Made For Us by Samantha Chase

day. There were some television crews taping their reports farther down the shore, but as far as she could tell, life was staying pretty close to normal, and if that was going to be the case, Zoe figured she’d hit the supermarket and stock up on snacks and comfort food and hunker down to wait out the storm. It could be exciting to watch Mother Nature unleash her fury on the beach.
    She looked at the clock and saw it was only eight. There was plenty of time to do a little shopping and be home in time to…well, nothing. It was another Friday night, and she had nothing to do.
    Lame. Very lame.
    Thirty minutes later, Zoe stood in the produce section wondering how her comfort food plan had completely crumbled. Obviously people took these hurricane predictions seriously because there seemed to be a thousand people in the store. Zoe was shoulder to shoulder with a group of people picking over the last of the apples.
    Deciding that fruit and vegetables were highly overrated, Zoe thought a change of strategy was in order. While these people were busy buying healthy stuff, Zoe made a beeline for the bakery. Finding slim pickings there as well, she finally had success in the cookie aisle. Loading the basket with all of her favorites, she then hit the remainder of the staples—bread, milk, meat, and eggs.
    The checkout lines seemed to go on forever, and it didn’t make sense to be choosy about which one she joined. Stopping at the back of a line, she looked around in amazement. She’d never dealt with anything like this—the frenzy, the flutter of activity.
    “Oh, Zoe dear, how are you?”
    Turning her head, Zoe noticed her neighbor, Mrs. Maddox, in the line behind her. “Oh, hi, Mrs. M. I thought I’d get in some shopping before the storm. Guess we got here just in time, huh?” she asked with a chuckle.
    Julia Maddox was in her seventies and had lived on the coast her entire life. With her children grown, now it was just her and her husband, Fred, here. “I never understood the reasoning behind it and yet I can’t seem to help myself,” she replied. “Our pantry is always fully stocked, but as soon as I hear a storm warning, I find the need to come to the store and buy more. Fred doesn’t even question it anymore. He simply gets in the car and waits.”
    Zoe smiled and looked down at the items in her cart. “Well, my pantry isn’t very well stocked and since the shelves here are nearly wiped out, there wasn’t much to choose from. But I think I have enough to satisfy me in the junk food department.”
    “You’re always welcome to come and sit out the storm with us. We’ve been through enough of these that we rarely leave. Sometimes the predictions are worse than the reality.” She sighed and leaned a little on her cart. “After a while you learn that it’s okay to stay put and just stay inside.”
    “I bet you’ve seen some amazing storms.”
    Julia nodded. “Mother Nature sure is something. There’s something oddly soothing watching a storm blow through.” She chuckled. “My daughter Beth doesn’t necessarily agree, but she’s learned to not argue with us.”
    “Does she live nearby?”
    “She’s about two hours inland. I spoke to her earlier and she’s already chomping at the bit to get us to drive in to her, but I put her off.” She shook her head. “I think it’s too soon to start packing up. Besides that, Baron doesn’t like long car rides. Poor thing gets carsick.”
    Baron was the Maddoxes’ beloved miniature American Eskimo dog. Every morning, Zoe watched Julia walk up and down the beach with the dog. “That’s not good. Poor boy. So you think you and Mr. M. are going to stay put?”
    Again Julia nodded. “My Freddy loves to watch the Weather Channel. He doesn’t think this storm is going to amount to much of anything. So,” she began and motioned to the food in her cart, “I’ll bake some cookies, make a nice stew, and make sure that my Baron has enough food and puppy pads just in