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“It’s not common knowledge unless he’s been talking about it.”  Joel paused for a few seconds and looked sheepish, “And we got into it again this morning.”

Rachael put her head in her hands, “What happened?”

“It really wasn’t anything other than Carey being a jerk, again, but I had to go and push it too far.  I was out looking at the sky and he startled me.  One thing led to another and he threw that phrase at me, again, and said something about this being the end of the world.  I fired back with a smart remark about the first wave passing him by and it kinda pissed him off.”

“Ya think?  You accused him of missing The Rapture, Joel!  Nice work.  We’re lucky he didn’t fire bomb the house.  I won’t claim to understand it, because you’re absolutely right about his attitude regarding rules, but one thing the man takes seriously is his religion and you know that.”

Joel wasn’t upset anymore, he was getting to the point where he was just plain wrung out and it wasn’t even noon yet.  “Yeah, Rach, I know that, and in retrospect it was a really stupid thing to say but he was deliberately pushing buttons.”  Joel turned to the rest of the group at the table, “Sorry, folks, it’s been a bit of a long morning and I’ll admit I’m not tracking real well emotionally right now.  Carey and I have pretty much stayed out of each other’s way for the better part of a year until this morning.  Eric, you and I have gotten on fine, again, until this morning.  Chuck, Sheri, should I kick you guys out now so I can make it a clean sweep and apologize to you too, and just hit reset around lunch?”

Eric was the first to respond, “No, Joel, what we need to do first is get each of our places in order and figure out how to spread the word.”  Eric was starting to take the lead of what was shaping up to be the expedition out of the neighborhood.  “I’ve never checked at the local grocery store but does anyone know if they sell dry ice?  Usually grocery stores do but I’m not sure about ours.”

“I think they still do,” Rachael said.  “We had a Halloween party a couple of years ago and I’m pretty sure I got the dry ice there for the ‘witches brew’.”  She turned to her husband, “Joel, you know Mike, the manager, pretty well.  Do you want to run up there with Josh and check if they are open even with the power out, and see if you can get some with a check or the cash we have on hand?”

“I’m sure they’ll be open.  I’ll get Josh and head over.”  Joel started towards the stairs, as Josh and Maya had gone back upstairs once talk had started getting serious again. 

“I suggest we all head home to begin organizing, until Joel gets back at the very least, and be thinking about how to break the news to the rest of the neighborhood,” Sheri said and proceeded to get up, followed by everyone else.

…

As they were all coming out the front door, Rachael spotted Carey in his front yard.  He looked like he had caught himself in mid stride coming back from somewhere when he saw them come out.  When he saw Sheri, he headed in their direction.

“Hey Sheri, any idea how long the power’s going to be out this time?” He asked.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t a clue Carey.  This time I really don’t.”  Sheri replied.

“Not even a ballpark?”

Sheri looked at Chuck and then back at Carey, and sighed.  “Tell you what, why don’t we get everyone we can up to the cabana by the pool at, say, 11:30.  That should be enough time to spread the word, and I’ll let everyone know what I know.  Sound fair?”

“Sounds like a plan.  How ‘bout you give me heads up now, though, so I don’t get blindsided.  After all, I am the HOA president.  My word I’ll get everyone up there at 11:30.”

Sheri tried not to snort, “I guess I can tell you anyway.”  She was watching the rest of the group out of the corner of her eye.  She could also hear Joel in the garage getting some coolers packed into their Suburban.  “It looks like the power is going to be out for a while.  I honestly don’t know how long, but it’s going to be longer than a couple of days, or even weeks.  Chuck here,” she inclined her head in Chuck’s direction, “is my supervisor at the power plant and he can vouch for what I’m saying, but the grid took a spike this morning that shorted out turbines in the dam.”

Carey looked stunned.  No, he looked pole-axed.  Sheri had heard her grandfather use the term growing up but had never been able to internalize the expression until now.  Poor Carey.

He shook his head as if to clear it and then took in the group as if seeing them all for the first time.  “Ok, 11:30 it is then.  Right.  See you at the cabana.”  Then he turned and went inside his own house.

Just then there was a muted clank on the sides of the garage door followed by “THAT was shiny” from inside the garage, followed by a pinging sound around the middle of the garage door, and then the door slid upwards.  “Heh, power’s out.  Garage door opener doesn’t work.  Had to disengage the opener trolley thingy before it would open manually.”

“Good point.  I’d hate to wrench my back when there aren’t any doctor’s offices open.”  Eric said.

“Yeah, speaking of which, Rach, hon?” Joel looked at his wife.

“I’ll get the Lortab.” She was shaking her head and laughing as she went inside and everyone else headed to their own homes.

Chapter Seven

As Joel and Josh left for the store, Chuck let Sheri know he was going to head out to his place and start packing so they wouldn’t have to make any last minute detours.

“I feel like the odd man out here and I don’t want to be the reason we have to make any changes of plans, that’s all”

“Oh nonsense, Chuck. If they hadn’t felt comfortable with you, you’d have gotten the cold shoulder as soon as you walked into Joel and Rachael’s house.  They invited you in, sat you down, and even gave you coffee.”

“But I understand.  Hurry back, I don’t want to have to worry about you.  Remember, I’ll need you here at 11:30 as an expert witness.”  Sheri squeezed his arm and turned to go inside.

As Chuck pulled out of the driveway, the sun was shining on her living room window but he thought he saw Sheri watching him drive away through the glare.

It was almost 10:00 when Joel and Josh got to the grocery store, which was, in fact, open—and hand writing receipts for what people were buying.  Eric had mentioned getting as much dry ice as they would sell, and to do it on the sly with the manager, if he could, so as not to cause a run on it or get himself mugged as he left the store.

Joel and Rachael had been shopping here for almost ten years and knew the manager, so Joel was pretty sure he would take a check or run the credit card manually.  He still waited until he could get him alone and that took about fifteen minutes as the store was actually quite crowded, considering the power was out.  Really, it was barely controlled chaos and Joel was pretty sure there was a fair amount of shoplifting going on--but there was no way to be sure, and he alone couldn’t have stopped it.

“Mike, I’ve got a favor to ask but I’m sure I’m not the first one to say that to you today,” Joel said.

“If I had a nickel…  Heck, if I had a wooden nickel for every time I’d heard that today I could build another store.  Whatcha’ need Joel?”

“First, would you take a check and second, do you guys sell dry ice?”

“From you, sure, I know you’re good for it and the power’ll be back on eventually, and yeah, we have dry ice.  Surprisingly, you’re the first one to ask, too.  Do me a favor, Joel, don’t clean me out, huh? ”

“Deal.  You tell me how much you want to keep for you and whoever you want to treat real nice, see?” Joel was doing a really bad James Cagney. “And I’ll take the rest, see?”

“Ok, as long as you never do that again,” Mike chuckled.

“Done and done.”

As it turned out, there was a small cooler of dry ice up at the front of the store but there was a substantially larger cooler in the meat section in back.  There was no way Joel and company could have used it all and Mike cut him a deal for $1/lb since the power was out and it was all likely to melt anyway.  They pulled around back to load up, so as not to draw attention to themselves, and they hauled off almost 200lbs of it in slabs.  Cooling, even freezing, their food was not going to be a problem for the next several days at least.

When they were done, Mike went out into the store and got a brand new combination padlock and locked the dry ice cooler.  “I have a feeling that you may have just gotten a really good deal, Joel, not that I’m changing my mind.  I just don’t want the rest sprouting legs and walking away.  This and those idling trucks back there,” Mike motioned to the refrigerator trucks in the parking lot behind the store, “might be the only refrigeration for a while, now that I think about it.  Honestly, thanks for bringing it up, Joel; I think it’ll come in handy.”

“Welcome, Mike.  Hang in there-- but do yourself a favor and don’t hang around too long, man.”

“You too, and now I need to get back to discouraging would-be shoplifters.  Take care.”

When Joel and Josh arrived back home, Rachel and Maya had completely emptied out the pantry and were organizing everything into meals by days and weeks on the living room floor.  They were also keeping a tally of how much water they thought they were going to need just for the cooking.  Cleaning could be taken care of by boiling but drinking was another matter, if you could manage it.

Joel and Josh manhandled the coolers they had filled into the house and Joel sent his son over to let Eric know how much dry ice they’d been able to get.  He then sent his daughter upstairs to sort out some clothing so he could be alone with Rachael for a few minutes.

“Rach, hon…”

“Don’t, it’s ok.  I’m really not mad.  It’s kind of funny if you think about it.  If the gun had been yours, I’ll admit I’d be furious.  If you’d said you had bought one too, again, you’d be sleeping on the couch.  I’m not even mad that you didn’t tell me.  It’s his.  It was in the safe.  He doesn’t even know the combination…right?”

“Correct.”

“Then I really don’t have a whole lot of room to be upset.  Mind you I didn’t say any, just not a whole lot.”  Rachael faced her husband and put her arms around his neck.  He put his arms around her waist.  “He and I will have a talk, because I’m sure he knows that you and I were still ‘discussing it’, but I love you and there are certainly worse things he could have spent his money on.  It’s not like he isn’t responsible.”

“True.  Ok.  Can I have one?”

“No.”

“I meant a kiss…”

Maya came down just then, “Dad, how long are we, ewww gross!”

Joel put his head on his wife’s shoulder, “Do you think she even made it up the stairs?”

“Maybe, but probably not.  It is a whole sixteen stairs, honey.”

A quick hug and he turned to his daughter, “How long are we what, Punkin'?”

“How long are we going to be gone?  I only have summer clothes in my closet.  Do I need to get out any of my fall stuff?”

“You know, it wouldn’t hurt to make sure you had some long pants and shirts.  I think we should be back before winter but you never know, and if we go up into the mountains it can still get cold.  Make sure you pack plenty of under…things.”

“Daaaddy!”  Maya turned and flounced away.

“What?  I’m just saying!”  I am never going to get used to having a growing daughter!  And when the hell did she learn to flounce anyway?

“Dad,” Maya stopped and turned around, a concerned look on her face.  “Are we really going to be gone a long time?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Joel said.  “Why?”

“Well,” Maya paused, “I’m supposed to start Junior High this year.  Mom and I went shopping for my new school clothes since I don’t have to wear a uniform anymore.”  Her shoulders slumped.  “I can’t even post on Facebook where we’re going to be.”

Joel glanced at his wife and then looked back at his daughter.  “I won’t even get into the fact that you’re supposed to be thirteen before you have a Facebook account, young lady,”  he said with his arms folded and then held them out for her to come to him.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, sweetheart,” he said, “but we’ll figure it out.  It would be better to be prepared and not need it than to need it and not have it though, ok?”

Maya gave him a hug and nodded and then went upstairs to get packed.

“I didn’t have a chance to tell you before you left, we’re having a neighborhood meeting at 11:30 at the cabana.  Carey ambushed us as we were all coming out the front door.”

“Now is probably the best time in the world to have told me that.  I’ve got nothing left, so I can’t overreact.” Joel said.

“Too bad you weren’t there.  He looked like he’d been hit with a crowbar.  He was trying to pump Sheri for information and actually used the fact that he was the HOA president as justification for her telling him before everyone else.”  Rachael giggled, “And when she did, I thought he was going to pee his pants.  He just stood there for a good five seconds before he was able to say anything.  I’m really sorry you missed it but it’s probably a good thing you weren’t there.”

“I’m enjoying it vicariously through you, and the imagination is a wonderful thing.  I can add the crowbar,” Joel winked.

“You are awful!”

“Yes, yes I am.  I’m also going to enjoy every minute of this meeting when people look to him for leadership in this time of crisis.”  Joel got serious then, “But I’m going to feel very bad in the long run if someone else doesn’t step up if or when he fails miserably.  For their sake, I hope that doesn’t happen.”

About forty-five minutes later, Chuck pulled up in front of Sheri’s house.  The bed of his truck appeared to be completely full, and then some, and covered with a tarp held down with bungee cords.

He knocked on Sheri’s door and had to wait a minute for her to come and answer it.  “You know, you could have just come in, Chuck.  I was expecting you.”

“No ma’am, I couldn’t have.” Chuck said.  “You might have been expecting me, but I didn’t know for sure, and neither of us knew when I was going to get back.  I didn’t want to presume, and I certainly didn’t want to startle you.  The alarms don’t chirp when the doors open anymore after all.”

“Well, I appreciate that and I guess you’re right.  Thank you for that.  Looks like you had a little more than you realized squirreled away in that man cave of yours.  What did you decide you just couldn’t live without?” Sheri asked.