“Where’d this guy come from?” Dad asked, scratching Drake behind the ears.
“We found him. He seems to like it here and he’s really smart,” I replied.
“Didn’t you have a little female too? Like this one here?” Mom asked, pointing at Meat Head.
“We did,” I replied. “She’s dead though.”
“What happened?” Mom asked.
Without looking up, I simply replied, “She died.”
Dad looked up but said nothing. He rubbed Meat Head’s ears and stood up. We walked through Danny’s gate and I half expected to see people sitting on the porch. But the chairs were empty. Danny went up onto the porch and in through the door. We followed him in and I saw Mel and Kay standing in the kitchen. Mel’s face immediately lit up and she rushed over. I hugged her and gave her a kiss. Then turned to Mom and Dad.
“Well, here they are,” I said.
She gave Mom a long hug as the two said words I couldn’t make out. Then she hugged Dad. When the greetings were over, Kay looked at Mom and Dad and said, “You two look like you could use a cold drink and something to eat!”
Mom and Dad sat at the counter and Kay poured them a glass of tea. As she set them down, Dad asked, “Do you have any coffee?”
“We sure do!” Kay responded and quickly poured him a cup.
Ignoring the tea, Dad took to the coffee. He drained the cup quickly and Kay refilled it. “Take it easy now,” Kay said as he sipped on the second one.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had any. Where in the world did you get it?”
“Morgan and Linus brought it back,” she replied. “They’re always coming up with something.”
I introduced Mom and Dad to Kay and they sat chatting while Mel prepared them a plate. Mom was looking around the kitchen and asked, “Do I smell bread?”
“Whatever it is, it smells amazing,” Dad added.
Kay jumped, “Oh! Yes, there is bread. I need to get it out of the oven!”
Kay removed the loaf from the oven and tipped it out of the pan. The smell was incredible, and I could only imagine how it made Mom and Dad feel.
“Give it just a minute and I’ll slice some up for you,” Kay said as she set the jar of butter out on the counter.
Picking up the jar, Mom asked, “Butter?”
“A man in Altoona makes it. We trade for it,” Kay said.
Mom looked at Dad wide-eyed. “I told you it was better here,” I said.
Kay went ahead and sliced the bread, even though it wasn’t yet cooled. She placed a thick slice in a plate for each of them and slid it across the counter along with a butter knife. Mom took the knife and spread a generous amount of butter on the steaming piece of bread on her plate, then handed the plate of bread to Dad and he did the same.
I watched Mom as she took the first bite of the bread. Her eyes were closed, and she had a look of sheer ecstasy on her face. She even let out a little moan as she chewed. Mel slid bowls in front of each of them with leftovers from the previous night’s supper. Mom and Dad both quickly ate, savoring every bite and commenting repeatedly about how good it was. Naturally, Kay dismissed the compliments. I went to the fridge and took the tea jug out and kept their glasses full. We talked as they ate, sharing stories about what we’d all been up to since the Day.
In between bites, Dad told of how they were at home on the Day. That when the power first went out, they just assumed it was another routine outage. They realized it was something more when they went out to Mom’s car for a trip to town for dinner out at Cracker Barrel, figuring with the power on the blink that they might as well eat out. But the car wouldn’t start, nor would Dad’s truck.
“That’s when we realized there was something major wrong. We knew it wasn’t just the usual temporary power outage,” Mom said.
“I went around to the neighbors,” Dad said. “No one’s car would start. I started thinking about you talking about the EMP and what that would look like and I knew that must be it.”
I nodded. “It took me a minute to figure it out too. And I was standing on the side of I-10. At least you were at home.”
“How’d the people in your neighborhood react?” Danny asked.
“They came together.” Dad replied. “We had a couple of issues early on, but once we got rid of those trouble makers, it was good. Everyone banded together. Worked together, shared what they had.”
“It wasn’t like that here,” Mel said.
“Nope,” Danny added.
“You guys had trouble?” Dad asked.
Danny nodded. “For a long time, actually. We had some people that wanted to try and take charge. But their idea of taking charge was just to try and take advantage of the situation.”
“We had to fix that,” I said. Dad looked at me but didn’t say anything.
“How long did it take you to get home?” Mom asked me.
“About a month, I think. Give or take.”
“And there were still problems when you got here?” Mom asked. I nodded, “Oh yeah.”
“We had a couple of neighbors that wanted to come into the house and inventory our food and supplies,” Mel said. “I wouldn’t let them in,” she nodded at Danny. “Danny helped me. It was scary though.”
“Were the girls at home when that happened?” Mom asked.
“No, they were at school, in programs. I drove the Suburban up there to get them. That was a problem. Not
