Page 39 of The End of the World As We Know It

“Gone?”

“Vamoosed. Scrammed.”

“They’re not up at the house?” Helen asked.

Charles shook his head. “I checked, just to be sure, but they took one of the boats.” He looked at Bob. “Yours.”

“Son of a bitch,” Bob said. “I just had that new navigation system installed.” He looked at Dick. “Do you think they know how to use it?”

Dick grunted. “If not, they may be headed for Yarmouth. Or Africa.” He threw his hands in the air.

“Son of a bitch,” Bob repeated.

Wally was still going on about his Las Vegas dream. “I tell you,” he said to his wife, “it was real. Like a message. Do you think those young people got that invitation, too? And that’s why they left?”

“Wally Martin, don’t be so foolish. No one is inviting you anywhere,” Evelyn said, delivering another wallop to his shoulder. “Except me—I’m inviting you to come on home and take care of that tractor you’ve been meaning to fix for a while.”

With that, the gathering broke up. End of the world or not, there were outside chores and housework to be done.

On Sunday morning, when Nancy awoke, Dottie wasn’t by her side. She found her partner on the bench outside the front door, smoking a cigarette.

“I thought you quit,” Nancy said.

“I found an old pack in the back of the kitchen drawer,” Dottie said. “They’re stale, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting more anytime soon, so what the hell?”

“I don’t like it. And you’re up early again.”

“I had another dream. Mother Abagail, that’s her name. She told me I should come right away. There are others already headed her way. But…”

“But?”

“She saidyoushouldn’t come with me.”

“Why the hell not?” Nancy said. Then she took a step back. “Sorry. It’s just a dream.”

“That’s just it—I’m not sure it was.”

Nancy remained silent.

“She said you shouldn’t come because you’re not immune. You’d die.”

“And you are?”

Dottie opened her mouth but no words came out.

“Is this your way of saying you want to break up with me?”

Dottie looked aghast. “No. No way. Not at all. I love you.”

“But…”

“But what if it’s true?”

“Why would it be? Was there a talking crow with no face in this one, too?”

Dottie frowned. “You heard Wally. He had a dream, too.”

“Not about some old woman in Kansas.”