"Of course," Cami said, standing up. She moved toward the fridge, quickly opened it, and pulled out two bottles, shutting it again before Mia could see how well-stocked it was. She hoped Mia didn’t notice that the light was on, either. They hadn't had a chance to unplug the fridge from the solar array before the unexpected guest had arrived.
Cami logged those as two potential security threats and vowed to address them when Mia left. They had to do a better job of making sure people didn't know how well off they were. If things were as bad as Mia was saying already—only 36 hours after the tsunami—things were likely going to get a lot worse very fast.
Cami turned, pushing away the dark thoughts and plastered a fake smile on her face. "Here you go, dear." She put the two bottles on the table, then held up a finger to stop Mia from thanking her. "Hold that thought. I have an idea. Be right back." She skipped out of the kitchen, and once out of sight, ran as quietly as she could to the garage.
Slipping into the darkened cave, she searched along the wall where Reese normally parked his car. Several five-gallon buckets had been stacked up and prepared years ago, filled with mylar sealed, vacuum packed bags of rice and beans portioned out to equal a meal's worth for her and Reese. Moving the top buckets to the ground, she lifted up the one on the bottom and examined the seal.
Everything was still in good shape, although it was a bit dusty. She leaned down and looked at the masking tape label she'd attached to the bucket when she’d first stored it. The date was six years ago. Perfect. Cami had plenty of stores, and giving one of the 5 gallon buckets to a neighbor would go a long way toward establishing goodwill and gaining allies in the neighborhood. If things were going south in town—just a handful of miles away—one of the things floating in the back of Cami's mind was to get the neighborhood together. If they created a unified front, it might help dissuade anyone looking for trouble from finding it in Bee’s Landing.
Cami stood and hefted the heavy bucket, carrying it awkwardly on one hip as she exited the garage. She had to walk a fine line now. She didn't want to give out too much food, or word would spread that the Lavelle house was the new Walmart. On the other hand, she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing that Mia, her husband, and their two kids went hungry when she had the means to help. She understood that there was always the threat of giving out too much food and making things hard on herself and Amber and Mitch, but to the best of her knowledge, Mia and Jimmy didn't have a thriving garden like she did. She had at least a couple months worth of food out back. All they had to do was harvest it, and figure out a way to preserve it. That was yet another problem to solve, another item on her ever-growing mental list of things to do.
Cami worked her way back into the kitchen and put the smile back on her face as she set the bucket down on the table. “Ta da!”
"What's this?" asked Mia.
"It's just a little something I wanted to give you and Jimmy. I know you said you were out looking for stuff, and you know I am a wilderness guide…It’s…well, it’s not much, but it's the last of my work supplies," Cami lied. "Basically, packs of rice and beans and spices—enough to make meals for me on the trail for weeks at a time." She stepped back and eyed the bucket. "There's probably enough in here for you and your family for a good three weeks."
Mia broke down in tears, jumped up from her chair and embraced Cami tightly. She buried her face in the crook of Cami's neck and sobbed, her whole body shaking. Cami reached out and slowly wrapped her arms around her neighbor, patting the younger woman on the back. "It's okay…sssh, come on now, Mia, it's okay…”
"Thank you," Mia said, stepping back and releasing Cami from the death grip. "Thank you so much," she said, wiping her face with both hands. "I can never repay you—I don't know what to say…”
Cami was about to reply when Amber stood up. "You know what? Hang on, I’ve got an extra flashlight and some batteries you can have, too.” She stepped out of the room and came back a moment later to meet Cami's glare. Her step faltered and she almost dropped the flashlight when she glanced at her mother, then focused on Mia and handed over the gear. "I got this the other day and was gonna take it back to college, but since it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere anytime soon, I guess you can use it more than me."
"Oh, no—Amber, I can't take this. Really, between this and the food, it's too much—”
Cami took the flashlight and batteries from Amber, and placed them in Mia's hands, then wrapped the younger woman's fingers around them. "Please. I insist. Reese would want you to have them, too."
“Where is he?” Mia asked. “I—I’m sorry, I don't mean to intrude—its just that...well, Jimmy didn't come home from work last night, and I'm just getting a little worried, that's all."
Amber shot Cami a severe look. "I'm sure he'll be home soon," she said.
"Amber's right. We came from Charleston right after the tsunami hit, and the roads were bad, but they weren't blocked. I'm sure it's just taking everyone a
