Free Wake the Dead by Gary F. Vanucci Page B

until she finally walked away and into the cabin. Shadow trotted over to him and lay down near him in the shade. “I should have let you chase her off in the first place, eh, boy?”
    When Alex finally had himself cleaned, toweled off and dressed, he entered the cabin to the aroma of caffeine, which overwhelmed him delightfully.
    “What is that?!” he asked eagerly.
    “I had some coffee packs with me, so I used the stove to boil some water.”
    “Wow. That smells amazing,’” he said, salivating at the smell of something that reminded him of days gone by. She handed him a mug and they sat down at the table, sipping coffee from mugs.
    “It’s not fresh ground beans, but it’ll have to do,” she finally said after a long bout of silence.
    “No, this is great, really,” Alex responded, smiling and toasting his mug toward her. “And look, I’m sorry for the way I treated you yesterday. I understand that it’s not your fault that you want to go look for your sister. I get it, I just wish you would have said something is all.” Olivia nodded, sipping her coffee quietly in contemplation, looking up at Alex. Finally, she broke the silence.
    “I had a daughter, you know,” Olivia said, “In the old world.”
    “How old was she?
    “Only three. I remember spending time with her after her father left.”
    “Yeah, I’ll bet that was great,” Alex said, thinking of what his life might have been like with a son or daughter with which to share it. “What was her name?”
    “Heather. And It was great. I spent every afternoon with her, watching her take her first steps and say her first words,” she said, tearing up as she suddenly and obviously became overwhelmed by her daughter’s absence.
    “Hey, I'm sorry. I’ve lost loved ones, too. I know what it’s like.”
    “Your wife, I know,” Olivia said, frowning and wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
    “Well, I didn’t tell you this, but my wife was pregnant.” Olivia stared up at him and nodded, crying some more.
    “That really sucks,” Olivia said, looking up at him sympathetically. “I don’t even want to tell you how I lost my daughter.”
    “No, I can’t imagine. Only thing you can do is hold onto the good memories and hope that gets you through.”
    “Not much of those to go on,” Olivia added gloomily, sipping her coffee.
    “No?” Alex said, hearing the sound of Shadow scratching at the door. He stood, listening as she continued and opened a can of tuna for him, dumping it into a bowl. “What did you do? I mean in the real world?”
    “You’re gonna laugh,” she said, looking up at him. “No judging.”
    “Fine. No judging.”
    “I was a stripper.” Alex stared at her and shrugged. “But I was going to go to nursing school. I was just saving up money for tuition.”
    “And then what happened?” Alex said, opening the door and dropping the bowl for shadow.
    “Then I met John, my husband. He came into the club every night to watch me dance and….”
    “Oh, so he took you away from all that, eh? A real Prince Charming?”
    “At first, yeah. But then, he got involved with the club, tended bar there, watched me dance every night, and eventually got us into more trouble,” Olivia said, shaking her head, taking a deep breath and sipping her coffee some more.
    “Mom watched my baby, and eventually, John got tired of me, mom and Heather, and started not coming home, you know. The whole thing.”
    “Yeah, tell me more. Where did you grow up?” Alex asked.
    He listened as she told him her life story, taking up the whole rest of that morning and afternoon. She left on her daily mission to meet her sister, Alex offering to go again and her turning him down.
    So, in her absence, he tended the cucumber patch and tried to figure out the electrical problems with regards to the solar panels, but again that met with failure.
     Olivia crested the hill that evening as the sun faded, and admitted to Alex that the whole thing was frustrating and