But the Children Survived (42 page)

The last miles seem to go on forever.  Just before they entered Atlanta, they saw a large hotel that announced it was under renovation.  Joe stopped and Dani pulled in behind him. 

“I'm gonna check the inside.  Maybe they haven't done too much, or maybe they're almost finished,” he said about the renovations.  

The door was locked and as usual, Joe looked around for something to break in.  There were concrete blocks along the side of the building that would do nicely.  Joe lifted a block and brought it to the front of the hotel.  He wasn’t able to lift it over his head so he kind of threw it underhand.  It smashed through the glass in the door and Joe was able to turn the lock.  He lifted the light switch and the lights came up.  He could hear the kids cheering.  Much to his surprise, no alarm sounded.

The lobby wasn’t too bad.  There was dust and now shattered glass balls all over, but it looked like they were almost done fixing it up.  He took the stairs to the first floor.  He switched on the lights up there and went to the first room.  The door was open.  They hadn’t programmed the locks yet.  He turned on the lights and noticed the room looked pretty good.  He looked in the bathroom and checked the water.  It actually worked. 

Joe thought about the electricity and water.  The hotel must have had well water and some sort of independent electricity supply.  Most of the places they encountered didn't have electricity or water.  He sent up a little thank-you to God and went downstairs to get the kids.  Dani was standing in the lobby when Joe came down. 

“Water and electricity,” he said with a smile.  “And there are three floors.  We should be able to find a place for everybody.” 

Dani and Joe got the kids inside and brought out the food.  The kids sat around the lobby while the food was handed out on paper plates.  Joe had managed to find boxes of crackers, jars of peanut butter, jars of jelly, jars of applesauce, and pudding.  Anything they could eat without cooking.  Tonight they would feast. 

Dani, Joe, and Jenny formed an assembly line to put peanut butter on crackers and put them on plates.  Jenny put the applesauce and pudding out on the counter.  The kids lined up and grabbed a plate and a dessert.  Once the kids were eating, the adults finished what was left.  They would have to find more food in Atlanta in the morning. 

When they were done eating, Dani announced that they would all take a short shower before getting into bed.  The boys groaned and the girls cheered.  The hotel had plenty of soap and shampoo.  Dani, Joe, and Jenny timed the kids so everyone could get wet, soaped up, shampooed, and rinsed.  Then they put on the clean clothes and got into bed. The kids were exhausted and passed out quickly. 

After they got the kids settled in their rooms, Dani and Joe lay down on the sofas in the hotel lobby and fell asleep, while Jenny shared a recliner with Kelly.

*****

The sun in his eyes awakened Joe.  He sat up and stretched.  Dani was still asleep.  He decided to go a little farther down the road to see if he could find some food.  There must be a grocery store somewhere, hopefully one without dead bodies in it. 

Joe got into the SUV and turned onto the highway.  He saw several pancake restaurants and gas stations.  They all had cars in front of them.  He drove farther down the highway and saw a Granger's Supermarket without any cars.  It looked like a brand new store that hadn't opened yet.  Joe pulled in.

He was able to pull the doors apart.  He thought it was strange that the doors weren't locked.  Maybe somebody had come in alone to let the other workers in. 

He sniffed the air and didn't smell decay.  He took a shiny new cart out of the rack and began to cruise the aisles.  The shelves were full on top but the bottoms were nearly empty.  There was nothing in the freezers or refrigerated cases.  That stuff would have been brought into the store last.

Joe thought he heard something coming from the back of the store.  He kept filling the cart as he walked towards the sound.  He heard talking.  Joe walked all the way to the back and saw the swinging doors that led to the storage areas.  He went through the doors and looked around.

“Who are you?” a voice asked him. 

Joe turned around and saw five kids lying on the floor in sleeping bags.  He looked at the shelves and saw more kids.  He wasn't sure how many there were. 

“I'm Joe.  I...how did you guys get here?” 

“Julius brought us.” 

Who the hell is Julius?  Joe thought. 

“Julius finds kids and brings them here,” a girl said.

“Who is Julius?” 

“He's an old man.  He lives across the street.”

Joe walked back to his cart.  He pushed it out to the car and looked across the street.  He saw a big, old Victorian house with a wide porch.  After he put the food in the car, he walked across the street. 

He climbed the stairs and knocked on the door.  There was no answer.  He tried the door and it opened.  The house had that decayed flesh odor. 

Joe could see a room to the left and a room to the right.  In the room to the right was a large overstuffed sofa with a small, old black man lying on it, fast asleep.  This must be Julius.  How he’d avoided death was a story Joe wanted to hear.

Joe gently shook Julius's shoulder.  The old man slowly woke up and looked up at Joe.

“Where'd you come from?” he asked Joe. 

“Vegas,” Joe replied.  He seated himself in a chair across from where Julius was sleeping. 

“Vegas.  Lordy, you must have been ridin’ a long time.”  Julius turned his body around to face Joe.  He then put one leg on the floor so he could use it to move his body around.  Then he put the other one down on the floor.  He sat up and looked at Joe. 

“How'd you know I was here?”

“The kids told me.” 

Julius nodded his old woolly head. 

“Yeah, the kids are a handful.  I don't know how many there are, but I just keep findin' em.”  Julius was scratching his stomach. 

“Where do you find them?”

“Ah, here, there and everywhere.  I drive around and there they are.  Sometimes in front of a house,  sometimes in front of a store.” 

Joe knew what it was like to just drive around and find kids.  Joe asked Julius the million dollar question.

“How did you survive, Julius?” 

The old man sat back on the sofa and slowly began to tell Joe his story.

*****

Shawna Jackson had converted her Atlanta boarding house into a senior group home three years earlier.  At the time, she had to install a large, walk-in cooler.  In order to save money, Shawna had her brother scour the junkyards to find an abandoned walk-in that they could refurbish.  Terrell had found just what she was looking for and installed it in the basement. 

He was able to install a new motor and clean out the inside like new.  The only problem was the handle on the door.  It was old and loose so Terrell tightened it until it held, but it had a tendency to loosen up over time.  Shawna would call him to come over and tighten it.  Over the next three years she would call on Terrell 14 times.  After his last visit, he told Shawna that she had to think about getting a new box. 

“I can’t tighten the thing anymore,” Terrell told her.  “I looked for the part in the junkyard and can’t find one.  You really have to think about gettin' a new one.” 

Shawna told him she would, but her finances promised something else.  There was no way Shawna could get a new walk-in box, and with an inspection coming up, she didn’t know what she would do.  She decided to let it go another week or so until she could think of something.

Julius Beadle lived in Shawna Jackson’s group home.  He was a 68-year-old black man whose daughter had placed him with Miss Jackson.  Julius didn’t think he belonged there.  He was well able to care for himself.  But he thought it was a nice enough place and Miss Jackson kept it clean.  His food was always hot and good. 

Julius was not allowed to have the things he loved to eat like fried chicken and gravy.  Miss Jackson would give him lots of his favorite vegetables boiled and baked, but Julius longed for sweet potato pie. 

When everyone went to bed, Julius would don his coat, gloves, and scarf and sneak down to Miss Jackson’s walk-in box to eat a piece of pie.  He did this most nights after he heard Miss Jackson’s door close.  The handle on the walk-in door was a little loose, but Julius would place a box in the way so the door wouldn’t close behind him.  

The night before the tragedy, Julius had donned is coat, gloves, and scarf as usual.  He had felt really cold last time, so this time he also added a hat.  He opened his door a crack and saw that Miss Jackson had turned out her light.  He tiptoed out of his room and down the stairs.  He carried a small flashlight to light his way.  He was careful to hold on the railing so he wouldn’t fall and wake up the house.

Julius made it to the bottom and rounded the corner heading for the kitchen.  The basement door was off the back of the kitchen.  Julius didn’t want to turn on the lights here in case someone woke up.  He did turn on the basement stairs light though.  It was dark and spooky down there. 

When Julius got to the bottom, he walked over to the walk-in box.  He was in a heightened state of anticipation.  He pulled on the handle. The door opened, but the handle came off in his hand.  Oh, no!  Now Miss Jackson would be mad.  She would know it was Julius. 

Julius opened the door wide and put the wooden box he always used in front of it to prop it open.  The box wasn’t pushed back far enough and began to slide.  He entered the walk-in and searched for the pie.  Julius’ hearing was not what it used to be and with the hat pulled over his ear as well, he didn't hear the box shifting and the door closing with a good slam. 

Julius' back was to the door so it took him a while to notice it was closed.  He found the pie and took out his mini-pocket knife to cut a slice.  He had a fork in his pocket so he could eat the pie right out of the pan.  He ran his finger around the bottom of the pan, gathering any crumbs left behind.  When he was done, he savored the last, sweet taste of it on his tongue and turned to leave the box.  Then he noticed the closed door. 

There was no way to get the latch open.  He pushed and pushed on the knob inside the box.  The knob went all the way in, but the door didn’t open.  He left the knob stuck in the hole.  Julius knew they would come in the morning to get food for breakfast, but he would get caught.  He didn't know what to do. 

Julius woke up and was shivering.  He was sitting on a wooden pallet on the floor and he must have fallen asleep.  He didn't know what time it was.  No one had come for the breakfast food yet.  His legs were cold and stiff. 

Julius had to relieve himself.  Miss Jackson was gonna be real mad if he pissed in the walk-in.  He found a half-filled bottle of apple juice and poured it onto the floor.  He used the bottle to relieve himself and put it on the floor next to the door in case he needed it again.  Hopefully he wouldn't have to do a number two.

Julius slept a lot during his stay in the walk-in.  He took boxes off the shelves and emptied them.  He ripped them open so he could use them to keep his legs covered. 

At some point, the electricity went out and the box warmed up.  Julius then took his coat, gloves, scarf, and hat off.  He was very worried.  It was dark in the walk-in, and his little flashlight wouldn’t last very long if he kept it on all the time. 

No one had come for a very long time and he was afraid he would die in the box.  There was plenty of food so he had been eating, but he also had to defecate and used a pie plate inside a plastic milk bottle crate so he could sit while he answered nature’s call.

Julius was getting tired of being stuck.  He figured if he was going to die, he would go down fighting.  He searched the walk-in for anything he could use to push open the latch.

He tried the pocket knife but it was too short.  He found a screwdriver stuck in the back of one of the shelves holding the cans of food.  It was below the fan so whoever had fixed the fan last had left it there.  It must have been Terrell.

“Thank you, Terrell,” Julius said when he found it. 

Julius would have to pull the knob out to get the screwdriver into the hole so he could push the latch open.  There were no screws around it.  Whatever held it in place was inside the door.  He would have to break the knob off and stick the screwdriver into the door. 

Using his flashlight, he looked around for something heavy.  There were large cans of soup on the shelf, and Julius picked one up.  It felt heavy to him.  He used all his strength to lift it up and bring it down on the knob. 

Julius had to do this several times and would pause between each hit to sit down and catch his breath.  It was hot in the box.  Finally, after striking it 10 times, the knob broke off.  Julius then used the screwdriver to push whatever metal was left in the hole outward to get it out of the way. He could now see the basement through the hole.  There was light coming from the basement windows.  It gave Julius hope. 

Now came the hardest part, getting the screwdriver in just the right position to push the latch so the door would open.  Julius tried and tried, but he couldn't get the right angle.  He was getting so mad that he just started stabbing at the door.  He broke through the metal and kept stabbing.

  Pretty soon he had a good size gouge in the door.  He could see where the latch was secured and was now able to push on it and open the door.  When the door swung open and after catching his breath, Julius hurried out as fast as his old arthritic legs could carry him. 

He was very tired and took the stairs one at a time, stopping for breath many times over.  He finally made it to the top and saw Miss Jackson lying on the floor. 

She had obviously been there for a few days.  Her face was pulled back and her teeth were exposed.  She also had a very distinct odor.  Julius shuffled past her to try and find the telephone.  He was going to dial 911 for help. 

When he finally found the phone, it was dead.  He wondered if the other residents had seen Miss Jackson.  There were three people living there besides Julius.  Even though he didn't feel like it, Julius began the long climb up the stairs to see if they were up there.  Julius took the stairs one at a time and paused at each step.