Chapter 39

Wednesday, May 11, 0000

It's raining. I used to like the rain, but now I'm scared I'll get zapped, or whatever, to some other world again. I wish I would get sent back home. I spent all day trying to read, while listening to the gentle rain and hoping I'd go home. It used to be relaxing, but now I'm all tense.

Since I'm still here, that hasn't happened. Darn it! I hope it will soon. I want to go home! I miss my family so much!

Thursday, May 12, 0000

I cried myself to sleep again last night. That seems to be the only way I fall asleep now. Mom and Dad, Amy, Sue, Stephanie and Dan, May, Faith, Mark, and Mavis, everyone must be so freaked out. So am I. We're all just one big freaked out club, only I'm not with them. (sniffle) I wish I was. I want to be home with them so much!

Since it wasn't raining, I dragged myself out of bed and dressed. I tried to do some yoga and then went to check on my plants. I watered the ones in the greenhouses, but I figured the others were okay due to the rain yesterday, so I didn't water them.

I suppose if I really am stuck here — God, please don't let me be stuck here! — I guess I should be trying to plant more veggies and some fruit trees, but I would actually have to dig up grass and I'm just not in the mood. Besides, it's not like I need to hurry. I was reading the instructions on the seed packets and it can take years for the trees to bear fruit. I don't want to be stuck here for years! I want to go home!

Friday, May 13, 0000

It's Friday the 13^th, which explains why today has been such a disaster. I smacked my head on my overhead cabinets getting out of bed this morning, then I banged my head on the ceiling while getting dressed. Then at breakfast, I found out the last of the last of the chocolate milk went bad. I know I have chocolate powder, but it's not the same. Did it have to be the chocolate milk? (sigh) I suppose it's better it was, since there was only a glass left, and there's a still a gallon of regular left. But I like chocolate milk, darn it!

I should have known my day was going to get worse when I spit my milk out. I fell more than usual during my workout, and then tripped coming in. Now my knee and shin hurt from when I landed.

At lunch, I burnt my grilled cheese and the tomato soup. I scraped the worst of the burnt part off my bread and dunked the rest in the soup so it wasn't so crunchy, but burnt tomato soup just does not taste good, not even with cheese the way Mom made it. I couldn't afford to waste it, but the taste gave me a stomach ache. Then I fell out of bed while I took a nap.

The next couple hours were relatively catastrophe free, until I burned my dinner. I was at least able to scrape the toppings off my pizza, but still ... I can't keep having days like this. At this rate, I'll be out of food in no time! Oh God! What am I going to do? I want to go home!

Saturday, May14, 0000

I'd planned to go down to the beach today. I know I should have been farming, or doing something more productive than going to the beach, but I needed time to think. Since I didn't really want to have everything leave without me and be stuck with nothing, I decided to take the big backpack with me. That's when I found all the extra boxes of supplies Charlene and Dad had left in the shed for me. That got me looking around to see what else they'd left, and I found they'd put a whole truckload of things in my basement. Cellar? Garage? No, not garage. My bike is in that. Whatever. Anyway, it's filled up along each side, leaving a space down the middle to get to the tanks, as well as space for light around the windows.

I figure they must have put stuff away while I was down on the beach, but I don't know why I didn't see all this stuff earlier when Hank filled the tanks up for me. No, I didn't go under with him. I was busy taking down my tent room and putting it away. I also figured that he had enough to do and didn't need me getting in his way, so I didn't go under with him. I guess that's why I hadn't noticed it all before but I still opened the door for him. I guess I just wasn't looking.

I also don't know how they managed to put it all away, since there's a lock on the door and they weren't there when it was put in for me to give them a key. I'm not complaining though, since I'll need all of it if I end up stuck here.

(sob!) God, please let me be don't stuck here!

So far, there're lots of dry food goods, like cases of noodles, dried fruit, jerky, sugar, flour, and things. There's even a full case of different colored sugar sprinkles to put on all the oatmeal and cream of wheat they bought. All of the things that come in boxes or paper bags are already stored in big plastic containers, and some of the smaller containers have been put inside bigger ones that are almost the size of the cooler. There's even one packed with all my favorite cereals.

There are also lots more freeze-dried meals, as well as several cases of soups, chili, sauces, and other canned and jarred foods. Some of these cans are coffee can sized, too! I guess they figured on using them when we were all here. (sniff) Still, I don't know why Dad had to buy more the last time we went out. (sniff)

I'm okay. Where was I? Oh yeah, cans. Not all of the stuff is in cans. There're several cases of soup and milk in foil boxes. I'm not sure about irradiated milk, but I guess I don't have much choice in the matter. At least there's chocolate. I hope it tastes okay. There are also all kinds of drink flavor mixes. I wonder if the bubble gum one actually makes milk taste like bubble gum.

Anyway, I figure there is enough food to last me at least at least a good part of a year, as long as I don't pig out or anything. And if I can grow or catch something, it'll last even longer.

It's not all food, though. I haven't finished going through everything, but there are more canning supplies, mostly wax, but there are couple boxes of jars and lids, as well as lots of plastic wrap and foil. Not everything was for food though, as there are also lots of personal hygiene type items that I'm sure Charlene had to have picked out. I can't imagine Dad buying tampons.

There are also a couple cases of light bulbs. I can understand the couple cases of LED ones, but where did Dad find a case of incandescent light bulbs that are over a hundred years old? I swear there's an invoice inside the box dated 1908! They still look okay to me, but sheesh!

What scares me is the big box full of medical supplies. It isn't just the large and well-stocked first aid kits, or the couple of large emergency survival bags, that has me scared either. It's all the other things, like loads of cold medications and all the other pills with names I'm not going to even try to pronounce, much less spell. There's even a year's supply of birth control pills, and in my prescription too!

God, I so hope Dad did not see them! Not that I really need them now, but... (shudder) ... who wants their Dad to see their birth control pills?

Overall, I'm very grateful for all the supplies they gave me, but I'd still rather be at home with them and my friends. (sniff) Darn it!

Sunday, May15, 0000I went down to the beach today. I know I should have done something more productive but I just needed time to think. I mostly cried though. I tried to do some yoga, but some of the poses aren't easy for me to do without someone to help keep me steady. Every time I fell over I was reminded that Faith and May weren't there to catch me. I finally just sat down, buried my head in my arms and cried. I miss everyone so much! (sniff)

Around lunchtime my tummy demanded I put something in it so I headed back up. I was half way to the rec hall when I remembered it isn't there and started crying again. That cured my appetite but I ate anyway. Then I watered all the plants in the greenhouse. I hope something will grow.

I'm not sure what else to do right now. I suppose I should be planting more, but I just can't seem to work up the motivation to do it. Maybe tomorrow.

Monday, May16, 0000

I went down to the beach again today. I know, I know. I'll try to do something tomorrow, but trying to plow the field, by hand, all by myself, just seems so daunting. And I still didn't get to sort things out, so I went to the beach and just sat for a while, letting the sound of the waves wash through me. It helped, but my heart still aches when I think of everyone back home.

Tuesday, May17, 0000

I started on the field today. I wish I had a roto-tiller. I am so sore! I did manage to get three rows done though. I'm probably doing it wrong, but I can't really help that. Hopefully, it'll be okay. (sigh) Now that I've rested up some, I am going to take a shower and then have a nice soak. I need it.

Wednesday, May18, 0000

I am so tired. I didn't sleep well last night. I discovered a problem when I was taking out the trash and I have no idea what to do about it. I'd just put the trash in the trash can when it hit me, the trash hadn't been picked up the week before. I was surprised Hank hadn't picked it up, and started crying when I realized why. Then, when I was locking the trashcan back up, I realized no one would be picking it up in the morning. (sniff) Since then, I've been trying to figure out what to do.

I guess I can wait a little while. It's not like I put out a lot of garbage. I think I do a good job of recycling. Still the garbage can will eventually fill up, not to mention stink, so what am I going to do? I'm hoping I won't be here that long, but I'm going to have to do something about it soon.

I suppose I could put some of it in a compost pile, but where do I put the compost pile? I don't want it too close because of the smell. I could also burn some of it but what about the plastic? Burning it would make it go away, but I don't want to breathe melted plastic. The only thing I can think of is to bury it or dump it in the ocean. I'm not really in favor of dumping it in the ocean, because with my luck I'll end up swimming in it or something. That leaves burying it. But where do I do that? It would have to be close enough to get to easily, but far enough away that it won't bother me. (sigh)

I suppose I could take Henry or Charlie and drive around to find a place that would be good for a dump, but I don't want to go too far away either.

(groan!)

I wish I had a backhoe. I am so tired and sore! Even with gloves on, I have blisters. I think my blisters have blisters.

I just got back from burying my garbage. I loaded up a shovel, my big hiking backpack and the garbage into Henry, and drove about a mile or so north of here. The scenery really is beautiful and some of the trees are so big! I've never seen trees so big! They're ginormous! You could tunnel through them and drive Henry and the trailer through. Actually some are big enough to make a house out of. A narrow, tall house, but still a house.

I'm not sure how long I drove, but we didn't go far. Mostly I just let Henry putt along at idle speed, while I gawked at all the scenery. I hadn't really paid too much attention to it before. After a while though, I did start to worry about getting lost and running out of gas, so I parked and buried my trash in the shade of one of the really big trees.

The ground was actually pretty soft but I buried my trash deep enough so no critters could get to it. That's why I'm so sore. That was a lot of dirt! After I finished covering the hole back up. I put the shovel back in Henry and we headed back home.

I didn't need to worry about getting lost. It was easy to follow Henry's trail through the dirt, and now that I think about it, the grass almost seems like a road. I'd have to get a map out to be sure, but I'm pretty sure it follows the same route that the highway did.

And it is pretty smooth for grass. It's almost like driving on a golf course. And it really seems like it follows the same path as the highway. I just followed it like I would normally, and I was home before I knew it. I was totally surprised to find myself turning into the driveway and stepping on the gas to go up the hill.

I am curious to know just how far the grass and dirt roads go. If I wasn't so scared that my home wouldn't be here when I got back, I'd want to take Charlie, or even my bike, out and scout around some.

Henry might be a better choice for going to take a look around, since I can take more supplies in him, but Charlie and my bike get a lot better mileage. Mileage is pretty important since I can't go to a gas station and fill up. They also wouldn't tear up the grass on the driveway quite so much. It wasn't like it ripped up all the grass or anything, but he did pull some up and make a couple divots where the dirt was looser. I'm glad Dad got the tires with the big tread. It would have been harder to get up the drive without them. Of course, that's a reason to keep driving Henry. I'm not sure how Charlie and the bike would handle a grass driveway that steep, but if I keep driving Henry, I'm eventually going to end up with a lot of pot holes in my driveway.

(sigh)

I suppose I'll have to think about it if I'm stuck here a while. God, I hope I'm not stuck here!

Thursday, May19, 0000

I'm scared! There's a big storm going on. I think it's the same kind that brought me here. I feel all weird like before. Well, not quite like before, but similar. I hope it sends me home.

Wowey! It's really going now. I hope my garden will be okay. I took the greenhouses down, I left the frames, but I put the rest in my parents' trailer. I didn't want them to get torn or blown away. I thought about bring all the pots inside, but I didn't have that much time. I saw the storm approaching when I went out for my workout this morning. It was just so quiet and still that I had to look around. That's when I saw these huge dark clouds out over the ocean, moving quickly towards me.