They were on the freeway and making as good of time as could be expected when four individuals appeared in front of them. It was a young mother with three young children, the oldest no more than seven, huddled beside a car that was pulled over into the median. There was plenty of room for Ed to avoid them without slowing down, but his foot instinctively went to the brake.
“It’s your call,” Kyle replied, “but if you’re going to stop for them, let’s get them loaded quick. It’s not like they’re the only people around that’d like a lift.”
Ed grunted and Kyle felt the jeep slow. They rolled up to where the family was standing, and Ed rolled down his window. The mother wiped her eyes and cheeks with her free arm. The other hand clung tightly to the wrist of the youngest child. “Get in quickly,” Ed said in as kind of a voice as he could muster under the circumstances.
The woman mumbled a “thank you” and pushed her children into the back seat.
Kyle looked at her in the darkness and his thoughts immediately went to his wife, which sent a chill down his back.
“Where are you going?” Ed asked, twisting around to look at his passengers.
The woman sniffed and tried to regain her composure. “Thank you again. We’ve been waiting for hours for someone…” The youngest child, who appeared exhausted to the point of passing out, began to cry and the woman leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “It’s alright, Courtney,” she whispered, “we’re on our way.”
Ed put the jeep in gear and accelerated away from her vehicle, too afraid to stay stopped any longer than he needed to. “Where’s somewhere safe I can take you, miss?” he asked again.
“My ex lives in League City. That’s where we were headed when everything went bad. That’s the closest place I’ve got.” She paused, and her eyes glassed over as she tenderly rubbed her youngest child’s head “ We left Huntsville as soon as Jonathan got out of school…their father is supposed to have them for the weekend.” Her voice was faint and she seemed to be in another place. “I’ve never had car problems before; do you know what’s going on?”
Kyle shook his head, “We don’t know anything for sure, and there’s nothing on the radio but static.”
“Someone said there was a war going on, that we’ve been attacked.” The woman was fighting to control her emotions as she spoke, but tears rolled down her cheeks and her voice halted every couple of words.
“Who said we were attacked?” Ed asked, looking in the rear view mirror, even though it was too dark for him to see into the back seat, with the only light coming from the glow of his headlights.
“I don’t know,” she answered. “Just some guy who walked by us a couple of hours ago. It scared Jonathan, and I guess me too. What are you going to do with us?”
“I guess we’re going to League City,” Ed said. “I can’t very well throw you out on the side of the road.”
The woman in the backseat let out a deep sigh, and Kyle could hear her crying. After a short silence she spoke up again. “Thank you so much. I didn’t know what we were going to do. Everyone just kept walking past us. Things are just so crazy. I suppose we could have walked somewhere, but I don’t know this part of town.”
“Just relax, Miss,” Ed said, sounding tired. “No one knows what to do right now, and I imagine being stranded with three kids doesn’t make it any easier.”
“No. It doesn’t. My name’s Stephanie, my friends call me Steph.”
“Okay Steph. I hope you can get us to your ex’s in the dark. Keep your arm around your kids. I’ll probably be doing some off-roading, and I’m going to keep my speed up.
It was four hours later when Ed finally swung the jeep into his own driveway. The jeep’s headlights, the only light in the eerily dark neighborhood, splashed across the front of his house, lighting up a brick bungalow with an attached, oversized garage. He engaged the emergency brake, shut off the ignition, and killed the headlights, immediately plunging them into a thick, all-enveloping darkness.
“I think you might want to leave the lights on, Ed,” Kyle suggested. “I’m guessing your security light isn’t going to kick on, and there’s not much for moonlight.”
Ed flipped the headlights back on. “Let me go find a flashlight. I’ll just be a couple of minutes.” Ed jumped down from the jeep and hobbled off towards the garage on tender feet, spot-lighted like a performer on a stage by the piercing beams of the headlights.
After a short wait, Kyle saw a small light coming from around the side of the garage. He leaned over, found the knob for the headlights, and pushed it in, the darkness swallowing them again except for the thin beam of Ed’s flashlight.
“A penlight?” Kyle asked.
“It’s all I could find. Did you want to wait out here longer?”
“No, I guess not.”
“Then quit complaining and follow me,” Ed instructed in a tired, but good-natured voice. “I’ll let us in, but you wait by the door. My wife is going to be scared to death. I’m not supposed to be back until next Friday, and she’s all alone without any power. I just hope she doesn’t get another ulcer with everything that’s going on.”
Ed let them in the front door then called out to his wife in a soft shout. “Virgie? Virgie?” Receiving no response, he continued to call her name as he walked down the hall.
Kyle stood in total darkness by the front door and listened. He heard a door open and then the muffled sound of a woman’s voice. After a short exchange, he saw the glow from Ed’s flashlight coming back down the hallway.
“I’m going to put you in the guestroom,” Ed said as he returned. “Virgie wasn’t exactly expecting company, but the room’s not in bad shape. Can I get you something to drink before you go to bed?”
Kyle nodded and followed Ed to the kitchen, where they sat at the table eating slices of Wonder bread and sharing a six-pack of Budweiser in the dimming glow of the flashlight, neither having much to say. As Kyle finished off his second beer, he heard a door open and footsteps slowly approach from down the hallway. Kyle turned and, in the dim light, saw Ed’s wife approach, rubbing her eyes.
“I didn’t understand what you said in the bedroom, Ed. I was too tired,” she said, forming her words carefully. “Why are you home? You’re supposed to be gone for a week.”
Ed looked at Kyle and appeared embarrassed by his wife’s presence.
“Virgie, I told you I’d explain it all in the morning. Why don’t you go back to bed? I still don’t understand everything myself, and I’m tired.”
“But I’m awake now,” she said, trying to stifle a yawn, “and I wanted to meet your friend. What did you say his name was?”
“His name’s Kyle, dear. I met him on the airplane.” Ed stood and reached for his wife. “Let me help you back to the room.”
Virgie turned away from Ed and leaned towards Kyle. “Hi, I’m Virgie,” she said, extending a chubby hand and leaning down close.
Kyle took her hand and introduced himself, trying not to recoil from the powerful smell of liquor on her breath. She looked like someone’s doting grandmother, pleasant and plump with curly, gray hair, but the bloodshot eyes and alcohol-induced redness in her cheeks ruined the grandmotherly effect. Kyle wished Virgie a goodnight and thanked her for allowing him to stay, then Ed escorted his wife back down the hallway to their bedroom assuring her that everything would be all right.