by A. American
“That sounds wonderful to me!” Terry called out.
The engineers came up onto the porch and were all served heaping bowls of stew. As they ate, people slowly started making it back to the house. All were excited that the power was now on and in all but one case, Thad’s house, the AC was working.
“We can look at it tomorrow,” Terry told Thad as he pushed a biscuit in his mouth.
“Ain’t no rush. We’re used to it. Just nice to have the well running and be able to take a hot shower,” Thad replied.
“Holy shit,” I said. “I hadn’t even thought of that! A hot shower!”
It got a laugh from several of those gathered. Mike and Ted arrived back at the house to say their house was up and running as well. Then Mike asked Baker, “You think we could get power out to their ranch?” He pointed at Janet.
Baker looked at Terry and he asked, “Where are they?”
“Off forty-two, past the farm a ways.”
Terry nodded, “It’ll take a couple of days. We’d have to go out and clear all the lines. But I don’t see why not.”
“That would be amazing,” Janet said.
“Yes, it would,” Crystal added. “I’d like a hot shower too.”
“We’ll need to start making a list of people and the houses they live in. See how many houses we can restore power to. It would make a huge difference,” I said.
“We already have power to the gym in Eustis,” Terry said.
“That’s good,” Sarge replied. “The injured folks there have really been suffering, and this will help ease their pain a bit as they recover.”
“Alright, enough of this,” Kay said. “There’s plenty of time tomorrow to discuss all this. It’s time for dessert. Who wants some ice cream?”
There was a near universal shout in reply, “Ice Cream?”
“With grape syrup too,” Mel added.
Mel and Kay went to the kitchen and began scooping out bowls and cups of ice cream. Nearly every container that could hold it was used. You’d take your bowl and drizzle some of the deep purple syrup made from the grape juice on top. It was heavenly. I got mine and sat down beside Mom and Dad.
Dad was eagerly eating the intensely sweet treat. “Not bad, huh?” I asked.
“This is amazing,” Mom said.
Mel came up and sat with us after getting the kids a bowl. It was funny to watch Jace and Edie. I wasn’t sure if they’d ever had it before. But they sure knew what to do with it and the kids sat giggling and getting themselves covered it in.
“When did you guys make this?” I asked.
“While you were gone. We had the idea and decided, what the hell, and made it.”
“It’s amazing,” Mom said again. “I can’t remember having anything this sweet, ever.”
I laughed. “Your sweet tooth has gone dormant.”
“Mine’s waking up,” Dad said.
I looked around the table at the people that mattered the most to me in the world. And they were all here, gathered together eating ice cream of all things. “Not a bad homecoming huh?” I asked.
Dad looked up, “Not bad at all.”
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
