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Watching Kelly walk beside him out of the corner of his eye, Joh
“So what happened to the shaved head and the combat boots?” he asked as they slammed their doors closed with a double
thunk
.
Kelly studied his face. “You thought I was a joke, is that what you’re saying?”
“No,” he laughed. “I thought it was great. There’s not enough shock and awe in Ravine.” He tapped her knee. “Come on, I’m in a band. Or I was, until all the other guys moved away. I live for rebellion.”
“You live for rebellion because you played covers of Tom Petty and Korn at the fire station’s social club?”
“Hey! We played in bars in Wilkes-Barre and Binghamton. And we played a lot of our own stuff.”
Joh
“What?”
“Remember when you asked why I left nursing school? I didn’t flunk out. I chickened out.” She propped a foot on the dash. “I got homesick and came ru
Joh
Kelly tilted her head back, looked up at the SUV’s ceiling, her brown hair sliding down her shoulders. “I always hated this town. It’s not even a town, it’s just a few houses and lame stores strung out in an ass crack. I was always talking about how I was going to get out of here as soon as I could. And I did, but then I came right back with my tail between my legs.”
Joh
It was strange: this suddenly felt like a date that was going better than any of Joh
He put his hand on his head. “Wait, what does this have to do with you letting your hair grow out?”
Kelly smiled. “When I moved back home, I imagined having a kid one day, and that kid seeing a picture of me and saying, ‘Mom, you were one of those edgy rebellious kids when you were my age?’ And I would have had to answer, ‘No, I just dressed like one’.”
• • • •
The army vehicle was gone. So was the delivery truck full of grain, and the tanker truck of water.
Kelly called the national emergency information number. The woman on the other end told Kelly they were spread too thin, that the Interstates had been shut down to slow the virus. She told Kelly to use a lake or pond, and boil the water before drinking it. Kelly suggested the woman boil her ass, then disco
Joh
“What do they expect us to do with all of these people, without food, without doctors?” Kelly asked, drawing back into her seat.
“I think they expect us to let them die.” Joh
Stripes
tonight. With each day that passed, Dad was more out of it. Most of the time Joh
“Why don’t you come out to the drive-in tonight? You need to rest or you’re going to—” he was going to say
get sick
, but he bit back the words.
“How are you even showing movies, with the power out?” Kelly asked, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
“The place came with an old generator. Power outages are a great time to sell tickets, because no one has anything else to do.”
Kelly laughed dryly. “Assuming people can move.”
“Right.” If they could move, Joh
Stripes
for free, and for one night his Dad would think his goddamned drive-in was a success.
He sat up ramrod straight in his seat. “Wait. I just got an idea.”
• • • •
A plume of dust followed the Ford Taurus as Joh
Kelly was waiting in the aisle. “That’s it.” She pressed her fists into the small of her back. “God, my back is killing me.”
How many people had they carried to their cars? Too many to count. On the tail end of three endless days of feeding people, Joh
There was just one last trip to make.
• • • •
“
Holy shit
,” Joh
It’s packed
!” He looked at Joh
“You told me, Pop.” He caught Kelly’s eye in the rear view mirror, and they exchanged a smile. “I didn’t believe you, but you were right.” Joh
“Oh, okay,” Dad said. “Smart idea.”
Joh
They kicked things off with
E.T
. Kelly started feeding people in the front row, Joh
They hadn’t had the time or space to bring all of the afflicted to the drive-in. Ninety percent of the town had it now. But they’d done what they could.
Heading back to the snack bar for another armload, he passed Kelly. She looked exhausted, but there was a fire in her eyes as she smiled at him.
“Can I ask you something?” Joh
Kelly paused, swept her hair out of her eyes.
“If things ever get back to normal—” he paused, realizing how inappropriate his words sounded as they stood surrounded by people suffering from a horrible disease.