Survivors of the Sun Read online

‘Yes, drink what you want,’ she thought, as she watched them run back to the table, for she had a feeling, that it might be one of the last times, they ever had a soda. Jamie had his arms out, making airplane noises as he headed towards the drinks. She smiled, then suddenly the smile crumpled, sodas weren’t the only thing that was going to disappear out of their lives.

  She turned back to Bertha. Have to stay cheerful, stay focused! ‘Wow, you really have a full kitchen up and running here. It smells wonderful!’

  Bertha beamed. ‘Well, it’s amazing what you can put together when everyone shares what they have. The couple from over the road, they brought all their perishables, a freezer full of food.’

  She wiped her brow with a handkerchief that she had pulled out of her apron pocket. ‘It sure is hot,’ Behind her one of the bamboo torches began smoking furiously and then gutted out. ‘Hey Lester,’ she yelled out, ‘you get your lazy bones over here right now and refill that torch before we is all sitting around in the dark. I think we have all had a gut full of that.’

  Bertha turned back to Georgia. ‘You okay?’ She was just about to ladle what looked like thick chicken soup into a bowl.

  ‘Um, yes, just been a long day.’

  ‘You sure now, cause you is looking awful pale, even for a white person!’

  ‘No, really I am okay.’ But that wasn’t quite true, she had just realized something. Nathan would have no way of knowing where they were. She had planned to leave a letter for him, to let him know they were all okay, and about their decision to go to the Johnsons. But she had never written the letter. Not that it would have made any difference, for even if she had, the fire would have destroyed it.

  Nathan would go to the house and find it burnt to the ground. Would he think they had perished in the fire? And, if he had any small hope that they were still alive, where would he even begin to look for them? ‘How do you even know he is alive?’ A voice demanded, deep inside her mind. He never turned up. He must be dead. Or was he with…, she shook her head, not allowing her mind to finish the thought. She would not go there.

  ‘I’ll just go get some water for the dogs,’ she said.

  Bertha nodded. ‘Sure thing, and while you are doing that, I will get some food into your kids. Don’t take too long, you need to eat as well.’

  The children were sitting at the table now, they were talking to two boys about Jamie’s age. Rebecca laughed at something the smaller of the boys said. Surely it wasn’t possible that they had lost their father. She refused to believe Nathan was dead. He is not dead. I would have sensed it, surely I would have sensed it if he was.

  Somehow, he would find her, and he would take his daughter and his son in his arms, hold them close, and his eyes would tell her how much he loved her and they would be a family again.

  Armed with this thought, she went back inside to give Millie and Ant a drink.

  They had eaten well, all of them, and afterwards Georgia had taken some of the water and gone into the washroom to sponge herself down, washing away the last of the blood. Then Trixie gently dabbed her face dry, and applied some salve to her cuts and bruises.

  She never asked Georgia how she came by the injuries, and Georgia sensed that so many terrible things were happening that no one could take on board anything new. They were in overload. Kind of like watching too many episodes of a violent Television series, suddenly you just could not bear to watch even one more.

  In a way, it was a good thing, because she did not feel that she could bring herself to talk about it. It was done, finished, over with.

  Much later, she lay in the strange bed, pushed against the wall, the clothes racks on each side. All around she could hear strangers sleeping, snoring, muttering, and the soft rhythmic breathing of Rebecca, Jamie and Deedee as they snuggled up close. Ant lay against her cheek, and Millie was somewhere under the covers. For all the strangeness of their surroundings, Georgia felt at ease, a gentle peace flowing through her.

  Tomorrow they would find Deedee decent shoes that fit her, and after they had eaten, they would carry on to Rebecca and Jamie’s grandparents. Then what? She didn’t know. What if the grandparent’s house had been burned down, what if looters and crazy mobs had run riot there too, or even supposing the house was still there, what if the grandparents weren’t?

  ‘Enough,’ she screamed in her mind. Everything was going to be okay. They would be there and the house would be there. The kid’s grandpa was one of those crazy survivalist people, and the house was super secure and over stocked.

  Grandma and Grandpa Johnson would be thrilled that the children were safe, and … They wouldn’t exactly be thrilled to see her, but there was not much she could do about that.

  She would drop the kids off, and maybe their mother would be there. Maybe she had even been there when it had happened. Yes, she would drop the kids off and..., Georgia fell asleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  July 14, Day 4

  She awoke to hushed whispers around her, for a moment she lay with her eyes closed, feeling the unfamiliar covers against her cheek. She knew from the light against her eyelids that it was no longer night time. Someone bumped against the bed and there was a hushed murmured apology, but she did not open her eyes.

  Just for a moment, a short moment, she wanted to pretend that life was as it should be; that she would roll over, stretch and Nathan, the early bird, would be sitting on the edge of the bed, her coffee in his hand. The sun would be streaming through the blinds and the dogs would be running round and round the room full of the joy of life. She would smile up at him and he would put the coffee down on the bedside table, and lean down and kiss her. ‘It’s a beautiful day, time to get up,’ he would say and then….

  ‘Stop it Jamie!’ It was Rebecca’s voice.

  ‘You started it!’

  ‘Did not.’

  ‘Did too!’

  She sighed, and Nathan slipped away as she opened her eyes and she was back in the reality of homelessness, uncertainty and temporary motherhood.

  Rebecca was pinching Jamie.

  ‘Ow, that hurts.’

  ‘Rebecca,’ Georgia sighed. ‘Stop pinching your brother.’

  ‘Well he…,’

  ‘I know, I know, but really, it does not matter who started it. What matters is who stops it! Come give me a good morning hug, both of you.’

  They clambered up onto the bed and squeezed against her, Rebecca awkwardly leaning over her, Jamie as snuggly as a teddy bear.

  Over their shoulders, she glanced around. Apparently, she had been the last one to get up. How late was it? All the other beds were made up, the area tidied. Tiny dots of dust swirled and floated in the air, catching the sunlight that streamed through the shop windows. She noticed that the many bundles and bags, she had seen the previous evening were gone. The owners of these meager, salvaged possessions had apparently left while she slept. The place was virtually deserted save for herself and the children.

  ‘Where’s Deedee and where are the dogs?’ She asked, suddenly realizing they were not there.

  ‘It’s okay,’ Rebecca said, ‘Trixie has taken Deedee and the dogs for a walk outside.’

  It’s not okay. Georgia wanted to scream out, panic streaking through her. She should have been awake before any of them, making sure that they were safe. ‘It’s not okay,’ she said aloud. ‘Things are different now, we need to stick…,’

  She was interrupted by a flurry of activity, as Deedee came racing up to the bed.

  ‘Guess what? Guess what?’ She was so excited she seemed fit to burst.

  ‘What?’ they all asked.

  ‘Look!’ She exclaimed and pointed behind her. For a moment, they could not see what Deedee was so overjoyed about.

  Then Rebecca shrieked, and Jamie cried out, ‘it’s Badger!’

  ‘No way,’ Georgia thought.

  Then Badger bounded into sight, followed by Millie and Ant, hop-skipping, to keep up. There was complete chaos as they leapt up onto the bed,
a mad black and white jumble, jostling each other as they smothered Georgia with huge licks.

  How on earth!

  ‘She must have followed us!’ Rebecca exclaimed.

  ‘A tracker dog,’ Jamie added.

  Badger was filthy, smeared with mud, and in places her fur was badly singed.

  ‘You poor girl,’ Georgia murmured, as she lifted Badger off the bed and showed her where the water bowl was. She was so relieved that Badger had found them, for the thought of an abandoned Badger faithfully sitting on the pavement, for who knows how long, waiting for the cross command, had been tearing her to pieces.

  Closer examination revealed that one of Badger’s ears had been burnt at the tip. The wound had crusted over and Georgia thought it prudent to leave it exactly as it was. Washing it might just open it to infection.

  She smiled over at the kids. ‘Have you eaten?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Jamie said, ‘ages ago, Bertha made us oatmeal’.

  ‘Of course, Deedee didn’t like it,’ Rebecca said rolling her eyes.

  ‘No, it was yucky, but I ate it all up, ‘cause Bertha said it might be a long time before the next meal.’

  ‘Well not so long,’ Georgia said, we should be able to reach Grandma Johnson’s house in about five hours.’

  ‘Can we play crazy eights?’ Rebecca asked as Georgia slipped out of bed and began searching through her knapsack for a clean top. ‘We found a couple of packs of playing cards and Bertha said we can keep them.’

  ‘Well, then yes of course you can, help me straighten the bed and you can play here. I don’t want any of you going outside by yourselves.’

  She hurriedly dressed, ran her fingers through her hair realizing that she had not packed a single comb or brush. Maybe there was one in the store.

  She went outside to find Bertha, Badger following closely behind. The sunlight looked strange, with thick grey clouds hanging low. The air smelt acrid, and there was another smell that she couldn’t quite place. In every direction, plumes of smoke reached up to the sky.

  ‘Those are not clouds at all,’ Georgia thought. ‘That’s smoke,’ and as she looked around, she was struck again with horror. Seemingly, Kansas City was burning to the ground.

  She found Bertha out the back, adding wood to her fire. Did this woman ever sleep? Bertha smiled broadly as Georgia walked over to her. The polka dot dress was gone, the dusty pink outfit that replaced it, was so form fitting that Georgia found herself wondering how she had managed to get it on.

  ‘See you are finally awake, I told them kids of yours they were to let you sleep, now sit yourself down and I’ll bring you some oatmeal, been saving it for you.’

  Georgia made to protest about breakfast, she rarely ate breakfast at the best of times but Bertha would have none of it.

  ‘Eat girl,’ she said, ‘there’s nothing to you, if you walked into a room sideways no one would even see you.’

  Georgia laughed at that, and began eating, discovering that she was actually quite hungry. Bertha squeezed her ample bottom onto the chair next to her own, placing two steaming mugs onto the table. ‘Coffee, fresh made,’ she said, ‘hope you like it sweet.’

  ‘Thanks, hard to start the day without a cup of coffee.’

  ‘That’s for sure.’

  For a moment, they were both silent, lost in their own thoughts. Georgia leaned down to give Badger a reassuring pat.

  ‘Guess you will be needing some stuff,’ Bertha said, stirring more sugar into her coffee.

  Georgia nodded, then flushed, remembering that she had no money.

  ‘Oh, don’t mind that,’ Bertha exclaimed when she explained that she had left her purse behind. ‘Like we said last night, just take what you need.’

  Georgia thanked her and then added, ‘is there anything I can do before we go? Clean up or wash something?’

  ‘No, nothing at all, we aren’t going to stay here either. We talked about it; we are going to leave today. Trixie has an uncle, who has a farm, she has asked us to come with her, I am sure you would be welcome too. Most of the people who were here last night have already gone, but the truck driver and the couple from across the road, are joining us. That is where the truck driver is now, helping the couple pack. He’ll be back shortly.’

  ‘It’s a great offer,’ Georgia said, ‘but I am going to take the children to their grandparents.’

  Lester came from around the side of the building. ‘They’re all set,’ he said to Bertha, as he leaned against the wall next to the table. ‘They will be back here shortly.’

  ‘Good, guess I’ll go put some more coffee on then.’ As Bertha stood up, she turned to Georgia. ‘You go get yourself what you need, and come out back when you are ready to go.’

  Georgia nodded her thanks. She watched Bertha walk away, her hips rolling like a ship caught on the high seas, and suddenly she realized that Lester had asked her something.

  ‘What was that?’ she asked.

  ‘Looks like she has been in a fire,’ Lester said, indicating Badger stretched out in the sun.

  ‘Yes,’ Georgia said, ‘our house was burnt down by a mob. I guess the whole neighborhood will have been burnt down by now, I just don’t get why they did it.’

  Lester thoughtfully rubbed his chin. ‘Hard telling, no laws anymore is my guess.’

  Georgia noticed he still wore a watch, habit maybe. ‘True, but even so, I somehow would have thought that at a time like this people would pull together and…,’ she broke of what she was going to say. ‘Your watch, it works. I saw the hands move.’

  ‘Oh yeah, got this from the cabinet, it is a windup one, have to remember to wind it up every 24 hours though, it is quite old.’

  ‘So is that the time? The real time.’ It was suddenly very important to know what time it was.

  ‘Oh yes, it is. It’s…,’ he glanced down at it, ‘it’s ten past nine.’

  ‘Ten past nine,’ she repeated. How wonderful.

  ‘Tell you what, there are a couple more in the cabinet, why don’t you just help yourself to one?’

  ‘Really, I mean, oh wow…,’ Words failed her.

  They went back indoors and Lester pulled out a tray with a jumble of sad looking watches and placed it on top of the glass cabinet. Together they went through them.

  ‘Here, this one is a wind up.’ he said, and held out a delicate watch, set with marcasites, all around the face. It looked very old, 1920’s she figured from the art deco style. The face had yellowed, but it had a wind up knob on the side. Carefully, she wound it up and then held it to her ear. There was a very faint tic, tic, tic. It worked! Looking over at Lester’s watch, she set it to the correct time.

  ‘Here’s another one, looks a bit more solid too, and it is working.’ Lester held it up to her.

  ‘Can I have them both?’ Georgia asked, feeling extremely guilty for even asking. ‘Just in case one stops working,’ she added.

  ‘Don’t see why not, no one else seems to be interested in them, they are just sitting here.’

  As she was putting on the marcasite watch, the truck driver came back, accompanied by a young couple. The girl, for she seemed little more than that, looked as though she had been crying, her eyes puffy. For some reason she had imagined them to be much older. The three of them had knapsacks, and the men were carrying a large duffle bag between them. Georgia smiled over at them, and they nodded a greeting, but they looked distracted and tired.

  ‘I’ll just go and show them where to put their stuff,’ Lester said and left her.

  She put the trays back in the cabinet and went over to the children. She needed to check on Deedee’s blisters and then they had to get ready to leave. Deedee’s blisters were healing nicely. ‘A couple of days and she will not even remember them,’ Georgia thought, as she covered them with fresh Band-Aids.

  Twenty minutes later, they were practically ready to go. She had found a new pair of pajamas to replace her bloodstained ones, and a pair of comfortable walking shoes for Deedee. They
looked fairly new, but had paint stains on them, and Georgia guessed that was the reason they were there. The soda bottles had been rinsed, and filled with boiled water. She had seen that Bertha did in fact boil the water.

  The cards put away, the children sat waiting on the bed, Badger and Millie at their feet having a wonderful game of tug of war with a soft toy they had found; bits of fluff flying everywhere.

  ‘Okay kids,’ she said, as she unloaded the filled bottles onto the bed, ‘we have to leave soon and I need you to help me. I want you to find some rope or string so we can attach the water bottles to our bags, and there are a couple of other things as well, we don’t have a hair brush or any combs.’ As they headed off, Georgia stopped them. ‘If there is something in particular that you would like for yourselves, you can have it, but remember, you will need to carry your own gear, so nothing heavy!’

  They scampered off like children at an Easter egg hunt, Rebecca and Deedee giggling. Badger rushed after them, determined to be part of the fun.

  Georgia went to the far end of the shop and began methodically searching the shelves and ten minutes later, she laid out her new possessions on the bed. She had found several combs, several pens, an A5 sized, unused, any year diary, a roll of nylon rope, five miniature perfumed soaps, that promised to leave one smelling of roses, and also two aluminum pots with lids; a large one, and a much smaller one. Being aluminum they were quite light, but she knew it was going to add to the weight anyway.

  She had also come across an old fashioned flint lighter, not working, but it sparked and a bone handled pocketknife. She checked the blade, wiggled it from side to side, hardly any movement, nice one, and best of all when open, the blade clicked into place, you had to press the end to fold it up.

  By the time the children returned she had the bottles securely tied in place. Funnily enough, the children had each found three items. Rebecca showed her a tiny much worn, leather bound bible, a pocketknife, and a ball of twine.

  Jamie had found a knife too, a skinning knife with a hard leather sheath; he already had it slung onto his belt. A tiny box with four dice in it and a pink bag, covered in sequins.