by Patrick Shea
Harry continued, “To change the subject, I talked to Jane earlier today. We’ll talk once more later today and that will be that, but her parents and the kids have been symptomatic for five or six days now, and Jane is still not showing signs of the virus. She might be one of the survivors.”
“I know. She is so disconsolate about losing you and the rest of her family that she doesn’t want to survive, but I agree. It looks more and more like she will. You know I’ll do everything in my power to make sure she is taken care of. But I don’t think anyone can help with the grief. She’ll have to do that mostly alone. I’ll talk to her as much as I can but there isn’t much else I can do.”
“Jack, I know you’re right about that and I appreciate that you will still be there for her. I’ve been telling her for the past two days how important it is that she takes care of herself and prepares to carry on, but her heart isn’t in it. I would guess that almost all of the survivors will feel that way. I know that Nancy does, and that if it were not for Anne, I think she would be depressed even more than she already is.
“I can’t tell you how hard this is for those who survive. Nancy and Anne are fighting as hard as they can to continue. But they have both suffered such great loss, and there is so much death around us, that I’m not sure if they’ll come out of this with any semblance of being normal. I know the human spirit is hard to break, but these circumstances are as tough as they possibly could be.
“Before I forget I want to tell you that Nancy will call both you and Jane when I’m gone, just for confirmation. Nancy will also stay in touch with you and with other survivors in the U.S. She’s a take charge kind of person and she’ll share her experiences with others, and ask for theirs as well.
“Jack, that’s all I have now. I’m not feeling well and I think I want to sleep for a while so If you don’t mind let’s call it quits. There isn’t much either of us can say, so I’ll settle for thanking you for being my friend and wishing you well as you try to help others. God bless you my friend.”
Jack responded, “Harry, having known you was my gain. I’ll miss you and our daily talks. I hope the end isn’t too hard for you and remember, I won’t be far behind you, and when I go I’ll have you on my mind.”
Jack hung up the phone and sat in his chair thinking about the years he had known Harry Skipperton and what a good friend he had been. Tears ran down his face as he thought of the pain his friend was going through, and of the loss he felt with Harry’s passing. He promised himself once again that he would do all in his power to help Jane; especially if she was one of the survivors.
Chapter 4
Chapter Sixteen: Past Promises
Wednesday: Baltimore, Maryland
Jane Silverton had been in Baltimore with her parents and two children since late October. She knew how lucky she had been to leave Edinburgh just before the virus arrived but, she wondered if it was actually luck. Yes, she could be with her parents for the end but she could not be with Harry. Jane had been crying for days just knowing that Harry had entered the final stage of the disease. The crying had become uncontrollable since this morning when Nancy Clark had called from Scotland to tell her Harry had left them.
Her parents didn’t seem to be much affected by Harry’s death and Jane was having a difficult time with that. On the other hand, she was trying to keep herself together at some minimal level just so she could take care of the kids. Her parents weren’t too much help with them either. The kids knew their dad was dying and Jane had told them this morning that Harry had passed away. They were old enough to understand what that meant.
Both her parents and her children had become symptomatic six days ago and Jane was still symptom free. She knew from talking with Jack each day that she was likely to be a survivor and she hated it. She wanted to be able to die at the same time her children died, and she didn’t know what she had done to God that he would have her watch everyone close to her die when she could not.
Worse, the kids were having a hard time understanding that they would be next. Jane didn’t know what to do about that. She talked to the kids each day about life after death, and although she had never been what she thought of as devout, she read from the bible each day and shared the information with her children. They were slowly coming to grips with their own pending deaths and the prospect of a life after death.
Jane was thankful in a way that they had no friends in the area. She would be the only one influencing her children during the end days. She knew they didn’t need any other children saying things that would be even scarier than the virus itself. Jane thought the one thing that made the thought of dying acceptable for the kids was that they were convinced they would see their father again. Jane felt grateful for that, although she felt guilty about telling the kids that she would be right behind them in death. She hoped her parents would not do or say something to contradict her as they grieved their own upcoming deaths.
The phone rang and Jane knew it would be Jack Sweeney. He called at least once a day and he was the only one who called.
She picked up the phone and said, “Hello Jack”.
“Hi Jane, how are the kids today?”
“I think they are a little better. They still can’t believe Harry died, but they know they’ll see him shortly. That seems to be the only thing that they have to hold on to.”
“How about your parents, any improvements?”
“No there aren’t. Jack, I hate to say this but I left the first time because they were just too selfish for me. Why I thought that had changed I don’t know, but it hasn’t. They really are selfish. They don’t care about Harry, and while they seem to love their grandkids, they are much more worried about themselves than about the kids. And of course they seem to resent the fact that I’m not yet sick, and that it looks like I won’t be. It makes it really hard to be here.”
“Jane, I’m sorry things worked out like this. I wish I could do something about it. As I’ve said before my apartment is yours if you want it.”
“I know but I can’t imagine how guilty I’d feel if I abandoned them now. They’re going to need my help through the last couple of days, even if they don’t deserve it.”
“I didn’t think you would take the offer, but I wanted to remind you. Have you made contact with any other survivors yet?”
“No I haven’t. There will be time for that after everyone’s gone.”
“You’re probably right about that but one thing you need to do now is make arrangements for an RV. I’ve talked to some people about that and the nearest place to you is only about two miles away. I emailed you the name of the person to call, the address, and directions. I promised them you would call today.”
“Okay Jack, I’ll do that as soon as you and I finish. I appreciate your doing this for me, although to be truthful I really don’t care too much about what happens with the RV.”
“I know you don’t, but please do this for me. I need you to be a survivor so I can use your experiences to help other survivors. Please don’t give up on me.”
“I won’t. I don’t actually think I have the courage to do anything but go on living. Are you going to be able to help me with where I’ll need to go and who other survivors in my area are and how I’ll find them? I don’t want to be with other people but I’m afraid to go through this alone.”
“Yes, you can count on me for all of that. I won’t desert you now. The most important thing is for you to be ready to leave at the right time. We haven’t talked about that yet but I think it’s a conversation we need to have.”
“Jack, I agree with you and I know what you’re trying to say, but I’m just not ready for that yet. Please let’s wait a couple of more days before we have that discussion, I just can’t stand thinking about losing the kids.”
“That’s okay Jane. We still have a little time. Do you have any thoughts about a place you would like to see? Did you and Harry have a country place you liked to visit or anything like that?”
“No, none that I’d like to go back to. I’m going to rely on you to tell me what to do and where to go, I just don’t have any ideas at all. I don’t even care to tell you the truth.”
“Okay, I just thought I’d ask. I’ll take care of all of that for you, but you have to keep reminding yourself that in another week you will have to be ready to drive.”
“Alright Jack, I’ll do what you say. Can you think of anything I can do to help my kids? I want to do whatever I can to help them but I can’t think of anything else to do.”
“Jane, I’ve been thinking as hard as I can since you first asked me but I can’t think of anything. As you know I get a lot of email traffic with a lot of suggestions about all kinds of things and I’ve looked for things that might help you and the kids, but honestly there isn’t anything new.”
Jane sounded despondent when she said, “Okay, thanks anyway. You’ll call me if you think of something?”
“Of course I will. And I’ll call you again later today, whether I’ve thought of something new or not. And you can call me whenever you feel the need.”
“Thanks Jack. I’m glad I have you as a friend. I have to go and fix lunch for the kids now. I’ll talk to you later”. Jane turned the phone off without waiting for Jack to say anything. She didn’t even realize she had done so.
She went in the kitchen and started making soup and sandwiches for the kids. She yelled into the living room and asked her folks if she could make lunch for them. Her mother yelled back that they had a late breakfast and weren’t hungry and she wished that Jane had waited a little longer for lunch.
Jane didn’t say anything. There wasn’t much she had been able to do to make her folks happy lately, and she had given up trying. It was evident that they were not going to be nice to her during this trauma and she could accept that. She would protect her kids from her parents; she wasn’t worried about anything more than that.
She wondered if other families were going through the same thing. The news reports were full of stories of death and catastrophe, but had little to say about the actual lives of people. Even the reporters failed to talk about what they were going through. They did continue to cover all of the bad things that were happening. Fires that burned out of control, riots in the cities, people being shot by snipers, crime that was rampant in the inner cities and that was spreading quickly to the suburbs, and even to small towns and cities.
What they weren’t doing was offering any helpful advice about how to get through to the end. The only thing that was repeated over and over was to stay off the streets. She grimaced at the irony of being a survivor and having to go out at least once to get the RV. She wondered where in the world she was supposed to put it once she got it. She decided to worry about that later in the week; besides, Jack would tell her all of that.
Her kids were upstairs playing and she called them to lunch. When they came in the kitchen she could tell they had both been crying. Her heart felt like it was going to break every time she saw her kids like this. She sat down and ate lunch with them and she talked again about God’s greater plan and how they had to have faith in him. They both assured her that they did have faith, but that didn’t make this any easier.
She knew how true that was from her own experiences. But she had always had faith, and she and Harry had passed their faith on to their children. She was glad they had because right now that was all she could offer the kids, and it was all they had to hold on to.
After lunch the kids went to the family room to read, her parents went to their bedroom to rest and Jane went to the backyard to sit in the late fall sun. She thought she would be alone but she saw that the neighbor was also outside walking around her backyard.
When she saw Jane she walked over the fence and said “Hi, my name is Sarah. I’ve seen you around lately but I don’t think we’ve met.”
Jane said, “Hi, I’m Jane, I’m here visiting my parents, and no we haven’t met before.”
Sarah’s face was covered with pink splotches and she was obviously in phase two of the disease. She asked Jane, “I can’t tell what stage of the virus you’re in, have you found make-up that covers it that well?”
“No, I don’t use makeup. I just haven’t had the symptoms yet. Both of my parents and both of my kids have been showing symptoms since last week but not me. I wish it would hurry up. I want to be here with my family thru the end but I don’t want to live without them.”
Sarah said, “You poor thing. Up until now I’ve wondered what it would be like to be one of the lucky survivors. Maybe I’ve been wrong about the lucky part. You don’t sound like you’re anxious to survive this thing.”
“You’re right about that. I hate the thought that I might survive when everyone else is lost. I don’t have a clue what I’ll do.”
Both ladies were crying by now and Sarah said, “I wish I could help you but I don’t know what to do. If you want to talk I’m right next door. It’s just my husband and I and I don’t think he’s said two words since he started showing symptoms.
“He seems to be in shock and I can’t get him to do anything. Once in a while he gets up and fixes something to eat, or he gets a beer from the fridge, but other than that he just sits in the living room and stares at the T.V. It doesn’t even matter if the T.V. is on or off.
“So anyway, if you just want to talk let me know, I’d like to have a conversation with another adult.”
“Thanks Sarah. I may do that but I think right now I need to be alone for a while. I’m going to go back inside.”
Jane turned and walked back in the house. She had not been able to tell Sarah about the loss of Harry and she didn’t know why. She just wanted to grieve privately with her kids. But, the talk with Sarah did remind her that she had promised Jack she would call about the RV, so she printed Jack’s email message and dialed the phone number he had sent to her.
The gruff voice on the other end answered, “This is Guy Olliphant.”
Jane said, “Hello Mr. Olliphant, my name is Jane Silverton. I promised Jack Sweeney I would call you today to talk about an RV”
“Hi, Jane, I’ve been expecting your call. Please call me Guy. Jack told me you aren’t showing symptoms and he thinks you are going to be a survivor. You’ll be the first one I’ve talked to and I’m not quite sure what to say. Jack explained that you are about to lose your husband and I want to say I’m sorry for that.
“I think it’s probably a little too early to give you the RV, but we have put together a number of RVs and based on Jack’s word I will reserve one for you. I would like you to call me again in a couple of days to confirm that you haven’t started showing symptoms.”
“Thank you Mr. Olliphant, you’re very kind. I’ll call you at the end of the week.” Jane was trying to act business like but she found she couldn’t and she started sniffling again. She hoped she could hold off crying until after the call.
“That’s good. Are there any questions you have or do you have any preference for what type of RV will work best for you?”
“No I don’t. I don’t know anything about RVs or how to work them or drive them. I wouldn’t know what to ask for. I don’t even know where to put it once I bring it back to the house.”
“Do you live in a house with a yard, and if so is the yard fenced?”
“Yes, I’m staying with my parents at their house. It has a privacy fence across the back yard and on both sides. The front is open.”
“Okay, you call me at the end of the week and I’ll bring the RV to you. I’ll take down the fence on one side of the front yard so I can back it into the back yard so it’s kind of hidden behind the house. When you leave you should be able to just drive straight ahead onto the street and to where ever you want to go. I can’t imagine that your parents would worry about the yard at this point.”
“Mr. Olliphant that would be perfect. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your offer. It’s so hard for me to think about anything right now and it’s such a relief to not have
to worry about the RV”
“That’s okay Jane, I’m glad to be able to help. I’ll need your address and probably a phone number just in case.”
Jane gave him the information and ended the call. She sat and thought about how amazing it was that during all of this horror that some people were still trying to be nice. Mr. Olliphant must be showing signs of the virus by now and his family was surely affected also, but here he was offering to go out of his way just to make this easier on her. She would have to remember to tell Jack about Mr. Olliphant.
Chapter 5
Chapter Seventeen: Return to the Blue Wolf Ranch
Thursday thru Saturday: On the Judith River, Montana
It was Thursday, almost three weeks after the first death in Scotland had occurred and Will Klein had been showing symptoms since this past Saturday. His first thought had been to hide the symptoms from Sam and his second thought was that he couldn’t do it. It wasn’t fair to her even if it was possible. He knew it could only be a short time before she began to show symptoms as well, and as with all other crises in Sam’s life, they would go through this together.
Now after six days of waiting for Sam to show symptoms Will was sure that she would be one of the survivors. He remembered Jack Sweeney saying that if anyone exposed to the virus didn’t show symptoms after seven days they would be survivors. He felt like asking Sam to make a turkey to honor Thanksgiving and the fact that she was a survivor. But Sam had not even mentioned Thanksgiving and Will didn’t think she would feel thankful, even if he did.
As Will, Sam and Ned sat around the breakfast table Will said, “Sam, we need to start planning on what you are going to do after I’m gone. I know you don’t want to talk about it but we don’t have much time left to get you ready.”
