Foster stuttered, “Wh… why?”
“I never had a son. I always wanted a son. You know they say…” Judith waved her finger. “A mother and son have a bond. And I am a very good mother, ask my daughter. She cried when she got that job and had to leave me. You ask her.” Judith nodded. “And I raised her by myself all those tricky teenage years.”
“What happened to her father?” Foster asked. “I didn’t mention him in case he had died.”
“Oh, no. He left me when Linda was twelve for some twenty-one year old dancer. Hot shot lived in a huge apartment in Manhattan, the bastard.” She exhaled. “God rest his soul because he’s more than likely dead.”
Foster laughed. “You’re funny, Judith.”
“And you’re an incredible young man. Someone missed the boat on you and I’m not gonna miss that boat. Jimmy, I was hurt and scared. You helped me as best your knowledge allowed and some. You cleaned me, fed me, and kept me safe. I can’t see, Jimmy, and you made sure I got through a war zone.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Judith, really. I wanted to help you,” Foster said.
“I know. And I do owe you my life. But that is not why I want to take care of you. I have grown quite fond of you and want to try to give you a good life. So what do you say? Vegas?”
“Will you stop calling me Jimmy?”
“Not on your life.” Judith shook her head. “That foster business of going from one home to another, that stuff you told me, it ends with me. You hear? Vegas?”
“Vegas it is.” Foster sighed and embraced Judith. He did so suddenly and she was taken by surprise and grunted as they hugged. But it was a good grunt, and she held on to Foster.
“Well, look at what the cat dragged in,” Harry said as he and Tyler stepped into the library.
Ben and Lana went from looking irritated to happy when they turned and spotted Harry.
“Harry!” Lana walked to him. “And I knew that was you, Tyler. Why did you run?”
“Cause I didn’t know if Harry was mad and I didn’t want him to get mad at me if I was nice to you. Harry’s my friend, my new best friend,” Tyler said.
Lana crinkled her brow. “Mad?” Ben had approached her from behind and Lana inched into him.
Before Harry could say anything Tyler did. “Mad. Yeah. You left us.”
Harry cringed. “Ain’t you just the motor mouth anymore? First met you, you didn’t say a word and now I need duct tape.”
Lana stepped back with a sincere look on her face. “I am so sorry. I didn’t think you were upset.”
“Well I…”
Tyler interrupted again. “How didn’t you know? He stood there on the bridge yelling at you to not go. He asked you stay, to not leave, to stick together. You just waved your hand and left.”
“Oh, you’re exaggerating,” Harry said. “And you been hanging about with Slick Rick too much.”
Ben quietly asked, “Were you mad, Harry?”
“A little, yeah.” Harry nodded and then put his hand over Tyler’s mouth. “That teenage boy and English gal, they were going in the opposite direction. But you two were going the same way we were. I’m an old man and this is a boy. We were a weak team. You two were…. Well, never mind. It doesn’t matter now. Not that I couldn’t take care of us, I did.”
“No doubt.” Ben shook his hand. “Something tells me you would have given John Wayne a run for his money.”
“I would have.” Harry smiled. “So how has it been for you two?”
Ben shook his head. “Not good. Our families are gone. We were nearly killed when a huge wave of planes came over and shot at us. They destroyed our beach house.”
“Shame,” Harry said.
“Ha!” Tyler added. “We weren’t shot at once. Harry knew what to do. Harry kept us safe. He got us here nearly a week ago.”
Harry closed one eye. “Why’d I let go of that mouth.”
Ben smiled. “I’m glad you made it here safe.”
“And you did, too,” Harry said. “Glad to have you with us.” He gave a hug to Lana. “And this is a good place. It’s safe for now. We’ll get you a place to stay.”
“Thank you,” Lana said. “I’m really tired.”
“Well, we sleep during the day, except for our roof watchers. You came on a good day. We’re having a strategy meeting tonight at the fire hall over spaghetti.”
Ben said, “Spaghetti sounds good. What’s the strategy meeting?”
Harry lifted a waving hand. “Now don’t take my word as Gospel. I’m not running this meeting. Just attending and helping. But we got about twenty kids in this town and we need a game plan for them. We’re safe here now, but eventually the war will arrive. But don’t you worry.” Harry winked. “There’s not a soul here who won’t be standing up and fighting for our land.”
Ben looked at Lana and then back at Harry. “We won’t be staying, Harry. Not that long.”
“What do you mean? Where are you going?” Harry asked.
“Canada,” Ben replied.
“Canada!” Harry was aghast. “What for?”
“Escape Get out,” Ben answered.
“Don’t you want to defend your country?”
“They have people for that,” Ben said.
“Yeah, they’re called soldiers, marines and seamen,” Harry retorted. “And in war time, homeland invasion, just like the war of 1812, revolutionary war, everyone takes arms and defends their freedom.”
Ben shook his head and grabbed Lana’s hand. “We just want to be safe and away from this all.”
“Huh.” Harry nodded knowingly. “So you’ll leave your country.”
“If that’s what we need to do,” Ben replied.
Tyler tugged on Harry’s hand. “You aren’t gonna ask them to stay, are you? You aren’t gonna try to reason with them again, like you did on the bridge, are you?”
“No, son,” Harry laid his hand on top of Tyler’s head. “Not on this one.” He kept his eyes steady, shifting between Lana and Ben as he spoke. “These two lived a good life here in America. Well, they got what they could, the good life’s over and it’s time to bail. If they feel that way, then I’m pretty sure I don’t want to ask them to stay. Come on.” He turned Tyler around and started to walk out. “I’ll let you watch us make those explosives, from a distance.”
Lana slipped a little from her husband and turned to him. “Ben? Going to Canada, is it really the right thing?”
“Yes,” Ben said assuredly. “Yes it is. There is no other choice.”
Lana nodded, but her eyes stayed fixed on Harry and Tyler as they walked away.
There was a very nice woman named Angeline who gave Judith little things to do to help her learn to use her hands without her eyes. Angeline’s mother was blind. Actually her mother became blind when her diabetes took a turn for the worse and she recalled her mother had to learn to do things all over again.
Judith was pretty confident that her sight would return. At first it was dark and light, then shadows, and as evening rolled around and she hit her third dose of medication, she could see silhouettes.
She wasn’t tired, but she felt she should be since she had slept until noon. Of course, sleeping until noon was normal underground; the place came alive at dark.
Packs of men would go out to search for things, items that were needed.
She was worried. It was the first night in nearly a week that she would be without Jimmy. Such a young man and he was going out doing a grown up thing and to her it was too dangerous.
Manny assured her that he would watch out for the young man. He assured her that they weren’t going to gather items but to scout. They needed food and some more medications. There were people in the shelter who had long term medical problems and they needed things.