Natalie realized the teacher was as frightened as she was.
“I’m sorry if I was rude,” Natalie said. “I know you’re in a tough spot with all these children. I wish I could help you, but I have to get home. Please understand.”
Miss Lopez’s eyes sparkled with tears.
“I’m just so frightened. Nothing like this has ever happened before. At least not here.”
“I hope whatever it is gets fixed soon. Because if it doesn’t, I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”
“Nothing good,” said Miss Lopez as she wiped tears out of her eyes.
Blake was rooting through the storage compartment of the drink cart when Natalie approached. He found a couple of candy bars and offered her one.
“They aren’t here,” she said, ignoring him. “The school says Seth came to get them. My husband.”
“Well, that’s good, right? They’re safe?”
Natalie climbed behind the steering wheel and mashed on the accelerator. Blake jumped in as the cart lurched into gear.
“So it’s not a good thing?”
“I don’t see how the man who showed up could be my husband. She said he walked. How on earth could he have walked here from downtown faster than we drove from the golf course?”
“Yeah, that is strange.”
Natalie steered the cart onto Yale and turned left, headed toward her house. There was a large crowd gathered at another Quik Trip, half of them looking at the sky, the other half milling around and talking to each other. When she considered the same scene unfolding at every convenience store in Tulsa, in the entire country, she tasted pennies again. Heard static in her brain again. If she didn’t find her boys soon, Natalie was afraid she would break down completely.
The road here was only two lanes wide, and she was forced to carefully maneuver around numerous cars and trucks. Already it had become familiar for the roads to look this way, like vehicle graveyards, and she was beginning to wonder if that’s how they would always look.
“Someone came over from Quik Trip while you were inside,” Blake said.
“What did they want?”
“The golf cart.”
“Are you serious?”
“The guy offered me three hundred and twenty dollars cash, everything he had on him.”
“No shit. What did you say?”
“I told him it wasn’t mine to give.”
“Good answer,” Natalie said. “Although he probably figured out we borrowed it.”
“Is that what we did?”
The road turned left and then right as they climbed a steep hill. The engine groaned. But as soon as they started down the other side, she cried out. Her husband and two sons were now within sight, just ahead and descending the hill.
The three of them had already turned to look, having heard the cart’s engine. Even through her tears she could make out their surprise.
“Mom!” Brandon cried. He shook free of his father and ran toward the cart. Ben, always the more cautious twin, maintained a tight grip on Seth’s hand.
“Where did you get this thing?” Brandon asked her, gawking at the drink cart like it was a spaceship.
“From the golf course. Are you okay?”
“Sure. Did you think I was hurt?”
Now Seth and Ben approached. Her husband was smiling broadly, but Natalie could tell right away something was wrong with him. His face was pale and tinted green.
“I went to get the boys,” she said. “How on earth did you beat me there?”
Seth reached awkwardly forward and embraced her. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d done that, at least not of his own volition. Up close she could smell something strange on him, like rotten eggs or nausea.
“I got sick to my stomach at work,” Seth said. “I went home early, so I was there when the power went out. Took me a while to realize it was that.”
He gestured toward the point of light in the sky.
“Since you were at the golf tournament, I figured I should get the boys. Man, I’m so glad you’re safe.”
Seth smiled again and then glanced at Blake.
“Sorry,” Natalie said. “Seth, this is Blake. He was nearby when it happened. He offered to come along in case someone tried to take the cart from me.”
“That was very nice of you, Blake,” said Seth as if it hadn’t been nice at all.
“And I promised I’d let him take the cart after we made it home.”
“Ah. I see. How far away do you live, Blake?”
“A couple of miles north. Near 41st and Harvard.”
“The cart must be running low on gas. Do you know how to siphon?”
“I could if I had to. Not sure where I’m going to get the fuel, though, unless I steal it from an abandoned car. And I would need a hose.”
“You might find one at the Food Pyramid on 81st. We’ll drive past it on the way to our house. I was going to stop, anyway, and buy some groceries if they’re open.”
“Can’t hurt to look. But I don’t have much cash on me, and I have a feeling they may not take my debit card.”
“That’s a good point about cards,” Seth said. “Babe, do you have any cash?”
“I think I have twenty dollars, but…um….”
“What?”
“I have money from the golf course! From the tournament. I bet there’s a couple hundred dollars in that pouch.”
“Well done, babe!” Seth said. “You’re a life saver.”
“But the money isn’t ours. Neither is the cart for that matter.”
“We’ll pay it back. When everything is working again, we’ll give the money back with interest. But right now we need food. The store could already be a madhouse. Remember what happened last year before the blizzard?”
Natalie saw his point.
“So let’s see if we can all squeeze in,” he said, “and take a ride to the store.”
They pulled into the parking lot about five minutes later. A small cluster of cars sat near the entrance. Some people were heading into the store, and one emerged carrying plastic sacks of groceries. A couple of store employees had gathered near the doors, talking and looking up at the sky.
“Seems as though they’re selling food,” Seth said. “That’s a good sign.”
Something was different about her husband. He looked and smelled as if he’d recently been sick, but he wasn’t behaving like someone who didn’t feel well. Instead, there was an unmistakable strength in his voice, a timbre of confidence she hadn’t detected for a long time. By no means did this display erase Seth’s betrayals, and sometime soon she would be forced to confront him, but right now was not the time. Right now she found herself willing to be led by him…a development nearly as surprising as the new star in the sky.
Natalie steered the drink cart into an open parking spot and stopped.
“I can take this key out,” she said, turning the ignition to OFF. “You think that will stop someone from stealing it?”
“Unless they’re willing to hotwire the thing in broad daylight,” Blake said as he stood up and stretched. “I think we’ll be okay for a few minutes.”
“Okay, then,” Seth said. “Let’s roll.”
Natalie watched her husband grab a hand from each of his sons and glance over his shoulder at her. Together the family strode toward the Food Pyramid with Blake in tow. Once again Natalie felt a jolt of unexpected attraction for her husband, this man who was suddenly, unquestionably in charge.
The automatic doors had been propped open, and the first thing Natalie noticed when they walked inside was how dark the store was. The checkout area was lit by rectangles of sunlight thrown by the open front doors, and candles marked the end of each aisle. But the store as a whole was darker than she would have imagined. Before today Natalie had never noticed there wasn’t a single window in the entire building.