by David Achord
Fred responded with his patented microscopic nod, indicating the conversation had come to a conclusion. We walked together back to his truck. He shook my hand and I watched as he got in.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” I said, waved at the boys, and watched as they drove away.
Heading back inside, I walked down to the basement where Konya had already laid out a sleeping bag and was getting settled in. His dogs were gathered around him. One of them, Number One I think, let out a low growl.
“Easy now,” Konya said with a scratch behind his ears, “Zach is a friend.”
Number Two, the ball licker, thumped his tail against the floor. I still kept my distance.
“Do you need anything?” I asked.
“I think we’re good. The kids and I want to thank you for your hospitality, isn’t that right?” he asked his pets. They looked at him blankly. He nodded. “They’re very appreciative,” he said.
“Tomorrow, we’ll have some breakfast and go pay a visit to the Birmingham women.”
Konya looked at me questioningly.
“It’s what I call them.”
Konya nodded. “Sounds agreeable. I never thought I’d see any real women again, and now there are women everywhere. A young stud like you must be having the time of his life.”
I chortled. “I can barely handle my wife.”
“Having a good wife is important,” he said, in almost a whisper.
“I usually get up around five, but if you get up before me, help yourself to some coffee. I have a percolator set up on a car battery.”
Konya sat up quickly. The dogs all stood quickly until he made them lie back down. “You have coffee?” he asked in wonderment.
I smiled. “We raided a Starbucks a while back and got a hefty supply. I have to admit, I never had any Starbucks coffee before. Every flavor they have is wonderful.”
He smacked his lips. “My mouth is watering just thinking about it.”
“Get some sleep and we’ll kill a pot of it in the morning,” I turned to go, but hesitated.
“There’s something I’d like to say,” I cleared my throat before continuing. “We’re trying to create a community of people who can count on each other. A man of your skills and expertise would be mighty welcome. I hope the idea is something you might be interested in. There are plenty of vacant houses around here, or we can even build you one.”
Konya stared at me a moment and then looked off into the space silently. “Anyway, think it over. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Chapter 7 – Number Two
I awoke to the pitter patter of paw steps coming down the hallway along with the panting of dogs. One of them nudged the bedroom door open, walked up to the edge of the bed, and stuck his muzzle in my face. His wet nose sniffed me a moment, and then he scampered out. My wristwatch showed it was four in the morning, a little bit early to get up, but I knew I’d not be able to go back to sleep. Quietly getting out of bed, I tiptoed into the bathroom and cleaned up. I found Konya sitting in front of the fireplace. He looked up when I walked in the den.
“Number Two seems to like you,” he said affably.
I smiled and got the coffee pot going.
“It took a while for me to get to sleep. The kids had no problem, but it was a strange feeling for me. Once I nodded off, I slept like a rock until a few minutes ago. I must have been having a bad dream or something because I jerked awake and had a mild panic attack until I remembered where I was. You ever have nightmares about those things?”
I managed a halfhearted chortle. “Oh yeah,” I replied, “all the time. I imagine we all do.” I thought about when Julie had the dreams. She’d start whimpering and shaking. All I could do was hold her gently until the dream passed. I gestured at the dogs.
“Have they been outside yet?”
Konya shook his head. “I thought it might make you folks nervous if you heard doors opening up early in the morning.”
I nodded with understanding and gestured toward the back door. Donning jackets, we walked outside with the dogs and stood on the deck while we watched them do their business. Curly was right there beside them and seemed to like having new friends. It was cold out, I could see our breaths and the frost was thick on the ground.
“I’m going to get the generator started and check on the farm animals. It should only take a few minutes,” Konya nodded at me and went back inside.
I hurriedly checked on everything to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary and went back inside carrying a basket of eggs. Konya’s jaw dropped open when he saw them.
“Oh, my, God,” he said quietly. “I haven’t had any eggs since – hell, since I’ve had coffee. I think I’m in heaven.”
I chuckled. “We’ve worked hard to get ourselves to our current state, but we’ve still got a long way to go.”
“He always says that,” Julie said as she shuffled into the kitchen. She handed Frederick over to me and fixed herself a cup of coffee. Her hair was still mussed and her face was puffy. I thought she looked beautiful.
“Watch Frederick, I’m going to get cleaned up,” she shuffled off to the restroom before I responded.
“She’s not much of a morning person,” I said as I looked at Frederick. My son stared back at me quietly with his deep blue innocent eyes. He was a quiet one, he only cried when he was hungry or we didn’t get his diaper changed in a timely manner. Konya motioned me to stay seated, retrieved the coffee pot, and refilled our mugs before sitting back down and looked at us wistfully.
“I’ve forgotten what this is like,” he finally said after savoring his coffee for a moment. “The family life, I forgot what it was like. I loved my wife. She was my best friend. My kids were great, but when my daughter went away to college, she got mixed up with the wrong crowd, and then my son was killed.”
He continued sipping his coffee, lost in his thoughts. It was then I noticed one of his thumbs was missing. He saw me looking.
“My wife turned and attacked me before I knew what was happening. I instinctively grabbed her to hold her off me. My hand got a little too close to her mouth and she damn near bit my thumb off. Once I got her locked up in the bedroom, I cut the rest of it off and cauterized it on the kitchen stove,” he looked at the mass of scar tissue where his thumb used to be.
“It hurt like hell,” he said with a pained expression. I could only imagine. “It must have worked though, because I didn’t get infected.”
Kelly shuffled in next. I had to admit to myself, she looked like someone a man would enjoy waking up beside in the morning. She was wearing a tee shirt without a bra and gray sweatpants. I reeled my thoughts in and concentrated on my son.
“Are you going to the radio tower today?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yep, first thing after breakfast. I thought I’d introduce Konya to the one and only Big Mac.”
Kelly looked me over. “I’d like to go,” she said while looking at me with an expression I could not interpret.
“Sure,” I replied.
Kelly was waiting in the truck after breakfast. She’d been sitting there in the cold for at least fifteen minutes. She didn’t like the cold, so I knew something was up. Konya and I got in and the dogs hopped in back.
“I couldn’t help but notice a couple of suitcases sitting in the back,” I commented as I drove.
“I’m going to move back,” Kelly replied. I looked over at her. She was staring straight ahead.
I wanted to talk to her, but was reluctant to say anything in front of Konya. After all, I hardly knew him. I glanced in the rearview mirror at him to see if he was listening, but he was pointedly staring out of the window. Number Two saw me looking and emitted a light bark, as if to say, hi buddy!
As we drove past the Governor’s Club, I could see a telltale column of smoke from one of the houses in the back. I knew where they lived now, but I was still uncertain how to meet them under peaceful terms.
“What are you looking at?” Kelly asked.
> “There is somebody living up there on the hill back in that neighborhood. So far, they’ve elected not to introduce themselves,” I said, and explained to them about the letter I had affixed to the locked gate of the exclusive neighborhood. Konya seemed nonplussed, while Kelly mused aloud who might be living there.
When we arrived at the radio tower, but it appeared nobody was home. I got out and retrieved Kelly’s luggage.
“I assume everyone is down at the church,” I said to Konya. “It’s close by and we thought about using it for a traveler’s rest. If you don’t mind waiting, I’ll help Kelly with her luggage and then we’ll head down there.”
Konya nodded. “Just going to let the kids stretch their legs, if you don’t mind.”
Kelly walked ahead and held the door open for me. Walking inside, I realized the living space was even smaller now that it was occupied. There was stuff strewn everywhere.
“I made a bad mistake,” Kelly said without being asked. I looked at her. “Terry and I…” she didn’t finish. I nodded in understanding.
“Anyway, Andie found out somehow. She cornered me yesterday. She said if I wanted to be Terry’s little cum dumpster it was fine with her, but the minute he even hinted he was going to leave her for me, she was going to take a knife to me,” she scoffed, but when I didn’t reply, she looked at me questioningly. “She’s full of shit, right?”
I shook my head slowly. “Don’t underestimate her. She’s got a mean streak.”
“Son of a bitch,” she said under her breath. “Alright, I’m going to stay here for a while. It’s not easy living with Wanda, but I guess the alternative isn’t too much better.”
She suddenly hugged me. “Why do I always manage to mess my life up?” she said as she buried her face in my chest and started sobbing. She felt nice, but the whole thing was very awkward. I held her for a moment so that I wouldn’t appear callous to her feelings, and then gently pried her off.
“Listen, I think you’re right, it’s best if you stay here, at least for a little while. Something will work out, and I’ll help all I can,” I said.
“Thanks, Zach,” she said, “you’re a good guy.”
“C’mon, let’s head down to the church.”
“Like I said earlier,” I explained to Konya as I drove, “I refer to these women collectively as the Birmingham girls,” I gestured at Kelly. “They consist of Kelly here, Mac, Wanda, Rhonda, and three little brats whose names I’ve never bothered learning.”
Kelly snickered. I continued. “There was another woman in the group, Cindy. She was Wanda’s daughter. She got infected and didn’t make it.”
I didn’t explain the circumstances, or that Wanda blamed Rowdy for her daughter’s ultimate death.
“Here we are,” I said as I drove into the parking lot of the church. There was a goodly amount of smoke coming out of the chimney of the wood stove Mac had recently installed.
I pointed at the church and continued. “The whole purpose of the radio tower is to invite survivors to join us and form a community. The church is going to be the staging area for any new arrivals. I imagine Mac has them in there getting everything cleaned up. Let’s go say hello.”
We were met at the door by Wanda. I introduced Konya and the dogs, and let Kelly introduce the rest. Konya was cordial to everyone, and even gave Mac a smile, but he seemed nervous. Maybe he wasn’t used to being around so many people at once. After several minutes of conversation, Konya motioned me off to the side.
“Zach, would you mind carrying me back to my van?” he asked.
“Sure, Konya, are you leaving?”
Konya nodded. “I got some things to take care of back at the camp.”
I nodded in understanding, spoke with Kelly briefly and had Konya back at his van twenty minutes later. He loaded up his stuff and Julie joined me as we bid him farewell. He stood by his van silently for a moment before responding.
“Tell everyone thanks for the hospitality if you don’t mind.”
“I guess it was uncomfortable to be around so many people after living on your own for so long,” I said. Konya nodded slightly but didn’t say anything. “Well, you have a standing invitation with us.” Konya looked at me and nodded again.
“I appreciate it,” he said and drove off without further comment.
“Did we do something to offend him?” Julie asked.
“No, he’s just not used to people. Fred said not to crowd him and he’ll be back.”
Chapter 8 – The Elephant on the Golf Course
“Cum dumpster?” I asked. I had lured Andie into one of our greenhouses under the pretense of tending to our herbs and vegetables. Andie glared at me.
“It’s what she is, she’s fucking Terry,” she retorted.
“It’s Terry’s fault too, don’t you think?” I asked. She avoided eye contact and concentrated on watering some plants.
“I knew you’d take her side.”
“No, I’m always on your side,” I said quietly.
“You’re about to tell me not to hurt her.”
“Yes, I’m asking you not to,” I said. “She’s moved out of the house, there shouldn’t be any further issues.”
Andie did not respond. She set the water bucket on the ground and turned her back to me. I walked over to her and put my arm around her shoulder. There were tears in her eyes. I gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“It’s okay, I’ll live,” she wiped her eyes and sighed. “So, what do I do now?”
I thought for a minute. “How about this, the weather has been sunny the past couple of days. If it holds out tomorrow, why don’t the four of us go horseback riding? I’ll get Rhonda to babysit. Bo has practically been begging us to take the horses out for some exercise. It’ll be like a double date. Spending time with Terry will be nice, right?”
So, my grand plan of repairing the tenuous relationship between Andie and Terry, marred by a latent case of infidelity, seemed like a brilliant idea. We packed a lunch and a tarp for ground cover, and went horseback riding down Franklin Pike. The surroundings were quiet, the houses along the roadway barren and lonely looking. The conversation was intermittent, with Julie and I doing most of the talking.
“I’m getting hungry. Let’s look for a place to set up, what do you guys say?” I suggested.
We settled on the seventh hole of a private golf course located on Franklin Pike. It had an open scenic view, which also prevented anyone or anything from sneaking up on us. The air was brisk, maybe in the mid-forties, but the sun was shining brightly. Personally, I thought it felt good.
“This must have been a beautiful course at one time,” Terry said. “The grass hasn’t been maintained in over two years, and yet, it’s still thick with very few weeds.”
I nodded and looked over at the clubhouse in the distance. “We should come back sometime and scavenge. The maintenance buildings will have some miscellaneous tools, the restaurant might have some canned goods left, and don’t tell Rowdy, but the bar might still have some alcohol,” I snapped my fingers. “Oh, and the golf carts have those large batteries. I bet we can make good use of them with the solar panels.”
“Most likely,” Terry replied. I glanced over at him. He was gazing out across the golf course, seemingly lost in his thoughts.
“Did you play golf, Terry?” Julie asked. Terry nodded.
“I played as a teenager and was even on a college team, but I dropped out my freshman year, ended up joining the Army,” he replied.
“Why’d you do that?” I asked.
He started to say something, but changed his mind. “It seemed like the thing to do at the time.”
The conversation ceased then. We sat together silently for several minutes, eating and watching our surroundings.
“Look, do y’all see it?” Andie suddenly said. We looked around, wondering what the hell she was talking about.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked.
“The elephant in the room, or maybe I should say, the elephant on the golf course.”
“I don’t get it,” Julie said.
She made eye contact with Terry. “We all know you’ve been doing Kelly,” Andie said crassly. Terry inhaled and looked away. Andie waited for Terry to respond, but he didn’t.
“Do you want her over me?” she finally asked.
“Andie, you two can discuss this later, in private,” Julie said. “It’s none of our business.”
“No, I think it is,” Andie replied. “Zach keeps saying we’re all in this together, and you keep saying we’re all family, right?”
Julie reluctantly nodded. “But this is a sensitive matter.”
“I don’t care how sensitive it is, you two will find out anyway, so it may as well be now,” she looked pointedly at Terry. “Well, what’s the answer?”
“You know I care about you,” Terry said hesitantly.
I forced myself not to grimace. Even I could see it was not the response Andie wanted to hear. A look I got from Julie confirmed she was thinking the same thing. I made a point of staring off into golf course. A deer peeked out from behind a tree and watched us warily.
“But you don’t love me,” Andie responded plainly. “I understand I guess. It’s been the story of my life, no matter how good I treat someone, it isn’t good enough.”
There was a slight tremor in her voice, and my heart went out to her. She gathered herself together and sighed deeply.
“I was going to carve up Kelly’s face to teach her a lesson, but Zach said no, so I won’t. Terry, I don’t want to share a bed with you anymore,” she said. “One of us has to go. I can live with Rowdy in his bus I guess.”
Despite the seriousness of the conversation, I almost burst out laughing. There was something unholy about Rowdy’s digestive system. His farts were worse than a cow with a belly full of cud. During warm weather, he’d leave the windows open, but during the winter, the odor inside the bus could be downright nauseating.
