“You boys did a good job. Now let’s get you cleaned up and fed.” Bud said before turning and leading them away from the burning pile of corpses.
Chapter Fifteen
6:53 p.m. January 3, 2049
Sweetwater, Tennessee
“Miss Mary I’d like to introduce you to Johnny and Roosevelt. They’ll be staying with us for a day or two. Let’s try to give them a nice Sweetwater welcome.” Bud said as he led them into the kitchen of the big white house.
“You boys look famished. Get on in here and get something to eat!” The dark-haired woman said, waiving them over to the kitchen table. Johnny and Roosevelt took seats at the table and minutes later Mary was setting down two massive bowls of stew along with big torn off hunks of sourdough bread. Roosevelts mood instantly improved after taking the first bite of the delicious stew. He dipped his bread into the juice and devoured it in three bites.
“Slow down. There's plenty more if you’re still hungry after you finish that.” Mary said with a chuckle. Bud sat down across from the two men and lifted a spoon full of the stew to his lips and started to lightly blow on the steaming food. A loud slurping sound came from across the table causing Bud to look up. Roosevelt had his bowl tilted up to his lips drinking the last bit of juice from his stew. He sat the bowl down and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The entire table of people stared at him as he finished.
“What? It was good.” He shrugged. Mary started to chuckle as she got up and grabbed his bowl to refill it.
“Don’t do that shit again! It’s rude and unpleasant while these people are eating.” Johnny scolded. Roosevelt simply shrugged as Mary set another bowl of the stew down in front of him along with an even bigger hunk of bread.
“Miss Mary you’re a fantastic cook!” Roosevelt said before digging into the new portion of his meal. She waved off the compliment and sat back down to finish her own food.
“So, I guess you and your people have been doing just fine in this new world?” Roosevelt asked in between bites. He was taking his time now that his stomach wasn’t twisted into a knot of hunger.
“When a town full of like-minded people work together, they tend to have an advantage over other communities.” Bud stated as he popped the last piece of his bread into his mouth.
“What are you boys doing out here in Sweetwater?” Mary asked and she took a bite of her own bread.
“To be honest we just kind of stumbled across this place. We came from Florida and just tried to avoid the interstates along the way.” Johnny said between bites.
“Where’d you say you were headed?” Bud asked, sitting back in his chair and shoving a hand in the waist of his pants.
“My dad's place in Denver.” Johnny replied.
“Does he know you’re coming?” Bud asked.
“No. I haven’t talked to him since before all of this started last week.” Johnny said.
“Johnny Truman! Roosevelt Parker!” A female voice sounded from the kitchen. They each turned to look at a short redhead with crisp green eyes, a stubby nose, and thick lips.
“Laura do you know these men?” Bud asked, leaning forward in his seat with a suspicious look on his face.
“You don’t? As much news as you used to watch, and you don’t recognize these two?” She said, pointing at Johnny and Roosevelt. Bud eyed them for a long moment trying to decide if he’d ever seen them before. Shaking his head, he looked up to Laura.
“No, I can’t say that I do. Who are they?” Bud asked.
“Johnny Truman is the one that found that spaceman all of them years ago and they both just returned from Mars on Tanner Washington's shuttle Gungnir. I can’t believe you’ve never heard of them.” Laura said, excitedly. Bud looked at the two men for a moment and started to say something but was interrupted by another man at the table.
“Oh yeah! I thought your name sounded familiar. I remember seeing you two on the tube last week when y’all touched back down in Houston.” The man stated.
“So, we got ourselves a couple of celebrities in Sweetwater huh?” Bud chuckled. Feeling uncomfortable with all the attention Johnny and Roosevelt started to play down the ordeal.
“I wouldn’t say we’re celebrities. We’re just scientists that just happened to get on the news for our work with Mr. Washington.” Johnny said.
“Yeah there are way more interesting astronauts that have been to Mars over the years then the two of us.” Roosevelt chimed in.
“Well those astronauts aren’t the ones here in Sweetwater, are they?” Mary asked, a huge smile on her face.
“You got us there.” Roosevelt laughed nervously.
“I hope you all saved room for dessert. I made cake with a homemade peanut butter icing.” Mary replied as she stood up from her seat. Roosevelt's eyes lit up at the thought of cake. He watched Mary walk around the table picking up each person's dirty dishes. When she had an arm load, she disappeared into the kitchen returning a few minutes later with several small plates of sliced cake. She sat the first two plates down in front of Johnny and Roosevelt and then continued around the table.
“So, what was it like on Mars?” Laura
