The council was predominantly made up of older people; mothers and fathers with more life experience and a lot more to give on the surface. But Kitch had nominated himself and after a heartfelt speech about wanting to do his bit to help keep the island afloat, he had received one of the biggest roars of approval of the entire group. What he lacked in age he certainly made up for in other means, his profession as a farmer also ranking him as an essential worker and allowing Gal, the other farmer on the council, someone else to share the workload with.
After exchanging a few more friendly words with the teenager turned leader, Jessie and Art stepped away to allow the line to continue moving and guided the kids to a free area of bench in the sand. They ate overlooking the ocean and watched the waves lap up on the sand, the tide coming and going like it always had, perhaps one of the few things unaffected by everything else in the world.
“How long do you think it’ll be like this?” Jessie found herself wondering out loud.
“Things will get easier,” Art replied, seeing the forlorn expression on his wife’s face and longing to make it go away. “How was your day? Did you have any more trouble with anyone?”
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Jessie sighed, unwilling to drag up the difficult elements of her day. She knew everyone was struggling and sitting outside of their comfort zone at the moment, why should she have any right to complain about it.
“You don’t have to be a martyr all the time, Jessie,” Art replied. “Yeah this is different and weird for all of us, but that doesn’t mean we have to pretend to enjoy every second of it. You can still have a rubbish day. You can still talk to me about it. Not everything has changed.”
Jessie looked up at her husband and nodded, aware of how right he was. No one knew how much longer it would be like that.
“Why don’t you have the night off tonight?” Art suggested. “I’ll take care of the boys and get them to bed. You just put your feet up and relax for a bit, leave everything else to me.”
“I can’t do that,” Jessie argued. “You work just as hard as I do and for longer hours, too. You’re the one who deserves the time off, not me.”
“I won’t take no for an answer. Boys,” he turned and called out to Zayn and Axel as they kicked a ball around in the sand further down the beach. Their fish sticks had been devoured seconds after they sat down. “We’ve got to leave mommy alone tonight, okay? We’re going to have some quality man time.”
“Yeah!” Zayn shouted, punching the air and then falling on his knees clenching his muscles and putting his arms up like a strongman. “Man time,” he echoed, “no girls allowed.”
“What are we going to do, dad?”
“Whatever you feel like,” Art replied with a smile. “We never finished our fishing lesson from last week. Do you want to try that if there’s enough light? Or we could take that ball back home and your old man could show you his moves?”
“You don’t have any moves, dad,” Zayn grinned, flicking his ball up in the air with his foot and then bringing it down skillfully with the other.
“That sounds like a challenge to me,” Art declared. “I’ll even take both of you on at once. See if you can beat me then.”
“Easy!”
“You’re going down, dad!”
Despite how she felt, it was hard for Jessie not to smile when she spent time with her family. It didn’t take much to realize that being away from them for longer was the biggest strain put on her since Trident’s collapse. Not only was she seeing her boys less, but she was worrying about her brother and her mom and dad in New York as well. There was zero contact with anyone not on the island now and it didn’t look like there would be for some time. Kauai was cut off from the rest of the world and so it would remain until all of this washed over and some form of currency returned. Until then they would be trading with coconuts and eating al fresco on the beach. Life seemed simpler, but soon the excitement of it all would fade and they would be left with a stark reality that things were only going to get tougher.
Chapter 14
Giving up and slowing to a halt, Lieutenant Walter Davies leaned forward and put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. He’d chased the two men from the sporting goods store for a couple of blocks, but after the blow he had been dealt to the head from his own gun, Walter felt slow and fuzzy. His head was pounding and he needed to catch his breath, black spots dancing around in his vision and threatening to make him lose consciousness. Reluctantly he gave up the chase and leaned against a brick wall for a few moments, trying to pull himself together.
Being a cop in New York City was growing harder and harder by the hour. The number of them who were still willing to put their lives on the line to uphold the law was dwindling. From his precinct, Walter knew at most six or seven guys who were still fighting against the ever-changing plethora of criminals now occupying the city. They understood that times had changed, but there was still right and wrong and Walter was among those who wanted to ensure it stayed that way.
The two men he had just interrupted stealing supplies from the sporting goods store were a perfect example. Walter didn’t doubt that
