The Day the World Changed

10:00 am

The officers — an older man and a blonde woman with a ponytail — get out of the car. I recognize the latter as Constable Dunford. She's been our school's liaison officer for the last couple of years, so her face is a familiar sight in the hallways at ECS. I've never spoken with her personally, but the fact it's her is reassuring. She stands on the sidewalk, looking towards my house, while her partner speaks into his radio.

They couldn't possibly know about what happened with Max and tracked me down already. They must be here for another reason.

"I think I'll go talk to them," I tell Mrs. Van Stavern, who is now standing right beside me. "Maybe they've come to tell me something about Dad."

"I think you should stay here with me," she says. "You'll be safer."

I face her. "I trust Constable Dunford. Just the same, I'm going to leave you with two phone numbers — Mom's and Dad's. Please try to get hold of them. Tell them what happened to . . . Max." My voice breaks. I pause, take a deep breath, and forge ahead. "Tell them I'm going to the hospital to find Mom and if I can't see her, I'm going to the Noonan crossing."

Her cloudy blue eyes nearly fill those thick lenses. "Will you run the border!"

"No, I won't go near the American side. I just want to see what's happened to Dad."

I go back into her kitchen and scribble the numbers down on a pad beneath her phone. As I do so, I hear a familiar voice.

President Fitzgerald.

It's a replay of the press conference I first saw in the ECS foyer, only this time I can hear his Texan drawl.

"This is in everyone's best interests," he says. "Once the virus is contained, everything will return to the way it was."

Max's face, frozen in death, swims before me. Nothing will ever be the same.

I give Mrs. Van Stavern a quick hug and duck out her back door. I enter my own house through the patio entrance. The doorbell rings as I head down the stairs to my own front door.

The two policeman stand on my front step.

"Good morning," Constable Dunford says. "Are you Taylor Hanson?"

I nod.

They introduce themselves. The older gentleman is Constable Meyers.

"Miss Hanson, we'd like you to accompany us to the station," Constable Dunford says.

"What for?" I ask. "I'm supposed to stay at home. Haven't you heard about the quarantine?"

They look at one another.

"Of course we have," she says. "But the matter we need to address happened earlier this morning. I imagine you know what I'm talking about."

My stomach jumps. They know I was at the gas station.

"The soldier told me to go home." I look directly at Constable Meyers. "I'm at home. Just whose orders am I supposed to be following?"

"We can answer those questions back at the station," Constable Meyers says.

I don't like his tone, and I don't like the way his hand is resting on the butt of his service revolver. What in the hell did that soldier say about me?

"I didn't do anything wrong, and neither did Max. He was just backing up his car, and that idiot shot him in cold blood."

"We don't want to get into a discussion of the details," Constable Meyers says. "You can make a proper statement when we get to the station."

The station is the last place I want to go. No use telling them about my dad. Constable Meyers won't be having any of that.

"All right," I tell them. "I just have to let my dog in. He's in the backyard. It won't take more than a minute." I start to close the front door, but Constable Meyers pushes on it.

"We'll wait right here," he says.

I leave the patio door wide open too.

"Here Ralphie!" I call out. "Here, Boy!"

Our dog has been dead for two years, but for the next few minutes, he'll be alive and kicking.

Still calling I head straight for the Low Rider and back out out of the car port without starting the engine. I look towards the patio door to make sure I haven't been followed. Mrs. Van Stavern stands in her kitchen window. I hold up a hand, and she waves back.

A press the ignition, and a loud rumble fills my ears. For once, I wish the damn thing wasn't so loud.