Around lunchtime, they found a deserted MacDonald’s. Dr. Petrie parked outside, and left Adelaide and Prickles in the car while he scouted around with his automatic weapon. There were two bodies in the yard at the back, both crawling with flies, but apart from that the place was empty. They went inside and sat down.
Petrie lifted the counter and went in search of baked beans, milk, cheese and soft drinks. ‘The ice cream’s melted,’ he said, ‘but if you don’t mind drinking it, you’re welcome.’
Prickles was still hot, but she managed to eat a few cold baked beans and drink some milk. Dr. Petrie ate quickly and hungrily, keeping his eye on the empty highway and the surrounding buildings.
‘Well,’ he said after a while, wiping his mouth. ‘It’s not exactly the Starlight Roof, but it’s nutritious.’
Adelaide gave a tight, humorless smile.
‘Is anything wrong? You don’t look too happy.’
She waited until she had finished her mouthful of cheese. ‘I’m not, if you must know.’
‘Why not? Come on, Adelaide, we’ve had a hard time of it, but that’s no reason to give in. If we stick together, we’ll get out of this okay, don’t you worry.’
‘Well,’ she said, casting her eyes down. ‘I don’t think so.’
Dr. Petrie stared at her. ‘What do you mean?’ he asked. ‘I don’t understand.’
She looked up. ‘You might as well know,’ she told him. ‘I think that Prickles has the plague. I think we’re going to have to leave her behind.’
Prickles blinked listlessly. Her face was crimson with heat and fever, and she was obviously sick.
Dr. Petrie burst out, ‘That’s impossible. You don’t know what you’re suggesting.’
Adelaide reached out and held his wrist. ‘Leonard,’ she said, ‘I know it sounds harsh, but it’s a question of survival. Like you said before. My survival, and your survival. If Prickles has the plague, we could all die. At least if we find some way of making her comfortable, and leaving her behind, then we could live.’
‘That’s crazy,’ he said. ‘You’re out of your mind. Prickles is my daughter.’
‘Yours and Margaret’s daughter.’
He leaned forward. ‘Is that it? Is that why you want me to leave her behind? Because she’s Margaret’s daughter!’
‘Oh Leonard, I didn’t mean that. I just mean that if we really have to be fierce, the way you said, then we have to be completely fierce. With ourselves, as well as with other people.’
Dr. Petrie didn’t know what to say. He stroked Prickles’ sticky little forehead, and gave her another spoonful of baked beans.
‘Leonard,’ insisted Adelaide, ‘I don’t want to see you die, and I don’t want to die myself.’
Dr. Petrie said slowly, ‘If you had plague, honey, I wouldn’t leave you behind. I won’t leave Prickles behind, either.’
Adelaide sighed, and tapped her fingernails on the formica tabletop. ‘In that case, I’m going alone. I’m sorry, Leonard. I love you. But I love life better than lost causes.’
Dr. Petrie wiped his forehead with the back of his wrist.
‘I can’t stop you,’ he said hoarsely. ‘I love you, too, as a matter of fact.’
‘But you love Prickles more?’
He looked at her. He said, ‘Don’t try and measure my love, Adelaide. It won’t work. I’ve told you I love you, and you should know how much. If you want to leave, I won’t stand in your way, but I can’t say that I’m glad to see you go. Just be realistic, that’s all. Prickles is a six-year-old girl, and she’s my daughter, and no father worthy of the name would leave her to die on her own.’
Prickles looked from Adelaide to Dr. Petrie and back again.
‘Am I going to die, too?’ she asked.
Dr. Petrie put his arm around her. ‘Of course not, honey. We’re just talking stupid.’
‘I don’t think we are,’ said Adelaide. ‘Listen, Leonard. I’m not cold-hearted and I’m not a bitch, but I beg you. Leonard, I love you. I don’t know what else I can say. I love you and I want to see you live.’
‘Will I be a angel?’ said Prickles.
‘No, baby, you won’t,’ Leonard Petrie said.
He stood up, and collected his automatic weapon. Adelaide stayed where she was, picking at the few remnants of cheese and pickle on her plate.
‘You’re welcome to come along,’ he said softly. ‘I don’t seriously think that Prickles has the plague, and I would like to have you with us.’
Adelaide pouted. ‘You wouldn’t think she had it, would you? You’re her dear devoted daddy.’
Dr. Petrie didn’t answer. He took Prickles by the hand and led her outside to the car. It was past noon now, and the heat rippled off the concrete car park in heavy waves. They climbed into the car, and Dr. Petrie started the engine. Adelaide stayed where she was, sitting inside the plate-glass window of MacDonald’s, her face hidden from view.
He waited, engine turning over, for five minutes. Adelaide stayed at the table, not moving. Prickles said, ‘Isn’t Adelaide coming, daddy?’
Dr. Petrie wiped the sweat from his face. ‘No,’ he told her. ‘I guess not.’
He released the brake, and moved off across the carpark and up to the highway. He slowed down, and took one last look in the mirror. Adelaide was still inside the hamburger bar, head bent, not even looking their way. He licked his lips, turned on to the highway, and put his foot down on the gas.
They passed Walt Disney World. It was silent and dead – a fairy-tale land that had been stricken by pestilence. The two of them, father and child, wandered around it for almost twenty minutes, looking at the turrets and towers and silent streets. A warm breeze blew from the west, making flags flutter, and waste paper dance across the empty sidewalks. Most grotesque and incongruous of all, a man in a Mickey Mouse head lay dead on the ground, still smiling cheerfully, still bright-eyed and round-eared and happy.
‘Why is Mickey Mouse lying down?’ Pickles demanded.
He took her back to the car.
*
Adelaide spent nearly an hour preparing herself for her solitary escape from Florida. Around
