Treasures
Later that afternoon, she and the girls were in Larry’s house, using their own warped sheets of plywood to patch up the hole left by the broken sliding glass door. Once finished, they still had the Millers’ to do, and already the drill was complaining. “Mae, look in the garage and see if Larry has another one of these,” Sloane said as she held up the drill’s battery pack.
“Got it,” Mae said as Sally followed the girl to the garage.
“What’s it look like out there, Wren?” she called from the back of the house.
“Nothing new, Mom. I like this one,” Wren said about the yellow Labrador whom they had discovered was named Oakley according to the metal name tag on his collar. He kept watch by Wren’s side and leaned into her as she stroked his soft fur.
“Just make sure you’re keeping watch.” Sloane smiled to herself and shook her head when Mae returned with empty hands. “I don’t see anything like that,” she said.
“Great. We’ll have to use nails and a hammer. Problem is that it’ll be easier to bust through with nails. They’d have to work at it more with the screws.”
Wren’s voice beckoned from the living room. “Mom, remember that time when Dad lit a light bulb with the car battery? Or the time he hooked up the TV to the battery when we went camping? Can we use the battery in Larry’s truck to charge the screwdriver’s battery unit?”
She thought about the process. “Hmm, interesting idea. Your dad used an inverter to light the bulb using the car battery. It’s worth a try at least. Great suggestion, Wren,” Sloane said. It was amazing the things kids picked up when you thought they couldn’t care less. Finn had been a geeky science teacher before he became a principal and he’d often shown the girls the wonder of science, just as she taught them French growing up. Oh, how she missed him.
Once, on a Saturday morning, she woke to hear Finn using her hairdryer to hover and spin a little white Ping-Pong ball as Wren’s four-year-old eyes beheld the wonder and believed her father a magician. Just like the Ping-Pong ball, she also recalled the light bulb incident. She had gone to retrieve frozen lasagna out of the garage freezer one afternoon and was surprised to find him holding a bright light bulb over the car’s engine. Again, her girls looked at him as if he was capable of conjuring anything with his bare hands.
They left Larry’s place with their dog procession in tow, and once they returned to their own garage, Sloane quickly located the inverter. Finn had stashed it away years before under his workbench in a waterproof plastic tub, and once again, she was relieved that Brady had no interest in the garage or Finn’s tools.
She left the girls to keep watch with the mudroom door open while she worked. She lifted the hood of her floodwater ruined minivan and connected the negative clamp of the inverter and then the positive. She then prayed the little LED green light would turn on when she turned the inverter around, and it did; the little bulb glowed green. “YES!”
That told her two things: one, she could charge the screwdriver’s battery pack and two, all the auto batteries in the neighborhood’s abandoned vehicles were a valuable commodity, even if the autos themselves were worthless. She needed to collect the batteries and hide them or keep them under guard before someone tried to relieve her of them.
The thought panicked her a bit, envisioning bicycle man making off with her battery under his arm. One thing at a time, she eased herself.
She plugged the cordless screwdriver’s recharging unit into the inverter and affixed the dead battery inside. The red charging light flashed off and on, indicating the battery was in the process of charging.
I have smart girls. We might make it through this, yet.
“Mom,” Mae called.
“Yes?”
“What are we going to feed the dogs next? They’re sniffing around the kitchen.”
They had four dogs now—one for each house. She’d gladly take in a few more strays for extra insurance if she could find them. “We only feed them in their own houses. We should try to make use of the spoiled food in each house first. That way, they’ll gladly separate from the pack, go inside, and stay the night. So don’t feed them anything out of the kitchen here. We’re the bringers of food and good things. We’ll go around and check the hoses again after we finish boarding up Larry’s house and then check to see what’s available for each dog to eat.”
She left the battery to charge and returned to the living room as Ace came to greet her. She really liked this dog. She scratched him around the scruff of his neck and under his collar. “Good boy, Ace.” He panted at her and she would have sworn he smiled.
“Great idea, Wren. It’s working. The drill’s battery is charging. We should be able to finish the work on both houses today.”
Wren smiled and stood a little taller. Sloane thought about how crazy it was. We’re in the worst of situations and we’re—happy? Almost as happy as we were with Finn.
“Mom, if that works, could we run a fan, too?” Mae asked.
“Uh, no. We can’t use the power for comfort, only necessities.”
“I figured you’d say that,” Mae complained.
“There are worse things than being hot, Mae—like being hungry. Let’s keep our priorities in order.”
“Mom! I hear something,” Wren warned.
The dogs heard it, too. Baxter—the shorter of the new dogs—began to howl. They hadn’t heard the sound in days, but it seemed like weeks. The main highway going through town rumbled, a mere vibration on the wave of the air. A minute sound they knew they were missing before, yet couldn’t name now. They only knew that it was too quiet. With its presence again, it stood out sorely and obtrusively in the peace they’d already learned to savor.
“Is it traffic noise?” Mae asked with uncertainty.
“Most vehicles are so water damaged, they don’t work now. It must be the military trying to get things back together,” she said with hope, but inside she wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not. She was afraid of what the government might make of them—those who survived on their own and didn’t need their help. She didn’t want to go to a FEMA camp and she certainly didn’t want her girls in one. She’d take to the forest if it came to that. Or she’d fool them in some way with the hope of remaining on Horseshoe Lane.