“No, they’re nice. And why… are you sitting over there?” Jason asked, placing his bible and journal on the nightstand. He scooted over and patted the bed beside him.
Nora joined him. “Do you suppose this is what Lucy and Ricky did?”
Jason groaned. “I can’t believe John made that comment. But it was funny.” He propped his face on his hand. “Speaking of funny. You haven’t told a joke tonight.”
“I told the Germany one earlier.”
“Doesn’t count. You told it to Marilee.”
“Okay,” Nora thought a moment, staring up to the ceiling. “Did you hear about the plague of blindness that hit everyone?”
“Don’t believe I have.”
“Sad. No one saw it coming.”
After a moment of silence, Jason rolled to his back and laughed. “I don’t know if they’re getting worse or funnier.”
“Both.” Nora watched him for a moment. “You’re really comfortable here.”
“I am.”
“I know you don’t want to leave.”
“I hate to leave before Malcolm and Amy get here. But we can leave word that we’ll be back and they can come here. I mean…”
“No.” Nora interrupted him. “I mean…I know you want to make this a home. John doesn’t think we should. He thinks us and the other survivors from the other lab, once they get here, should go somewhere and make our own world.”
“John’s wrong.”
“What if he’s not and one of them is a carrier?”
Jason sighed.
“We can live close so you can run the church. I know you want that.”
“What do you want?” Jason rolled again to his side.
“Honestly?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t care where we end up. As long as I get to see my family first, or learn of their fate.”
“And I will stand with you on that journey. We take it one day at a time. And tomorrow our one day takes us on the road to finding Salvation. And I mean that in more ways than one. Fair enough?”
“Fair enough.”
In the quiet moment after his words, Jason smiled, he leaned down kissing Nora softly as he reached over and shut off the light.
FOURTEEN – COMPACT
Day Eleven AR
It hadn’t been since she was in the Genesis lab in Alabama that Meredith looked in a mirror. The one at Rusty’s didn’t help, the long crack in the fogged over mirror made it difficult to reflect a true appearance. In fact, it gave that blurred beautifying effect leaving Meredith to believe she didn’t look that bad.
Rantoul had mirrors.
The bathroom didn’t function in the church, so no mirror was there until after she retrieved water to wash. That was when Marilee, up and motivated with the sun, spotted Meredith by the well.
Who was this young woman? It was an apocalyptic world; yet, she was clean, and fresh. Her face smooth and perfect, hair shiny and clothes tidy. Everyone in Rantoul looked as if they stepped out of an edition of Country Town living.
“You know…” Marilee called in the morning to Meredith. “I have a water warmer, I just turned it off. Water is still hot. Plenty if you’re gathering to wash.”
At first, Meredith wondered if she smelled, then she realized Marilee was being nice.
“I would like that, thank you so much. I haven’t washed with warm water in a while. Mostly, creeks.”
Marilee smiled. “Do you have clothes?”
“Yes, we popped by an abandoned store before we got here.”
“Good for you.” Her tone was upbeat. “Come on. You clean up, get fresh, feel better about yourself, and I’ll make coffee.”
“Do I look that bad?”
“You look like you need a pick me up feel good day.”
Meredith smiled. When she did, she felt the pull of the scab on her cheek. “I don’t suppose you have any lotion. Probably not, I just…”
“Oh, sure, we aren’t savages.” Marilee yelled. “We make our own soap, lotions, and shampoo. Did you wanna use all that?”
“Yes. Please.”
Marilee led the way. Her home was a trailer behind the old hardware store. There were several trailers there that surrounded a well. The trailer home was small, but pretty and clean. Meredith made her way to the bathroom, and Marilee showed her how to work the water pump to get a good five minute shower. She recommended that Meredith do any ‘shaving or hair washing’ before getting in the shower that way she could enjoy the continuous stream.
Meredith didn’t think much about a mirror until after Marilee brought her in a towel and on top of it was not only a hair brush, but a hair band and very small make up bag.
“What’s this?” Meredith asked.
“Oh, I know when I am having a bad everything day, I feel better by making myself look better. I’m not saying you look bad, you don’t, but I thought a little powder and maybe some lipstick would make you feel good. It does for me.”
“You’re kidding right? You wear makeup?”
“To church, on occasion. I like the way it makes me feel. The world may have gone to pot, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to feel beautiful. I know, it sounds shallow. And no way did I want to insult you, or make you feel bad,” Marilee said. “I just thought with all those bruises you may want to forget the bad experiences, even for a day, by covering them. I know how that feels, trust me. However…” She reached for the makeup.
Meredith stopped her. “No, I’m not insulted. Thank you. I’ll use it.”
It was after Marilee closed the door that Meredith saw her reflection. It was no wonder Marilee felt bad for her. Her face was discolored, parts of it yellow from the bruising. A huge abrasion on her cheek was scabbing over, her skin was dry and in some spots peeling from too much sun. Her hair, though she rinsed it in a creek, was horrible and was a matted mess.
Meredith felt sick in her stomach at how bad she looked. It wasn’t her, she always prided herself on her looks. But it was more than make up, more than nice clothes, it was that it hit her how demoralizing her experience was.
She waited until the urge to vomit passed and she cleaned up.
The shower was wonderful and the shampoo stopped her scalp from itching. She lotioned her body and even used the facial powder.
She felt better, the shower washed not only the surface, but a little bit of what was inside.
The smell of coffee and eggs carried to her as she walked from the bathroom.
“In here,” Marilee called out.
There was a counter that separated the kitchen and living room.
“Heard the shower stop. Breakfast is almost done. Got some deer bacon.”
“Never had it, sounds wonderful. Smells great,” Meredith said.
“You look so much better.” Marilee smiled, turning from the stove.
“Thank you.”
“Have a seat.”
As Meredith walked to the counter, she noticed the child like drawing on the fridge. “Who did the art?”
“Oh, my son, Dillard.”
“Your son. I haven’t seen him.”
Her smile remained across the lips, but Marilee lost the smile in her eyes. “And sadly you won’t.” She sighed and returned to the stove.
Meredith felt her sadness. Clearly, Marilee wasn’t old enough to have a child who passed in the plague. It was something else, something tragic. Marilee didn’t say any more and Meredith didn’t ask. It wasn’t her place to ask or bring up any more painful memories. She merely took her seat at the breakfast counter and enjoyed the hospitality of her hostess.
Malcolm felt as if he were having a case of déjà vu when stepping onto the base in Texas that housed the Genesis Two Lab. He wasn’t given an exact building and the base was huge. But the large warehouse oddly placed in a parking lot across from an office building looked exactly like Alabama. So much so, Malcolm wondered if they had returned to Marshal.