Claire grimaced.
“I’m sorry. He’s been doing that every few days lately. I’ve been tempted to get Tom to take naps just so he will and I can get a bit of peace and quiet.” All too often nap time was the only bit of the day that she had to herself, and she was loath to give it up. Claire felt immediately guilty for thinking that way; in a few short months she might be getting all the peace and quiet she needed… permanently.
Claire tried in vain to hold back the tears that were suddenly prickling her eyes. Lisa reached over and clutched Claire’s hand.
“Hey, it’s not for certain yet. There’s still time for them to figure something out and save the world,” Lisa said.
“I sure hope so,” Claire said and tried to smile.
“Have you had a chance to talk to your family yet? Mom called before, she’s worried about you being so far away.”
Claire shook her head. “I came straight here after I found out. I’ll call them when I get home.” Claire pushed the thought that she might never get to see her parents and sister again out of her mind. One thing at a time.
“What are we going to do?” Lisa asked after a moment.
“What do you mean? What can we do?” Claire looked up at her sister-in-law. She was running her hands through her short brown hair and looking distractedly out the window.
“If things get bad… I mean, if they don’t deal with this problem soon, like if there’s no announcement tonight or tomorrow that they’ve solved the problem and we’re not all going to be blown to smithereens, then I don’t think most people are going to be taking the president’s advice and staying calm.”
“What do you think’s going to happen?” Claire’s thoughts hadn’t gone that far ahead. All she could think about was her sons and Tom getting home.
“Shit’s gonna hit the proverbial fan.”
“How long do you think?”
Lisa frowned into her mug and got up to refill it. “I don’t know. Not long. I’d like to think better of our fellow human beings but thirty six years on this planet has made me cynical. They shouldn’t have told us.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because the next two months or however long we have, or until they figure this damn thing out… I don’t think it’s going to be pretty or easy.”
“But wouldn’t you rather know?” Claire asked. She knew she would. Did.
“Not really, not when there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Claire pondered her sister-in-laws words.
“But if you didn’t know, you wouldn’t be able to prepare yourself,” Claire said.
“What do I need to prepare myself for?” Lisa demanded. “If it’s going to be as bad as they’re saying, then there’s nothing to damn well prepare for! The death of everyone I know and love? The end of everything I hold dear? The end of our species? The end of our world? When I can’t do a damn thing about it? To be perfectly honest, I think I’d rather that surprise me out of the blue.”
“I don’t know… I want to appreciate everything while I still have the chance,” Claire said quietly.
“Ah, yes. Of course. But, Claire my dear, that’s the beauty of it. I already do. I tell Molly I love her each and every day, even when she’s being an annoying little brat — I still love her and she knows it. I don’t take any day for granted, I haven’t for a long time. Not since Guillaume died… and probably even before then, not since Dad died. It just became sharper after I lost Guillaume.”
“But…” Guillaume was Lisa’s husband. Claire had never met him; he’d been killed in a car accident years before she’d even met Tom, when Molly had been a toddler.
“No ‘buts’, Claire. This is bad. For everyone. You’ll see. Does your little sister still live in Melbourne?”
“Lucy? Yeah, she does. Why?” asked Claire, slightly puzzled by the change in topic.
“Is she close to downtown?”
“Um, Elwood’s kinda close to the CBD, I guess. Like, maybe ten k’s or so?”
“You should tell her to get out of there if she hasn’t already thought of it herself. ASAP. Your parents are still on the farm, right?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere.”
“Great. They should be safe enough out there.”
“Safe from what?” Claire wondered out loud. City or country wouldn’t matter when the threat was from the sky.
“Safe from people,” Lisa said darkly. “People do stupid things when they panic. I don’t know about you, but I kinda feel like panicking.”
Claire blinked rapidly. How quickly would things change? She frowned down at her hands. Lisa was definitely right. People would panic. Her breath came faster and shallower.
“Deep breaths, hon.” Lisa reached across and squeezed her hand again. Claire closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing and tried to slow her rapidly beating heart.
“You’re right,” she said through clenched teeth. “They shouldn’t have told us.” Claire opened her eyes and took a deep breath. “I should email Lucy.”
Claire pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened up the email app.
Lucy — go home to Mum and Dad’s. Don’t stay in the city. I’m worried that things are going to get ugly soon. Keep in touch and be careful.
She hoped Lucy would listen.
“It was pretty quiet on the way over here,” Claire murmured after putting her phone away.
“Claire, honey. We live in the suburbs.” Lisa fumbled around for a moment and pulled a remote out from under a pile of papers. She pointed it at the small television that sat on the side-table. Claire watched intently. They were reporting only about the asteroid news, of course. But behind the newsreader were images of people rioting and looting.
“Where’s that?” Claire demanded, thumping her mug back down on the table. “It’s not Toronto is it?” She squinted at the television, trying to find a tell-tale landmark.
Lisa turned up the sound.
“—wide-spread looting occurring in downtown Los Angeles. The president has issued another statement urging citizens to remain calm, and that he hasn’t given up faith that a solution will be found in time. In the meantime, the National Guard is reportedly on their way to Los Angeles to restore order—”
Lisa turned down the sound and shook her head. “Well, that certainly didn’t take long!”
“Do you think it will spread here,” Claire worried.
“Probably.” Lisa shrugged. “It’s a city full of people and people are renowned for doing stupid things.”
“What should we do? I wish Tom was here.” Not that he’d know automatically what to do, but over the course of the past eight years she’d gotten used to talking over any problems or issues with him, and deciding on a course of action together. She felt uncertain without him here.
“He’ll be back soon enough. I hope. He’d better get that butt of his onto a plane first thing tomorrow. Who knows how long the airlines will keep running for?”
Claire groaned. It had barely crossed her mind that flights might be cancelled permanently, but now that she thought about it… all of those pilots and flight crews, ground support and traffic controllers, check in staff and maintenance workers. They’d all have families or friends they’d want to be with. They wouldn’t want to spend their last months of life ferrying around other people in exchange for money, when all people would want would be more time.
“He said he would. Should we leave the city? Just in case?” Claire didn’t like the thought of her sons being near possible riots.