Survivors of the Sun

by Kingslie, Mia

  ‘I don’t know, I doubt we will find a pot big enough for a pack, even if we squash it down. Hopefully there is some sort of commercial cleaner or bleach. Bleach kills just about everything.’

  ‘Okay Deedee,’ Lola said, ‘rinse off now, then just one more to go.’ As Deedee ducked down in the water, Lola looked over at Georgia. ‘I think that’s a plan, might be best though once the kids are cleaned up to put them in one of the rooms and just you and I deal with that.’

  Clean and scrubbed pink, Ruby and the kids were bundled up in the bathrobes, and seated at the picnic table. Then it was the Bostons turn. Up till now they had thought it all a great game. Millie whimpered pitifully throughout, soap suds crowning her head, Ant bristled in indignation, and Badger attempted to hide under a nearby bench.

  Finally everyone was clean and dry and as soon as they were settled comfortably in one of the A Frame cottages, situated on the other side of the tennis courts, Georgia and Lola went off in search of the kitchen. There had to be one, Harold had said the place had an amazing restaurant.

  They found the restaurant first, and when they pushed open the swing door into the kitchen they just stood and stared. ‘Oh my God,’ Lola said, stretching out the words, ‘we have struck gold.’

  It was huge! Vast gas stoves lined the walls, and hanging over the stainless steel tables that ran down the center of the room, was every cooking utensil imaginable, including dozens of enormous pots and pans.

  Georgia hurried over to the first of the stoves, flicking her lighter. ‘Hallelujah, we have gas.’

  They lugged up all the gear and the bags of clothing and dumped them on the center tables. It took some doing, the water had to be fetched from the river (which seemed to get further and further away with each trip), but eventually they had all their clothing, bubbling away in huge pots.

  ‘I don’t know if we should boil the shoes, it is going to ruin them totally, Lola said.

  Georgia looked up, her cheeks flushed from the rising steam of the pots. She put down the large copper ladle, which she had been using to stir the clothing around with. ‘I think you are right, I’ll go and check if there is any disinfectant.’

  In the cleaning cupboard she found several five gallon containers of bleach and after carefully reading through all the small print, they filled the vast sinks with water (yet more water which had to be carried up from the river), and added one tablespoon of bleach per gallon.

  ‘Here, better put these on,’ Lola said, handing Georgia a pair of thick rubber gloves, ‘not good to get bleach on your skin.’

  The shoes were soaked in the bleach solution along with the bags, the shopping caddy and all the packs. Then they each took a sponge and wiped down all the small items, the bows, the shotgun, the outside faces of the boxes of cartridges, and every surface that may, or may not, have somehow become contaminated. It was slow work, slow and tedious.

  ‘My back is killing me, all this bending over,’ Georgia said, dipping her sponge in the bucket and picking up the nylon fishing spools.

  ‘Last time I run into a room without checking first,’ Lola said.

  Georgia raised her eyebrows. That’s right, she actually did that.

  Lola grinned. ‘Sorry, I know it’s not funny, but who knows, maybe one day we will look back at this and laugh about it.’

  ‘Let’s hope,’ Georgia thought, ‘let’s hope that one day we can find this situation amusing.’

  Finally they were just about done. The kitchen looked like a Chinese laundry. They had strung a line back and forth and hung everything up on it. Once they were finished, they carefully rolled up the trash bags then stripped off the gloves adding them to the pile.

  ‘If you go and burn that, Lola, I’ll just mop up in here and we are all done!’

  ‘If you are sure?’

  ‘I’m sure,’ Georgia said.

  With Lola outside getting a fire going, Georgia fetched one last bucket of water from the stream, liberally added bleach to the water, and mopped the entire kitchen floor.

  The mop wrung out and dirty water tipped down the drain, she slung the shotgun back over her shoulder and gathered up the bows. Then she went outside to see how Lola was getting on, and met her coming up one of the wooden walkways.

  ‘I found a fire barrel,’ she said, as she returned Georgia’s lighter. ‘You better keep hold of this.’

  Georgia reached out and took it. It smelt of bleach. Everything smelt of bleach. Even the cigarettes now smelt of bleach. Georgia sighed. Easy come, easy go. ‘So you done?’

  Lola nodded. ‘Yes, nothing left but ash.’

  ‘I’ve finished the floors, thank goodness. Guess we better go see how the kids are faring.’

  They linked arms as they walked over towards the cottage.

  ‘We did well,’ Georgia said, ‘we worked well together, and now we just have to wait and see.’ She didn’t need to add any more.

  ‘Sisters in survival,’ Lola sighed.

  ‘She sounds as exhausted as I feel,’ Georgia thought.

  The lightening bugs were making their late afternoon appearance and they paused, watching a couple of them darting back and forth.

  ‘Makes me homesick,’ Georgia said. ‘Often the kids and I would sit on the porch in the evening and talk about everything and nothing, as the lightening bugs danced about under the oak trees in the front yard.’

  ‘I always wanted a yard,’ Lola said, ‘with oak trees.’

  They were silent for a moment, then Lola added with a chuckle, ‘but I reckon I am kind of sick of them now. The trees, I mean, it’s not the same when you have to sleep under them.’

  Georgia laughed and together they went up the steps and went indoors.

  ‘But not tonight,’ Georgia thought, as she shut the door behind them. Tonight we sleep in a bed.

  Chapter Thirty Nine

  Georgia had not really taken notice of the inside of the cottage earlier. She had been too preoccupied with all that still needed doing. This clearly was one of the high price rooms. As she stepped inside, and her bare feet sunk into the ever so soft pile of the wall to wall carpet, she almost gave a moan of pleasure. The entire area was bathed in a soft yellowish glow coming from the large picture window as it caught the last of the fading sunlight.

  She barely noticed the colorful sofas, or the small kitchenette, partially hidden under the alcove of a flight of steps. It was the two queen size beds that caught her eye. The thick luxurious comforters (which perfectly matched the sofas), looked so inviting. All she wanted to do, was drag her weary aching body over to the closest one, crawl into it, pull the covers over her head, and stay there till morning.

  ‘I need to…,’ she had been going to say lie down, but her words were drowned out by a stampede of paws and feet coming down the stairs. Then Deedee, Jamie and all three Bostons were there. Millie dancing up on her back paws, Ant yapping to be picked up, Badger barking nonstop, and Deedee shouting to be heard over the din. ‘Did you bring any water back with you? It’s been simply hours since we had a drink and we are really thirsty.’

  Georgia and Lola exchanged a look, a look where words were not needed. It was a look that said, ‘oh crap’ and ‘guess what we forgot to do’ and ‘that bed looked so soft’.

  Deedee’s abject disappointment and their own newly discovered thirst, sent them turning on their heels and back out the door into the rapidly dimming daylight.

  ‘We have to think about eating as well,’ Lola said, as they hurried back towards the kitchen.

  Georgia nodded, her mouth feeling as dry as a dead dingo in the desert. ‘But first the water, once we get that on the stove, then we can think about food.’ While Lola went to fetch the water, Georgia fumbled round in the darkness, doing her best to avoid the laundry lines, lit the gas and placed a large pot nearby in readiness. She sighed with frustration. How could they have forgotten something so basic? But she knew how, there had more pressing issues to resolve, and fresh water had not been a priority on the
scale of things.

  By the soft blue glow of the gas rings she made her way once more over to the racks of pots and pans. What they needed was a smaller pot as well. A smaller amount of water would come to the boil far quicker. As it was it would be at least three quarters of an hour before it would be cool enough for any of them to drink. And it would have to be even cooler for the dogs, especially Ant.

  She went to the restaurant door to see how Lola was doing, but could not see her. There was still sufficient light outside, but the restaurant was very quickly becoming dark, making it difficult to see her way around.

  They would need candles. Surely a restaurant would have candles? She started searching, her fingers feeling their way through contents of sideboards, but finding nothing of use. The door banged, and Lola was back. Together they lifted the buckets, sloshing water everywhere as they tipped them into the pots.

  ‘It’s pretty dark in here, we should light the candles,’ Lola said as she set her bucket down and wiped her hands on the side of her bathrobe.

  ‘I couldn’t find any,’ Georgia said. It suddenly seemed ridiculous to her, that it was so much easier when they camped outdoors. There was no need for candles and the like, as their cooking fires gave them more than enough light to do everything.

  ‘I thought I saw candles on all the dining room tables,’ Lola said, moving past her to the swing door, ‘unless someone has taken them.’

  She was right. In the center of each table, stood long red tapered candles, set in rustic wooden candle holders. They lit one each, and filled their bathrobe pockets with the rest, for use back at the cottage.

  The water in the smaller of the pots came to the boil and Georgia checked her watch, it was already 8.30. At ten to nine she would pull it off the heat. Together, candles raised, they searched through the pantries and cupboards for food. For while they still had all the potatoes, some carrots and the wiped down tins of tomato soup. (The rapidly wilting vegetables from Ruby’s garden had been burnt along with the trash bags and gloves.) It would have been nice to have more.

  Georgia had been secretly hoping for tins of ham, or corned beef but aside from a rack of spices and herbs, some salt, and a half full, gallon container of cooking oil, the place had been stripped bare. Harold and his lot had really cleaned the place out. Georgia felt a momentary flash of fury at the audacity and selfishness of the man, but that quickly subsided, she would probably have done the same. After all they had helped themselves to blankets and towels, I.O.U.s notwithstanding.

  Nevertheless, Georgia felt a sense of triumph as she pulled out the container of oil. ‘Guess what we are having for dinner?’ She said, her voice squeaking with excitement.

  Lola stared at her blankly. ‘Oil?’

  ‘No, French fries! We have potatoes and oil, and a fully equipped kitchen, there must be a fryer basket somewhere here.’

  Just over half an hour later they were back at the cottage, water bottles filled (though still very warm), and a huge bowl of French fries.

  It was very quiet inside, and Lola set about lighting some more of the candles and setting the table, while Georgia went upstairs to fetch the others to come and eat. Personally she didn’t think she would manage to keep anything down. She was still far too anxious, but the others had to eat, especially the children. ‘She had to stop calling them children,’ she thought suddenly. They were children and yet they weren’t, not anymore. Surely there had to be a more appropriate word. Teenagers? But Deedee and Jamie were hardly that, not yet.

  As she pushed open the door, carefully balancing the candle, she was not surprised to find them all asleep. Ruby and Rebecca lay sleeping on one bed, Deedee and Jamie in the other. Ant, curled up on a pillow next to Deedee, briefly lifted her head to look at her, before snuggling back down. Millie and Badger, were just lumps under the covers. In the candlelight she saw that Jamie had his fingers wrapped firmly around Deedee’s hands. They looked so cute, she mused, her ‘little Apaches’, cleaner than they had been in a month, they looked as angelic as the children on a vintage Pears soap poster, none of the trauma of the day showing on their faces.

  As she watched them cuddled together, watching the gentle rhythm of their breathing, it suddenly occurred to her that Jamie had fallen asleep holding Deedee’s hands, and that he had been holding them that way to prevent her from sucking her thumb. She loved how protective he was. She had been going on at them all afternoon, telling them to keep their hands away from their mouths, and he had taken it a step further. She had not even thought about Deedee’s habit of sucking her thumb while she slept.

  ‘Perhaps we should let them sleep a bit longer,’ Lola whispered startling her, she had not heard her come upstairs.

  Georgia nodded and the two of them tiptoed back down stairs. They could wait a little while to eat. They sat together on one of the sofas, staring for a moment at the large flat black square of the television.

  ‘Well guess there’s not much on telly tonight,’ Georgia said.

  Lola laughed softly. ‘I never did find out who won Hell’s kitchen. They were down to four chefs.’

  ‘Oh, you watched that too. Nathan and I loved that show. We never missed an episode, until now that is.’

  ‘Makes you wonder though,’ Lola said after a moment, ‘the four of them stuck there, in Hell’s kitchen, away from their families, just the camera crew and support people.’

  Georgia stretched out her aching legs, putting her feet up on the coffee table. ‘True, but at least they would eat well. I bet if we handed Chef Ramsay a rabbit, a t-shirt full of freshly picked nettles and dandelion leaves, and whatever else we managed to scavenge, he would whip up a meal fit for royalty in no time.’

  Lola sighed. ‘I would just be happy to learn how to cook a rabbit so it wasn’t as tough as an old boot.’

  ‘We need chokos for that,’ Georgia said.

  ‘Chokos?’

  ‘I think you call it chayote, chop one of those up in a stew, and it will make the toughest meat, ‘fall off the bone’, tender.’

  ‘Huh who knew,’ Lola said, following Georgia’s lead, and also putting her feet up on the table. ‘Well, let me know if you see any.’ She gave Georgia a quick smile then her voice suddenly somber went on, ‘Strange to think, all over the world, how people’s lives suddenly came crashing to a halt and changing direction. I wonder what really caused it.’

  ‘I wish I knew, I would say an EMP, but what I don’t understand is that nothing works, nothing at all. Jack, he was a truck driver I met before we left Kansas City, he seemed to know a little about them, and he didn’t understand that either, he said that some cars should have worked. That a lot of vehicles would have stopped, but if the battery was disconnected for a few moments and then reconnected most cars would start working again.’

  ‘Oh really?’

  ‘Yes well that’s what he thought, but it didn’t work with his truck. Nor any of the other vehicles he had tried. He seemed to think that his CB radio should still have been working too, but that was dead as well.’

  Lola uncapped one of the bottles of water, proffering it to Georgia. ‘Want some?’

  She reached out and took the bottle, drinking thirstily, then handed it back. It didn’t even occur to either of them to get a glass, they had been sharing water and water bottles for nigh on a month now. Lola took back the bottle and had a swig.

  ‘Feels good to be sitting down,’ Lola sighed, as she recapped the bottle and set it back on the carpet.

  Georgia nodded. ‘It has been a long day.’

  There was a momentary silence in the room and then Lola suddenly asked, ‘What did you do before all this.’

  The question surprised Georgia, as she realized that even though they had been travelling companions for over a month, neither of them really knew anything about the other. All their waking moments had been taken up with making fires, cooking, packing up gear, walking, foraging, setting up camp, avoiding possible dangers and simply surviving.

 
This was one of the first occasions that they actually had time to talk about things apart from that. This forced break would give them even more down time. It would be at least four days before they could be sure that none of them had caught the disease. And if any of them did fall ill? Her stomach tightened at the thought. She would not go there now. She needed to stay positive.

  Forcing a smile into her voice, she told Lola about her workshop, her love of design, how the kids were homeschooled, and a little about Nathan.

  ‘You must miss him,’ Lola said. Georgia was about to agree, but then shook her head,

  ‘Oddly, I don’t,’ as she spoke, she recognized that she had subconsciously been blaming so much of their hardship on him. ‘I think I am too angry with him, part of me thinks he must have met with an accident or been killed, but another part is convinced he is still alive.’ Unaware that she was doing it, Georgia dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands as she spoke, ‘in which case he should have come home, he should have come back to take care of his children at the very least. It is the not knowing, whether I should be grieving or furious, is what makes it so hard.’ She stopped speaking, feeling a little embarrassed at her outburst.

  Lola nodded sympathetically, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. ‘I hear you.’

  ‘Anyway, enough about me, tell me about what were you were doing the day ‘it’ happened.’

  ‘Let me see, well I had just purchased two half barrels of chum, that stuff you throw in the water to attract fish, and had a shopping trolley full of cans of sardines, when the power went out.’

  Georgia nodded. ‘Well I guessed you were a keen fisherman, but why so many cans of sardines?’

  Lola shook her head. ‘No, not for fishing, I was going to open all those cans and tip the whole lot, chum, fish oil and sardines, all over the upholstery of my cheating bastard of a fiancé’s red mustang convertible.’