Read Online Dust by Jacqueline Druga-marchetti - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jacqueline Druga-marchetti
Ads: Link
she’s alive and Denny is not.”
“Because Denny works downtown. I know for a fact that downtown got hit.”
“Yeah, well, Mona is smack dab in the middle of missile silo ally.” Burke pushed my list to me. “She’s a goner.”
That was it. I grabbed and closed my notebook, then stood up. “Forget it. Why do I bother? Go back to discussing, whatever. I’m just trying to add a little order to the weeks ahead.” I flung open the curtain and stormed off into my partitioned area. Dejected that my idea wasn’t welcomed warmly, I plopped down on my sleeping bag. Somehow they must have forgotten that the basement wasn’t all that big, and that the curtains, though a wonderful sense of privacy, were not sound proof. I heard what they said.
“Why did you have to argue?” Sam asked.
“I wasn’t arguing.” Burke said. “I was questioning. You questioned.”
Dan spoke up. “She has a good idea. Like it or not. I know what she’s trying to get at. If you would have just ... listened.”
“I did listen.” Burke sounded offended. “That is why I questioned. Granted, I may have been a little hard. But, if Jo wants to make a list of who does what, then Jo should make it realistic. Is she wants order, she’s not going to get it by giving important jobs to people who just won’t be here. It’s been a week. With the exception of Craig, if they ain’t here, they ain’t coming.”
Burke was wrong. He was dead wrong. I wanted to stand up, throw open the dividing curtain and blast my loudest, ‘Fuck you, how can you say that!’
I had preached and preached for people to stay below for two weeks. Maybe they listened and were waiting out the time. Yes, there were some people I had given up on, that was because I knew of their circumstances when the bombs went off. But the others, they stood as good of a chance as anyone. Maybe it was gut instinct, or maybe it was pure unadulterated hope, whatever the case, I wasn’t giving up. I had eight people on that list, and my firm argument was, if I had circled three names already, there was no reason to believe I wouldn't circle the rest.
10. Foolishness by Nature
Civilizations all had different ways to keep track of time. I started referring to time passed as ‘AB’, or ‘After Burke’. Reasoning that everything shifted in energy the day he arrived. Things felt different having him with us. The spark he ignited that made us all want to fight, rekindled a flame that had been extinguished by the bombs. A flame of passion that was desperately needed to battle the odds and conquer what was ahead of us. A flame we hadn’t realized was out, until Burke fired us up. It felt good. It felt alive. And even though it mainly was to gripe about Burke, Matty had added a few more words to her daily repertoire of vocabulary. While most of our need to fight was directed at Burke, we likened it to a practice run for what was ahead.
When the mighty revelation hit me of what all Burke inspired, I wondered if he had done it on purpose. If he had some deeply seeded psychological genius that he hid for decades. An instinctual skill that told him that we all needed some ‘oomph’, and he intentionally played little ‘mind games’ to aid us along. Following an hour-long daydream mental picture of Burke sitting in some Freudian mode, I shucked that idea. He wasn’t being crafty, he was being Burke.
It was three days AB when I had my first true victory over Burke. A ‘Feast your eyes on this’, moment in which I gloated. For his visual benefit I nearly plowed his face into my ‘I’ll be there notebook’ and made him watch as I circled the name ‘Tammy’.
“All right, already! God!” Burke yelled. “I see her!”
But the gloating period had to be kept to a minimum, Tammy had arrived, but she arrived with problems. Physical problems. Nonetheless, Tammy wouldn’t own up to them being anymore than a scratch. For as long as I have known Tammy, an injury never held her
“Because Denny works downtown. I know for a fact that downtown got hit.”
“Yeah, well, Mona is smack dab in the middle of missile silo ally.” Burke pushed my list to me. “She’s a goner.”
That was it. I grabbed and closed my notebook, then stood up. “Forget it. Why do I bother? Go back to discussing, whatever. I’m just trying to add a little order to the weeks ahead.” I flung open the curtain and stormed off into my partitioned area. Dejected that my idea wasn’t welcomed warmly, I plopped down on my sleeping bag. Somehow they must have forgotten that the basement wasn’t all that big, and that the curtains, though a wonderful sense of privacy, were not sound proof. I heard what they said.
“Why did you have to argue?” Sam asked.
“I wasn’t arguing.” Burke said. “I was questioning. You questioned.”
Dan spoke up. “She has a good idea. Like it or not. I know what she’s trying to get at. If you would have just ... listened.”
“I did listen.” Burke sounded offended. “That is why I questioned. Granted, I may have been a little hard. But, if Jo wants to make a list of who does what, then Jo should make it realistic. Is she wants order, she’s not going to get it by giving important jobs to people who just won’t be here. It’s been a week. With the exception of Craig, if they ain’t here, they ain’t coming.”
Burke was wrong. He was dead wrong. I wanted to stand up, throw open the dividing curtain and blast my loudest, ‘Fuck you, how can you say that!’
I had preached and preached for people to stay below for two weeks. Maybe they listened and were waiting out the time. Yes, there were some people I had given up on, that was because I knew of their circumstances when the bombs went off. But the others, they stood as good of a chance as anyone. Maybe it was gut instinct, or maybe it was pure unadulterated hope, whatever the case, I wasn’t giving up. I had eight people on that list, and my firm argument was, if I had circled three names already, there was no reason to believe I wouldn't circle the rest.
10. Foolishness by Nature
Civilizations all had different ways to keep track of time. I started referring to time passed as ‘AB’, or ‘After Burke’. Reasoning that everything shifted in energy the day he arrived. Things felt different having him with us. The spark he ignited that made us all want to fight, rekindled a flame that had been extinguished by the bombs. A flame of passion that was desperately needed to battle the odds and conquer what was ahead of us. A flame we hadn’t realized was out, until Burke fired us up. It felt good. It felt alive. And even though it mainly was to gripe about Burke, Matty had added a few more words to her daily repertoire of vocabulary. While most of our need to fight was directed at Burke, we likened it to a practice run for what was ahead.
When the mighty revelation hit me of what all Burke inspired, I wondered if he had done it on purpose. If he had some deeply seeded psychological genius that he hid for decades. An instinctual skill that told him that we all needed some ‘oomph’, and he intentionally played little ‘mind games’ to aid us along. Following an hour-long daydream mental picture of Burke sitting in some Freudian mode, I shucked that idea. He wasn’t being crafty, he was being Burke.
It was three days AB when I had my first true victory over Burke. A ‘Feast your eyes on this’, moment in which I gloated. For his visual benefit I nearly plowed his face into my ‘I’ll be there notebook’ and made him watch as I circled the name ‘Tammy’.
“All right, already! God!” Burke yelled. “I see her!”
But the gloating period had to be kept to a minimum, Tammy had arrived, but she arrived with problems. Physical problems. Nonetheless, Tammy wouldn’t own up to them being anymore than a scratch. For as long as I have known Tammy, an injury never held her
Similar Books
