I looked at her questioningly.
“This new life of ours,” she added.
I shrugged. “I wouldn’t say enjoying.”
“I would. I think you really like it. You’re flourishing in this sort of environment. It’s what you always talked about and planned for and now it’s finally coming to fruition. Not only have you been proven right in your diagnosis of how modern society, and maybe even our civilization as a whole would collapse, but you’re succeeding after the fact.”
I pulled her tight to me. “You know what?” I said, looking down into her eyes. “More than anything, I just like being a provider and protector of you and our family.”
She laughed.
“No…seriously,” I said. “I enjoy taking care of you. Finally, after all these years, you actually need me.”
“You’re being silly. I always needed you,” she smiled up at me.
I shook my head. “No…you didn’t. You wanted me, but there is a difference. You never really needed me. You’ve always had a better job, made more money, and been reasonably independent. You’re a strong woman. And while I appreciate that, as a man, I don’t always feel completely fulfilled in that sort of situation. I know you might not realize it, but I actually like to take care of you. In the past though, I haven’t really been able to. But now I can. Now, as bad as things are, you finally need me.”
Claire smiled. “Whether you believe it or not, I’ve always needed you, even when you thought I didn’t. Someone’s paycheck or what type of job they have or how independent they are doesn’t mean they don’t need the ones they love.”
I hugged her close and cupped the back of her head in my hand. “You’re awesome. All I do is think about myself and how you finally need me, but even then, you’re the one who’s being strong. You’re out here in the middle of nowhere, with no way to get more diabetic supplies, listening to me whine about how you finally need me. And the reason you need me is because the worst possible scenario has occurred. But just know I’ll do everything in my power to make sure we get you the things you need…the things our family needs.”
She kissed me. “I believe you,” she said softly. Then she pulled away. “Okay, enough of this lovey-dovey stuff. Let’s go finish up with the basement so that we can wrap up our scavenging expedition.”
On the way back downstairs, we dropped our trash bags full of supplies at the bottom of the stairs in the main entry hall to be sorted later. Then we headed to a stairway that began in the kitchen and led to the basement.
We made quick work of the lower level, which was comprised largely of an exercise room, a large storage room, a game room – complete with commercial air hockey table and pool table as well as some stand-alone 80s-style arcade games – and the furnace and laundry rooms. We had to use flashlights in this portion of the home since there were no windows.
“Well, at least we can clean our clothes,” I said to Claire as we stood inside the laundry room looking around at the shelves lined with jug after jug of detergent and fabric softener.
We made our way into the game room.
“Wish we had some electricity,” Claire said, motioning to the arcade games. “I could go for a little Ms. Pac Man right now.
At the far end of the room there was a door.
“That must lead down to the sub-basement that Ray and Pam found last night,” I said. “Come on. I want to see if there’s anything else down there.”
“You’re like a kid on Halloween itching to get to the next house in hopes of getting more candy,” Claire laughed.
We made our way down a half flight of stairs that exited into a Italianesque wine cellar complete with several cute little café-style tables covered with red-and-white checkered tables clothes and seating for at least six. Faux grape vines grew over an arched entryway and white lattice-lined walls. There was even a cobblestone floor.
“How cute,” Claire said, as she played her flashlight’s beam around the space. “And look, there are still some bottles left,” she said shining her beam upon the wine racks. “We should get some candles and have a wine tasting down here some time. It could be really fun and kind of cozy.”
“I think it’s actually warmer down here than upstairs,” I nodded, pulling out a bottle of wine from its rack and shining my light over it. “Still full,” I said, showing Claire.
We counted a total of 14 unopened bottles.
“Well, at least we have a nice little stock left for us to enjoy,” said Claire.
“What’s that?” I said, shining my light over to a small cabinet at the far end of the room.
Claire walked over and opened a door in the cabinet. Inside were four bottles. She pulled one out, looked at it, and then held it up for me to see.
“Cognac,” she said.
“Oh man,” I said, getting excited. I liked wine, but hard liquor was more my style. The next bottle was whiskey, then scotch, and then bourbon.
“We hit the jackpot!” I said.
To our right was a doorway that led to a tiny foyer. From this point we saw a glass door that enclosed a small walk-in humidor. Inside, I’d estimate there were probably eight cases of different cigars.
“Guess we’re set in this department too,” I said.
“Too bad I don’t like cigars,” Claire frowned.
“Have you ever even tried a cigar?” I asked.
“Yes…I think…maybe…I don’t really remember. I think in college once.”
“Maybe you should give them another shot. These appear to be some pretty nice options.”
“Maybe,” Claire shrugged.
“What a place,” I said, shaking my head, amazed by the wealth.
“Guess we’d better get back upstairs,” Claire said, taking me by the hand in the darkness. “We have work to do.”
As we headed back upstairs, a noise in the laundry room stopped us in our tracks. We both quickly clicked off our flashlights and then strained to listen. Hearing nothing, we moved cautiously over to the room’s entry door in the blackness. Claire stopped me, frightened as something inside the room clattered loudly to the ground.
“What was that?” she hissed into my ear.
“Don’t know,” I whispered back.
I pulled my .44 from my waistband, and pushed Claire behind me. Then, in one fluid movement, with my gun held out in front of me, I clicked my light back on and kicked open the laundry room door.
A pair of green eyes reflected in my beam as I flashed it around the room. Then the eyes darted toward me, leaping up and hitting me full in the chest. Instinctually I reacted, awkwardly catching the creature, crossing my arms in front of me to support its weight and leaning back slightly to use my chest as a backstop since my hands were full. As a tail curled around one of my arms, I realized that I was holding a cat. It was a very light, very thin cat, but a cat nonetheless.
I took a moment to shove my gun back into my waistband and readjusted the feline’s weight in my arms to hold it more comfortably.
“Here, hold this,” I said, handing Claire my flashlight.
I began to pet the animal’s amazingly soft fur, and as I did so, it settled down contently in my arms and began to purr. “It’s so soft,” I said. “Here, pet it,” I turned to face Claire.
She reached out and laid a hand lightly on the cat’s back. “Ooooh…it is so soft,” she cooed. “Like cashmere.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Like cashmere. That’ll be her name,” I said, “Cashmere. You hungry, girl?” I asked.
“You don’t know it’s a girl,” said Claire.
“Well, she is for now,” I shrugged. “She must be starving. I wonder how she's survived down here.”
“We’d better get her some food and water,” Claire said.
Back upstairs in the light, we could see the poor thing was all skin and bones. I was amazed her coat had held up as well as it had without proper nourishment. The kids were on her immediately, and she seemed quite comfortable around people. I wanted to get her
fed before the kids did too much glomming though, so I took a bowl from the kitchen cabinet, filled it with some water, and found another bowl into which I put some cheese crackers I had left from the vending machine and that I smashed into pulp with my hand. I know it wasn’t exactly proper food for a cat, but we didn’t have much else at the moment. I shooed the kids away and put the bowls down on the kitchen floor so that Cashmere could eat in relative peace, and then I headed back out to the family room.
Everyone had pretty much regrouped from their chores. We had plenty of firewood stacked in the greenhouse now, and the fire we had going in the fireplace had warmed the family room nicely. The water supply was growing quickly from the snow that had been collected and boiled, and shouts outside soon led us to discover that Will and Ray had shot a sizeable doe and had managed to haul it home with them from their hunting expedition.
We spent the rest of the afternoon sorting through the remainder of the supplies that we’d brought with us, along with the new ones we’d scavenged from around the home. We also took time to hang some large blankets and comforters at the entrances to the family room in an effort to section this portion of the home off from the rest of the house and help retain more of the heat from our fire.
While we were going about our afternoon activities, Dad asked, “Has anybody made a search of the garage yet?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Want to do it now?”
“Sure, why not?” he said. “I can clear some space in my busy schedule if you can,” he joked, grinning at me.
“Let’s go,” I laughed.
We exited our castle through the French doors in the mudroom and walked out into the walled garden between the house and the garage. Actually, the garage looked more like a carriage house as it appeared – at least from the outside – that the upstairs of the structure was finished.
We found the side door to the garage unlocked. Inside, the space was neatly organized. It seemed that everything had its place on a wall or in a cabinet. There was a vast array of tools and lawn equipment that looked as though they had seldom, if ever, been used.
Dad and I wandered and rummaged for a while.
Suddenly he said, “Ah ha!” as he pulled aside a canvas tarp at one corner of the space. He pointed at what was beneath, “That’s what I was hoping for!”
Beneath the tarp, and still in its box, sat a small generator.
“Perfect!” I agreed. “That’s a huge find, Dad. Great thinking!”
“I figured a place like this would have at least one generator,” he smiled knowingly.
I walked over to join him beside the box. “Awesome,” I nodded. “Wonder why the previous owners didn’t use it?”
“Probably didn’t even know they had it or didn’t know how to use it if they did,” Dad scoffed. “Typical rich people. They have the stuff but expect other people to be around to help them run it. Come on, let’s check out the rest of this place,” he said.
As we searched the remainder of the garage, we found a full, five-gallon gas tank and another two-gallon can that was half full. There were also several chainsaws, a variety of power tools, and even a meat smoker that – like many of the other items inside the garage – didn’t appear to have ever been used. In a separate section of the garage, we found two all terrain vehicles that were fueled up and ready to go.
“These could definitely come in handy this spring, especially if we decide to start exploring the areas around us or need to do some off-road traveling.”
“For sure,” Dad nodded. He looked at the vehicles and then sat down on one. “Don’t know how to ride one of these things, but I’m willing to learn.”
From the back of the garage’s vehicle area, a stairway led up to the second floor which housed a nice-sized, two-bedroom apartment complete with small kitchenette and full bathroom.
“Must have been the in-law suite,” I laughed to Dad.
“All this money, and they stick the poor parents out here in the garage,” he shook his head sadly.
“Doesn’t look like it got much use,” I said. “Almost looks like a hotel suite.”
“Doesn’t seem like they used a lot of the stuff around here,” Dad said. “Makes you wonder why they bought this crap in the first place.”
“Got to do something with all that money,” I shrugged.
I walked over to the kitchenette area where a plastic-wrapped gift basket sat on the counter. “Check this out,” I said, motioning Dad over. Must have been for guests.”
“Well, we’re guests, aren’t we?” he said, tearing into the plastic.
Some fresh fruit had molded into oblivion, but there were wrapped crackers, and some sealed cheeses and meats that still appeared fresh. We also found several small containers of jellies and jams and two single-serving bottles of wine inside the basket.
“They must have forgotten about this being out here,” I said.
“All the better for us,” said Dad, dumping the contents out on the countertop and sifting out the good from the bad.
While he did this, I made a search of the mini-fridge. There were a few bottled waters and sodas inside, but that was it.
“Well, I think it’s been a pretty productive search,” I said, patting Dad on the shoulder. Then, getting serious, I asked, “How you holding up?”
“Fine…all things considered,” he shrugged. “Wouldn’t mind a steak and a good massage, and I think your mother would like a pedicure, but overall, we’re managing alright.”
“Good,” I nodded. “Let me know if there’s anything you need, okay?”
He smiled at me. “You’re doing good, son.” I could see a slight tear in his eye. “I’m proud of you. It’s not everyday you get faced with a challenge like this, and you’ve really stepped up.”
“Thanks Dad,” I said, getting a little teary myself at his compliment. “I appreciate it.”
We left it at that.
“Let’s get this stuff back into the house,” he said. “I think the others will like to use some electrically powered items for a change.”
The rest of the group was indeed pleased. After collecting enough extension cords to put on a full-fledged rock concert, and many of which were still in their store packaging, we were able to partake in a few of the luxuries that we once took for granted. We were able to turn the lights on, use the stove and oven, and even power the microwave – not that we had much to put in it. However, we still had some microwave popcorn we’d taken from the vending machine back at the park. We popped it to eat while treating ourselves to some DVDs later that night. Others listened to CDs, played video games down in the game room, and we even had an air hockey tournament.
* * *
We let ourselves enjoy modern conveniences for nearly two full days before we decided to buckle down and start conserving fuel and only use the generator largely for powering the castle’s well-system pump – located out in the garage – to provide us with fresh drinking water. Everyone enjoyed hot showers and baths for the first time in weeks. At the same time though, I realized that we all needed to be rewarded for our efforts as well as have occasional reminders of our previous existences. Therefore, we decided to show a movie each night for the family to enjoy together. This small taste of normalcy brought us all together after dinner so that we could watch the movie, talk, laugh, reminisce, and remember how things used to be.
And while we had the ability to run the refrigerator; instead, we gave it a good cleaning and moved it outside next to the back door off the kitchen. With the daytime temperatures typically only reaching the upper-30s or low-40s at best, we decided to let Mother Nature do the work to keep our food cool, and therefore stocked our deer meat and other perishables in the fridge outside.
And so we began to settle into a routine of sorts.
During the day, we’d go about our chores, collecting wood and water, hunting, cleaning, and cooking. Sharron even started an indoor garden in the greenhouse. She used seeds she’d found there, as well
as in the garage, and a small wood-burning stove we’d also found in the garage to heat the space. The process of water collection was simpler now that we had the well pump working, which made tending her plants much easier. Just to be on the safe side though, I had the kids stockpile extra containers of water downstairs as a reserve supply.
At night, we’d watch our family movie with a roaring fire, the adults enjoying wine, a small snifter of liquor, and the occasional cigar, although cigar smokers were forced into the library to conduct their business so as not to affect the children. Sometimes I’d remain in the library, building my own fire and reading from the vast selection of literature that the previous owners – Aaron Coughlin and his wife, Ray told me – had collected over the years while I smoked a cigar and pretended that this vast estate was my own, which in some ways it was. Sometimes others would join me, and we’d talk or read or have a game of cards or chess.
Meanwhile, the kids would enjoy venison jerky snacks or crackers smeared with jam or jelly, little bits of which they’d sometimes break off for Cashmere the cat who was slowly starting to regain her weight. Every so often, couples would sneak away upstairs or down to the basement for a little private time. Nothing was said, and the others would pick up the child care duties where children were involved. I even noticed Mom and Dad taking a little time together every once in a while.
I felt bad for Emily, Joanna, and maybe most of all, Janet. I noticed them often watching the others leave with a sort of sad envy. Emily’s countenance appeared to be more a longing for the mental companionship she’d lost in Steve. Joanna’s seemed hungrier, with a lustful longing for a man’s physical touch. And Janet’s was a sort of intense curiosity at never having known either, paired with the fear that she might never know them. But there was little any of us could do to help them other than try to make them feel as though they belonged here with us and were a part of the family in every other way.
It was funny to watch Paul around Janet. He would try to play the big man and do ridiculous things that only an eight-year-old would find astounding in an effort to impress her. She’d watch with the patience of an adult but then casually dismiss his efforts with the bored complacency of a teenager. I wished Claire’s teenage brother Brian was still with us. He’d grown so impatient back at camp in Illinois. If only he could have waited. In Janet, he might finally have found what he was so desperately searching for.
The Systemic Series - Box Set Page 29
