Day of Destruction
Chapter 12

Copyright© 2010 by Frank Speaks

JIM

After we finished picking out clothes and vehicles, we went over to my house for supper. Doris, Joan, and Anna made me proud with their cooking. Dinner was excellent with wine and lots of polite conversation. Wendy and Addy had helped with the dishes with Doris. We continued our conversations. When they returned, Doris looked at me with a look I knew. There was something important to be said. Wendy came up to me and said, "Addy and I talked to Doris. We don't have anyone anywhere. We want to stay with you but Doris said we had to talk to you first."

"Oh," I said. "Ladies, I don't see any problem with your joining us except for the fact that there are a lot of women here and not many men. As long as you are okay with that, I see no problem."

"Thank you, Jim," Wendy said happily. "Doris said you were a good, understanding man. As time goes on, we will find some men to join us. Right now, that is not something that I want."

I nodded in understanding.

We all talked through the evening. We all exchanged cell phone numbers and wrote down each of the different destinations to be taken. Finally, I told them that I planned to move out of town to the country because I believed self-sufficient farming was going to be required eventually.

I showed all of them where our new home would be. We all agreed to stay in touch by cell phone as long as possible. We set up a time to call. All our phones could handle conferences so we decided to go that way.

It was getting late and I set up sleeping arrangements as best as possible for the night. In the morning, they left after a wonderful breakfast cooked by my daughters and Anna. We waved good bye. I hoped they would be successful and that we would see them again.

Wendy had lost her mother to cancer a few years ago and then lost her father and brother to her three rapists who likewise were now dead. She was twenty. She was a pleasant looking young woman with some strength. She admitted to being a runner and had lifted weights before. As we moved to the farm, she and Anna became like mother and daughter.

Addy was barely sixteen. Life had treated her cruelly in the past. Her parents had been killed in an automobile accident and she had been an only child. She had moved in with her father's sister in-law, who was a widow. They had not gotten along well. The aunt died quickly in the sickness and that left Addy on her own without the age and maturity to cope. Doris adopted her as her own. Addy needed a mother and Doris did need someone who needed her care on an emotional level. Jean was developing as an independent young girl who was in some ways more mature than Addy The three of them worked well together.

We were now living full-time at the farm and all of us studied farming. I talked over with my daughters and Anna that we needed more people for a sustainable community as we prepared for life in the future. I was privately concerned about children in the future. Little Tom was too young for sexual activity and, while I was no longer young, I had had a vasectomy after both girls were born. Mary and I had decided that two children were enough. As I thought about all this, I realized why pioneers had large families. We talked about how to publicize our existence to get others to join us.

We had stayed in touch with the three pairs that had left Chapel Hill. On the second day, Linda and Tanya reached the first parents' home. Their way had been blocked by wrecks and traffic jams of people trying to get away from the sickness. The other two pairs were running into the same problem. Linda's parents lived in Berryville. They found them dead. They had committed suicide leaving a note. Linda's father had just been diagnosed with cancer and, with the sickness, they faced a bleak future even if they weren't sick. They had overdosed on sleeping and pain pills. They lay together in their bed. They thought Linda had died from the sickness. Sorrowfully, they went on to Tanya's house in Winchester. We never heard from them again. George and Frank had made slow, steady progress toward their homes in middle Florida. Paul and Susan were making progress toward Oklahoma. They had found the going better off the interstates but the cities were the worst. None of them were looking for people and avoided contact.

George and Frank got to Ocala one afternoon. They found everybody dead. Most looked like they had died from something sudden other than the sickness. They said the entire area looked sick. They were headed to Inverness the next morning. We never heard from them again. I had warned them that there had been a nuclear explosion around Orlando. My only guess is that they might have run into fallout and were poisoned. It struck me as quicker than normal. Paul agreed. He and Susan would redouble their efforts to be careful.

I had gone into Chapel Hill to pick up some things and go by the old house. Every once in a while, I would come into town and spend the night just to be in the bedroom where Mary and I had enjoyed so much life. I knew it wasn't smart and that I should "move on" but I didn't really want to do that. Anna and I had a friendly relationship but it would never be more than that. Wendy was the most interesting of the women and I judged her too young even though it seemed we shared a special liking for one another.

I went to the SUV to leave and Wendy was sitting in the passenger side. I opened the driver's door and she said, "Let's go. I am going with you today." I didn't want to make a scene by objecting too strongly so I let it go.

"Does Anna know you are going with me?"

"Yes, Jim," she replied and buckled her belt. I shrugged and off we went. I had mapped a route in my mind and picked up things on the way to the old house. I pulled up into the driveway, turned off the motor and got out. Wendy looked a little troubled but followed me inside.

 
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