Lola nodded again slowly, drawing back her hair into a pony tail, tying it neatly in place with a short section of twine. ‘Sounds good to me,’ she said after a moment, ‘especially the part about camping next to the lake.’
They sat in silence for a moment, each with their own thoughts.
‘So are we going to look for Rebecca’s friend?’ Lola asked, an eyebrow arched.
‘How well you know me,’ Georgia, laughed. ‘I expect that is exactly what we will be doing.’
Chapter Thirty Two
They sat, well hidden, in an overgrown and clearly abandoned field, and surveyed the outskirts of Clinton. Georgia was having severe misgivings. For some reason, she had thought Clinton to be a small village, not this sprawling township spread out before them. There had to be hundreds of streets here, and without a local street directory, they would never find Timber View Road. Just walking aimlessly up and down all the streets until they found the right one, was simply out of the question.
It could take days and that was not even taking into consideration all the dangers involved with the attempt. She really wished now, that she had let it be, and insisted they carry on towards Tightwad. Surely even Rebecca could see this was hopeless.
She turned to her. ‘Can you remember anything else that might help? Is it near the town center? Or maybe even what direction it could be in?’
Rebecca was silent for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, ‘oh, yes, I remember once Lexie said that their house was one of the most southern houses in town; after that I used to tease her that she came from the Deep South!’
‘As if there is anything wrong with that,’ Lola muttered, who by now was looking hot and bothered and totally fed up with the whole venture.
Georgia perked up. South was good. If the Timber View place was one of the most southern houses, then it was really good, because then they wouldn’t even have to enter the town at all. She pulled out the map and studied it closely. ‘Okay so if we were to cross these fields, heading in a half circle down to here…,’ she spoke half to herself, ‘then…, okay I think I have it.’
She stood up, folding the map as she smiled over at Rebecca, ‘Okay, let’s go, I think I know where to find Lexie.’
Rebecca practically squealed with joy as she rushed over and hugged Georgia.
The tension from earlier in the day had dissipated. Rebecca had come over to Lola and Georgia and apologized. Not entirely on her own accord, but at least she had faced up to her rudeness. Georgia rather suspected that Jamie and Deedee had a lot to do with that. She had seen them standing with Rebecca, hands on hips, and while she hadn’t been able to make out the words, judging from the tone, the conversation had definitely been a serious one.
It took them nearly two hours, crossing fields and climbing fences, to navigate their way down and around Clinton, where much to their surprise, they actually found Timber View Road.
‘So which one is it?’ Jamie asked, as they stood catching their breath.
Deedee stood on tiptoes, surveying the half dozen houses before them. ‘Yeah, now that you have dragged us all the way here, I bet you don’t even know.’
‘Don’t even start, Deedee,’ warned Georgia, ‘at least we found the street.’
‘They have a pool in their…,’ Rebecca began.
‘Found it,’ Jamie said, ‘the end house looks like the only one with a pool, see you can see the pool fencing from here.’
‘Now what?’ Lola asked as they began walking towards it.
‘Well, I guess we go and knock on the door.’ Then she looked over at Jamie and Deedee. ‘But just in case, stay alert, weapons ready.’
Georgia went ahead, the dogs keeping pace with her as she walked along the fence line, round to the front of the house and up the steps. As it happened, she couldn’t knock on the door, because it had been smashed in, along with one of the large picture windows. Oddly though, all the glass had been cleared away. So, instead, after a quick glance round, making sure the others were behind her, she called through the screen door.
‘Hello, is anyone home?’ Obviously no one was home, who lived in a place where the door had been smashed out? Nevertheless, to appease Rebecca, she decided she would try once more and then they could leave without any further delay.
She was about to call out again when she heard a noise from within, then there was a padding sound, rather like someone walking in carpet slippers. So someone was home. While she was still processing this development, a cheery looking woman, possibly in her late sixties, wearing a bathrobe and bright orange hair curlers, appeared before her, and pulled open the screen door.
‘Oh hello dears,’ she said, ‘have you come for a cup of tea?’ Was this the right house? This woman had an English accent, surely Rebecca would have mentioned that they were English. Then without waiting for a reply, the woman stepped back and with a beckoning wave of her hand, said, ‘do come in.’
Georgia hesitated, this is not what she had expected, and was about to tell her the purpose of their visit, when the woman’s face broke into a smile. ‘Oh how lovely you have brought the children, and the puppies as well I see, simply wonderful.’
Before they could protest, they found themselves being bundled down a long hallway and into the kitchen. She motioned to the table as they crowded into the room.
‘Sit down, make yourselves at home, the others don’t seem to be here at the present, but I am certain they will be here any moment, meanwhile I will just pop the kettle on.’
Slightly bemused, and a little unsure what to do, they took off their backpacks. Clearly the woman had mistaken them for someone else. Deedee and Jamie hurriedly sat down, and as Lola neatly stacked their bags and weapons against the far wall, Georgia let Ant out of her bag. Before she could stop them, the three dogs had scurried out through the partly open door, bounding down the corridor and out of sight.
‘So Mrs…, uh,’ Georgia began as she straightened up.
‘Oh I am sorry, I am forgetting my manners, I am Mrs Lane, but you can call me Ruby, I’d prefer that, my girls do.’ She carried the kettle over to the sink as she spoke.
‘Thank you, Mrs Lane, I mean Ruby, the reason we are here is…,’ Georgia began, but Rebecca interrupted, ‘is Lexie here?’
Georgia shot her a look.
‘What’s that dear? Lexie, oh, I don’t know, I haven’t…, oh, drat, we don’t have any water,’
‘So is Lexie here?’ Rebecca asked again, ignoring Georgia’s pointed stare,
‘Lexie? Oh, yes, now I remember, she must have gone with her mother to fetch a plumber. There seems to be something wrong with the pipes.’
‘So she’s okay!’ Rebecca exclaimed, relief flooding her features.
‘Of course she is, why wouldn’t she be?’ She looked at Rebecca with a puzzled expression on her face. ‘You are a funny girl.’ As she turned back to the sink, she patted her hair, and suddenly went quite pink. ‘Oh dear, I am silly, I still have my curlers in, I won’t be a moment.’
They waited in silence as she bustled out of the room. Slowly Georgia took stock of their surroundings. The kitchen was quite tidy, a couple of dishes on the draining board, and next to the stove sat a bowl of vegetables. And three tomatoes. The only thing out of place really, was a large cardboard box filled to the top with broken glass, obviously, the swept up pieces from the shattered front door.
‘Maybe they have tank water,’ Jamie said, after a moment.
‘More than likely,’ Lola agreed, ‘hardly be looking for a plumber otherwise.’
Rebecca pulled out a chair and sat down heavily. ‘I wonder how long it will be until Lexie gets back.’
‘Hopefully not too long,’ Georgia thought, staring out the window into the back yard, taking in a neatly tended vegetable garden, nice, and the swimming pool. She sighed, she was itching to get back on the road. This whole detour was already taking much longer than she had anticipated. Then aloud she said, ‘well let’s hope she gets here before we have to l
eave, the important thing is, that now we know she is okay.’
‘But why can’t we wait? Now that we have come all this way I really want to see her.’
Before Georgia could reply, the kitchen door opened, and the Bostons raced in, followed by Ruby, now sans hair curlers and wearing a neatly tied yellow apron, over a floral print dress. ‘That’s better,’ she sighed, then gave a little start. ‘Goodness! Where did you come from? Have you come for a cup of tea?’
‘Oh my God,’ Georgia thought, as realization dawned on her. Clearly, this cheery old lady had a couple of kangaroos loose in her top paddock. Somewhat disconcerted, Georgia looked over at Lola, who was still staring, slightly opened mouthed at Ruby.
‘You just asked us that,’ Deedee exclaimed, never one to let anything slide by.
‘Oh dear, did I?’
‘You did,’ nodded Deedee emphatically.
Now what? Slowly Georgia stood up, catching Lola’s eye, and tilting her head to the door. We need to talk. ‘Why don’t you girls help Ruby with the tea things, she suggested, Lola and I just need to fetch something, we will be right back.’
‘Oh did you get groceries?’ Ruby asked, following them to kitchen door, ‘we seem to be getting awful low, I can help you carry them in if you like.’
‘I am sure we can manage.’ Georgia assured her, ‘No, you stay here,’ she added, as Ruby still appeared intent on accompanying them.
‘Well if you are sure.’
‘Do we even have the right house?’ Lola asked, as soon as they had stepped out into the hall and the door had swung shut behind them.
‘I have no idea, but we are going to find out.’ Really hope this is the right house, because I am not sure we can just leave this old lady on her own.
A quick search of the bedrooms showed that only one bed appeared to have been slept in. It had to be Ruby’s room, judging by the outdated clothes hanging in the closet, and the row of sensible shoes lined neatly below. It was very tidy; a hairbrush, a bowl with the orange curlers, and cosmetics all laid out in an orderly fashion on an old fashioned dressing table. In the corner of the room, beneath a window, was a comfortable armchair. Next to it a bag of red wool, knitting needles, and a half made sweater, from what Georgia could see.
Further down the hallway, the smaller of the remaining two bedrooms, was a typical teenage bombsite, posters stuck all over the walls, and a wild assortment of clothing, jackets, shoes and handbags scattered all over the place.
‘How many handbags does a girl need?’ Georgia exclaimed, as she pushed past, to look at a photo next to the bed.
‘I used to have a lot more bags than this girl does,’ Lola said, ‘you need a handbag to match each outfit.’ She shook her head, laughing. ‘Clearly you had no fashion sense.’
‘I guess not, well this is a definitely a photo of Lexie.’ Thank God for that, at least Ruby had people to look after her. She held up the frame to show Lola, ‘so this has to be the right house. Next question is, where is she?’
Lola opened another door, then retreated hastily, holding her nose, as she yanked the door shut. ‘Do not go in there, to suggest the toilet might be blocked, would be a major understatement.’
They headed back to the kitchen, but then Georgia stopped. ‘While we are about it, we should probably check out the whole house, maybe Lexie’s mum left a note or something.’
They walked back to the front of the house, towards the front door and to the room with the broken window. Suddenly Georgia was reminded of that night, tiptoeing through the Johnson’s house. That bastard. This felt so similar, though without any of the opulence.
They were just opening the door to what Georgia assumed would be the lounge when Ruby appeared. ‘Oh, I don’t think that would be a very good idea, that room is terribly untidy.’ She wrung her hands as she spoke.
‘We won’t mind the mess,’ Lola said, and smiling broadly headed on in anyway. She gave a little shriek, and came to such an abrupt halt that Georgia crashed into the back of her.
‘Oh my God, what happened in here?’
‘It’s not good to take the Lords name in vain, not even in this room,’ Ruby said quietly, having followed them in, still wringing her hands.
Georgia scarcely heard her. She stood staring around the room in total shock. Lola stood frozen next to her. The sweet cloying smell of death filling her nostrils and despite everything that they had gone through in the last weeks, nothing could have prepared her for this, especially after the relative order and calm of the rest of the house.
This room was…, beyond horrifying, no not a room, a slaughter house, something evil and terrible had happened. People had surely died in here. The picture window had been shattered. The walls were sprayed with blood, an art deco cocktail bar lay on its side, the wood splintered, glass smashed to smithereens, chairs turned over. An oil painting ruined beyond repair, clung precariously to a lampshade. Several large dark brown stains, pooled across the carpet, thick and congealed, completely obliterating the floral pattern. There were dead flies everywhere.
But what was more appalling than anything else, was the single, solitary bloody handprint on the wall, near the broken out window; a small, delicate handprint, childlike in size. Georgia stared at it and then she wanted to scream as she realized with horror that it could only be Lexie’s. She had a sudden flash of the last time she had seen her. There she was on skype, laughing about something silly that Rebecca had said, her pixie-like hair, tucked back behind her ears. Had she been trying to get out through the window?
She took a few steps forward, trying to ignore, the sticky feeling beneath her boots. Hesitantly she peered over the edge of the sofa, dreading what she might find there. A body? Two bodies? There was nothing there. As she backed away, she half tripped over something over and looking down, she saw several cans of fly spray scattered across the floor. That explained the dead flies. So Ruby had…, she didn’t even want to think about it.
‘What happened here?’ She asked again, her words a strangled sound. How had this sweet little old lady pottered around the house? Putting in her curlers, as though this room, this…. She couldn’t even think of a word for it, didn’t exist?
Ruby stared intently at a blank space on the wall, carefully folding up the edge of her apron, over and over again. ‘It was the men, you see, they were very rowdy and then after a time, everything became quiet and the girls had gone.’
‘What men?’ Lola insisted.
Ruby stared at her for a moment, confusion in her eyes, then suddenly her face cleared and she looked almost cheerful. ‘Did you want a cup of tea?’
‘No, not really, tell me…,’ Lola tried again.
Behind Ruby’s back, Georgia made a shushing sign to Lola. Clearly this woman was in severe denial and questioning her was only going to confuse her more. Aloud, and much more calmly than she felt, she said, ‘I think that’s a lovely idea, let’s all go and have a cup of tea.’
She didn’t want a cup of tea, what she wanted to do was round up the kids and the dogs and run for those proverbial hills. Once they had left the room, she paused just long enough to securely lock the door, the kids, especially, Rebecca should not ever see this room, and then put the key in the back pocket of her jeans. She tried to clear her mind of what she had seen, as she struggled to come to terms with what this could mean. For their group, for Rebecca, for herself, and where were the bodies?
Try as they might, and with the best care and tact (and with the children out of the way), they could not extract any more information out of Ruby. She chattered away easily enough, happy to have company, but it was abundantly clear, that, in her mind, her daughter and grand-daughter were due back any minute. She seemed to have no further recollection that something bad (really bad), had happened, nor did she have any idea that there had been some sort of worldwide catastrophe.
As the day progressed into afternoon they began to get a fuller picture of how the old woman had been coping on her own. Against the odds,
Ruby had somehow been managing to look after herself.
She had been taking sponge baths. ‘Don’t tell anyone but I have been using water from the pool, just until Lexie comes back with the plumber’, and putting curlers in every night before going to bed. In fact, to her, it had been life as usual and she had simply followed her normal daily routine.
It seemed she had been surviving on food stores she found in the pantry, and home grown vegetables from her own garden. These she had cooked on the gas range, until fairly recently when the gas ran out. ‘Still waiting on the gas man, but Lexie should be back with him soon, he’s such a nice man,’ Ruby had confided in Georgia as they surveyed the pantry. It was practically bare, aside from a little flour and five or six tins of tomato soup and half a bucket of freshly dug potatoes. ‘I don’t really like tomato soup,’ she added by way of explanation.
‘I don’t know how she is still alive,’ Lola exclaimed, upon opening the fridge. It was a forest of green mold and weird stringy brown fungi, and perched on a plate in the middle was a half-eaten meal, possibly from earlier that day. Georgia was horrified to discover the chopped potatoes had been raw.
They were still there as dusk fell. They should have left hours ago, but Georgia just couldn’t bring herself to leave the old lady behind. She didn’t know what to do. Perhaps there was someone living in one of the neighboring houses that had been taking care of her? Or would be willing to take care of her? Unlikely, but she needed to check that possibility out.
With that in mind, Georgia, Lola and Jamie executed a thorough reconnoiter of the neighborhood. Earlier, they had shown the room to Jamie. He had taken one look at their faces on their return to the kitchen, and fearing he would let the cat out of the bag in front of Rebecca, they had ushered him into the hall and told him everything. He had taken it in his stride, and agreed Rebecca should not see that room.
Survivors of the Sun Page 31
