Eliot Strange and the Prince of the Apocalypse

27) Visit to a Neighbor

 After Cindy Lou leaves, I dress and go next door. After what the prince and Cindy have said about Mr. Thomas and his secret packages, I am curious. I notice right away that Mr. Thomas is still not home. I check the front door and the back door. Both are locked and the curtains are shut tight. Upon close inspection, I see that the curtains are black out curtains. Mr. Thomas is either a light sleeper or has a secret. 

Out back there is no extra trash, but I do see empty cat food cans scattered in the backyard. There is no cat around. I remember the saying that "curiosity killed the cat", but I still decide to break in. I pick the lock on the back door and creep in. Thanks to my dad, locks keep others out, but not me. I can hear the faint hum of a generator when I get inside. The noise is coming from his interior courtyard. I peek outside where I see a generator and gas cans stacked along a pile of garbage as tall as the house.

I walk around the house, and I notice how orderly and neat and clean the house looks in contrast to mine next door where housekeeping is no longer important. I run a finger over the coffee table in the living room; there is no dust. Spotless. Mr. Thomas's house is spotless. He must have a lot of time on his hands now that he is not going to work.

I flip the light switch in the bathroom on and off and on and off. I cut my flashlight on and off, and I see how the blackout curtain on the window keeps the light trapped inside. I turn on the spigots in the bathroom. Hot water. I wash my hands and my face with soap in the hot water and resist the urge to plunge my head under the faucet. I dry my face and walk to the back bedroom.

In the bedroom is a large radio that looks a lot like Ned's radio, only larger and more sophisticated. I can actually hear another language being broadcast. Holy shit, what is going on? Mr. Thomas is an accountant in a local bank. He is as ordinary and normal as an old shoe. Where did he get this equipment? Was he like my dad and waiting for the end of the world? I cannot imagine him preparing for anything, much less catastrophe, but there is other equipment here - hand held radios and batteries and flashlights and what looks like a flare gun.

I go to Mr. Thomas's spare bedroom and there is the biggest surprise of all. Boxes of food. I am not talking about a couple of cans of beans; I am talking about cans of anything you might want to eat. Food is there that I forgot about, like the Doritos Prince Torin saw. There's gummy bears, and chocolate pudding cups, and corned beef hash, and jelly beans of every color. Beef Stew, chocolate chips, cookie mix, and canned milk. I swear that I am not kidding, but there is a freezer in the closet with, I swear I am really not kidding, mint chocolate chip ice cream and frozen Sara Lee coconut cakes and strawberry frozen yogurt supreme and, unbelievable, banana popsicles. I love banana popsicles.

I don't know where the loot came from or who body snatched Mr. Thomas, but I am furious. I am no longer quiet. I am going through the rooms and the boxes and throwing food at the walls. I break a bedroom mirror with an industrial size can of fruit cocktail. I throw it like a football. I open its twin with my pocketknife and walk around the house eating all the cherries out first with my cupped hand. I drip juice all over the freshly vacuumed floor. I stomp a bag of Doritos to death and scatter the ashes on the living room couch. I am mad, so mad.

Then, I slowly calm down because I decide to do something about it.

In the good days, before my mom quit loving my dad and my dad went completely bonkers, we were a family. When I wasn't in summer camp, we went on vacations to what I thought were exotic places but were really places two young college graduates growing a business could afford. We were camping in places like the beach and national parks with hiking trails. To a young girl, these places were paradise.

One of my fondest memories was of the bike trailer that was lightweight and enclosed in mesh and felt much like riding in a small house. It was a cart that my mom, always my mom because she was "working on her legs", attached to her bike for me to ride along on their biking excursions. I'll admit I rode in it long after I could actually ride my own bike. I had many adventures that only an only child can dream up. I was Cinderella on the way to the ball. I was a cowgirl guarding the stagecoach from pursuing outlaws.

When we left my dad, I insisted we bring the bike trailer along even though I knew I would never fit it in again. This is the same bike trailer I load with a few hand held radios and batteries and boxes of cereal and granola bars and juices for the kids. I drive my bike and the trailer, so loaded that the wheels bend out a little, to my old high school.

When I get to the school, the children surround me and look at me like I am Santa Claus because today I am. I give them each a granola bar and a juice box. They all hold it one hand and look at it longingly, even the little ones hesitate. Leia nods her head, and they start to eat.

"They don't believe it," she says." "It has been a long time since they saw so much food."

"There is a lot more where this came from." I point to the school bus and the two cars. "There is gas. If y'all can help me move it, it is ours." I hand her a radio. "And now you can communicate too."

One small blonde haired girl of about six named Millicent approaches me and tugs on my shirt, "There's more?" she asks.

"Yes, lots more. Pudding cups and gummies and vegetables and beef stew and beef jerky, and there is ice cream."

"Ice cream?"

"Yes." I laugh, " But we will have to ride back fast, and then you kids will have to eat it fast before it melts. There is a lot of ice cream. Can you eat a lot of ice cream?"

She starts clapping. Soon, there is yelling and hip hip hurrahing and even the adults are screaming: "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream."

I have lots of help on the return trips, it takes two, and we get it all. Mr. Thomas is not back yet. I almost wish he was so he could watch. We take the big radio and the generator and gas. We don't leave so much as a box of cereal or a can of cat food. I save one box of real food for Cindy. When the prince gets home from his search for Steven and Nana, we are going to try to find her.

Rule one now - help others. I like this rule. I feel great.

I make one last trip while we still have the car. I grab all the weapons at Mr. Thomas's house that are hidden, of all places, in a gun cabinet. I give the automatic weapons to the Resistance and keep some ammunition for my gun and get a gun for the prince. Hopefully, his military training included more than fencing lessons.