Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 95008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
The trip to the store was uneventful beyond the fact that people had cleared out some of the shelves in preparation of being stranded. It always made me laugh when I saw what folks considered necessary for survival during a natural disaster. I was no expert, but I was pretty sure that they would’ve survived without cleaning out the toilet paper, individual water bottles, cans of tuna, and bagels, of all things. I shook my head as I carried a couple of two-gallon jugs of water inside. There had been at least a hundred of them, sitting untouched in perfect rows above the empty shelves.
Water was water and people were dumb.
Locking the door behind me, I carried the jugs into the kitchen feeling pretty proud of myself. I had food for at least four days, water, and soda. I even had a few beers and a bottle of wine that someone had left in the fridge in case the mood struck. I’d probably feel like crap after eating nothing but junk food, but it was a chance I was willing to take. Besides, the wind could always shift and the fires change direction or something. Maybe things would go back to normal faster than everyone was expecting.
As I texted Charlie that I was home for the foreseeable future, my phone rang, startling me.
I answered it formally, “Hello, Father.”
“Hello, daughter,” he replied, his raspy, deep voice laced with amusement. “How’s my favorite girl?”
“Better not let Rose hear you say that,” I joked.
“Rose is all woman, honey,” he replied.
“Don’t be gross,” I ordered easily. “What’s up?”
“Just callin’ to check in,” he said. “Been watchin’ the news. They’re worried the fires are headed in our direction. You gonna come over here?”
“I think I’m just going to wait it out here,” I replied.
“You’re shittin’ me, right?” he said in disbelief. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“Because I’m an adult and I have my own place?”
“Your own place doesn’t have a generator if the power goes out,” he replied. “Charlie with you?”
“She went to Casper and Farrah’s.”
“Oh, okay, so one of you is bein’ rational. That’s good,” he grumbled. “Wouldn’t have thought it would be the crazy one, but alright.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll be fine,” I assured him as I started putting groceries away. “I’ve got food and drinks and Charlie even left me a mask in case I have to go outside for some reason. Plus, I can watch the news just as easily here as I could at your house.”
“You’re gonna make me come out in this bullshit and get you,” he said, ignoring my assurance. “Soon as you get freaked out enough. And I’m gonna have to be out there with the idiots that don’t know where they’re going or what they’re doin’, runnin’ around like chickens with their heads cut off.” He scoffed.
“I won’t ask you to come get me, I promise,” I replied.
“Well, hell, don’t say that,” he snapped. “If you need me to come get ya, of course I’ll come get ya.”
I smiled.
“Okay, I promise to call you if I need you,” I replied. “But honestly, Dad, I’m just going to lay around and read. We don’t even know if the power is going to go out.”
“It’s not lookin’ good, princess,” he argued. “The power company is sayin’ they might be shuttin’ shit off just to be safe.”
“Well, I’ll be fine even if they do. It’s not like I’m going to freeze.”
“More likely, you’ll pass out from the heat,” he agreed. “Keep checkin’ in, alright?”
“Of course.”
“Love you, kiddo.”
“Love you, too.”
Not long after we’d gotten off the phone, my anxiety started to grow. As I sat on the couch with my bag of pretzels, I scrolled through the news stations on my phone, trying to find the most recent updates. Fortunately, nothing had changed since I’d checked my phone earlier. The fires were still raging outside of town and our apartment was still on evacuation level one, which meant we were just supposed to have our things ready to go.
I couldn’t imagine that the fire would make it into town, but I still felt a small twinge of panic when I thought about my conversation with my dad. He hadn’t come across as outwardly worried, but he’d definitely seemed concerned about the situation.
My dad didn’t generally get concerned.
Dropping my phone on my chest, I leaned my head back against the edge of the couch and closed my eyes. I had a few free days where I didn’t need to be anywhere and had the apartment to myself. I needed to take advantage of that and I was going to start by taking a nap.
Opening my eyes, I lifted my phone again to make sure the ringer was turned up—just in case.
Even though I was worried, I fell asleep within minutes.