When your up in years and your life is in its winter, you learn to be alone. You wa
it for those visits from family, when they have time to spare. They are busy now, each have life’s of their own just like you use to. You long for a phone call; you look out the window on the weekends and sigh as each car passes your driveway knowing once again it was not them. You build a life together, you raise your family, they grow up and have families of there own just like you prayed they would. When you have all boys, they tend to gravitate to their wives family and you see less and less of them, it’s just natural. We had settled into a routine, we had a good life; until the great fall.It was years in the making, I felt it was c
oming, there were signs that we were on the brink. But still no one took it seriously, no one was prepared. No one thought it would turn out the way it did or was ready for what lay ahead when it happened. The town fell silent, only a small handful survived. We lived about seventy miles from Atlanta near a lake, our retirement home. Two of our sons lived close to the big city, another in Mississippi. My wife was grieving over the fate of our boys and their families. I did not know what to do; I did not know how to comfort her. I was in fair shape for my age, I could have walked to the city and tired to find out, but I could not leave her, her knees would not let her walk that distance. Weeks went by and turned into months. I would walk into town once a week and find food at the abandon stores. She stayed home with that same worried look. What I would not give to see her smile again; her family her sons were everything.I learn to hunt again; fresh game became part of our diet and there was always fish to catch. I found some seeds at the store and we planed on starting a garden in the spring. On my trips into town I would find books and magazines for her to read, and puzzles for us to put together any thing I could find to take her mind off of the big question. I always enjoyed having her all to myself, but not like this, not when all the ones we loved were out there some where beyond our reach.
I got up early to start the fire; it was another cold day on the lake. We had conv
erted the fire place so we could cook using it. I was out gathering wood when I heard the voices. It sounded like a big group of people headed or way. I ran back into the house and got my rif
le ready. My wife (now awake) sat bolt upright in the bed and started asking questions. I urged her to be quite and we listen as the voices got closer. Then came the bang on the door, we stayed still and quite. Another bang and then came the best sound I had heard in a long time. Mom…. Dad…. are you in there? We rushed to the door and opened it wide to find our two sons and their families. They were alive!Everyone filled the house and it was home once again. They told us their stories and how they managed to find each other in the all chaos that followed the fall. Not all were happy tales because of family members that did not make it and extended family that was never found. Then my youngest son said; “look, they got food and they can cook over the fi
replace, I told you Dad would know what to do”. My wife (with a smile on her face) and the girls started to prepare some food and my son’s along with their children and I gather wood for the fire, it was a great reunion. In the weeks that followed we began to set up our own community. We went into the other house near by and cleaned them out for the Boys and their families (not a pleasant task given the death toll that surrounded us). And for a season we all lived together and for a time we were happy. But there was still one unanswered question. What about our other son and his family two states away?I have turned south on I-24 headed towards Chattanooga. I bandage my ear, the pain comes and goes but at night it throbs and keeps me awake. I wish I knew what to do about it, but I’m not a Doctor, I’m just an old man that has already lived to long. The rain and wind have taken most of the leaves from the trees; winter is on its way.
Go to Day 1097
