Passing the two men, who were engaged in conversation, I noticed the smell of body odor. It was so strong not even the dense cloud of cigarette smoke could mask the odor. I tried not to crinkle my nose at them; after all, they’d just spent nearly a week outside the walls searching for supplies to keep the rest of us fed. I put on my best smile and nodded my head in greeting as I climbed the three steps up to the clinic door. The two immediately went silent, and all I could think was crap, they’re checking out my ass. I decided not to look back to verify.
The sound of Doc Robbins’ voice reached me as I walked into the clinic and through the empty reception area.
“It’s a good thing you didn’t let this go without treatment. It’s infected, but nothing that a little antibiotic ointment and some good wound care won’t fix.”
I set the food on top of the filing cabinet and stood in the doorway. I won’t lie; I was a bit excited to see the wound. What can I say? The photos in my nursing books had eliminated any trace of squeamishness. You see a tunneling stage three pressure ulcer and everything else is puppies and fluffy bunnies. The soldier sat sideways on the examination table with Doc Robbins standing on the opposite side, manhandling his arm. I ran my hands down my scrub shirt to iron out any wrinkles and cleared my throat.
Doc Robbins looked up at me and smiled. “Ah, Emma, I’m glad you’re back,” he said. I think he may have asked me to get something from the other room, but when the man on the table turned to look at me, everything else was lost.
I felt my body start to shake uncontrollably and I tried to say something, but my throat had gone dry. My field of vision narrowed, and I had the sensation of looking down a constricted tube. Across the room, sitting on a table mere feet from me, was Jake’s brother, Vinny, suffering the same stupefied reaction.
My hands shook and I wrung my fingers together in shocked silence. The scene took on a dreamlike quality, and I was afraid the bubble would burst if either one of us spoke. This wasn’t a mirage. I knew it wasn’t with every fiber of my being.
Vinny leapt down from the table and charged me, picking me up in a bear hug. The floodgates opened and instantly we were both crying.
Over Vinny’s shoulder, I caught a glimpse of Doc Robbins wiping at his eyes. I’m sure he’d blame a speck of dust if asked. I think he also realized I was of no use as his nurse at the moment, and he went to get the supplies to patch up Vinny’s arm.
Meg had been right. Vinny’s unit was recalled to deal with the threat on American soil. Only, he never made it home. Once his unit blew the bridges to Sanibel, he had been ordered to remain on the island and maintain the integrity of the wall. I couldn’t tell him about his parents; that bit of devastating news should come from his brother. Luckily, our conversation was so scattered that I didn’t have to worry about it. The doc cleaned and bandaged his wound while we caught up, and we left the clinic with our arms linked. I couldn’t wait for Jake to see him. I had also kept to myself the fact that I put his ex-girlfriend out of commission for good. I didn’t see the need to open old wounds.
We didn’t have to wait long. Back at our bungalow, we were seated on the little sofa for less than five minutes before I heard the front door open. I was like a kid on Christmas. My cheeks hurt from smiling, and I was nearly bouncing in my seat with anticipation.
“Lucy, I’m home,” yelled Jake in his best Ricky Ricardo voice. I didn’t have to say anything because he’d have to pass right by us to get to the bedroom and change out of his uniform. Frankly, I don’t think I could have spoken if my life depended on it. I was like a teapot about to boil over. My hands were clamped over my mouth in a death grip, and I did my best to keep the insane giggling from exploding out of my mouth.
Vinny got up and tiptoed over to the wall adjacent to where Jake would enter the room. As Jake rounded the corner and smiled at me, he cocked his head to the side in confusion at my expression. A split second later, Vinny leapt from behind the wall and into Jake’s path screaming “Show me the titties!” I realize that seems pretty odd, but Jake and Vinny shared a room growing up. From what their mother told me, the room constantly smelled like old farts. Ick. She also told me that she and their dad would stand outside their door at night in near hysterics as the two boys made up goofy songs. One of their more infamous songs went something like: “Show me the titties!” And Vinny would follow it up with: “A little bit softer now, a little bit softer now”. Followed by another round of: “Show me the titties!” from Jake and a finaclass="underline" “A little bit louder now!” from Vinny. They would try to sing as soft or as loud as they could before getting reprimanded and told to go to bed.
Priceless is the only way to describe Jake’s reaction. Immediately following his scared exclamation of, “ooh, mothafucka” and an awkward ninja move, he ran and jumped at Vinny, tackling him to the floor. The two wrestled around for a bit, laughing, and finally settled down enough to fill each other in. News of his parents didn’t affect him as much as I’d expected. Though, I guess he’d already written them off for dead. He got a good laugh that his mom had gone down fighting with a frying pan.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat. The two of them got Meg the same way Vinny had surprised Jake. The round robin of stories began again.
Chapter 29
Do Not Pass Go
We fell into a familiar schedule over the next couple weeks. It’s not that I could say life was good, but we were all still breathing so I couldn’t really complain. It took an apocalypse to bring Team Rossi closer than ever before. Vinny still slept in the barracks but came over to our place every night he wasn’t out on a scouting mission. Seth and Dale joined the scout team and we saw them less and less. Jake stayed on the wall with Will for fear of death by female. Nancy spent all her time with Gabby and the other children and we saw her only in passing after our first week on the island. Holiday decorations were on display, and the closer it got to Christmas, the more people added to the festive holiday spirit
We’d built a new life for ourselves. The Rossi’s and Will circled the wagons. The five of us were all we could worry about. Though, all the original group made a pact that if anything ever happened, we would stick together and meet at the houseboat. We made sure our contingency plan was in place and we kept the boat stocked with as much non-perishable food and bottled water as we could manage.
Jake updated us every night at dinner with news communication from other military strongholds. The island’s communication ability dwarfed the technology we had while held up at Target. We were able to communicate with folks as far up the eastern coastline as Pennsylvania, and we received word that contact had been made with groups as far north as Vermont. This news gave me hope that my family and friends had made it to safety up in Massachusetts.
Every night I would dream of reuniting with my parents. Some mornings I woke up happy from finding them alive. Others I woke gasping for air and in tears from a much different type of reunion. The weight in my chest grew heavier each day that passed, and I wondered how long I’d be able to stay on Sanibel. Jake would hear nothing of it when I suggested we even think about trying to go north. He didn’t understand. How could he? He knew the fate of his parents, and he had his siblings by his side. I had nothing, except Jake and his family.
Meg had found a bunch of board games stacked on the floor of her closet, and we put them to good use. One thing an Italian family loves to do is reminisce about the good times. In the decade I’d known the Rossis, I must have heard about the time Jake made Vinny cry during a game of Monopoly at least a dozen times. It went something like this.