had plenty of
battery backup. And even if you didn’t have either of those, your refrigerated
cave would have kept your supplies cold for a long time without any power. So
don’t expect any of us to believe you’re an innocent babe. You’re officially a
hero to each of us.”
“I don’t know, I think he’s a bit of a babe, myself,”
Caitlyn mumbled. Everyone heard it, but since no one was sure who’d said it no
one objected to it. Everyone felt about the same way. Even if he wasn’t
handsome, moderately well off and hard working, it was clear he was a caring
man unafraid of taking care of others.
“Well, look, we should really be getting everyone inside.
I’m sure Bobby is likely to injure himself when he accidently steps into a
gopher hole or some little meteor divot. There’s still a lot we have to do
tomorrow, so there’s no sense getting carried away tonight.”
“Oh, and what are your big plans for us tomorrow?” Julie
asked, ready for whatever tasks he might have for them.
“I don’t know about the rest of you,” Betts interrupted,
“but I’m thinking I’d like to return to the city. I want to see how everyone is
doing, and I can bring out any of the other girls that need a safe place to
stay. I can imagine how crazy it is trying to work at repairs with people
running wild all around you.”
“Are you sure, Betts?” Maggie asked. “You realize the roads
won’t be cleared. You may also run across closed roads or damaged bridges.”
“That may be, but I still want to try. I’m worrying about
Sara’s brother, and I know everyone else has been exposed as well. If I can
bring a few of them up here or help some of them recover, then I’d like to
try.”
“How about we plan your trip for you?” David suggested. “I
think I’ve got some roadmaps in the house. We can plan alternate routes so if
you find the road closed you can always double back and take a different path.”
“Yeah, I think that both David and I know the roads between
there and here pretty well,” Maggie said, “and I’m sure Bobby can talk to the
sheriff about which roads are in the best condition.”
So they headed back into the house, ready to start the next
task now that they had something to work towards. Everyone seemed anxious to do
something productive. Games were fine if you were stuck, but you could only
tease your hero if he stuck around, and they each realized he’d be easier to
tease working on a specific task than while playing a game he was likely to
walk out on.
David and Ellen were nestled in bed together, enjoying some
time alone once more. David wasn’t quite as anxious to make love at the moment.
After all, he’d gone through a lot today, and while he liked to be there for
everyone else, he was hardly a ‘battle hardened’ soul, and he’d been exposed to
a lot of things that he was just as green with as anyone else. But instead of
just babbling about what was bothering him, he was trying to work up to it by
discussing the day’s events with Ellen. However, they’d only gotten a little
ways into it when they were interrupted by a quiet knocking on the door.
“It’s open,” David called out. Even though he and Ellen had
been having an intimate discussion, neither one was currently naked, and David
was well aware just how many things could go wrong with a house full of young
girls.
The door opened and Linda poked her head in.
“Sorry to disturb you young lovebirds, but I managed to find
a certain someone sitting outside your door waiting for you to finish whatever
you were up to.” With this, Linda stepped aside to reveal a suddenly shy Alice
standing behind her. “I didn’t want to ask what she was waiting for, but I
thought you should know she was waiting.”
“Come on in, both of you,” David invited. “She did this to
us the other night. Apparently she was so concerned with our getting together
she didn’t want to interfere. But she’d been scared to be alone the other
night. As a result she waited until we finished fooling around, listening to us
the entire time. I’d kind of hoped this wouldn’t become a regular thing, but….”
“I wasn’t scared tonight,” Alice insisted, as her mother
guided her into the room, “but I was upset by what happened today. I’d thought
I could handle it, but now that it’s dark and everyone is settled it’s starting
to bother me.”
“Oh, baby,” David said, moving the blankets aside so she
could climb in, even as Ellen turned on the bedside light so Alice and Linda
could see where everything was. Alice ran to the bed and climbed in, while
Linda moved a bit more leisurely. However she also climbed into the bed, on the
other side of Alice from her ex. But when Alice shifted over and climbed on top
of David, she found herself sidling up to her ex so that he now found himself
with a woman on either side of him and a young girl holding him tight on top of
him.
“I was afraid this might happen,” David said.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I thought I was handling it OK. But when
the lights go out and there aren’t any more distractions, my brain starts to
think about what it hadn’t had a chance to before.”
“That’s OK, honey. Frankly, I was disturbed by what we
experienced today myself, so I can easily see why it would bother you,” he
answered.
“You and me both,” Ellen said, cuddling David’s side. “I’m
glad you sheltered me from the worst of it, but I’d thought Alice was jumping
into the deep end when she volunteered to work on the bodies by herself.”
“I guess it affected us all,” Linda commiserated. “I was
initially freaked out when I saw that little girl dead in the kitchen. I guess
David asked the rest of you to take over for me since it had unnerved me so
much.”
“We’ve all been through a lot,” David reassured them, “and
while we hadn’t had to deal with death on such an intimate basis till now, it
was bound to happen sooner or later. As I told you the other night, Alice, you
can’t get over anything if you don’t discuss it. That’s why so many people
suffer for so long, because they don’t bother to discuss things when they
happen, instead of waiting for personal problems to develop before they try to
address the issue. And by then it’s often too late.”
As they discussed how they each felt about what they’d
experienced, David considered just how much had changed so rapidly. Not only
had their world been turned upside down with the widespread destruction, the
loss of life, and the adjustments they’d had to make, but David’s own
circumstances had changed radically. Previously he’d been on his own, only
seeing his daughter for a short weekend every other week. Now he found himself
with a beautiful woman hugging him from either side, and a beautiful young girl
sitting in his lap. And that itself was strange. This morning Alice had been
outraged that he’d slept with her mother, but now they were all lying here in
the bed together and she didn’t object. Sure, they weren’t doing anything
sexual, but it was still quite a change in everyone present. Until Friday he’d
been on his own and now he had a house full of people depending on him. Until
yesterday Linda had been an angry ex-wife, but now she was relying on her
ex-husband again to get by each day. Ellen, while independent, had adopted not
only David’s daughter into her life, but his ex-wife as well. No one’s life had
survived the effects of the meteor shower intact.
“There’s just so much difference between burying a dead
animal in the woods and caring for someone who’s died,” Alice was saying, her
voice sounding tense and tenuous. “The family of someone we’ve just accepted
into our lives, no less. I was doing it for her, for Dad, as well as for each
of you. I knew you were depending on me to do my part, but when I had to
physically close their eyes for them, and those unfocused eyes stared unseeing
up at me, it just sent shivers through my soul.”
“I escaped those memories,” Linda said, “but when I came
across that little girl curled up on the kitchen floor like she was cold, my
heart just felt like it was bursting. She must have been so alone, lying there
on the cold kitchen floor while her parents were lying dead only a few yards
away in the next room.”
“Actually, I don’t think any of them suffered,” David suggested.
“Carbon Monoxide poisoning is a very peaceful way to go. Chances are they each
simply decided to close their eyes for a moment because they suddenly found
themselves feeling sleepy. That’s why it’s such a dangerous thing, because
there’s no clue you’re being poisoned. I doubt she knew she was in trouble, or
even suspected anything had happened to her parents.”
“Well, when you announced that we were to stay outside while
you went in, and that we weren’t to come after you if anything happened to you,
you terrified me,” Ellen told him. “I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I
didn’t like the idea of letting you face an uncertain danger on your own. I
wasn’t about to leave you there to die if anything happened to you.”
“The idea was just that if I didn’t contact you, it meant
the fumes were too strong,” David explained. “All you’d need to do is break the
windows and I’d probably be OK. But if I didn’t make it, it’s likely you
wouldn’t have, either.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t explain any of that,” Ellen reminded
him. “Instead you left us waiting for you to not make it.”
“It wasn’t—” David started to say when there was another
knock on the door, much more timid than Linda’s. David considered not
answering, but reconsidered, as there were any number of things could have
happened in a house full of people as stressed as they all were.
“Yeah, the door’s open,” he called out.
The door again opened revealing Amy’s concerned face, with
Flora’s glancing in over her shoulder.
“We were concerned where Alice was,” Amy apologized.
“We looked downstairs but didn’t see her. We figured she
might be here when we heard you talking from outside,” Flora answered.
“I’ve got to get that door soundproofed,” David teased.
“I was upset because of what I saw today,” Alice explained.
“I wanted to talk it over with my dad, as I thought he’d understand.”
The girls looked at each other, not responding, so David
assumed he knew what they were thinking.
“There’s not much room, but if you can find a space to
sit….” He didn’t even get a chance to finish before they both ran into the room
and climbed in on the either side of the bed.
“I never dreamed your father would invite me into his bed,”
Amy said, smiling at Alice.
“As you can tell, his bed gets crowded sometimes,” Alice
replied with a laugh.
“I thought you said he never dated?” Amy asked her.
“He didn’t. But I guess some things you just never forget,
like riding a bike. I guess wooing girls is just in his DNA.”
“So what are we discussing?” Flora asked, peeking around
Ellen.
“I was describing what I experienced seeing all those dead
bodies today, and Dad was telling us why he didn’t want us to follow him,”
Alice said.
They continued with the discussion, but David was worried
Alice didn’t have the freedom to say what she needed to, and that she wasn’t
getting to work out her demons. But the other girls seemed to have issues of
their own, and were anxious to hear about what Alice was going through.
They talked for a long time, covering a lot of material. The
discussion eventually turned from a discussion of what everyone had experienced
to one about what happens after death, a natural enough transition. Linda led
off, giving a fairly traditional recounting of the expected benefits of living
as a carefree soul, freed from the cares and concerns of mortal life.
“Sorry, Mom, but I have trouble accepting such a simplistic
view,” Alice answered, as she studiously avoided glancing at her mother, hoping
to avoid any disappointed looks. “Life is all about struggles and how you adapt
to them. Now I’ve got no problems with the idea of us passing into a new phase
of life, perhaps one not associated with a physical body, but if you take away
any changes, any concerns or problems to overcome, then there’s not much point,
is there? You’d essentially stop living, so you’d be no better than being
dead.”
David saw Linda’s frown at Alice’s deviating from what she’d
been taught, so he stepped in, trying to get Alice to elucidate her thoughts a
little more fully. “Just what do you mean?”
“Well, if everyone works their whole lives to be more
loving, accepting and forgiving, and then you give them eternal life where they
no longer have to care whether people are suffering, they have nothing to work
towards. If you tell them they no longer have to give a damn, then God would
really be sending the wrong message, wouldn’t he? Basically it would be a case
of ‘thanks for being such a good Christian, now to reward you, you no longer
need to worry about the basic principles of Christianity any longer’.”
“I don’t so much believe in souls as I do spirits,” Amy
said. “I don’t see a bunch of people sitting around in heaven as much as I see
their spirits leaving the earth to go somewhere else. I imagine where they’d go
would be like Earth, but different. Thus they’d still have challenges and
problems, but it would be on a whole new basis.”
“Sort of like Life v2.0?” Flora asked.
“Exactly. I’d hate to think that someone who suffered their
entire life would have to return as a flea, like the Hindus would have you
believe. I’d prefer to think that things would be better, but that most things
would remain the same.”
“Well, I kind of take a middle road,” Flora said. “I’m
halfway between those two positions. I think that when you’re dead you’re
basically dead, but that your spirit just becomes excess energy and that it
becomes absorbed into the universe, so that after death we become a part of
everything. In essence, immortal, infinite and beyond death, but still no
longer alive.”
“Well, I’m sorry,” Linda replied, perhaps a bit defensively,
“but I’ve got to believe in a heaven and a hell, otherwise all the suffering
everyone experiences here on Earth just doesn’t make sense. I need to believe
that it’ll be better somewhere else. I’m not sure I could stand more of the
same somewhere else.”
“That’s what reincarnation suggests,” David added. “That
until you learn the lessons of this life that you’re doomed to repeat them. And
that whatever you refused to learn here you’ll have to relearn by suffering
even more in the next life.”
“Well, thank you very much, but I’ve got no desire to be a
dung beetle in my afterlife,” she answered with a little shiver of disgust.
“What about you, David?” Ellen asked. “We’ve never discussed
our religious views. What’s your opinion of the afterlife?”
“I’ve never really worried about it too much,” he answered.
“Aside from a couple of people seeing a bright glow when they were near death,
we have absolutely no evidence of an afterlife, so I take that to mean that we
weren’t meant to understand it. I think that God wants us to focus on the here
and now, rather than speculate on the unknowable. I also don’t think it does
any good trying to be a good Christian simply to get into heaven. If you do,
you’ll be disappointed if it’s not exactly what you imagined. Instead you need
to do good simply for its own sake. You help others because you can, because it
helps the other person, and because it makes you a better person. Anything else
is immaterial.”
They continued the discussion, now getting into the areas of religion and
forgiveness, but everyone was getting less attentive as time passed. The girls
fell asleep one by one as the hours ticked by, until finally everyone finally
drifted off, David and Ellen being the last as they slipped into
unconsciousness while squeezing each other’s hands.
The next morning, while the women were busy getting things
started, David wandered around outside reviewing the damage to all the outlying
buildings, taking careful notes of what needed fixing. The girls followed him,
assuming he’d be doing something more interesting than fixing breakfast.
Besides, most of them were either just glad to be outside, or were looking to
spend some time with him. It didn’t take him long to finish up.
“Bob, you, Flora and I are going to head off on our own today,”
David announced when he came back in. “I’ll need some muscle so the two of us
should be able to manage.” He handed Maggie his list as he continued. “Maggie,
I want you to stop by the local builders’ supply and pick up these supplies.
Take enough of the girls so you can carry everything you need to. I assume you
know enough to know what everything is.”
“Wait a minute,” Alice and Ellen said at nearly the same
time. Alice let Ellen finish the questions.
“What are you doing and why shouldn’t we be along to help?
After all, if you need muscle then surely having several people helping would
do better than you and Bob wearing yourselves out.”
“I was planning on burying Flora’s family,” David
reluctantly admitted, “just so they won’t lie there and rot in a disgraceful
heap. I figure the police won’t get around to checking them out, and even if
they could they won’t be able to do anything about them. After the discussion
last night I figured the rest of you wouldn’t want to come along.”
“Thanks, David,” Flora said as she rushed to give David a
hug, a tear falling down her cheek. She was relieved that her family wasn’t
just being forgotten or ignored. But the other women weren’t dissuaded.
“Dad, the problem was seeing everyone dead the first time.
I’m sure seeing them again won’t have as much of an impact,” Alice said.
“Plus digging that many graves is going to be more than you
can manage,” Ellen added. “You’ll need some help.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to get fancy. I was planning on a
single grave with a simple wooden cross so the county can dig them up and
rebury them if they insist on it.”
“Still, I’m not shy about doing a little work, but that much
digging is likely to result in a lot of blisters if you aren’t used to doing it
on a daily basis,” Bob commented.
“I’ve got gloves, but you’re right. All right, if you don’t
think it will be a problem then you’re welcome to come along,” David told them.
“I already took care of the bodies, fixing them up, closing
their eyes and covering them. So it shouldn’t be as dramatic as it was
yesterday,” Alice suggested.
“Well, I’m going to head off on my own as I return to the
city. I may show up tomorrow or the next day with a few more people for you,
but we’ll be sure to bring more sleeping bags and supplies if we do. Though you
might want to rope off a section to corral the girls in if I bring any of the
boys along,” Betts teased.
“Yeah, like we’re going to be interested in anyone’s
brother,” Caitlyn sniffed with a note of derision.
“I don’t know, Sara’s brother Sammy is pretty cute,” Julie
added as an aside. Both Caitlyn and Sara turned on her, but Betts had to turn
to hide her smile.
“I was also planning on taking some supplies back to the
shop,” Maggie said.
“That’s fine,” David answered. “I was planning on stopping
to see if the sheriff or anyone else needed any assistance. While we escaped a
lot of damage here a lot of people weren’t so lucky, so I’m sure they could use
some assistance.”
Once everyone knew what needed to be done they were anxious
to get started, so they wolfed breakfast down and made sure they had everything
they needed. They left soon afterwards.
David ended up with Bob, Alice, Ellen, Linda and Flora in
his SUV. It was a tight fit, but the girls didn’t complain. Amy had really
wanted to come, complaining that she’d never had to face death before and that
she was afraid her first exposure to it would be when one of her parents died.
David felt for that sentiment, but told her he didn’t think this was either the
time or the place, and that there would likely be several memorial services in
the coming weeks for her to adjust to the concept.
Maggie planned on taking the other girls with her in her own
truck, but she’d have to put them in the back on the pickup bed, which not only
was potentially dangerous given the shape of the roads, but then there’d be no
room for them once they’d loaded the supplies on the back of the truck. As a
result they shifted around, with Linda taking two of the girls to head into
town to see about picking up some supplies. That freed up a spot for Amy to
join the burial group, which she happily accepted. David just shook his head at
the idea a young girl so anxious to stare death in the face when she had a
chance to avoid it.
Soon they were off, following one another down the long
drive. David made a point of leaving the gate open, just so no one would have
to worry about having a key when they returned. There were enough keys, with
him, Alice and Linda each having one, but he hadn’t thought to redistribute
them.
It was a lot of work burying Flora and her neighbor’s families.
Bob and David did most of the digging, relieved occasionally by Ellen and
sometimes Flora. The gloves helped, but they ended up with some significant
blisters, even though David had thought his hands had been in fairly good shape
from all the construction work he’d been doing for the past several years.
The girls had concentrated on moving the bodies, after they
covered them each in a sheet to ‘preserve their dignity’, and, perhaps more
importantly, to hide those ghostly blank stares from sight. Alice had put the
small wooden crosses up, one for each person, and Flora had scribbled each
person’s name on it using David’s pocket knife. He’d reminded them that a
normal marker would either bleed from the rain or bleach from the sun. Flora
wanted to ensure this temporary marker remained for as long as they could
arrange. After all, her memory was about all that was left of them.
After they finished they each comforted her. She cried and
welcomed their embraces, but she felt good for having done this. Before it was
like an open wound. It wasn’t finished. Her family had been injured, thrown
about and killed, but nothing had been done for them. Now they’d been given a
caring and respectful burial, and she felt like they’d been paid their due. She
didn’t feel any better about losing her family, or about losing her childhood,
but she was ready for whatever life brought her now. She realized she had a new
life now, a life with this wonderful man and his family, whatever weird dynamic
that family was held together with. She’d try to find herself a place within it,
because she couldn’t see herself setting out on her own just yet. Not only was
there nowhere to go and no money to do it with, but she wasn’t quite ready to
be on her own. She was happy with what they’d done for her parents, but she had
no illusions that she was over her loss yet.
David was kind enough to say a few words, despite never
having known the people he was praying for. He’d spoken to Flora about her
family on the way there, so he tried to incorporate what he’d learned, as well
as praying that the lessons they’d taught Flora would carry her throughout her
life, forever marking their role in her life and the role their values had in
shaping her as an individual. Flora had thought that particularly meaningful,
and thanked him repeatedly for his kind words. Alice managed to find a few
flowers from the neighbor’s yard she positioned by the makeshift grave. It
wasn’t much, but it looked nice while still showing a strong contrast. A couple
of lonely bright flowers, atop mounds of dry brown dirt and surrounded by the
debris of broken houses strewn around them. It was a simple but compelling
message told simply but effectively.
Once they finished, Flora glanced back once again before
they left. She said her own prayer for her brother, whose body they never
managed to find. But when she climbed into the car and they headed off she
didn’t look back. She was ready to seal that part of her away for now. She was
sure she’d dredge it up during forthcoming quiet nights, but she still had some
living to do, and she wanted to focus on that. She wanted to concentrate on her
new life, on helping this wonderful man and his many friends and family, and
she wanted to help others like he’d helped her. That was important to her, and
she also realized it would provide a relief valve for her. David had
demonstrated over the past couple of days just how important hard work was in
establishing priorities. You concentrated on what was important and you let the
hard work erase all the other worries. Letting your own physical exhaustion and
your single focus sideline any doubts or insecurities. It was a simplistic
view, one that was surprising in someone as sophisticated and educated as David
was, but she saw it as particularly fitting now, and she planned on grabbing
that work ethic with both hands and not letting go until her mind was clear of
those selfsame doubts.
They met up with Linda and the other girls at the sheriff’s.
The sheriff and David had a nice long talk, and he gave David and the others
some additional tasks to perform, setting them to work helping others in the
community. Unlike David, their cars hadn’t been saved, they didn’t have
comfortable houses to rest up in, and their food wasn’t abundant. So they set
about trying to help those more needing in the community cope until things
began to return to normal.
Although no one knew anyone here, a lot of people seemed to
recognize David, which really surprised Alice and the others. From what she’d
said, everyone had thought that David had just slid by, never making any close
associations. But now it seemed that everyone remembered him, even though he’d
never revealed much of himself. Instead, they seemed to have picked up on his
honesty, his resourcefulness and his concern. In a small community like this,
especially one that found its bedrock in the modern world cut off, those were
important values, and they valued those they felt they could trust.
Not everyone was quite so trustful. While they were helping
one family make repairs, they ran into a group trying to steal another family’s
few remaining possessions. While everyone had stood by, watching to see what
happened, David had quietly pulled a shotgun from behind his seat and his
pistol from under it. Shoving his pistol in his waistband, he aimed the shotgun
at the truck and blew the front tire apart. He then broke the gun apart,
ejecting the used shell and replacing it while calling out to the aggressors.
They were shocked by the noise, so turned to stare at the
man fiddling with his old fashioned hunting gun. David warned them to drop
everything they had with them, that he wasn’t afraid to leave their bloody
remains in the dirt. Something he’d gladly do if he thought they’d taken anything
that didn’t belong to them.
“We’re not even armed. You wouldn’t dare shoo—” the lead aggressor
tried to argue when David finished loading the gun, brought it to bear on him
and pulled the trigger, sending him stumbling back in shocked horror.
David knew the blast wouldn’t seriously injure the man due
to the wide dispersal pattern from that distance. Even though no one noticed,
he had aimed low, not wanting to risk blinding the man by hitting him in the
eye with a stray pellet. But even though it wouldn’t kill or disable him, he’d
know he’d been shot, and David could imagine him trying to explain to whoever
had to remove each of the many shotgun pellets from his flesh what he’d been
trying to do when he’d been shot. Hopefully it would also make him think twice
before he picked on those weaker than him, or from assuming that good people
wouldn’t defend themselves.
They didn’t take long to debate the finer points of his
negotiations, instead dropping everything, their weapons and their loot. The
wounded man scrambled to his feet, blood dripping from many small wounds, and
took off at a rapid hobble. As they ran, David casually handed the shotgun to
Amy, who was standing beside him, and pulled his pistol out of his pants. Amy
knew enough to take the gun by its stock instead of by the heated barrel.
The people ran to their vehicle, but seeing it was now
inoperable, and knowing that David was standing behind them with a loaded gun
aimed at them, they ran off down the road. David watched them as they ran off.
When they paused, glancing back to see if he was still watching them, he put a
well placed shot between one of the aggressor’s legs, showering his legs with
small debris from the road’s surface. They didn’t bother looking back again.
When the afflicted family tried to thank him he simply waved
them off, mumbling that anyone would have done it, and that it was important
for people to stand up for one another in this time of need. They then tried to
offer him something for his trouble, but he acted insulted by such a suggestion,
telling them he didn’t do what he did for a reward, and that the best reward
would be to see them doing the same for someone else. After that no one else
offered him anything in exchange for his help beside their heartfelt thanks.
Though they promised themselves they’d find some way of repaying him, someday
and somehow.
They finally made their way back to the pharmacy, looking
for Maggie and the others, but they’d missed her. She’d stopped by and had
already left again, but they met Reggie Sinclair, her husband, the pharmacist
and the owner of the pharmacy. He invited them in, showing them the repairs and
adjustments he’d made, though he made no mention of the very obvious
bloodstains and nail holes in the walls. They stood as silent testimonial to
what happened to those that would prey on the meek and injured, something that
Reggie wasn’t about to forget.
Reggie was an older gray haired man with plenty of wrinkles,
but with a generally happy expression and a pleasing demeanor. He seemed to get
along with everyone, and had only wonderful things to say to the women about
everything that David had done for him and everyone in the community over the
past several years.
“No matter what you were doing, all you had to say was that
you were working on something and he’d climb out of his truck and offer to
help,” he recounted, remembering his early meetings with David. “And he
wouldn’t stand for any offers of payment. He’d do it simply because it needed
to be done, never mentioning what else he may be doing at the time. He also
wasn’t afraid of going out of his way to help someone, and if he couldn’t help
you at the moment, he’d tell you exactly when he’d be back and he’d expect you
to meet him there. If you weren’t, then he’d likely be there, doing it himself
whether you set anything up for him or not.”
Alice was already aware of the similarity between the two
men, but Ellen was surprised by it, and could see how Maggie had teased that
she could easily sleep with David. After all, he was much like her own husband,
and they both seemed to work so well together that it was almost like borrowing
a tool to do a job together. However she wasn’t about to comment about that,
since it bore surprisingly close to her relationship with Linda.
Reggie praised Alice for the beautiful woman she was
becoming, and commiserated with Flora about how wonderful her parents had been.
He told Linda he was pleased to meet her, but he positively took to Ellen,
welcoming her to the neighborhood and telling her he planned on seeing a lot of
her in the future.
The other girls were a little confused. They thought they’d
heard all the stories about David, but they didn’t understand quite what the
bloodstains outside represented, although it was clear they stood as silent
testimonials to him, and that Reggie held him in high regard as a result. They
planned on cornering Alice afterwards to get an explanation out of her, but
she’d never revealed it because she didn’t really known what had actually
happened. Only knowing that her father had asked her not to reveal what he’d
done or where he’d hidden the nail gun. Thus they were unlikely to get any
answers from her.
Reggie told them the drugs that Maggie brought had been
welcomed, but for now he was taking a largely ‘wait and see’ approach, telling
anyone looking for a prescription for antibiotics that they simply didn’t have
any available at the moment, and that he’d only release them to those who
clearly needed them. Meaning he didn’t give a shit if you had a prescription,
you’d have to have an honest to God infection if you expected to be treated.
The locals seemed to respond to that attitude whereas the out-of-towners seemed
to be incensed by it, which was why he only told them he didn’t have any
medications available and they’d have to travel back to the city to see if they
had anything for them.
Returning with two carloads of tired people, they were
welcomed home by Maggie and the other girls, who had dinner waiting for them
despite the late hour they’d arrived. As they ate, Maggie and the others
described what they’d done. They too had helped out quite a bit. They’d met a
lot of people at the hardware store, and David’s list had been a lifesaver,
since he’d been very specific about what he wanted. The store had put
restrictions on how much they’d sell, not wanting anyone stockpiling limited
supplies or buying a lot of supplies they wouldn’t put to use immediately.
However, when they saw David’s list they saw exactly what he was trying to do
and that he’d asked only for what he needed immediately, so they were quick to
fill it, thanking Maggie for her understanding the entire time they helped her
with the supplies.
No one at the hardware store seemed to know who David was,
though, until the general manager came out to visit with them as they were
strapping everything down in the back of the pickup. He’d talked to them,
asking how they’d weathered the storm and how David was holding up. He was
pleased that David was helping so many people and spoke highly of him. He said
that David never spent much time talking, but always come in knowing exactly
what he needed. But he’d taken to listening to what everyone else was doing, or
were attempting to do, and he’d often offer to help, or stop by to make sure a
job was done correctly. He’s also stopped by the manager to ensure a certain
contractor would do a good job for someone he’d just met. That had earned the
manager’s respect.
After dinner, although everyone was exhausted, they weren’t
quite ready to turn in, nor were they ready to veg out in front of the TV. So
they all settled back, staring at the now quiet sky outside, listening to music
quietly playing in the background as they spoke of many things, mostly focusing
on what Alice’s friends were planning to do with their lives and how what they’d
experienced that weekend might impact how they went about it.
Bob had gone to his radios and came back with news from Ma.
She reported the activity at the hospital hadn’t let up, with more people
coming in with more minor wounds, now that they knew it was safe to do so. She
reported that many had to travel for hours over bad roads to get there, and
they hadn’t felt secure taking that risk while the meteor storm was still
active. She confirmed Reggie and Maggie’s fear that the doctors were busy
issuing everyone prescriptions for antibiotics, not wanting to risk refusing
them to anyone, despite no sign of any infection taking hold.
Finally, hardly able to keep their eyes open any longer,
David told the girls that they’d better go to bed.
“I’m turning in myself, so any of you planning to sleep with
me tonight had better come along because I’m not waiting for you to make up
your minds.”
None of the girls were quite sure what he was referring to,
but they each contemplated following him anyway. Until they regarded Alice,
that is. She didn’t seem to approve of their temptations. Still, they each knew
how thankful they were and they didn’t want to cross any unseen lines, so
they’d behave themselves. They each thought much too much of David and the
women around him to abuse that trust.
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