Free The Last Layover by Steven Bird Page A

the bus.”
    “What do you mean until you got on the bus?” she said.
    “Well, one of the older kids called you some bad names and said you've been bothering his mom, making her mad. He said when she gets mad she takes it out on him. He said you better stop, or he will kick my butt until you do. Only he used a different word for butt that I can't say.”
    “Oh, Michael,” she said. “I'm so sorry he said that to you, but it's Mommy's job to make sure people know they have to pay their rent. If people don't pay their rent, the apartments would have to close and then where would everybody stay?”
    He shrugged his shoulders as if he understood. She said, “Why don't you boys just play in the office break room and I'll be back in just a few minutes.” Considering the event on the school bus, she figured they would be better off not going to the playground until she finished her rounds.
    Once she began her rounds, she made it all the way through the first building uneventfully. There were just a few two-week late notices there. The eviction notice she had to post was in the next building over. As she started up the stairs of the second building, the lights flickered, then went out. The battery-powered emergency lights kicked on, but since they were not good for long, she felt as if she had been saved by the bell. I'll just tell the manager that I couldn't finish because of the power outage, and since I'm off tomorrow, maybe he will do it for me , she thought. With a little more spring in her step, she headed back to the office to gather her boys and head for home.
    As she neared the office, she ran into a tenant by the name of Mark Platt. Mark was one of those fellows that would rope you into a conversation and never let you go. Attempting not to make eye contact, she tried to walk on by when he said, “Mrs. Jones, did you hear about the plane crash?”
    This immediately caught her attention. “What?” 
    “Well, I was watching the news where a passenger plane had crashed somewhere around New York. I couldn't catch the whole story, though, because that’s when the power went out. My phone is dead, too, so I thought since your husband is a pilot, you may know what's going on.”
    Fear and anxiety swept through her body as she realized Jason was flying to New York that day and that she hadn't heard from him. She checked her phone, but she had no missed calls. She noticed she didn't have a signal either. She turned back to Mark. “When you said that your phone was dead, did you mean your battery or your signal?”
    “My signal, why?”
    Oh my God , she thought. Could all of Jason and Evan’s paranoia be right? Was something happening? Was he okay?
    Sarah left Mark standing there as she picked up her pace and jogged back to the office. When she arrived, she found her boys sitting out front due to the electricity being out. She grabbed them both and rushed to the car. She drove straight for home, but remembered she had neglected to stop for gas that morning as she was running late. A few miles from their neighborhood, she pulled into a gas station and noticed a sign that said, “We apologize for the inconvenience, but due to the power outage we are unable to dispense fuel.” She immediately got back on the road and continued towards home, constantly checking the fuel gauge.
    After another two miles, the car started to shudder and the sound of the engine was soon replaced by the tone of the systems monitor annunciators; she had run out of gas. Sarah coasted to the side of the road, got out, and looked in the cargo pod that Jason had installed on the top of their car. There she found a five-gallon can of gas, as well as a few other “just in case” items. Plenty to make it home , she thought as she poured the contents of the gas can into the fuel tank. “Oh, Jason,” she mumbled to herself. “I love your annoying paranoia.”
    They arrived home to find the power out there, as well. She fired up the portable