Free No Normal Day by J. Richardson Page B

“By
resourceful, I mean we will have to explore every possibility for
keeping us fed. That might mean some looting of our own”.
    Lee
nodded in agreement, he got it. Lynn's bruised face had a deer
caught in the headlights look.
    “ About
water. Of course, that is going to be where we have to be stingy as
Scrooge. I went out this morning and the plastic can was about a
third full. That is a great idea, Beth, but of course rain won't keep
us in water, even if it is a rainy Spring. We have that 55 gallon
barrel and the water in the storage shed.”
    “ You
know, Joel has the pond, he will share if he can” said Beth.
“I have that water filter and several gallons of bleach. Some
will go for cooking, some will be good enough for other uses,
flushing, bathing, etc.”
    Jack
said, “If we can keep the mower and trailer going, it will be
very handy for trips to Joel's. We will see how things are going.
There's hundreds of cars out there on the road, with fuel still in
the tanks.” It's quiet for a few minutes. Jack looked at the
faces around the table. He was torn between his need to protect his
family and his long held values. I can't believe I am talking
about siphoning out other people's gas and looting.
    “ My
biggest concern right now is our safety. It is going to be real
important for us to make this place more secure and ...”
    A
growling engine is pulled up in the drive. Jack peered out the edge
of the blinds. He turned and had a big grin on his face. “Beth,
you have company.” She pushed him over and looked out. She
raised her face to the heavens, her eyes closed and a tear slipped
down her face. Looking over to the twins, she said, “Girls,
your aunt Dianne is here.”
    Jack
went out
and herded the
seven, plus baby in through the front door. There was a commotion of
hugs and tears and questions and laughs. Beth took her
great-grand-son and
hugged him to her. Lee and Cody stood over
to the side. Jack pulled them
right over into the crowd and introductions were made. He moved past the hall full
of folks and reached for
the door handle. He said, “ Lee,
will you
and Jason come out with me? Beth, lock up” The three men moved
out to the drive. “I don't know for sure why this monster of a
car is running, but I am damn glad. Listen, you see those guys
standing around about two houses down?”
Lee and Jason looked in that direction. “I have never seen them
before. You know, a running car is a bit of a rare thing these days.
I am going to go around and manually pull up this garage door. I want
you to pull the car in the garage.”
    “ Isn't
that little travel trailer in the way?” said Lee.
    Jack said, “ We
can move it enough by hand to get the car by. I have an idea about
the trailer. You know we just added seven people to the house, plus
little BJ. I'll tell you later, when we all talk some more about
security.” They moved the
small trailer and Jason barely managed to
pull the long old car into Jack's garage.
    When
everyone was back inside, Jack gathered them in the living room. Our
population just exploded. If Trish and her family were here, I might
could breathe a bit and handle this craziness...can't think about
that right now. On the sofa and chairs they sat, now they
numbered fourteen, plus little BJ. The kids on the generous area
rugs, cross-legged or sprawled. There was Lynn, the oldest daughter
and her twelve year old twins, Mindy and Michelle. There was their
middle daughter Dianne and her husband Jason. Their daughter Kathryn
and her husband, Tate and their baby, BJ. Their sons, Dane, age 21,
Matt, age 18 and David, age 16. And, there was Cody and his uncle
Lee.
    The
boys punched at each other, typically until Dianne snapped, “Stop
it boys.” Dianne and Jason, told everyone the story of their
journey here. The described how the military base and the big
military town had looked and the Interstate. Jason, like Lee and
Jack, noticed no law or military on the roads. “Except”
he said,