Black Box 86ed

by Kjelland, Andrew

  “Oh, now they said it was supposed to start sprinkling and get real bad round six. I’d make sure you guys have a good place to hunker down.”

  “Well we’ll probably have to drive through it,” I tell him.

  “Where you kids going to anyways?” I look to Grace for final confirmation, “Florida,” I stutter out.

  “Got family down there?” He asks.

  “Yep Grace here does.”

  “Well I hope you make it through the storm alright, needless to say you could stay here for the night and let it pass over.”

  “Maybe,” I reply.

  We hear the front door tear open. “Hey, come help us with these, they’re heavy as shit!” Over yells. The man’s eyes beam with light and tears at the sound of the metal canisters clunking through the doorway. He stands immediately running to the front door, in an old man run sort of way. Using his arm way too excessively, cocked at ninety degree angles, swinging them back and forth.

  “O thank the lord God almighty you did it you really did it!”

  “Yep it wasn’t easy, Over thinks he pulled his back.”

  Grace and I turn the corner to see Over hunched on the arm the couch. “You ok?” I ask.

  “Nope, really tweaked it this time.”

  “Where they just too heavy?”

  “Well they’re heavy as shit, but it wasn’t just that. That God dam crazy son of a bitch from the super market jumped out at me while we were walking back. He was hiding in some bushes.”

  “What happened?”

  “I back handed him across the face is what happened. He ran off screaming, calling us sinners again.”

  “Jesus,” I exhale.

  “I hit him pretty hard, so I doubt he’s gona be following us around anymore.”

  I look to Roger, “should we get going?”

  He nods back to us, looking to the old man. “If there isn’t anything else you need I believe we should take our leave sir.”

  He nods back, “I can’t thank you enough.”

  “Now hold on a minute can’t we sit a second and let my back straighten out?” Over asks.

  “Take as much time as you guys need ok? You’ve done more than enough for me you can stay as long as you like.”

  Taking Over’s hand Roger leads him to the kitchen. “Thank you sir,” Roger replies.

  “I’ll be right back to get some more tea brewed I’m just going to hook up the Mrs.” He heads to the living room with a noticeable skip in his old man step as Grace and I take a seat at the kitchen table.

  “It’s supposed to storm pretty badly,” I tell them.

  “Ya we saw that on the news a few days ago. It don’t matter, Over an I where talking and we think we’re far enough out of the city to finally take a car.”

  “You think?”

  “Sure why not, it’ll be getting dark here pretty soon. Plus the cloud coverage might help out.”

  “Ok, how you feeling Over?” I ask.

  “Still hurts but I think I’m good to go now, just needed to straighten it out.”

  “Dam… Sonofa…. Mother fuuu…” We hear the old man huffing from the living room. Long looks exchange around the table as if everyone is expecting someone else to get up to help

  “I’ll go see what the problem is,” I volunteer. Grace stands with me. Walking into the living room we see the man fiddling with the nut on the oxygen tank. His face flush and breathing heavily.

  “Need some help?” Grace asks.

  “Uuhhh ya sure. I tightened the darn thing as tight as I could incase every breath counted and now I can’t get the dam thing off.”

  “Here,” I offer reaching for the wrench.

  “Be careful now not to strip it. That nut’s older than mine,” he laughs. I crack a smile at him.

  “So you’ve lived her for almost fifty years?” Grace prods.

  “Yep since the first night I slept here knew it was the place for me. Was supposed to just be a place I could fix up while going to college. Thought I’d sell it when I graduated and move on down south.”

  “What happened?”

  He smiles looking to the woman. “She happened,” he laughs grabbing for her hand. A soft coughing laugh coming from her. “Her parent’s lived a few miles away and I just couldn’t bear to make her leave them. Different times back then ya know. Family was more important than it is now.”

  “That’s so sweet.”

  I turn back to the and tank quickly pop the nut off.

  “Dam go and make me look like a candy ass.” He laughs.

  “Ha, you defiantly loosened it for me.”

  He smiles taking the wrench back. “I think I got it from here, thank you again. Why don’t you help yourself to a few more packs of smokes. We should be fine with just a couple.”

  “I’ll have to take you up on that,” I reply.

  “You kids can go head back into the kitchen. I’ll finish hooking her up and see what I can find to repay you.”

  “O that’s not necessary,” Grace tells him.

  “You act like you have a choice young lady,” he replies smiling. I grab Graces hand leading her back.

  “I’m a woman of a different time,” she sighs.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just look at them, she’s barely even conscious and her man is still head over heels for her. That’s real love, that’s what life is all about.”

  “So I take it love is dead?”

  “No, no not quite, it isn’t dead it’s just endangered. I’m sure there are little herds roaming around in remote parts of the Amazon.”

  “Ha, I must have missed that Discovery channel special. Do they compete with chivalry for food?”

  She smiles as we walk down the hallway towards the kitchen. “Ya know if I thought it was a good idea I would not have a problem staying here for a day or two.”

  “What? Really? This almost certainly haunted house doesn’t scare you?”

  “Ha not exactly… I don’t know why, it just feels like we’re visiting relatives ya know. Like we aren’t more or less running for our lives right now.”

  “Huh, ya I think I know what you mean.”

  As soon as I finish my sentence Grace grabs my hand stopping me. Her finger to her lips we pause, I stare perplexed. A faint humming from the living room floats to us. It starts out soft, building into a full song as the man sings to his wife. The song sounds familiar and older than the man singing. Trying to put my finger on where I’ve heard it but it’s nothing I’ve ever heard more than once or twice.

  Grace stares at me beaming.

  We continue back towards the kitchen. “It’s just crazy ya know.”

  “They certainly seem to be puzzle pieces for each other,” I reply. Not quite sure how to have this conversation with the girl who turned down my own special version of what she is currently so in awe of. I reach into the freezer grabbing a few packs of cigs, turning to the table. Roger and Over staring off into space.

  “You finally ready?” Over asks.

  “Yep I think so. I say we try to find a pimp mobile for our ride out!” Grace jokes.

  “Ha ya I’m sure that”… A deafening explosion from down the hallway. Grace losing her balance and falls to the floor as my ears pop.

  “Holy fuck,” Roger yells as dust flies up the hallway bursting into the kitchen.

  “What the hell was that!?” I ask. “Is it Military?”

  Roger looks outside, “there isn’t anything out there.”

  “O Jesus,” I yell, “the oxygen!” Running down the hallway covering my mouth and nose with the bottom of my shirt as dust flies into my eyes. Turning the corner I see the oxygen tank’s a wrangled mess. The top three quarters splintered throughout the walls and furniture, along with bits a pieces of Mr. and Mrs. Emphysema.

  “Jesus!” Roger cries out behind me. “Dam broad musta been smoking a cig while he was changing the tanks.”

 
I hear Grace running down the hallway, I cut her off blocking her view with my chest.

  “Are they ok!?” She asks her eyes pleading.

  “No, and you don’t want to see,” I tell her bluntly.

  “What... how did it happen?”

  “It was the oxygen, her cigarette must have caught the tank on fire.”

  She runs back into the kitchen, I follow right behind. She sits down dazed. “Why does this keep happening Will?”

  My mind struggles to comfort her but comes up blank. How can I make something like this alright?

  “They were the first sign of normalness we’ve see all day. It was like we didn’t just go through union station at all. It was like we were just visiting your grandparents or something ya know. Like things where normal.”

  “It’s going to be alright Grace,” I comfort. “It’s just a matter of hours until we are on our way to Florida. We’ll see your parents in a day or two and all this will be behind us.”

  She just snorts in disbelief and stares out the window.

  “God dam it!” Over exclaims walking with Roger into the kitchen. “I knew it, I fucking told you we just shouldn’t have bothered. Wasted an entire hour just to get the dumb bitch her.”

  “Watch your fucking mouth!” Grace yells at him.

  Over and Roger clearly taken aback by her. “I was just sayin” Over sheepishly replies.

  “I told you we didn’t do it for her, it was for her husband. Why don’t you show a little respect to people who have just died huh?”

  “I’m sorry Grace, I shouldn’t have said that,” Over apologizes. Grace huffs in reply.

  “Let’s get going,” Roger exhales. “I don’t want to be near that living room and that storm looks like it’s getting in before schedule.”

  “What’s the fucking point?” Grace breaths out.

  “What does that mean?” I ask.

  “I don’t know. If something like two people who have been together for forty some years get turned into mashed potatoes what’s the point of anything.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know,” she shrugs.

  “Listen, now I understand you want what they had. But think about it. They went out together at least. Not only that but it was quick, it was painless and how could you ask for a better moment to end your life with the person you love than have them singing to you right before it happens. They were lucky Grace, plenty of people in this world have died with a lot less.”

  She just keeps staring out the window.

  “I mean… I had an aunt with emphysema and it’s a long slow painful death.” I lie. “She would have literally just been sitting there slowly suffocating to death over the next few weeks, months, years whatever. And her life would have never improved, and it would have just gotten worse.”

  Roger turns around, “Ya know something about that whole thing makes me think something else was going on.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well now hear me out. How long has that guy been messing with those tanks now, probably five years at least? You’d think he would know to keep them away from an open flame, plus could a cigarette really accidently cause that big of an explosion? It just doesn’t make sense.”

  “What you saying he did it on purpose?” Asks Grace.

  “I’m not in any position to say anything like that but I’d say there is a compelling argument to be make ya know. They were more or less stranded, no help insight unless another group like us happened along. Things would have gotten real bad if she ran out of that oxygen.”

  “So he’s a murderer?” Grace replies.

  “No… no he’s a martyr if anything Grace. He didn’t want her to keep suffering a slow and painful death, but he didn’t want to live without her either. I’d say it’s a more fitting end to a life filled with love than the ending they were heading towards.”

  Grace lets out a deep sigh.

  Roger heads to the door pausing he grabs car keys hanging on a hook. “Well I’m sure driving their van would be better than trying to teach ourselves how to hotwire a car.”

  CHAPTER...

  “The wind has picked up outside, the sky a dark shade of grey I notice as we all step outside.

  “How bad is the storm supposed to be?” I ask.

  “When I checked last it was supposed to be a pretty good show from what the radio was saying” Roger replies. A strong gust blows past us carrying the strong musky stench of rain.

  “Ok guys, let’s get this show on the road,” Over orders.

  Roger jumps in the driver’s side with Over riding shotgun, Grace, and I in back. It’s one of those old nursing home vans with the lift for wheel chairs. Nearly rusted out on the bottom it lists easily from side to side as we get comfortable in the back seat. Grace obviously and understandably still shaken I pull my arm her as she lays her head on my shoulder.

  “We did it Grace,” I whisper to her.

  “What?”

  “All of this, all of this terrible, terrible stuff is going to be right there.” I tell her pointing to the rear view mirror. Her only response is her repositioning herself into a better fitting puzzle piece to me.

  “Alright you to ready to blow this dump?” Roger asks.

  “Hell ya.” Over replies as Roger puts the key in the ignition and turns it.

  It struggles but doesn’t catch. The air seems to escape through the windows as we wait for the engine to catch.

  “Son of a bitch,” Roger exhales as he gives the engine a rest.

  “Give it some gas Roger.” Over orders.

  He gives the gas pedal three hard stomps.

  “You’re gona flood it ya idiot,” Over yells.

  “Jesus frucking Christ I ain’t flooding shit. I think that after fifteen years of driving for a living I would know how to get a car going.”

  Over tries to respond but Roger cuts him off by turning the key.

  He huffs turning to stare out the window. The engine struggles for a second and finally gives way. Roger jams it into drive and we take off down the street.

  “Now, when we get out past the suburbs you two just holler at any car you kids want and we’ll pull over for ya.” Roger smiles, “Even Gangsta mobiles,” he chuckles.

  I crack a smile looking down to Grace, her eyes closed. I feel it again. Like I just drank half a bottle of vodka. The warmth flooding my stomach reaching out to my arms down to my figure tips. You did it. She’s yours. You’re going to get her to Florida, you’ll never see Mike again and she won’t miss him because she’s yours. I champion to myself.

  My eyes begin to water but I immediately choke the tears down. I had always thought I had lost everything important to me when my parents died, but Grace, sleeping on my shoulder is a pretty good trade off.

  I look out the window as it starts to drizzle. Tiny specs of water hitting the glass streaming down the side of the van. I look out to a darkening sky, the wind fighting its way through where the windows meet the doorframe.

  “Dam it’s getting bad quick!” Roger says.

  The rain comes down heavier and heavier, “Jesus I can’t see twenty feet in front of us,” Roger exhales. The wind and rain hitting so hard, the car swaying as we race down the street.

  “Hey, hey now slow down,” Over orders.

  “Don’t ya see, this is the best way to go?”

  “What the hell are you talking about? You can’t see shit, we’re gona crash.”

  “Exactly we can’t see shit. Which means no idiot with a gun can see shit either!”

  Over bites his lip. The rain slowly turning into hail, bouncing off the windshield and hood as roger continues down the road. The downpour of hail and rain hitting the car so hard it’s impossible to tell if it’s really the hail or if we are actually getting shot at.

  “Hey, Hey now slow the god dam car before you get us killed!”

  “These streets are deserted, ain’t nothing to ru
n…

  We’re airborne.

  CHAPTER...

  A tornado of Change, empty cigarette packs, and used oxygen tubes fly through the air as our hearts simultaneously skip beats. We settle on the passenger side after rolling god knows how many times, Grace landing on me.

  “Over, Over are you ok?” I hear Roger screaming.

  “What, what, what!” Over crescendos like he was knocked out for just a second. The hail slamming into the side of the car harder than ever. Grace rights herself straddling me. Her face terrified. “O god your hand,” she cries.

  I look to my left hand it’s perfectly fine. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Your other one!”

  I look to right hand with a sizable piece of glass protruding from. “O God, O fuck!” I exclaim. “Do I take it out or leave it in?”

  Roger whips his head around. “Holy shit Will! We need to get into a house right now!”

  “No, no let’s get another car we can fix this on the road.” I reply.

  “Man I didn’t just wreck us, you didn’t hear that explosion?”

  “What? What explosion, I thought we just rolled it.”

  “We hit something,” Grace interjects.

  “Dam I must have hit my head harder than I thought.”

  “I don’t know if it was a bomb or what but we need to get inside somewhere. We’re sitting ducks out here for God know what.”

  “Jesus,” I slide the door above us open, rain and hail immediately pours in.

  “Go, go!” I yell to Grace she jumps out the door, I follow immediately behind. We sprint to a three story house across the street. The rain and hail pelting so hard I can barely see Grace, even though she’s not ten feet in front of me. Squinting I sprint full speed, taking ice balls to the eyes closing them for just a second as I’m laid out flat by a mailbox. Grabbing my arm Grace pulls me to my feet as we make it into the house.

  “Holy shit,” she cries out whipping around to look out the window. “Where are they?”

  “What they aren’t behind us?”

  She just shakes her head still staring out the window. “They have to be coming, didn’t they follow?”

  “I don’t know I didn’t wait around to make sure.”

  “O fuck it!” she opens the door.