For a horrible moment she thought Pepe’s lifeless remains might be somewhere in the room. That he had been left, locked in here and starved to death. Feeling slightly queasy at the very idea, she knelt down checking under the bed, then in the closet, but there was no sign of the hapless creature.
A continued search of the house, revealed an immaculate bathroom, a neat and tidy lounge, a kitchen with pots and pans that had been used, and a few dishes stacked on the sink, but nothing out of the ordinary. No signs of a struggle, no clues as to what might have happened.
‘Any luck?’ Lola asked as she and Jamie came back outside.
‘No, no sign of them at all.’
‘No, I didn’t find anything either,’ Lola said, ‘I checked all the out buildings and the stables. The horses are gone and there’s no sign of life apart from a couple of chickens roaming out back of the stables.’
Now the stillness was intense. It seemed to Georgia that even the birds had stopped singing.
‘What do you think happened?’ Lola asked as she clambered back up onto the brake seat.
Georgia shrugged her shoulders, feeling shattered. She had so been looking forward to this reunion, for confirmation that they were not alone, that there would be other family members around. She had not expected this. Though why she had thought it would be any different here was…,
‘Do you think they got sick?’ Jamie asked.
‘No, I don’t think they were sick, but I don’t know what happened. It looks like they upped and left and in a hurry. If the horses are gone, then perhaps they rode away. It doesn’t look like there was any scuffle or fight, and at least there’s no blood or anything like that.’
‘I think we should check out the rest of the village. There must be someone still living here, surely,’ Jamie said, as he slung his bow back over his shoulder.
Georgia felt torn, she too wanted to see if there was actually anyone left in Bethel, but at the same time she was aware that sunset was not far off, and she did not want to leave the others alone too long.
‘We can do that first thing tomorrow, meanwhile I think it best if we get back home.’
And that was the important thing, Georgia decided as they began to ride back to the house. No matter how dismal the situation was looking, they now had a place they could call home.
Chapter Seventy Five
That night they had light as they set about making up the beds; a soft homely yellow light from oil lanterns. Lanterns that had been stored in the near to falling down chicken coop. Ancient luxuries from a bygone era, which Rebecca had uncovered, and together with Lola, the two of them had dusted them down, trimmed the wicks and filled them with oil from the shed.
Lola and Deedee were off helping Ruby settle into her new room, an upstairs one, at the end of the corridor. It was quite small and Georgia had offered her one of the two downstairs bedrooms, in deference to her knees, but Ruby would have none of it.
‘Stuff and nonsense, I might be old, but I am not infirm, and I am perfectly capable of managing the stairs. Besides which there is a perfectly sound handrail should I need it.’
As Georgia rummaged through the upstairs linen cupboard, just off the landing, she made a mental note to check the basement. She had a vague memory that Crazy Grandma’s commode had been stored away down there. The last thing she wanted was for Ruby to take a tumble in the middle of the night on her way to the toilet.
And that was another thing, they were going to have to dig a long drop. They worked perfectly fine in Australia, and she couldn’t see that it would be any different here.
With seven people in the house, fetching enough buckets of water from the river to keep the cistern full, would be no small feat, even if they used the Spyder to fetch and carry. Of course there were always the water tanks. She wondered if it was possible to hook them up to the house somehow, so they could wash dishes and take showers. Perhaps if they found a hand pump?
She began shaking out the sheets, checking the sizes. Why didn’t they put labels on, clearly stating the size?
Jamie appeared at the top of the steps, followed by Rebecca.
‘So where am I sleeping?’ he asked.
‘If you don’t mind, I think it would be best if you and Josh shared your old room. There are two single beds in there.’
‘That’s cool,’ Jamie said, ‘I’ll let Josh choose which one. Where is he by the way?’
‘Last time I saw him he was going downstairs to make sure the house is locked up securely. He shouldn’t be long.’
‘What about Deedee?’ Rebecca asked, as Jamie thudded down the steps in search of Josh. ‘I don’t think she should sleep by herself.’
Meaning, Georgia thought, that Rebecca was not quite ready to sleep by herself. Which was a really good thing, because she had no intentions of letting the girls sleep alone. Not when one of them was love struck and driven by rampaging hormones, and she wasn’t convinced that Josh was not heading that way as well. The last thing they needed was a teenage pregnancy!
‘Well in that case perhaps you should take Crazy Grandmas room,’ Georgia said, ‘that’s if you don’t mind sharing the double bed with Deedee.’
‘Can I?’
‘Of course you can.’ She was not the least bit surprised. It was after all, the most comfortable bed in the house. She smiled to herself. One less worry.
‘Here, put these sheets in Jamie’s room, and these are for your room. Oh, wait, you need pillow cases as well.’ She counted them out, and added them to the pile in Rebecca’s arms.
‘Can you manage?’
‘Yeah, no problem.’
She found sheets for her own bed and pushed the door open to her room. The heat that had built up, was slowly being replaced by the cool evening breeze billowing the lace curtains. The night sky occasionally lit up by sheet lightening. But she barely noticed as she set the lantern down on the antique dresser and dropped the sheets on the bed. She was looking at the walk in wardrobe. The door had swung open, probably with the release of heat, after months of being closed up. Within the shadows she saw the rack, still hung with some of Nathan’s clothes and she wanted to run to them and bury her nose in them and ….
‘Knock, knock,’ Lola called out as she slipped into the room behind her. ‘Ruby is already asleep, thank goodness she found her curlers, and my room is done, so just thought I would see if you needed a hand.’
Georgia nodded, not sure she was quite ready to speak. Together they began making the bed and after a moment of tugging and tucking and putting Ant back on the floor three times, Lola cleared her throat.
‘Do you think…,’ she hesitated then began again, ‘I know you are going to think me silly, but do you think that tonight I can sleep in here with you? Just till I get used to the house, plus when I chose the room, I didn’t think about being the only one sleeping downstairs.’
Georgia nodded. ‘Actually I would like that’ she said, ‘I am not sure I am quite able to handle this room on my own tonight, too many memories.’
Finally all the beds were made up, the lanterns blown out and everyone tucked in; Millie, Badger and Ant snoring at the end of Georgia’s bed. For a time Lola and Georgia whispered in the dark, discussing the hundred and one things that needed to be done.
From setting up a security system, possibly using nylon line and empty cans to the possibility of making an indoor vegetable garden to get them through the winter months. They worried about what they would find the next day when they explored the rest of the village, and then decided there was no point worrying. They would know soon enough.
At that moment they heard a soft creak in the hall. The door which had been left partly ajar was pushed open and Rebecca and Deedee stood in the pale shaft of moonlight streaming through the window.
‘Can we come and sleep in here tonight?’ Rebecca asked. ‘Deedee says she is afraid to sleep in crazy granny’s room.’
‘I did not say I was afraid,’ Deedee huffed.
‘You
did and…,’
‘Sure you girls can,’ Georgia said and moved over to let the girls in.
No sooner than they were in the bed than Jamie appeared in the room.
‘Can I sleep in here too?’
Georgia and Lola laughed and this time Lola pulled back the covers.
‘What about Josh?’ Rebecca asked as silence reigned once more.
‘I’m sure he’s asleep by now,’ Georgia said, ‘and there’s not a lot of room.’
‘Yes there is, there’s heaps more room and…,’
‘Shall I go and get him?’ Jamie asked sounding somewhat resigned.
‘I guess,’ Georgia said, certain that Josh would prefer to stay in his own bed, but just a moment later he appeared in the darkness next to Jamie.
‘The silence is kind of creepy,’ he said.
They lay all together in the darkness. Outside the familiar sounds of the coyotes howling in the distance started up, and there was the low rumble of thunder.
‘This is like the first night we had no power,’ Deedee said suddenly, making them all jump and setting Ant to barking.
‘Yes, it is, isn’t it,’ Georgia said remembering how she had lain awake waiting for Nathan to come home, the children snuggled up around her, having no idea of the enormity of what lay ahead of them.’
‘Not really,’ Rebecca said.
‘Yes it is,’ Deedee said, more insistently now.
‘No,’ Rebecca said, ‘it isn’t, we were still kids back then, now we are practically grown up.’
Georgia found herself nodding in agreement. She was not completely wrong there. Rebecca, Jamie and Deedee were no longer the silly carefree children they had been…, what was it? Eight weeks ago. Was it really only eight weeks? Now they were resourceful, hardworking, sensible…,
‘And we didn’t know Lola and Ruby and Josh either back then either,’ Rebecca added, when no one said anything.
‘I guess,’ Deedee said,
Then Rebecca said, ‘Georgia?’
‘Yes Rebecca?’
‘Can you tell us a bedtime story?’
‘Yes,’ Deedee exclaimed, one with dragons and princesses and…,’
‘Okay,’ Georgia said, wriggling herself up into a sitting position.
‘Once upon a time there was a princess,’ she began.
‘And a dragon,’ Deedee interrupted.
‘Yes,’ Georgia said. ‘Once upon a time there was a princess and a dragon and…,’ By the time the princess had been rescued, the dragon tamed, and they were all living happily ever after, the others, including Josh had all fallen asleep.
Georgia awoke to the gentle sound of rain. The soft fat drops pattering lightly on the roof. She took it as a good omen. They needed rain for the water tanks if nothing else. Then the sound suddenly ceased as the shower moved away and the first rays of sunlight touched the horizon, silhouetting the faraway trees along the tops of the bluff.
She let the others sleep on, sliding out from the covers and moving to the end of the bed. Millie, Badger and Ant came downstairs with her and ran to the door to be let out, nails clicking on the wooden floors. She opened it and stood on the back porch watching them race to their favorite pee spots. Ant with her crazy hand stand form of peeing, Millie with her pee and run attitude and Badger looking for privacy.
‘I can still barely believe we did it,’ she thought as she looked across the yard, the scraggly grass bejeweled with rain drops.
Badger came running up to her, a long lost toy in her mouth, a red rubber mouse, dropping it at her feet then backing up slightly, her bottom wiggling as she waited for Georgia to throw it.
‘We actually did it,’ she said again, this time out loud as she flung the red mouse to the back of the yard. Then she turned and went back indoors, leaving the screen door propped open so the dogs could come in when they were ready.
She picked up the kettle, filled it from one of the bottles lined up on the sink bench and then put it on the stove to boil, lighting the gas with the lighter, feeling totally at peace; the soft hiss of the blue jet of flame adding to her sense of having come home.
After breakfast, buckets of water having been fetched from the river and carried into the bathroom, they all took turns to wash and make themselves presentable. Georgia had gone through Nathan’s closet, finding t-shirts, way too big, for Jamie and Josh. She let Lola and Rebecca search through her own wardrobe, each choosing a summer frock. Deedee chose a pair of Rebecca’s old jeans and a lacy blouse. It was, she decided, a good thing they had left extra clothes here, at what had once been their holiday home.
‘And no, Deedee,’ Georgia called as Deedee went running for the back door, ‘you cannot put mud on your face.’
Deedee came to a skidding halt and put out her bottom lip.
‘But you can wear the feathers. War paint is for war time Deedee, now we are home. No self-respecting Apache princess would want to wear mud now.’
‘Oh,’ Deedee said, brightening a little, ‘but I can still wear the feathers and carry my bow?’
‘Of course you can, you earned them.’
They all set off shortly after nine, the trailer hooked back onto the Spyder, the dogs all excited to be going for a ride. Uncertain what they would find, they came prepared, bringing all their weapons with them, and an emergency pack. They pedaled past Auntie Darlene’s house and on towards the center of the tiny township.
Cautiously, they stopped at all the houses on their way, knocking on doors, and checking inside. It was the same story over and over again. Everyone had simply vanished.
Dinner was on the table at quite a few of the homes. In the kitchen of one cottage, a tray of crockery had been dropped, shattered china scattered across the floor. A dark shiny stain that had once been coffee, marked the polished wooden flooring.
They took the back road back towards the church, the stark whiteness of the building and the high steeple seeming to shimmer in the already humid heat of the morning. Scarlet rose bushes grew with wild abandonment.
Heavy bunches of scented blooms were hanging across the railing of the wheelchair ramp. The thick solid oak doors stood ominously open and the church was empty and silent. Their voices as they called, ‘hello is anyone here,’ echoed back at them, and startled two swallows, that swooped and darted back and forth in their agitation. They left the doors open, as they had found them, not wanting to trap the birds inside.
Back outside again, Rebecca picked one of the roses and they waited as Deedee helped her pin it to her hair, using one of her sparkly hairclips.
‘Now where to?’ Lola asked, as they settled back onto the Spyder.
‘I guess we check out ‘Greely’s in the Corn’, and then from memory there are only a couple more houses.’
Lola laughed. ‘Greely’s in the Corn? That’s a bit of a mouthful.’
Georgia nodded. ‘I think it was named after a bar in a movie or something like that. It’s the local watering hole, but people would come from miles away just to eat here. The meals were excellent and they served the best chicken wings I have eaten. Nathan and I became good friends with Bob and Anne, the owners, so we spent a lot of time here, got to know everyone really. Plus it was a great place to bring the kids.’
‘Sounds nice.’
Georgia sighed, remembering the many laughter filled evenings she had spent there with Nathan, catching up with local gossip and watching Rebecca and Jamie playing with other kids after dinner.
‘Yes it was, it really was.’
The car park of the bar and grill was virtually empty. As they parked the Spyder she thought she recognized one of the waitress’s battered blue Toyota, and Bob and Nancy’s SUV. Obviously they had been here setting up, when Three-eighteen struck. They helped Ruby down, then quietly walked up the wooden walkway to the huge covered deck.
‘Oh look,’ Deedee said, ‘humming birds.’
Georgia looked over to where Deedee was pointing, they all did. The birds, beautiful and mesmerizing, were
flitting round a hummingbird feeder, filled nearly to the top with the red syrup they so loved. One of the birds bullying the others, determined that all the plastic blossoms were his. Suddenly Georgia was struck with the realization that the feeder was nearly full.
‘Oh my God,’ she whispered urgently, ‘the feeder is full, someone must have filled it. Someone must still be here!’
They turned abruptly, looking around them carefully. Georgia noticed a bicycle leaning against the wall next to the entrance. That had to be recent. Nancy would have done her nut if she had caught someone leaving a bike there. She remembered how once a German tourist, glowing with fitness and joie de vivre had parked his Rohloff in that exact same spot. He had walked into the bar and abruptly come out again, ears burning, to park it in the bike rack. Fortunately he had been thick skinned, or hot or both and had happily gone back in to enjoy a cool drink. Either that or he had known it was at least fifty miles to the next pub.
Suddenly they heard a noise coming from just inside the building and as one they froze. It was an odd sound and for a moment Georgia could not place it, then as nervous as she felt she nearly laughed. It was the metallic click of a pull tab and the accompanying phish sound. Someone was on the other side of the door, and had just opened a can!
Chapter Seventy Six
September 6th, Day 58
Georgia looked at the others, somewhat unnerved. After all the empty houses they had visited she had not been expecting to find anyone here either. Jamie cocked an eyebrow questioningly, and Lola whispered, ‘maybe we should just knock?’
She curled her fingers in readiness, and then hesitated, her hand only inches away from the door. It felt kind of odd to be doing that. A bar door wasn’t one you normally knock on, you just pushed open the swing doors and go inside. Especially one you were so familiar with, but these were different times.
Survivors of the Sun Page 70
