Curtain Fall: Second Edition, Disaster, Preparedness, Survival, Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 1) (27 page)

“Now wait a minute, love. I never agreed to the challenge,” replied John.

“Yes you did,” she replied with a shrewd smile. “You agreed when you issued your statement of use clause. Besides, I saw how big your eyes got when you saw the two cases of toilet paper I had in my shopping cart. I’ll take care of the toilet paper, you take care of the phonebook.”

John laughed and decided it was time to change the subject. Some things were better left alone. He also realized he must have missed the class on how to discuss toilet paper usage with your wife. Jenna, sensing her victory, returned to her list, but she now scanned it silently.

Besides the obvious presence of the toilet paper, John noticed that she also bought body soap, both bar and liquid, as well as hand sanitizer. She also bought several boxes of baby wipes. John didn’t need to ask her about the wipes, he had told her how useful they were in a field environment when he was deployed. He was actually glad she thought of them. Baby wipes were good for a lot of things, especially when it came to cleaning up when water was scarce.

She also bought shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental floss, laundry detergent, paper plates, paper bowls, plastic eating utensils, aluminum foil, aspirin, hand lotion, and an assortment of other medical supplies such as bandages, alcohol, and ointments.

Because of his rude comments about the toilet paper, John figured Jenna would avoid talking about the generous supply of feminine hygiene products she also purchased. And he was right, but what Jenna didn’t realize is that John would have bought them if she didn’t. Feminine
products like pads made for excellent field compress’ for wounds and other bleeding injuries. Either that, or Jenna wasn’t ready to tell John that Abby also needed them. As far as he was concerned, that was between Jenna and Abby, and he was glad she didn’t bring it up.

With the supplies they had at home, and in the truck, John was convinced they were as ready as they could be given the uncertain timing or severity of the disaster. It gave John little comfort to know that they were better prepared than ninety-percent of their fellow citizens, but it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it. Preparedness was a personal motivation; people either fully embraced it, or comply shunned it. In terms of commitment, there were few middle-of-the-road preppers.

But regardless of the threat, the biggest achievement for John was that Jenna was now at terms with the disaster. That she now accepted the strange conditions of John’s feelings, and the fact that the disaster was inevitable, was a huge relief to John. He knew he couldn’t handle the situation if he and Jenna weren’t aligned.

Though the unspoken dread of the disaster turned their minds to Abby, John knew he would do anything and everything to prevent his baby girl from slipping away for want of insulin. Even if he had to enter a FEMA camp with her, he would find a way to care for her.

Abby’s medical needs were never far from his mind, even before the disaster. In fact, he already had a plan formulated in his mind about how to address the acquisition of insulin, but it would only work if a disaster was known, and chaos afoot.

John knew he could get his hands on insulin, but only when committed to using deadly force as a last resort. He reminded himself that when it came to using deadly force, or at least the threat of deadly force, it would be all about timing. It wouldn’t due to be arrested or killed during a disaster looming, not when his family’s survival was at stake.

But what really ate at John’s psyche was the irony of it all. With all his work to prepare, everything he did to get ready for any disaster – not to mention the fore-warning in his dreams – all that for what, so he could watch his daughter die in his arms for want of a vital, lifesaving
medicine? It really upset him at first, but he realized the only way to handle it was to trust God. That didn’t mean everything had to make sense, and it surely didn’t, bit it helped him cope.

As for personal responsibility, he knew he had to do what he could for himself, for Abby and the family. After that, when he exhausted all his available options, then it was time to leave it up to God, to trust Him.

A while ago, Adam expressed concerns about how he and Jenna favored Abby. John pulled him aside and explained the severity of Abby’s health. He told Adam that if Abby had been born a hundred years earlier, she would have died from her sickness. He told his son that they did treat Abby special, and that they would continue to do so because every day Abby lived was a blessing for them all, but that didn’t mean they didn’t love him equally. Adam apologized for his comment and said he understood, but from that point on, John and Jenna agreed to better share their attention between the two of them.

All of it, all the preparedness, the disaster, and the irony served as a stark reminder for John that his life wasn’t his to control. He had choice, sure, but his path was one of unique circumstance. Long ago, he actually thought he was in control of his life, that he could pretty much do whatever he wanted; that he was the captain of his own ship. Fortunately, the truth of life came to John when he was still a young man. It was a truth that there was more to life than his selfish desires.

John now saw God as more than a Heavenly Father, but as a master conductor, or someone who orchestrates the simultaneous performance of countless musical numbers, ballets, and symphonies, all while ruling a kingdom, reading a novel, and spending time with his beloved children. He truly was a God of countless, eternal miracles.

John also understood that, as a Father, God could seem cruel at times. But life was cruel, especially when things didn’t turn out or go the way we wanted them. John learned that when things didn’t go his way, it wasn’t time to quit, or pout, but work harder. For him, the trick was recognizing when to accept what Father, what God, gave to him and why.

Understanding the finer points of God’s orchestration was beyond John, but he learned to trust Him in ways he never imagined. Abby was one of those ways. All he could do was his best, and give of himself entirely. The rest was up to God.

His understanding of God grew over time, but nowhere near as much as when he was fighting in Iraq. Once, John was very near the spot where an eighty-two millimeter mortar shell exploded. It happened while he was walking to the headquarters building. It was the one round he didn’t hear, as are the rounds that seem to drop from the sky directly above. John was stunned by the explosion, and he didn’t react to the barrage until a passing soldier told him to take cover.

He did take cover, but later went back to examine the impact crater. What he found both alarmed and surprised him. The shrapnel pattern, which was evident on the walls of the buildings around him, was everywhere except for a little wedge of space directly behind John. That space of undamaged wall was where John had stood when the shell exploded. For John, it was like some kind of literal and unseen barrier had protected him from the effects of the mortar shell.

In another instance, a soldier was struck and killed by a lone rocket while walking from his hooch to the shower trailer. In an instant, the man was killed, taken home to God and his ancestors that went before him.

Those two events taught John a lot about life, that it wasn’t his to give or take, or even hold on to without design and purpose. In fact, John believed everyone fulfilled a special purpose, and that life was much more than the sensual. He resolved himself to the belief that it didn’t matter where he was, or what he was doing, if it was his time to go, then he would be taken home, and there’s nothing he could do to change it.

Freedom of choice served him well in combat, but when he was confronted with death and destruction, John knew his time wasn’t his own – it was God’s. But he would do everything in his physical power to prolong Abby’s life as long as possible.

W
ith the kids’ help, John had the Suburban completely unloaded and in the house in less than five minutes. Under his supervision, they stacked the food in the family room, and the other supplies in the dining room. John usually didn’t mess with the large, heavy-duty, random Costco boxes to get his supplies home, but he figured they’d come in handy and he accepted them. When emptied, he stacked them in the garage to wait for handling to the shop.

The disaster was very real for him now, so John looked at everything with an eye toward potential survival usefulness. Even the contents of his recycling bin were important. Nothing was garbage until it was no longer of use, and even then, he knew he could find another use for it. The heavy-duty cardboard boxes could serve a dozen purposes beyond their usefulness as storage containers. John was already thinking about cutting one of them down, adding the cardboard to a few empty soup cans, and then pouring melted paraffin into them for cooking, heating or light.

As for the recently purchased supplies, John decided, at least for the time being, to let them sit where they were until he addressed more pressing matters. The food was safely in the house, but there was work to be done outside, before the threat of ash could influence their timeline.

John didn’t like leaving the supplies lying about, but it bothered Adam even more because John had them stack the food in his Xbox gaming space. John remedied that problem by engaging Adam in their next project, a run to the hardware store.

As John backed the truck down the driveway, he began to quiz Adam on the tasks he was given.

“I finished the fuel pit,” replied Adam. “It’s why I was playing Xbox.”

“That’s fine. I didn’t say you couldn’t play Xbox when you were done. But what about the cistern? Did you fill it?”

Adam said, “Oops,” and John reached for his mobile phone.

“Did you at least put the hose in the cistern?” asked John.

“Yes, dad.”

“And did you turn it on?”

“Yes, dad,” moaned Adam. “I just forgot to turn it off,” finished Adam.

“Okay. Good. Call your mom and ask her to turn the hose off for you,” said John, as he handed his phone to Adam.

“I wonder if you would have remembered to turn it off if you weren’t thinking about the Xbox?” asked John. And since Adam was on the phone with his mom and couldn’t answer, John added, “I’m sure not going to miss that thing.”

Adam’s conversation with his mom was quick and to the point, and free of all whining, which surprised and impressed John. When the conversation ended, Adam handed John his phone and turned to look out the window. John could tell he was bracing for the customary lecture on responsibilities, and not wanting to disappoint his son, he said, “Don’t leave your work for other people to finish. It’s not the way of a good man . . . a reliable man.”

Adam said, “Yes, sir,” without turning to face his dad.

“Adam, I don’t lecture you nearly as much as my father lectured me, so I figure I’m doing you, and maybe even your children, a big favor. That is if you do better than me and don’t lecture your own kids, which I seriously doubt. Besides, it’s what parents are supposed to do, good parents anyway, or the ones who want their children to grow up to be responsible adults. Besides, it’s the law,” finished John.

Adam snorted and said, “Anderson law maybe.”

John chuckled and replied, “Yeah, something like that. Did you make a list of supplies for the pit and the pool cover?”

Adam nodded and removed a folded piece of paper from his front pocket. John noticed the similarity of his son’s mannerisms and chuckled at the mirror quality of Adam’s behavior.
“He might not look like me,”
thought John,
“but he certainly acts like me.”

“Do you want me to read it to you?” asked Adam.

John nodded and said, “I do. And thanks for your hard work. You know things are going to get tough . . . right?”

“Yeah. I think so. I mean, I know things will change, but I don’t know what you mean by tough,” replied Adam.

John wasn’t sure how to proceed. Indeed, Adam could only imagine what he meant by “tough,” but he also didn’t want his son to focus on the negative. He wanted Adam to understand the nature of survival; not the kind they showed in the movies or on TV, but the real life and death struggles they’d most likely face during the disaster. For John, the problem was communicating the need for respect without scaring his son into hopelessness.

“You’re right. Tough is a loose description. Let’s just say . . . you’ll see things you’ve never before seen, so you’ll need to be strong . . . and focused. It will be like deer hunting every day, twenty-four hours a day, except some days we’ll be the hunters, and some days we’ll have to be like the deer. Do you understand what I mean?” asked John.

“I think so,” replied Adam. “Won’t that be tiring?” he added.

“Yes,” said John. “That’s why I’ll need your help. But I know you can do it. I’ve trained you well. I know I can count on you.”

Adam was silent. John knew his son was considering the words they had just spoken, and he wasn’t about to interrupt him. Talking about dealing with change was one thing, actually dealing with it was quite another. Like John, Adam was a thinker, and if given a chance to process the data, he would be better prepared to face the challenges.