Chapter 30

“What are you listening to?”

“Juliet’s Waltz from Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette,” Mikel said. “Do you like it?”

“I never thought of opera as bop-py,” Remy said. “She’s in love?”

“A French version of a young woman in love, yes.” He snuggled closer to her, resting his hand on her leg. “I cannot get away from these treacly snippets of love these days; they go through my brain repeatedly even when I’m concentrating on other things. I can’t believe you’re actually here and we are in our bed, together.”

“Do you like your treat this morning?”

“I liked it!” he chuckled. “Nicola liked it too.”

“Wind gusts are topping forty-two miles per hour, Mikel.”

“Forte liked it too,” Mikel said. “I’d say both were taken by surprise and suitably impressed.”

“Did I not say that when I transitioned, we were going to open a brothel with leather and lace,” Remy said. “We’ve moved a bit beyond the leather, with a digital girl and Nicola, who defies pigeonholing. I’m happy.” They lay in silence. “The wind is fierce.”

“Yep, good thing we got all those folks into homes today,” Mikel said. “Maybe we’re washing away the old world out there. I’ve been accused of wishful thinking all day, so I might as well make it a trifecta of morning, noon, and night.”

“You were thinking what I was thinking; that we would spring me free from the hospital prison and make mad, passionate love until the credits started rolling and the bloopers started playing,” Remy said. “No credits, no bloopers and a blowjob will have to hold us until THE DAY arrives. It sucks, don’t you know.”

Mikel nodded. “Nicola was jilling and bragging too. I found it exhilarating and unusually confusing. I’ve seen some shit, but I guess I was always the spectator and not the participant. You’re lying next to me and I’m twitterpated.”

“You’re going to quote Bambi?” Remy said. “In my soon to be brothel, you’re pulling from Disney? Have you no shame?”

“I love you,” Mikel said. “I fell for you across a little white table and wads of cotton infused with acetone. You still had a cock then and I knew it, but still.”

“But what will we tell the children?”

“If you don’t behave and listen to your parents, you could lose your cock along the way just like mommy.”

“You are bad! Me likey. Now, where is Nicola?”

“Somewhere in the house,” Mikel said. The house shook as a blast of thunder rolled overhead. They both heard footsteps running up the stairs. Remy called out to her and told her to come into their room. She did, launching herself onto the bed and snuggling between the two of them.

“Frickin’ doomsday show out there,” she exclaimed, tightly grasping the blanket. “I swear the last lightning strike was in the front yard. I must have jumped ten feet in the air. If I’m going to die, I’m taking you with me.”

“I do believe she declared that she loves us,” Remy said

“I heard that she wants to kill us,” Mikel said.

“This is why I like her better,” Nicola said.

“Now, now,” Remy said, stroking Nicola’s hair. “Would you like to learn how to give a blowjob like I do?”

Mikel woke up a happy man.

Having extricated himself from the two sleeping bodies, he used the facilities and went downstairs. Lighting the fire under the kettle for tea, he took a seat in the front room. The drizzle was a welcome relief from the torrents during the night. The sky was a light grey, letting the early risers know there was a sun somewhere up there, waiting for the clouds to move past.

By late morning, the sun was emerging from the last cloud bank, and everyone was up and about. Mikel was pleased that most of the property had drained. Walking southward towards the misidentified area, he was disturbed to see the standing water that filled the streets and lapped up the lawns of the empty houses. “We’re going to have a mosquito problem,” he muttered before turning back.

When he trundled up to his house, a white and red SUV with EMS stenciled across the sides and hood of the car came down the road and stopped in front of him.

“Morning!” the woman in a blue uniform called out from the passenger seat. “You’re the new homeowner?”

“Yes, I am. Mikel Barajas. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Marjorie. We’re out checking the neighborhoods this morning. Any problems?”

“None,” Mikel said. “The flooding two blocks down is concerning but everything around here is safe and sound. The internet went down yesterday.”

“Yeah, all the ground-based internet that was tied to the server farm on the east end of the county crashed about 04:00 yesterday. We’re still waiting for the company that owns the farm to fix the problem. We’ve got internet access at the County Emergency Services Bunker because we have a satellite dish backup.”

“Mikel, tell her you have DHS Federal Override Authorization and require access to their internet connection. You will provide the override code at the facility.”

When Marjorie offered him a seat in the back, he countered that he did not want to tie up their time. He ran inside and grabbed the keys to Nicola’s car, only to find Nicola attached to the keys. They followed the emergency vehicle to the county emergency services bunker ten minutes west, which was a three story, poured concrete structure from the Brutalist architectural period. “That is one butt-ugly building,” Nicola remarked as they claimed a parking space. “I suppose that is the sort of building that could survive a nuclear holocaust, even if everyone inside melts in the radiation exposure.”

“Not a good time to invoke one’s best imagination,” Mikel said. “We don’t know what Forte wants.”

Inside the building, they were handed off to one of the County workers who said he worked under the city manager, handling the roads and highways database, both records and procurement. He ushered them into a small office with a desk, four chairs, and an old desktop.