Rosemarie, Alex, and Georgi ventured into the house. They were quiet as they entered the door. The silence fell like a heavy blanket on them. Rosemarie imagined that she smelled disinfectant. She shook herself.
“Momma,” said Alex.
“Yes, sweetie?” Georgi asked.
“I am hungry,” she said.
“I will make something since it took so long to get here,” Georgi said as she put down her bag and started making a quick lunch.
She took the food from Levi’s propane fridge and shut it down. We might need this later, she thought.
They ate on the porch, chasing their lunch down with mason jars of water. A small breeze blew through the yard rustling the overgrown grass. The peace of the afternoon made them forget about their previous urgency to leave.
“Why don’t we just move here instead of moving all the stuff to the other house?” asked Rosemarie.
Georgi looked down and then back at her friend. “We found him in the back room. I don’t know if I could live here,” she replied.
“There's too many windows.” Randy said as he walked around the corner. “This place is much easier to find. The log cabin is better for defense.”
“I don’t think we can just move into Uncle Levi’s house anyway. I am not sure who inherits it, but they won’t want squatters,” Georgi said. I’ll leave a note telling them we borrowed some things, she thought.
After lunch, everyone went to work. Well, except Randy who mostly just paced around. The girls took all the shelf stable food and packed it into their backpacks.
Rosemarie held up one of the jars. “We could try to can some stuff.”
“That could work,” Georgi said as she rummaged through the kitchen pulling out two big pots. “We still need to make a garden if we’re going to have anything to fill those jars.”
The women took the stuff out to the wheelbarrow. Not wanting things to break on the way back, they tried to pack carefully.
“The truck!” Georgi said. “If we can find Uncle Levi’s keys, we could borrow his truck.”
“I knew we were friends for a reason.” Rosemarie smiled at her. “Always using your head.”
They looked in all the obvious places that people leave their keys like near the front door and kitchen counter. They rummaged through the house. The women were about to give up when they heard Neil yelling outside.
“Found them!”
Georgi poked her head out the door and saw Neil sitting in the truck with the keys in hand.
“They were in the ignition,” called Randy.
“Figures,” said Rosemarie from behind Georgi.
Randy moved to Neil and began talking. Neil nodded, started the truck, and backed it up behind the workshop.
“What are they doing?” asked Rosemarie.
“I have no idea,” Georgi replied.
After some banging and curses, Randy drove the truck out with a small trailer hooked to the back.
The group loaded up the truck and the trailer, stopping to listen for noises every few minutes.
“Let’s get a move on before it gets dark,” Georgi said as they put in a handmade rocking chair.
“Georgi, you drive,” said Randy. “Need my hands free.” He climbed into the back of the truck.
Neil hopped in with him. “There’s room for you and Murphy back here,” said Neil holding his hand out to Rosemarie.
“I think I’m gonna put him in front with Alex.” she said, leading the dog to the cab. “Watch after him, okay?”
“Yes ma’am.” Alex replied before climbing in.
She wrinkled her nose at the smell of old leather and oil.
Rosemarie hopped in the back and Georgi turned the key. The engine roared to life. The tires crunched over the gravel as they left Levi’s yard.
Alex dug through a small box that had been in the center of the seat. “What are these?” she said.
“That’s a tape,” Georgi said with a smile. “It’s what we had before CDs or ipods.” She popped a tape into the radio. Bluegrass tumbled out. They bounced down the road to sounds that reminded her of good times with the family.
No comments:
Post a Comment