“Did you hear about the food riots in L.A.?” Michael asked.
“Yes, I did.”
“And they’re hijacking trucks along the interstate now.”
“It’s only going to get worse,” his father said. “Wait until the food actually runs low. The riots will be ten times as big, and the Army will be shooting people in the streets.”
“There are police in every supermarket now,” Michael said. “To keep people from hoarding. Nobody’s allowed to buy more than fifty dollars worth of groceries at a time.”
“Your mother tried to withdraw a thousand dollars from the bank this morning. There’s a two-hundred-dollar-a-day limit on withdrawals now. People have stopped paying their bills. By this time next month, the banks will probably be busted. First the economy collapses, then society itself. Rome fell in the same order.”
“Yeah, but the Romans only had to deal with the Huns.” Michael took a sip of his wine and looked back up at the sky.
“I understand that you and Ronny have received a rather interesting offer.”
Michael was startled. “She wasn’t supposed to tell you about that.”
“She didn’t say anything to me. She told your mother. And you know how good your mother is at keeping secrets.”
“I didn’t want her upsetting you guys,” Michael said, glancing back at the house for a glimpse at Veronica. He could see the rest of the family talking. His mother was going on about the importance of the prayer vigil again, insisting that God couldn’t possibly refuse to save them if the entire world was joined in prayer.
“We’re not upset,” his father said easily. “How do these people seem to you? Do you think they know what they’re doing?”
Michael shrugged. “I’m not a survivalist, Dad. I don’t know.”
“I’m not asking what you know. I’m asking what you think.”
Michael took another drink and mulled it over a moment. “Yeah,” he said finally. “I’d have to say they do.”
“It’s a pretty generous offer.”
“Hell, the guy made the offer to Veronica, not me. If he’d known I was in the picture he’d never have said anything.”
“She’s a beautiful woman.”
“Well, there you go.”
A few of the youngest grandchildren came scampering out the door, chasing after a golden retriever with a tennis ball in its mouth. The dog was up in his years, but his spirit was willing and he did a good job of keeping the ball for himself. There was a lot of squealing and laughter, and Michael observed his father closely as he watched his grandchildren. From the smile on the man’s face, one would never have guessed the world as they knew it was coming to an end.
“Pa Pa!” said one of the little girls, running over to him. “Chance can catch the ball from way up high even!”
“Yes, he can!” the older man replied. “He’s an excellent ballplayer, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, and do you know what?”
“What, baby doll?”
“My mom said we can get a dog too when I get older.”
“Just a couple more years, honey.”
The children romped about for a while longer and eventually led the dog back into the house.
“That’s the best damn dog I ever had,” his father remarked.
“He’s good with the kids, that’s for sure.”
“So what about these guys?” his father said. “Do you think they’d kill you and take Ronny for themselves?”
Michael shook his head. “No, I don’t. I believe they’re good men trying to do a good thing. They were all in the military, and I got the distinct impression they’re no strangers to violence. They say they were Green Berets.”
“So they can handle themselves?”
“I’d say so, yeah.”
“Hmm. If you ask me, son, I think you and Ronny would make a unique and valuable addition to a group like that.”
Michael stopped short before taking a sip of wine. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I think things happen for a reason,” his father replied. “I always have, you know that. And this is one of those rare times in life when I think I can actually see the reasoning.”
“To what?”
“Well, there probably weren’t a handful of men in this entire country who knew about that… that ball of fire out there. And one of them just happened to bump into Ronny at a truck stop in the middle of nowhere? A woman who just happens to be a sociologist who just happens to be shacked up with a psychiatrist?”
Michael couldn’t help grinning. His father always referred to his and Veronica’s living together as being “shacked up.”
“But what about mom?” he asked.
“She would adjust. You’ve got five brothers and sisters in there who will be more than glad to gobble up your share of her attention. Not to mention nine nieces and nephews. You’ve always needed less than the others. You’re the loner. And you’re the only one who isn’t married with a family.”
“This is my family, Dad. I’m not going anywhere.”
“And I’m not telling you to,” his father said equably. “I’m just saying you should consider it.”
Michael stood looking at him, the gears slow to mesh.
“Son, I’m sixty-five years old. And these past few days I find myself thinking in terms I never imagined possible. Do you realize that I may actually have to take your mother’s life at some point within the next year, depending on how things go?”
Michael whirled the wine around in his glass. “I try not to think about it, actually.”
“Now, as for my daughters and my daughters-in-law,” his father went on. “Those decisions will be up to my sons and my sons-in-law. Your mother is my only concern. She’s the one person I have to look after, my sole responsibility. The rest of you are adults and you’re responsible for your own families, though I expect us all to be together until the end. But who knows when that will be? Or how much of a living hell we’ll have to endure just to get to it? I won’t watch your mother starve to death or be violated. I won’t allow her dignity to be taken away from her. And to be perfectly honest with you, I’d much prefer it if at least one of my children was someplace safe when that ghastly type of decision is being made.”
The gravity of his father’s point was not lost on Michael, and he told him so. “But I’d feel like I was running out on you guys, Dad.”
“That’s because you’re still looking at the world as it is, son. Not as it’s going to be.” He pointed into the sky. “That thing is coming, and by this time next year, ninety percent of this country’s population will be dead of starvation. But! During the months leading up to that, do you think your brothers and sisters are going to be taking food from their kids’ mouths and giving it to their nieces and nephews?”
“Dad, come on. My God.”
His father looked at him with one of those fatherly expressions. “Now who’s in denial, Doctor?”
“I hope you don’t start talking like this to any of them,” Michael said. “Jesus Christ.”
“Frankly speaking, son, they’re not equipped to handle the truth. You are. And that’s why I don’t believe it was simply a matter of chance that Ronny ran into that guy. She’ll stay here and die with you, if that’s what you want, because she loves you, but I don’t think that’s a responsible thing for a man to ask of a woman, particularly of a woman so willing. It’s a betrayal of her faith.”
Michael again looked thoughtfully into the wineglass. “And she’d never say so, but I know she feels that way, at least on some level.”