by RJ Crayton
Gee, he was so self-sufficient. She couldn’t imagine being that way. But was she going to have to learn all this stuff? Would she need all that to survive? Josh glanced out the window. Elaan followed his gaze, noting it was dark now. It had to be after eight o’clock.
“It’s getting late,” Lee said. “Let me show you your room.”
He stood and walked past them toward the stairs. Elaan and Josh followed behind him, up the steps to a little landing. In front of them was a few feet of space and then two doors. Lee walked over and opened the door on the left. “Bathroom,” he said. Then he opened the door to the right. Inside was a room with a queen-size bed and not much else. “Guest room.”
Lee turned around and pointed ahead. Josh and Elaan turned too, noticing another door on the other side of the stairwell. “That’s Natalie’s room,” he said. “Don’t go in there.”
Elaan and Josh nodded. “My room is downstairs, just past the kitchen,” he said. “It’s an addition we did to the back of the house. Has its own fireplace, too. I don’t normally heat the whole house because of that. It should be warm enough up here, but there’s a linen closet in the bathroom. You’ll find clean sheets and extra blankets in there.”
Lee stepped toward the stairs, and Josh and Elaan moved out of the way. “I’m gonna head to bed now,” he said. “And please stay put in the house until I come tell you I’m up. I’m a light sleeper. I don’t want to be startled awake and forget I have guests.”
“I understand,” Josh said. “We’ll probably just brush our teeth and stuff, and then head to bed.”
Lee nodded.
“Thank you,” Elaan said. “Thank you again for your hospitality.”
Lee smiled, and put a hand on Elaan’s shoulder. “Of course,” he said. “I would like to think that if Natty was in trouble out there, that someone would do the same for her, you know. That someone would show her kindness when she needed it. At least I hope someone will. They used to talk about paying it forward. I guess this is me doing that. Hopefully, Natty is alright and don’t need no help. But if she does, I hope someone gives it.”
Chapter 21
Things felt almost normal as they got ready for bed that night. A real house with running water and electricity. They brushed their teeth at a sink instead of dumping a capful of bottled water over their toothbrush bristles.
Elaan and Josh washed their faces and then went to the bedroom Lee had assigned them. They made the bed and lay down together. The situation reminded Elaan of a few nights ago, but it was different this time. This place seemed safer than that one. And this time, Josh had told the occupant that they were married. She was attracted to Josh and they were certainly more than friends, but they also weren’t intimate yet.
She startled at that thought. Yet.
Before she could ruminate on it more, Josh whispered, “In the morning you should ask Lee if it’s alright for you to take a shower. I thought about it tonight, but didn’t want to do it without asking. If he says it’s alright, we’ll get clean, have some breakfast, and head out. I think it’s only about twenty miles, so we should be able to get there in plenty of time to find your mom before it gets dark.”
Elaan nodded, then yawned. “That sounds like a good idea.”
Josh laughed. “You tired?”
“Exhausted,” she said. “I thought it would get easier as the days went on, but I still hurt everywhere. I don’t think people are meant to bike so much each day.”
“I don’t think so either. I’m exhausted, too,” he admitted.
Elaan rested her head on Josh’s shoulder and closed her eyes, thinking how nice it was to lie close like this. Just then, he pulled away, and said, “We should probably get some sleep.”
He turned off the light and then climbed back into bed.
She lay there next to him, her mind still full of thoughts, still too busy for sleep. “Josh,” Elaan said, her voice soft. “Are you … Do you?” She paused, feeling timid, feeling stupid asking this question. “Never mind.”
“No, don’t do that,” he said. “We’re living in a world with a dangerous virus, where we are some of the few people left. So don’t do that. Don’t start to ask me something and then stop. You can ask me anything. I’ll answer.”
Anything. Hmm. “I didn’t mean to just stop mid-question,” she said. “It’s just. Y’know when you worry you’re going to make a fool of yourself?”
“There’s nothing you could say that would make me think you were anything less than wonderful.”
Elaan blushed at the compliment. “See, you do that, and then you —”
“I what?”
“You just stop,” she said. “You said you didn’t want to think of me the way you thought of Lijah, but then you lay in that bed next to me and you completely avoided me.”
He pulled her closer to him, and she breathed out, the warmth of him sending warm tingles through her, making her forget she doubted his affection, that he could feel anything other than what he did.
“I know,” he said. “I stop. I pull away, because I just don’t want to mess things up.”
“You couldn’t mess things up.”
He chuckled. “I don’t know about that,” he said. “We’re here, together, because Lijah told us to get off the train. Because he stayed to protect you. And we’re running from a government who wants me dead and you for experiments. It’s stressful for you, and physically, it’s hard. I just don’t want to push you. I just don’t want you to feel like I’m trying to take advantage in a time of stress in your life. I don’t want to mess things up between us, Elaan. I don’t want to push you.”
“You’re not pushing me,” she said, turning toward him.
“I know,” he said. “I’ve known for a long time that I’m falling in love with you. And Lijah was against it, so I tried so hard to push you away. And now that he’s gone, even though he said he was OK with us, I know he’ll hate me if I hurt you, if I push too quickly, so I’m trying to be good. It’s not because I don’t like you, Elaan. It’s because of how much I do like you that I stop.”
“You don’t have to be good,” she said, kissing him.
* * *
Elaan was awakened by the sound of knocking on their bedroom door. It was Lee, saying he was up, and they could wander around without worrying he’d shoot them. “Thanks,” Josh called out.
Josh had one arm wrapped around Elaan, and when she opened her eyes, he leaned in and kissed her. “Good morning,” he said.
She smiled groggily. “Good morning,” she said, then closed her eyes again. “I don’t want to get up.”
Josh chuckled. “Then sleep a little bit longer, but we should get on the road sooner rather than later.”
Elaan opened her eyes again, and without Josh leaning in to kiss her, there was no protection from the glare of the sun streaming through the window. She sighed and slid over just a little to get the sun out of her eyes. Josh didn’t move.
She whispered, “What’re you thinking about?”
He sighed. “Just today. It’s the big day: the end of our journey. I’m just thinking about that.”
She sat up. “It will be good,” she said, though she wasn’t entirely sure she believed it. “I mean, my mom will know what to do. She’ll have this figured out, the way Lee does. I mean, Lee gives me hope.” As she said it, she realized it was true. If Lee had figured out how to survive in this weird new world, and he still had electricity and his well, then maybe her mother was doing the same.
Josh nodded unenthusiastically and sat up. “We should find out from Lee if it’s alright to run the shower.”
They both climbed out of bed and threw on last night’s clothes so they’d be presentable. They wandered downstairs and found Lee in the kitchen. He was sipping a cup of hot tea. Elaan asked if it was alright for them to shower, and Lee said that was fine, but to be short because he didn’t want to tax his well.
They went upstairs, took turns showering, then got dressed and hea
ded back down to the kitchen. Lee was still in there, reading a Bible. He offered them some cucumbers and tomatoes he’d canned. Thankful for something different, they gladly accepted and ate at the table with the old man. He seemed more amiable this morning.
After half an hour, Josh stood and thanked Lee for his hospitality.
“Just treat her right, and I’ll be happy.”
Lee walked them out, and Josh asked for directions to Iowa. Lee told them to stay on Rte. 150 and then suggested taking some other highway, but Elaan tuned out. Josh was just trying to make Lee feel needed. They were going to Dahinda, and Josh knew the way. Whatever Lee was telling them didn’t matter.
“Travel safely,” Lee said as they rode off. From his lips to God’s ears, Elaan thought.
Chapter 22
The bike ride from Lee’s house to Dahinda had taken a little over an hour and had been uneventful. It was almost too easy, compared to the rest of their journey. But maybe that was good. Maybe their fortune was changing. Maybe things were working out for the better.
The little road sign that said “Welcome to Dahinda” was small and blue. They rode a few minutes more, passing three streets that didn’t have signs. Then they saw a sign that said “Leaving Dahinda.”
“Fuck!” Josh said. It was exactly what she was thinking.
The entire town had taken them literally five minutes to blow through on a bike, and there didn’t appear to be anything in it.
“Do you have the address?” Josh asked.
“Yeah,” she called out, thinking back to the letters from her father. “It’s 4801 Crystal Circle.”
He shook his head. “I have no idea where that is.”
“Me neither,” said Elaan. “Except Lijah said it’s a lake community. I don’t see a lake yet.”
As far as she could see down Rte. 150, there were no cars, no people. They had passed a couple of streets that shot off to the right. “Let’s go back and explore the side roads. This address has to be down one of these roads.”
The two of them biked a long way down two different roads, exploring houses, hoping to find this supposed lake, and came up empty. After an hour, they returned to the final road that jutted off the main road. It was the first road past the Welcome to Dahinda sign. They turned down it, riding on a straightaway for a bit. Then they came to a fork in the road and decided to turn right. After another mile, they saw a sign that said “Welcome to the Maple Leaf Lake Community.”
Elaan smiled, her heart thumping with joy. This had to be it.
A little ways back from the sign was a building labeled “Maple Leaf Visitor’s Center.”
“Josh, we should stop there,” Elaan said. “I bet they’ll have a map.”
“Alright,” he said and they pulled over and dismounted at the building. Josh walked to the metal doors and pulled the handle. Of course, it was locked.
Elaan sighed as she joined him. “So, what now?” she asked.
Josh eyed the locked doors and then took a step back to survey the building. It was single-story with beige aluminum siding. It was deeper than it was wide, a big long rectangle. The front part didn’t have any windows.
“Let’s check around back, see if there’s another door.” Josh walked the bike around with them. A couple of narrow windows adorned the building’s long side. Peeking in, they only saw a typical office. In the rear corner of the building, there were two double doors. The doors should have been locked. But the lock appeared broken. Josh smiled and pulled on the door. It opened. Elaan took a step forward to go in, but Josh tugged her back. He shook his head and motioned her to stay there, as he went in.
She grabbed the door, holding it open and watching as Josh entered the darkened building. He hadn’t pulled out his flashlight, so he’d only have slivers of light from the open door. She looked in but couldn’t see him. He was gone a few minutes, and Elaan started to worry. She was about to call his name, when he emerged from the darkened hallway carrying something. As he got closer to her, she realized it was a brochure.
He handed it to her and spoke. “It’s just your typical visitor center — brochures and stuff. Perhaps someone had broken in to steal food or money. A lot of the stuff was overturned, but I found that.”
Elaan looked at the folded brochure in her hand. It was glossy paper, with the words “Maple Leaf Lake Community.” Josh stood next to her so they could read the brochure together.
The Maple Leaf Lake is a manmade lake built in 1970. The community is open to its members and their visitors. To become a member, you may buy a residential property or building lot. The lake offers several amenities, including a community center, which you can rent for events, a pool, tennis courts, golf course, fishing piers, and several boat launches. Sewer and water are public. We have all underground electricity, put in brand new from the Knox county electrical plant, which is not far from the lake.
Elaan skimmed a couple more paragraphs, but it wasn’t anything interesting. Except the founder of the community named many of the streets after his children. It would be cool to have a street named after herself, she thought.
Josh tapped Elaan on the shoulder. “Open it,” he said. Elaan was momentarily confused but then realized the brochure unfolded. Once open, the brochure showed a map. The large lake was in the center, and all around it were the streets of the community.
Josh grabbed one side of the map, and pointed to a spot in the upper right corner. “That’s Crystal Circle,” he said.
Elaan smiled. That was the address: 4801 Crystal Circle. Backtracking on the map, Crystal Circle seemed to be right off Jamaal Lane, which was connected to the main road that went all the way around the lake, Rasheeda’s Way. She followed Rasheeda’s Way on the map and saw that the visitor’s center was just off Rasheeda’s Way. “So we just follow this road,” she said. “Take two turns and we’re there?”
Josh nodded. “Yep,” he said. “You ready?”
She thought about that for a second. Was she ready? Ready to see her mom? She was. It had been too long. “Yeah, let’s go.”
The roads in the Maple Leaf Community appeared to be deserted, too. Elaan wondered if this was normal for the lake community. The brochure gave the impression people bought second homes out here, rather than lived year round.
Following the map, they quickly found Crystal Circle, a cul de sac. To the right, they saw a small house numbered 4807. There was an empty lot next to that, and then another house further down. It was mainly hidden behind some trees, and they couldn’t yet see the address on it, but Elaan suspected it was the house they needed, that it was 4801. Elaan could feel the tremor in her limbs as her nerves took hold. Was this it? Was this where they’d find her mother?
They slowed down as they approached the house. The landscape was strange. The cul de sac appeared to be a high point of the area, and the landscape around it descended downhill. The front of the house appeared to have a single story at ground level. But, you could see that the driveway sloped downward and that the basement was a walkout as you went down the hill.
When they got closer to the house, they saw lots of windows on the upper level, but they all had shades drawn. And they could hear noise coming from the house. They stopped the bike near the front yard and stared. Elaan got off the bike first. She looked at Josh, wondering if she could be imagining the strains of bass emanating from the building. But based on Josh’s expression, she wasn’t imagining things. He was hearing it, too.
He set the kickstand, and then she turned and walked toward the house, the sound getting louder. Dread coursed through her as they approached. Was this the wrong house? Had her mother left?
She trudged along the walkway to the house. Three steps led up to the front door. At the base of the steps, she could hear distinct phrases from the pumping music — counting. “One, two, three to the four.”
She walked up the steps holding the black metal railing. The house had brown wood paneling, a light fixture next to the door, to turn on in the evenings.
The thump of the music was louder. Would her mother really be jamming to dance music when the world was falling apart? No, she wouldn’t, Elaan decided. This had to be the wrong house.
The numbers beneath the light read 4801. No, not the wrong house. Just the wrong people. Her mother had fled. Her mother wasn’t here. She wanted to turn and leave. Josh tapped her on the shoulder. “You alright?” he asked softly.
“I don’t think she’s here,” she said, feeling in her heart of hearts that they’d just journeyed all this way for nothing. They’d come to find her mother and her mother wasn’t here.
“Well, someone’s here,” Josh said.
“I know. It’s just,” she started and stopped, not sure what she wanted to say. “It’s just crazy that we’ve come all this way for nothing.”
“We should still knock, see who’s here,” Josh said. “Maybe she left a note. Maybe she left something behind to help us find her.”
Elaan hadn’t thought of that. Of course. Her mother would know they might try to find her. She would leave a note, a clue, some type of message. But would these party people tell her? The singer accompanying the loud music said the word Tipsy, and she realized that she knew the song. It was a rapper, J-Kwon, and the song was called Tipsy. Sort of how she felt now. Like the world was tipsy turvy. Or maybe she meant topsy turvy. She sighed and nodded. “Alright, let’s knock.”
They took the remainder of the steps and knocked on the door. Nothing. No one answered. Elaan rapped her knuckles against the wood again, harder and louder this time. The music stopped, and she waited. A moment passed, then another. She heard rustling near the door. There was a peephole. She wondered if the person on the inside was staring at her.
The door opened, and a tall, gorgeous black man not wearing a shirt stood there. He was handsome, fit, dark skinned, luscious lips, bald head, sort of like a sleek African god. For some reason, the phrase, “Once you go black you never go back,” flitted through her mind. She’d never seen someone so drop-dead gorgeous in real life and up close. She sputtered as she tried to remember what she’d wanted to say. Something about looking for her mother who’d given this as her last address. She’d planned to ask if he knew anything about the woman who’d lived here before him.
