her—see everyone around town I knew was alive.
I had a nice talk with her. She was going crazy in her house alone. Her mom had died last week, and her dad had never been a fixture in her life, having left them when she was a toddler. Her boyfriend was MIA, as we were calling those who had either run off or otherwise missing. She seemed to think he was dead, but wouldn’t talk much about it. I told her about Sarah and her odd dash into the woods. Tina asked about the kid, and I said she should come and see her. One thing led to another and before I really realized it, I was inviting her to come and stay with us. It was just temporary, of course, just until things “settled down.” She was immediately pleased with the idea, and I reflected I shouldn’t have let our friendship fade like it had. She wanted to pack just a few things, she said, and would come later to Mom and Dad’s place. As I left, I grabbed my cell to warn my roomies we had another person on the way.
I drove to a couple more places, really starting to realize the extent of the destruction of our town as I both saw it for myself and heard about it from other people. Fred had been a friend of my brother, but I heard he was struggling trying to care for both his elderly grandmother and his tiny baby brother, so I stopped by to see him. Fred was a little younger than my brother Dick, and that put him at the perfect age for a preteen girl to have a wild crush upon. I didn’t think he ever knew, and I certainly didn’t yearn for him anymore (yeah, I’d just keep telling myself that). He had to be thirty or thereabouts now.
I felt a little odd knocking on the door of his grandmother’s house where I’d heard he was staying. He answered the door a little warily, and smiled with genuine pleasure when he recognized me. “Madeline! It is so good to see you!” He ushered me inside. This was the fourth place I’d visited today, and was starting to wonder why I was doing this at all. What did I think I was, some kind of post-apocalypse welcome wagon?
“Hi Fred,” I said. Damn, he was still a cutie. Brown hair that fell over his forehead in the sexiest way, broad shoulders and that lithe, compact build that swimmers had. I hadn’t seen him in years, since he went off to live in New York City and be first a systems analyst, then a personal trainer. Yeah, don’t ask me why those two choices. Fred had always marched to his own drummer. Sadly for him, he had been visiting his grandmother when this all happened, so pow! Here he was part of our little horror story.
I sat on what was obviously an old woman’s couch—a green fabric that felt like steel wool under my hand. I didn’t waste a lot of time with pleasantries now that I’d done this a few times. I was starting to realize why I was doing this. “So, Fred, how are you handling things?”
He shook his head and sighed. “The lady next door has come over a couple of times and helped out with little Jacob—my brother.” I wondered about this—how could he have a brother thirty years younger? He must have seen the question on my face. “He’s actually my half-brother. My dad remarried.”
“Oh, I hadn’t heard that.” The curse of a small town was that most people knew of the break ups and remarriages. His dad (aka Dr. Erlington) had been my orthodontist, and I would still probably avoid him since I had never once put on my retainer after my braces came off and still felt guilty about that. Heaven forbid he see that one of my teeth wasn’t nearly as straight as it had been and chastise me.
“Dad isn’t actually living here in Catfish—he moved over to Lancing. At least until last week.” He shrugged. “My stepmother called me and asked me to come, and I did, of course. Flew out on the next flight. Apparently Dad had, uh, tried to … he had come unglued. She had to make him leave the house. I got there, and she was coherent for at least a day, but then she went wacko too.” He dipped
I had a nice talk with her. She was going crazy in her house alone. Her mom had died last week, and her dad had never been a fixture in her life, having left them when she was a toddler. Her boyfriend was MIA, as we were calling those who had either run off or otherwise missing. She seemed to think he was dead, but wouldn’t talk much about it. I told her about Sarah and her odd dash into the woods. Tina asked about the kid, and I said she should come and see her. One thing led to another and before I really realized it, I was inviting her to come and stay with us. It was just temporary, of course, just until things “settled down.” She was immediately pleased with the idea, and I reflected I shouldn’t have let our friendship fade like it had. She wanted to pack just a few things, she said, and would come later to Mom and Dad’s place. As I left, I grabbed my cell to warn my roomies we had another person on the way.
I drove to a couple more places, really starting to realize the extent of the destruction of our town as I both saw it for myself and heard about it from other people. Fred had been a friend of my brother, but I heard he was struggling trying to care for both his elderly grandmother and his tiny baby brother, so I stopped by to see him. Fred was a little younger than my brother Dick, and that put him at the perfect age for a preteen girl to have a wild crush upon. I didn’t think he ever knew, and I certainly didn’t yearn for him anymore (yeah, I’d just keep telling myself that). He had to be thirty or thereabouts now.
I felt a little odd knocking on the door of his grandmother’s house where I’d heard he was staying. He answered the door a little warily, and smiled with genuine pleasure when he recognized me. “Madeline! It is so good to see you!” He ushered me inside. This was the fourth place I’d visited today, and was starting to wonder why I was doing this at all. What did I think I was, some kind of post-apocalypse welcome wagon?
“Hi Fred,” I said. Damn, he was still a cutie. Brown hair that fell over his forehead in the sexiest way, broad shoulders and that lithe, compact build that swimmers had. I hadn’t seen him in years, since he went off to live in New York City and be first a systems analyst, then a personal trainer. Yeah, don’t ask me why those two choices. Fred had always marched to his own drummer. Sadly for him, he had been visiting his grandmother when this all happened, so pow! Here he was part of our little horror story.
I sat on what was obviously an old woman’s couch—a green fabric that felt like steel wool under my hand. I didn’t waste a lot of time with pleasantries now that I’d done this a few times. I was starting to realize why I was doing this. “So, Fred, how are you handling things?”
He shook his head and sighed. “The lady next door has come over a couple of times and helped out with little Jacob—my brother.” I wondered about this—how could he have a brother thirty years younger? He must have seen the question on my face. “He’s actually my half-brother. My dad remarried.”
“Oh, I hadn’t heard that.” The curse of a small town was that most people knew of the break ups and remarriages. His dad (aka Dr. Erlington) had been my orthodontist, and I would still probably avoid him since I had never once put on my retainer after my braces came off and still felt guilty about that. Heaven forbid he see that one of my teeth wasn’t nearly as straight as it had been and chastise me.
“Dad isn’t actually living here in Catfish—he moved over to Lancing. At least until last week.” He shrugged. “My stepmother called me and asked me to come, and I did, of course. Flew out on the next flight. Apparently Dad had, uh, tried to … he had come unglued. She had to make him leave the house. I got there, and she was coherent for at least a day, but then she went wacko too.” He dipped
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