"Hey," Frank said, as he thrust his open hand over the seat back, towards the rear. "You guys hogging all the beer back there? No wonder you're both starting to sound like a couple of fifth grade scientists." Gary laughed as he passed Frank another beer. "Your license," he said.
"Guy's?" Annie asked. She waited until they looked at her. "Well, I was wondering, if, well... When we get to Oswego, if we could stop and get some clean clothes? I've been in these for two days now, and if there's no one there, in Oswego, I mean, I'd like to stop and get some clean ones."
Frank looked down at his dirty shirt; he could use some clean clothes too. He had tossed the suit coat, and the tie had gone the same way, but the white shirt he had put on three days ago was still on, and it looked it. Come to think of it, he thought, we could all use some clean clothes. And a shower wouldn't be bad either. Aloud, he said, "I vote yes, does anyone know where there's a shopping center, a mall?"
"There're a couple just inside the city limits," John said, "they should have just about anything you'd want."
"It would probably be a good idea to stop," Gary said. "It would give us all a chance to clean up too. Of course that's if there's running water."
"Even if there isn't," Annie said, "there's the lake, right?"
"True enough," Gary replied, "but we may not be able to get close to it. I'll hope for running water myself." A chorus of "Me too" greeted Gary's last statement.
- 2 -
Frank had been able to pick up speed once they had left Mexico. The pavement was fairly even, and after the first three or four miles they had left the vines behind completely. Still, he would go no faster than thirty miles per hour. There were several blind hills, and curves, and although there were not a lot of abandoned cars and trucks, they seemed to be in the least likely places.
The traffic, as they had rightly assumed, began to pack up just before Oswego where 104 B came back into 104. By the time they reached it they were back down to a crawl, weaving in and out of backed up traffic in both directions. The four wheel drive had come in handy, as several times they had to go over the curbing and into a field, or someone's yard to get around it. By the time they reached Oswego, they were ready to stop and rest. John pointed out a large shopping center on their left, and Frank pulled into the mostly empty parking lot and rolled up to the front doors of a large department store. "Thrifty Deal?" he asked John.
"Chain store," John replied. "You can find a little of everything."
The other two Jeeps pulled in behind them as they were getting out. Frank walked up to the front doors and tried to open them. "Locked," he said.
"That's okay," Gary smiled, reaching back into the Jeep. "I've got the key." He handed the jack handle in his hand to Frank as he walked up to the glass doors.
"Well," Frank said, "I guess here goes." He swung the jack handle at the door and the glass shattered into millions of green-tinted crystals that skittered across the pavement.
"It's my first real crime," Frank said, turning around with a large grin on his face.
Just then a loud alarm began to whoop from within the store, and a split second later an even louder alarm, mounted in a steel box above the doors, began to bray into the quiet afternoon air. Frank, along with almost everyone else, had turned and began to run back towards the Jeep when it went off. The jack handle clattered to the pavement.
"Holy shit," he sputtered.
Annie was doubled over laughing, leaning up against the Jeep for support. Frank looked at her stupidly for a few seconds and then smiled. Most of the others began to laugh as well, breaking the tension the alarm had caused.
"Y-Y-You," she tried to say, but couldn't stop laughing. "I thought you were going to have a heart attack, Frank," she said, once she had gained some control. She held her stomach and began to laugh again. Frank began to laugh himself, along with everyone else.
"Well...it scared me at first," he protested. He hadn't been the only one, he knew. Gary's eyes had looked as though they were going to pop right out of his head, he recalled. He seemed to be all right now though.
Gary walked forward and picked up the tire iron from the pavement. Standing on tip toe pried the metal box open. He hit the large siren inside with the jack handle, until it finally screeched and then quit. The other alarm inside was still going off. He disappeared into the store, and a few seconds later that one stopped too. Gary came back outside and peered sheepishly at the small crowd, most of whom had finally stopped laughing.
"If we're gonna do this on a regular basis," he said, "we better pick up some real burglar tools while we're here." Everyone laughed again. But the laughter died down quickly, and once it had they all crunched across the glass and into the store.
The power was off, it turned out. The alarm had been backed up by battery, and had apparently switched over automatically when the power went off. The mood changed once they had gotten into the store. Just the fact that no one did come when the alarm had gone off would have been enough, but the empty store had also contributed its share to their somber mood. It served as a reminder that
