Rod decided to clarify, “I think Tanner thinks AB means ‘After Bombs’.”
“Doesn’t it?” Tanner questioned.
“No,” I replied. “It means After Burke. I started keeping track of days after Burke arrived. But now I’m used to it. And I couldn’t very well change it now, could I?” I snickered. “Boy would Mona get confused.”
From the kitchen Burke called out, “Mona’s toast.”
“Stop that” I snapped at him, “You don’t know.”
“I know more than you,” Burke retorted.
“Oh, please.” I scoffed. “You didn’t even know the bombs were coming.”
“Like you did?” Burke retorted.
“Um, yeah.” Childishly, I replied.
Burke laughed. “No. Where were you?”
Simon, in the midst of his jumping, answered. “Aunt Jo was waiting for me to pee. She heard then.”
“Yeah. Thanks, Simon.” I smiled arrogantly. “Simon was peeing. I still heard. However…” Smug I walked toward Burke. “Where were you… when the news of the bombs were reported? Huh?”
Burke returned to cooking.
I saw Tanner glance at Burke then back to me. He shook his head a couple times with a lost look. “I’m confused,” Tanner said. “Where was he?”
Somehow, someway, it became a topic of interest, one that started at dinner but was quickly voted a conversation to be saved for later on in the evening. It was the very first time that anything brought all of us together in one room at the same time. Even Tammy, who chose not to eat with us, slipped into the living room and joined us. She didn’t say anything; she just sat there listening.
“Where was I when I heard the news of the bombs?” Dan reiterated the question we all would take turns answering. “Where was I?” He sighed out dramatically, like the actor he was. I was certain he was going to turn his answer into the monologue of the century, giving us all a standard of storytelling to uphold. “I had come off of the omelet bar. I swear I had made more omelets that day. Anyhow, I went to the back to get more eggs. The radio is always on in the kitchen and I heard. How ironic, don’t you think, I was holding something as fragile as eggs, when the news of the bombs was reported. I dropped them. Everyone was running everywhere. Chuck left the stove on, and a fire started. Ernie was putting that out. He yelled to me, ‘Dan, can you help?’ But I couldn’t move. Still standing in the freezer door, broken eggs all around me, I did the only thing that came to mind. I stepped back and closed the freezer door.”
Craig spoke up, “That was smart.”
I chuckled snidely. “That was cowardly. He could have helped Ernie.”
Disagreeing, Craig shook his head. “Why? The bombs were coming. Take cover, be a hero later.”
Rolling my eyes, refrained from saying, ‘he didn’t even do that’, I just began my brief story. “I didn’t work. I hadn’t since I worked with Rod at the security firm. So I was home. You would think, what a great place to be especially when I had everything pretty much prepared.” I shook my head. “To be ready. To hit that shelter. You have to know it’s coming. I wasn’t even watching TV. Mona called to tell me. And no…” I hurriedly looked at Burke. “She isn’t toast. I know. Her cell phone was breaking up. She was underground. That’s what I think.”
Burke shook his head. “You think maybe her phone was breaking up because, gee, I don’t know… a nuclear war broke out?”
“Nope.” I was firm. “She was underground.”
Craig was next, “I was driving. I wasn’t in the best mood, because I had to travel so far. I remember thinking, it was bad enough that I had to drive so far out of my way to play store detective, but did my radio have to be on the fritz as well. It was. Strangely enough, all I could pick up was the Christian station. Just when a religious song came on that I could bob my head to… they interrupted with the news. I swerved the car. To be honest, I panicked a little. But I took a second to think, made the first turn off the main road, and stopped at the first house that looked empty. I kept on thinking, ‘Jo says if my car is running when the bombs hit, it won’t start back up’. So I shut off my car, grabbed the battery, and broke into the house.” Craig chuckled, “Little did I know Bruce was there. I thought I was giving the old guy a heart attack. But once he realized what was going on, he got some things to the basement, and I ran back to the car for my Jo-pack. We buckled down. I have to stop and go check on Bruce. I’m surprised he didn’t want to join us.”
Burke snickered. “You probably drove the man insane with those hourly, boring fuckin’ radio announcements. He was glad to get rid of you.”
Craig gave Burke a look of being so offended.
Tanner lifted his hand slightly, “Can I ask? What’s a Jo-Pack?”
Craig answered, “Jo made this list of items we should have in our car in case we aren’t home when it happens. Survival stuff.”
“I had mine.” Nicky added. “Well, the little Jo-pack she gave me for Christmas.”
Tanner chuckled. “Jo, you gave survivor packs out for Christmas.”
I shrugged. “I thought they were neat.”
Nicky continued, ‘they were a gift of life… literally. Some water, some food, aspirins. I kept mine in my desk drawer. I was typing a letter to the Governor when Sandy, my supervisor, came flying out of her office. We were the only two in that day. She was yelling, ‘put the radio on!’. I did. Sandy was crying, but for the oddest reason, I was calm. Really calm. I knew we had to get below. Our office was in a house, so there was a basement. I remember gathering things—crackers, water, chips—and just throwing them down the stairs. All the while, I was arguing with Sandy to help me. Finally, I knew we had to get down there so I grabbed her, pulled her with me. We had just made it. The bombs hit. I flew to the corner where the workbench was, but Sandy she just… she just ran. Ran straight for the steps. I screamed her name, but she went above. It was like ‘The Wizard of Oz’, the entire house just lifted off. I can still see…” Nicky closed her eyes. “Everything flew over my head. Cars. People. Houses. Trees. I thought I was a goner and was waiting for the force of it to suck me right up. It didn’t.”
“How did you survive?” Tanner asked. “What did you do?”
Nicky smiled at me before answering. “I remember what Jo said about a safety time frame before the fallout and radiation would hit. So as fast as I could, I put all kinds stuff on and around that workbench, made it like an igloo. I grabbed the food, and water, and just crawled inside and prayed.”
“For how long?” Tanner questioned further. “How long until you came out?”
Nicky shook her head. “I don’t know. I lost track of time.”
Craig answered, “Twelve days. Twelve days exactly.”
Tanner whistled. “Wow. That’s pretty impressive.”
Matty huffed out slightly in irritation. “Great. Just great. Now my story will suck.”
Laughing I hugged Matty. “No, it won’t. Tell it.”
“No.” Matty shook her head. “Then you guys will tell me it’s good, just to be nice. I knew I should have told mine after Dan. I’ll wait until after Rod’s, his might be boring.”
Rod sounded like Joan Crawford when he gasped out an airy ‘well’. In all honesty, I knew he wasn’t offended at my daughter’s comment. It was just his way to compete with Dan for drama queen.
We paused before continuing, it was time to cut the cake. No ‘Happy Birthday’ was sung to Molly, which was fine because I knew the female persuasion of our shelter occupants weren’t too thrilled about having a blowup doll as a toy for a child. We passed out the ‘real’ forks with the cake, while Rod told his story.
“We were lucky. If that’s what you want to call it.” Rod said. “Unlike most of America, we got our warning before they announced it on the news,” he turned to Tanner in an explanatory mode. “I used to monitor alarms for a home and business security company.” He shrugged. “Something happened to the signal. I was there, staring at the screen when Barry Cole came racing in the back room, yelling, ‘Everyone, we have to go. We have to get out. We just got reports that we are under nuclear attack—or something like that. How he explained it is a blur, but I remember him saying over and over, ‘we have to go.’” Rod chuckled. “Go where? Where in the world were we gonna go? The building was small and constructed into a hillside. My back room had no windows and was a concrete room. No one would listen to me. They fled. Me, I turned on the radio and ran my ass around that building, grabbing what food I could and liquid. I figured how far away could I get before the bombs came? Probably could have made it to Jo’s. But always remembered her saying, take cover first. I did. I scooted all my stuff under the back counter, blocked myself in with the lounge sofa and prayed. I thought I was going to be stuck under that counter… like Nicky was. But fortunately, mostly of the building stayed intact. Burke and Craig had to slightly unearth me, but I was fine. Mostly likely because I was stoned… but fine.” Rod glanced at Matty. “Is that boring enough for you, Princess?”