Free No Normal Day by J. Richardson Page A

popped another shot.
    David
was stretched out across all the gear piled in the back, squeezed
nearly to the headliner and the big spotlight was making a poor beam
but it was showing the side of road. “There! Dad.” Jason
was able to see a gravel entrance. The car whipped back into the
entry, the old metal bumper pushed into a gate. “Whoa-o-a”
shouted David. Gravel spraying and the wheels spinning, Jason pulled
out and started backtracking down the road, quickly leaving the
strangers behind. He realized that a shot must have hit the bottled
water tied on top of the car and turned on the wipers. BJ was crying
loudly now.
    “ Dianne,
is everyone okay?” yelled Jason
over his shoulder.
    “ Yeah,
we are fine.” There was an outburst of exhaled breath and
nervous chatter. Matt takes the baby and made faces
at him, settling down his screaming. Kat was digging around for a
cookie for him and one for her, too. The old wagon rocked along and
moved at
a high speed.
    Dane
raised up from between his step dad and Tate. “O-M-G! Good
thing I didn't need to pee, that was like hell.” Everybody
started to laugh.
    “ Hey
David, you see anything behind us?”
    “ No,
Dad. I have been shining the light still. I can't see very far, but I
don't see anything.”
    Jason
slowed his speed a little, damn, he was going to kill them all, at
this speed. “ We will have to go all the way back into the
edge of Hughesville and take the other highway. I hate to waste the
gas, we can't take a chance on getting lost. If everything looks
right, we'll stop and take a break. Fuel is still about half a tank.
Maybe this old monster is more efficient than I thought. Of course,
it's probably got a fifty gallon tank.” Nobody laughed this
time, but Tate. Fear still hung inside the car and Jason tried to
shake it off of himself.
    The
excitement had left everyone, as well as Jason, exhausted. It was
late and he was beginning to doubt the wisdom of going on in the
night. He had just about rather be beat on the head than consider it,
but if they could stay on his ex-wife's mother's farm the rest of the
night they could head out in the morning. He felt like it would give
them a chance to re-group. His ex-mother-in-law really detested him,
still she probably wouldn't refuse them. Instead of turning on the
highway at the edge of Hughesville, he made his way back to the farm.
He explained to everyone and they seemed a bit relieved. Actually,
Dianne and his ex get along fine, probably a mother thing in common.
He turned up the long drive and hoped he wouldn't get shot, either on
purpose or unintentionally.

    ***

    This
was day three, since the mystery
event. Beth
sat with
Jack and Lynn, Lee and Cody at the dining table for their “status”
meeting. Jack sipped his
coffee. “Beth, why don't you give us an idea of what our food
situation is?” Beth had been
the one to actually take prepping for disaster seriously and she knew what
was stocked in that storage closet.
    “ Well,
we will add what you brought from Lynn's, today. I always based my
inventory on four. Of course, we have more mouths now but we have
added some food, too. We are still eating out of the everyday pantry
right now and the freezer, which hasn't ruined yet. I guesstimated
that we have food for about three months that would maybe stretch to
four. I actually have seed. We might try a small garden. I am no
expert, I have
some guides that I printed out. We will have to see what is
appropriate for the time of year. It will take some of our water, but
we can try.”
    Lynn
spoke up, “Three months...a garden? How long do you and Daddy
think this will last?”
    Jack
patted her hand, “Lynn, we don't know. It's going to be a lot
longer than three months. Maybe things won't ever be back to what
they were.” We are going to have to be very frugal. We are also
going to have to try to be as self sufficient as we can. Eventually,
we will have to be resourceful.” He gave Lee a steady look.