“No,” I lied feeling more confused, “it’s been crazy.”
“She can stay with us. You mind if I take her to my house,” he stated more than asked. “I’ll be back fast. I know Vanetta would love to see her. Shelly hasn’t seen Nicolasa since she was a baby.”
The other guard was contemplating this new information hard, “We have orders.”
“Special circumstances.”
Jax sighed, “Okay but your post will be an extra hour.”
Cal smiled. “That’s no problem. Follow me Shell.”
I was confused by what had just happened but I followed Cal past the gate.
“It’s not a far walk,” he told me.
When we got out of earshot of Jax he said, “Hope you don’t mind. Jax told me what you’d been through and I know you’d be safer here than stuck out there.”
“No, thank you for sticking your neck out like that for me.”
He smiled, “No problem. Not sure he completely bought it though; he’s not a thick as he looks.”
I giggled, “Maybe not but it still worked.”
We walked for half a mile past official buildings. There was no one out. Cal told me that the base was on complete lockdown. No one was really allowed outside unless escorted by someone on duty like I was or those who were assigned to deliver rations for the week.
He told me they shut down the commissary before the national announcement so they could control the food supply. They’ve been delivering food to everyone on base based on how many people they have in their home. He told me the official word is they still have a few more weeks before they’ll completely run out.
“They’ve had to keep it heavily guarded,” he said, “The commissary. People have been trying to break in and steal their own food. It’s just a panic reaction. I don’t think any of them mean a bit of harm.”
“What happens when the food runs out?” I asked
“They have a greenhouse somewhere. Growing veggies. The people delivering the food will probably be assigned hunting duties. Plus the wild chickens are great for eggs. We’ve managed to keep a few in our garage,” he said with a smile.
He also told me the lockdown had been hard on his daughter Nicolasa known as Lasa. “She loves to play outside and since the base hasn’t been affected by the outbreak, she really doesn’t understand why she has to stay in.”
“How old is she?”
“Five.”
I nodded. It stung because Jackie came to mind. She was only a year older than this little girl. I swallowed hard and didn’t say anything.
I was grateful that Cal had taken it upon himself to help me but I was thinking I probably should’ve stayed with Phoebe and Daniel. I was so crushed that my sister was completely snatched from me. I would never know how she was. If she made it or not. It broke my heart. All I’ve been through was starting to pile on me and make me feel like it would kill me before too long.
We arrived at Cal’s house. “Welcome to our mansion,” he joked as he opened the door.
“Daddy,” I heard a little girl say as she ran to hug her father.
She was adorable with wild curly hair.
Cal picked her up into his arms and said, “Hey sweetie.”
“I thought you weren’t going to be home until…” a beautiful woman coming out of the kitchen had begun to say, she stopped abruptly at the sight of me. I wished once again that I had stayed with Daniel and Phoebe.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Cal put his daughter down and said, “Let me talk to you for a second. I’ll be right back,” he added to me before disappearing into the kitchen with his wife.
Lasa eyeballed me suspiciously.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m Shelly.”
I looked and saw there were coloring books on the floor.
“You want to show me what you’ve been coloring?”
She smiled then, “I’ve been doing really good. I’ve stayed mostly in the lines and everything. Come see.” She grabbed my hand and led me to her coloring books.
I sat down on the ground next to her and she showed me the picture she’d been working on of Hello Kitty. She had other coloring books lying around. One of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that she told me a solider had brought with their food. She said she wished he had brought her something she liked more and laughed when I said there was a boy probably upset that he had a Hello Kitty coloring book.
“Well, my friend Tina would love it, she used to watch that show all the time but I can’t give it to her. They won’t let us leave the house,” she pouted.
That’s when Cal and his wife came out of the kitchen. I stood up and smiled.
“Hi Shelly,” she said and extended her hand. “I’m Vanetta.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said and shook her hand.
Cal had to get back to his guard duty. He kissed Lasa and Vanetta bye and left.
Vanetta led me upstairs and showed me to the room I’d be staying in. It was a nice guest room with a double bed covered in a light blue comforter. I could tell Vanetta was not happy with my being there but she was trying to be pleasant. I couldn’t say I blamed her, if my husband had brought some woman home out of the blue, I would’ve been more than a little upset myself. However, these circumstances were different. Still I understood and didn’t take it personally.
I wanted to let her know the extent of my gratitude but had no idea how too.
“Thank you for doing this,” I began, “letting me stay. It’s…”
“Cal
