But the Children Survived (10 page)

When he was done he backed away and looked at Mindy.  During the process of cutting, the kids had started to come into the cafeteria to watch.  Katie and Alyssa were standing in front of Mindy. 

"Oooo, Mindy, it looks really good,” Alyssa said. 

"Yeah, it looks okay,” Katie said.

"You look like a princess,” said Maria Elena. 

Pat held up the mirror for Mindy to see.  She inspected the sides carefully.  Pat handed her two barrettes and she put them on each side of her hair to hold it away from her face.  Mindy thought she looked pretty.  She smiled at Pat and when he took her off the box, she hugged him. 

"Anybody else?” Pat asked the kids.

 "Oh, me, please.” Alyssa was holding up her hand. 

"Why do you want to do that?”  Katie was holding her sister back.

"Because he made her look soooo beautiful.” 

Pat told Alyssa to go wash her hair.  He said he could do five more of them tonight.  Three boys came forward and a girl.  He told them all to go wash their hair and told the others to come by at breakfast and he would schedule “appointments” for the rest of the week.  They would have to show up for their appointment with washed hair. 

He asked one of the boys to run to the kitchen and find a broom and garbage bag.  When the boy returned, Pat swept up Mindy’s hair and put it in the bag.

Pat gave each of the boys Mohawks.  Most of the girls got a trim, but Alyssa got the full treatment.  She wanted her hair real short.  She didn't like to mess with it, but it still had to be girlie.  Pat managed to give her a sweet pixie cut.  Katie was furious.  They no longer looked exactly alike, and Katie didn't want a pixie cut.  She left the cafeteria in a huff.

When all the kids' hair had been cut, Pat took the box and put it near the side wall for the next time.  He felt really good and really tired at the same time.  He had worked all day long and it was time for bed. 

Simon caught him as he was leaving the cafeteria and asked him how things went with the sprinklers.  He told Simon that he had finished the whole field.  He left out the part about Mindy helping him.  Simon seemed impressed. 

"Then we'll give it a dry run tomorrow before we leave.” 

"Do I have to go tomorrow?”  Pat was hoping for one more day off.

"Yeah, Gerald wants us finish clearing 19.  We have to leave after breakfast.” 

Pat’s heart fell.  He just hated moving bodies.  It always made him hurl.  And then he had to wear the vomit in his suit until they got back to base. 

But Pat couldn't say no because the other guys had to go too.  The only one who got a pass was Calvin.  Before the destruction, Calvin’s job had been truck mechanic, but now it was tending the field, and he was too valuable to send outside. 

So Pat the plumber was picked as part of the crew sent out daily to clear the roads and collect supplies, and he really hated it.

Chapter 13

Mindy felt light and airy.  Her neck felt liberated.  She opened the door to her house and Baby Girl greeted her suspiciously. 

"It’s me, Baby Girl!  I got a haircut!  And, I’ve got some dog food for you.”

Baby Girl rolled over on her back and Mindy rubbed her belly.  The little dog loved it and kept rolling over begging Mindy to rub and rub.  Mindy got on the floor, hugged the little dog and the Baby Girl licked her face over and over.  Mindy felt so happy for the first time in a long time.  She was rolling around with Baby Girl when she heard a knock on her door.

Mindy thought it might be Maria Elena come to visit.  She didn't look out the window to see who it was, she just opened the door.  Mark was on the other side.  He had a look of surprise when he saw Mindy.

"Who butchered you?” he asked.

"What do you want?”  Mindy couldn't help her sarcastic tone.  He was just so rude.

"Can I come in?” 

Mindy thought for one second of saying NO and slamming the door, but she was dying to know why he had come over to her house, so she let him in.  Mark came and looked around at her house.  He seemed unimpressed by what he saw. 

"All these places look alike.  No imagination.”  He sat down on the one guest chair she had and waited for her to speak. 

"What do you want, Mark?  Why did you come over here?” Mindy was getting impatient. 

"I saw you go to that place today with the skinny guy.  I just wondered what you were doing there, that’s all.”

"Well, maybe it's none of your business.”  Mindy had her arms folded over her chest and she was looking down at Mark.  “You are the meanest boy I’ve ever known!”  Mindy began flailing her arms around while she yelled at Mark.  “Why don’t you just go away?”   

Mark sat back in the chair and sighed.  "I just wanted to know what you were doing with him down there.  I watched you for about an hour.”

This made Mindy even more furious.  She balled up her hands and yelled “grrrrrr” at him.  Mark started to laugh at the sight of Mindy.  She looked so angry and red in the face. 

"Stop!  Stop laughing at me!” 

Mindy started punching Mark with both her fists.  Mark put his hands up to protect his face.  He managed to get up out of the chair and go to the other side of the room.  She went for him again, and he pushed her on the ground and sat on top of her.

"You have to calm down.  You're really acting silly.”  Mark just sat there while Mindy kicked her legs up and down and punched him with her fist.  After a while, she got tired and stopped. 

"Got that out of your system?”  Mark got up off Mindy.

  Mindy stayed on the floor, humiliated by her behavior and Mark’s indifference.  She was glad she hadn't cried.  Mark sat back in the chair.

"Now, can we talk?”  Mark sat there looking at Mindy.  He was like some mini-man, not a child at all.  Mindy was confused by him.  Maybe he was a little person disguised as a child. 

"How come you talk like that?”  Mindy asked him.

"Like what?  I just talk.”  He was looking at Baby Girl.  The whole time he was sitting on Mindy, Baby Girl had been pulling at the hem of his pants.  Now she was sitting by Mindy growling at Mark in a low tone.  “Nice dog.  I like her.  What’s her name?”

"Baby Girl.  She belongs to my Grammy.”  Mindy sat up and got on her sofa bed.  She felt drained of all her energy.  She wished Mark would leave. 

"Why don’t you just go home,” she said in a tired voice.

"I really want to know about that place.  You spent a lot of time down there.  Please tell me what it was like.”  Mark looked so cute.  Mindy hated herself for thinking about his looks. 

"It’s a big farm.  We were making sure all the sprinklers were working so they could turn them on and Calvin wouldn't have to water anymore.” 

"Who’s Calvin?” Mark asked.

"He’s a black man who lives by the field.  He takes care of it.  He's very nice and he wanted Pat to make sure I had breaks and ate.” Mindy was looking at the ceiling, trying to avoid Mark's eyes.

"What do you mean he lives down there?” 

"I don’t know.  I guess he does.  I've never seen him up here.  I think I saw him go into a door in the side wall.  Maybe he has a room there.”

Mark was thinking hard.  “What else did you see there?”

"Just a room in the back where they keep tools and stuff.  It has a door in back like the ones in the front where you come in.”

"Doors like the ones up front, with three or four compartments?” Mark sounded excited.

"Yeah.”  Mindy began to see where Mark was going.  “You want to leave.  You’re trying to find a way out.” 

"I can’t stand it here.  I was fine where I was.  I had a house, I had electricity.  I had food.  They could have left me there and I would’ve been fine.”  Mark was angry now. 

Mindy felt a pang in her heart for Mark.  She knew how it felt to be ripped from your home against your will and taken to a strange place.  She knew how it felt to lose all your people.  She also knew how lonely it could be out there all alone.

"I know what that feels like.”  Mindy was watching Mark.  “I was alone a long time.  I didn’t want to leave my house either.  But the one thing I have here that I didn’t have there is friends.  If you leave here, you'll be all alone again.  Do you really want to be alone?”  Mindy stopped talking.  The silence hung in the air.  Mindy could see Mark’s hard facade crumbling.

"I buried my parents.  When they died I wrapped them in tarpaulins we had in our shed and took them out to our boat.  I put them in the boat, started the motor, and when I got a little ways out I dropped them in the ocean.  I asked God to keep them.  But I don’t know if I believe in God anymore”

Mark slowly began to cry.  First the tears rolled quietly.  Then the sobs began full on as he cried harder and harder.  All the months of holding it in came upon him all at once.  He turned his face into the chair. 

He cried for a long time before Mindy got off her bed and walked over to him.  She knelt down next to him and put her hand on his hand.  He turned and looked at her and put his arms around her neck still crying.  Mindy put her arms around him and cried too. 

When they had finished crying, Mindy went to the kitchen.  She found two bars of chocolate and brought one to Mark.  They sat eating their chocolate in silence.  Then they looked at each other.  Mark spoke first.

"I want you to come with me.” 

"Why?  You don’t even like me.”  Mindy was squinting at him.

"Because you’re smart.  You wanted to know about this place too.  And you’re right.  I don’t want to be alone.  I also like your dog.” 

"Do you have a plan?” she asked.  Mark tightened his mouth and pressed his lips together. 

"I want to make my way back to my house.  We would have everything we need.  My parents believed in all that ecology stuff.  They had solar panels and well water with a filter system in the whole house.  We were by the ocean and the wind blew the smells away from the house. 

“They had a great garden in the back, and we grew food.  It’s probably all dead now, thanks to those morons.  But we could get it going again.  It’s a big house.  There's plenty of room for us and Baby Girl.” 

This was the most animated Mindy had ever seen Mark.  His excitement was rubbing off on her. 

"It really sounds nice.  But I would want to find my parents first.  I would want to go to my old house and see them first.”

"But you do know that they’re dead.  Are you sure you want to see that?  Believe me, it sucks.”  Mark was hoping Mindy would change her mind. 

"I just don’t feel that they’re dead.  Why does everyone keep saying that?” 

"Because they all saw their parents die, and there's not another living soul out there except for us kids.  Even the animals are dead.  I don’t get Baby Girl, but I’m glad she survived.”

Mindy was all cried out so she couldn't muster any tears. 

"Can we at least go by and see?” 

Mark nodded his head.  “Yeah, we can go by your old house.” 

"Then I'll help you.  When do you want to go?”

“We'll start to make a plan tomorrow.  I'll come over and we can work it out.  We'll make a list of what we’ll need.  Are you helping Pat again tomorrow?”

"No, we finished the whole field.” 

Mark looked down.  "Is that guy, Calvin, always in the back?”

"He lives there, so I guess so.”  Mindy was wondering what Mark had planned.

"Maybe I can sneak in there and get a look at those doors.  I want to see how many there are.  I know I came through a hatchway when they brought me in at the front.  But I have never seen the back of this place.  We could get lost.  Maybe there's some way to find a map of this place.” 

"We should look in the library.  Meet me there tomorrow after class.” Mindy said.

Mindy got up, indicating that it was time for Mark to go.  Mark got up and went to the door.

"I don’t have to tell you not to talk to anybody about this, do I?”  Mark asked.  Mindy rolled her eyes.

"What do you think?”  She opened the door.  Mark smiled and left. 

"Baby Girl, what have we gotten ourselves into?”  Baby Girl stood at the door as if to say “Take me out mom.”  Mindy opened the door again and walked with Baby Girl to the side yard.  As Baby Girl did her business, Mindy saw the light go on at Mark’s house.  She thought about walking all the way back to St. Petersburg.  How would they ever do it? 

Going home!  Mindy was happier than she’d been in a long time.  Tomorrow, she and Mark would plan a course for home.  Before Mindy took Baby Girl into the house, she looked up into the electric sky.

“Thank you,” she said.   

GEORGE RANIER

Chapter 14

Los Arma, New Mexico

George Ranier got up from his breakfast table.  He put his dishes in the sink and then slowly made his way to the living room.  As he moved, he barely lifted his cane and feet off the floor so there were long scratches in the linoleum.  George made it to his recliner and turned to face the TV.  He knew it would hurt going down, so he had to prepare himself.  After pondering it for a minute, George lowered himself into the recliner. 

"Ooo.”  His hips and knees hurt so bad.  His great-granddaughter Becky had offered to buy him one of those lifting chairs.  George felt funny having her buy him something, so he declined.  Besides, it only hurt for a few minutes, so what the heck. 

George shifted a little until the pain became bearable, and reached for the remote control.  Damn!  He had knocked it to the floor when he got up for lunch and forgot.  Now he would have to get up, bend over, pick it up, and lower himself back into the seat.  It almost didn’t seem worth it.  But Judge Judy was on the other channel, and he didn’t like any of the doctor shows.  If he didn’t change the channel, he would have to watch a doctor show.