All Rosemarie could think about was Mark. His dead eyes. His head exploding. Her stomach kept turning over and over. No one came to save him. No one was going to save them. She couldn’t eat. It would just come back up again.
She laid in the treehouse looking up at the underside of the half finished top floor. She could hear Georgi and Alex talking, but she wasn’t paying attention until she heard Georgi say, “Bye Randy.”
“Where’s he going?” Rosemarie asked.
“Hunting what? Maybe I don’t want to know.”
“Hopefully deer or rabbit.”
Rosemarie rolled over on her blankets. She didn’t want to think about Randy shooting things. He’d done too much of that already. She closed her eyes. She fell in and out of sleep. Nightmares about Mark finally drove her out of sleep. Life will never be the same for us, she thought.
They had tried the radio a few times over the last few days. Nothing but static. What was the CDC doing? She wanted to go home. She didn’t want to play anymore.
She was tired of the heat and the fucking bugs. If it wasn’t for the netting, they would have been plagued by mosquitoes all night. Bugs! she thought. She didn’t want to lay in her blankets anymore. She definitely didn’t want to leave the treehouse. Rosemarie sat up. A little too fast. Her head felt a little dizzy, but it passed.
“How are you feelin’?” asked Georgi.
“Not good,” Rosemarie said. She was hot and sticky. Her throat and eyes burned. Her heart hurt. Not good at all.
“You should eat,” Georgi said. She held out an apple and a cup. Her eyes looked full of worry.
Rosemarie’s stomach still churned, but she took a bite.
Georgi was scribbling in her notebook again.
“What you working on?” Rosemarie asked.
Georgi held up her work. “A bridge from the treehouse to the cabin.”
“Hope it works,” Rosemarie said.
“Me too,” said Alex. “What’s the teepee?”
“An idea for a meat smoker,” Georgi said. “For when we get some meat. I saw it in a book once. Not sure if it will work.”
“We can move the kitchen inside,” Rosemarie said.
Georgi looked a little surprised and chuckled. “I didn’t think of that. I was tryin’ to figure out how to cook in the treehouse without the campstove and not burn the tree down.”
“That’s the purpose of the big fireplace,” Rosemarie said with a smile.
“Yes,” Georgi laughed. “I’d forgotten.”
Rosemarie looked up. “I think we should finish the top floor of this thing.”
“Bridge, indoor kitchen, second floor, a lift,” said Georgi, writing a list of projects in her book. “The smoker will have to be built on the ground away from the cabin.”
“A lift for the treehouse?” Rosemarie asked.
“Yes, I thought it could be big enough to lift Murphy. You could train him to ride in it.”
“Awesome,” Rosemarie replied. She smiled as she imagined Murphy riding up and down in on a lift. It would be easier than carrying him up and down the little stairs.
“Don’t forget the garden,” said Alex.
“Garden, check,” said Georgi. “We’re going to need more containers for the garden.”
“Or a wall,” Rosemarie said.
Georgi sighed heavily and put down her sketches. “There’s so much to do.” She flopped down on her blankets. “I don’t see how we can do it all.”
“We just take it one step at a time,” Rosemarie said.
“What’d you think we should do first?” asked Georgi.
“The bridge,” said Alex.
“The bridge,” Rosemarie agreed. “We need safety first.”
“Ok. And Alex can start on the container garden,” said Georgi.
“About time,” said Alex.
“That sounded a little mouthy,” said Georgi.
“Sorry Momma,” said Alex. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Just watch your tone,” said Georgi smiling softly. She brushed a piece of hair out of Alex’s face.
“Yes, ma’am,” said Alex.
We sat in companionable silence. Rosemarie lay with her thoughts of bridges and gardens. A light breeze relieved them from the oppressive heat, but it was gone too soon.
“I miss TV,” said Alex.
“I miss AC,” Rosemarie said.
“I miss my bed,” said Georgi.
They lay in the heat of the day for awhile. Rosemarie’s head was pounding. Her eyes still stung, but she was starting to feel better.
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