I nodded and put my hand on his shoulder. As hard as it was for me to deal with her decline from a distance, it paled in comparison to the pain he must go through daily.
“I’ll go check out the back of the house,” I said. “You see about getting your buddies organized for a neighborhood cookout.”
Chapter 5
The cookout that night was one to remember. Almost a hundred people, from close to sixty houses, came with whatever food they had in their refrigerators to cook and eat. Six tables were set up to hold all of the food, and most people either sat on blankets or stood and watched the sky as the sun set.
The northern lights were almost as bright as they had been the night before. Long after it should have been dark, there was still plenty of light for the children to run and play. The adults tended to either stand in small groups or move from small group to small group. Those that roamed were trying to gather information. Most was innocuous, but I heard several ask questions that made me uncomfortable. One man, in particular, was very interested in whether people thought they should be hunting and what kinds of guns they had.
I pulled my dad to the side and asked about that man.
“Brent Talley. Keep an eye on him,” Dad said. “Sounds like he is wanting to know who is armed and who isn’t. I understand he spent some time in prison for armed robbery. There are always those who will take advantage of a situation however they can.”
I nodded and went back to watching the crowd. Luke Carter was another one of those making the rounds of the small groups, but instead of gathering information, he was letting everyone know what was going to happen in the next couple of days. He had a genial manner as he talked to each group, and I noticed the subtle way he changed his tone and wording as he started speaking.
To small groups of men, he smiled and talked about how glad they would be when the power came back on because they were going to have to dig and carry all sorts of things for the next few days. To groups with women or young children, he dropped his tone and looked wistful as he wondered what would happen if it lasted more than a day or two. He waited for them to get a little concerned at his questions and then reassured them it would be okay.
He was preparing people, and he wasn’t scaring them. He was just letting them know it would get tougher, but we, as a community, would find our way out of this tough spot.
I had to get him together with Ted. If Luke Carter could take the instruction and information and spread it in the way he was working this impromptu cookout, then we may not face any panicked people at all.
After eating a few bites, I realized I was very hungry. I had not eaten since breakfast and it had been a long day. I felt guilty eating food others had brought, especially considering how little food there might be in the future, but everyone encouraged me to try a bit of everything. None of the food would be good past morning, anyway. There was no way to keep it.
So I ate. Food Lexi would have forbidden me was piled onto my plate. I knew I might be sick in the morning, but I kept eating.
As I sat in the grass and looked around, I could see many of the children headed back to their parents. Toddlers and babies were already asleep, and those that were shy of their teen years were staying awake through sheer willpower. Most of the adults were yawning and looking up at the unnaturally bright sky.
“Come on, Davey.”
I turned to see Dad motion me to the house. Mom stood in the doorway. She stared at the sky in wonder.
I stood and was surprised to see Luke Carter head toward the front door as well.
When I entered the house, Luke was sitting at the dining room table along with my parents.
“Where is Doris?” Mom asked him.
“She went down to Houston to see her brother. He’s not doing well. He got that cancer again, and this time the radiation ain’t working like last time.”
“Oh my,” Mom said. “I hope he won’t be in much pain.”
“Me too,” Luke said.
“When are you expecting her back?” Dad asked.
“Tomorrow morning. Though she said she might stay another day. If she shows up tomorrow, we’ll know that this,” he waved his hand skyward, “didn’t get all the way down to Houston.”
“Why are all the lights out, Pat?” Mom asked. She had a look of mild confusion on her face,
“We are having a blackout, Dear. It might be out for a couple of days.”
“Oh. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I have been tired all day. Is there anything I can fix for ya’ll to eat?”
Luke cocked his head to the side as if considering. “I think I ate enough of your food tonight, Abbey. I’m afraid if you fix me anything else, I’ll explode.”
“That’s good, Luke. I never want you to go hungry. I think I’ll go check on Doris. Is she still in the restroom?”
“I don’t think so, Abbey. Maybe you can just sit and rest. When she gets here, I’ll send her into the living room.”
“Oh, I have too much to do to be sitting all night,” Mom said to Luke with a shake of her head. “And besides, I think Doris is still in Houston.”
Luke scratched his thick beard the way he always did when he was worried about something.
“You’re right, Abbey,” Dad said. “Luke was just telling us about Doris’ trip to Houston. Remember the water is off.”
Mom was putting dishes into the sink as Dad was talking to her. When he mentioned the water was off she spun around.
“I remember! Do you think I don’t?”
I had a clear recollection of Mom yelling at me that way when I was a teenager. I never expected to hear her yell at Dad that way.
“I know you remember,” he said. “I was just thinking out loud.”
“Well maybe you should keep those damn thoughts to yourself!”
She slammed the plate she was holding onto the countertop and turned and walked out of the room. The door to their bedroom slammed shut a few seconds later.
“Sorry about that, Luke,” Dad said softly.
“No worries, Pat. I watched my mother go through it. Was not happy to hear her swear, though. Mom didn’t swear until she was starting to get real bad.”
“It started a few weeks ago. She cursed me up a blue streak when I asked for butter for the toast. Haven’t heard that kind of talk since I was in the Navy.”
I sat at the table and didn’t say anything. I tried hard not to think about Mom slipping away, but Dad and Luke talking about it openly made it seem real in a way I hadn’t dealt with before.
“Davey, sorry. I can see this is upsetting you,” Dad said. “Let’s talk about what we are going to need to do about this disruption to our lives.”
“Folks are going to die, you know,” Luke said.
“I know,” Dad replied. “That’s another reason we need the wood ash.”
“Graves,” I muttered. “We need to line the graves with ashes because we can’t embalm the bodies.”
“A layer below and a layer above,” Luke said. “We dig down deep enough to bury them proper and we run the risk of contaminating the ground water. Same with the privies.”
“How many privies will we need to dig?” I asked.
Luke and Dad both leaned back in their chair.
“Maybe one for every eight people,” Dad said.
Luke closed his eyes tight and scratched his beard again. “We got about three thousand people in town. Maybe another five hundred that will make their way in. So maybe four hundred privies. That won’t be a one day job.”
“How deep do they have to be?” I asked.
“Normally six feet,” Dad said. “But for now, we could dig them three feet for the next couple of days and then set about getting the six footers dug.”
“I take it you are seeing this thing last more than a couple of weeks,” Luke said. It seemed a question, but one he had answered while asking.