Susan Pfeffer: The Dead And The Gone

Mami kept votive candles in the kitchen, Alex remembered. He stumbled around until he found one and matches to light it. It cast only a small amount of light, but enough for him to make his way to the room he had once shared with Carlos.

Originally the two rooms had been the master bedroom, but when they'd moved in, Papi had built a dividing wall, so that the boys and the girls each got a small bedroom. He and Mami slept in their own room, liven without Carlos, the apartment was crowded, but it was home and Alex had no complaints.

He undressed quickly, opened the door slightly so he could hear Mami when she got home, blew out the candle, and climbed into the lower half of the bunk bed. Through the thin wall, he could hear Briana's Dios te salve, Maria. Papi thought Bri was too devout, but Mami said it's just a stage fourteen-year-old girls go through.

Somehow Alex didn't think Julie would go through that stage when she turned fourteen.

When Alex had been fourteen, three years ago, he'd thought for a couple of days about becoming a priest. But Bri was different. Alex could actually see her becoming a nun someday. Mami would love that, he knew.

Sister Briana, he thought as he turned on his side, his head facing the wall. My sister the sister. He fell asleep grinning at the thought.

Thursday, May 19

"Alex! Alex! Let me in!"

At first Alex thought he was dreaming. He hadn't slept well all night, waking up several times to see if the electricity had come back on or if Mami had returned. The hot, muggy weather hadn't helped. The dreams he'd had all had to do

with sirens and crashes and emergencies he was somehow involved in but helpless to prevent.

"Alex!"

Alex shook his head awake and looked out the window. It was still dark outside and the streetlights were out. But he could make out a man's face. It was Uncle Jimmy, crouching at the window.

Alex got out of bed. "I'll meet you at the door," he said, tossing on his robe, then making his way through the apartment to the outside door.

"The buzzer's not working," Uncle Jimmy said. "Everything's blacked out."

"What time is it?" Alex asked. "What's going on?"

"It's four-thirty," Uncle Jimmy said. "I need you to help at the bodega. Wake up your sisters and get dressed as fast as you can."

"What's happening at the bodega?" Alex asked, but he did as Jimmy told him, banging on his sisters' bedroom door until he was sure they were awake.

"I'll explain it all later," Jimmy said. "Get dressed. And hurry."

In a matter of minutes, Alex, Briana, and Julie were fully dressed and standing in the living room. "Come on," Jimmy said. "I have the van here."

"Where are we going?" Briana asked. "Is everyone all right? Is Mami home yet?"

"I don't think so," Alex said. "She couldn't have slept through this. Uncle Jimmy, how long are we going to be gone?"

"As long as it takes," Jimmy replied.

"What about school?" Briana asked. "Will we be back in time?"

"Don't worry about school," Jimmy said. "Don't worry about anything. Just come with me."

"What if Mami calls?" Briana asked. "Or Papi? They'll be scared if no one answers the phone."

Alex nodded. "Julie, come with us," he said. "Bri, you stay here in case anyone calls." He would have preferred Bri's company, but it was safer to leave her alone than Julie.

"All right," Jimmy said. "Let's get moving."

Uncle Jimmy had left his van double-parked in front of the building, but Alex supposed at that hour of the morning no one really cared. They piled in and Jimmy began driving crosstown through the park and then the twenty blocks uptown to the bodega. There was a lot more traffic than Alex would have expected so early in the morning, and he could still hear sirens in the distance.

"What's happening?" Alex asked. "Do they know what caused the blackout?"

"Yeah, they know," Jimmy said. "The moon. Something happened to the moon."

"Moonspots," Julie said, and giggled.

"Nothing funny about it," Uncle Jimmy said. "Lorraine couldn't sleep all night. She's convinced the looters will hit the bodegas at first light. Last night it was the liquor stores and the electronics stores, but in the daylight they'll start going for the food. So we're unloading the bodega, moving all the food out, back to the apartment. I need you to pack and lift."

"What about us?" Julie asked. "Do we get any of the food?"

"Yeah, sure," Uncle Jimmy said. "Where's your mother?"

"At the hospital," Alex said. "She worked all night, I guess. Papi's still in Puerto Rico. Uncle Jimmy, what's going on?"

"I'll tell you the best I know how," Uncle Jimmy said.

"Some big thing hit the moon last night, a planet or a comet or something. And it knocked the moon out of whack. It's closer to Earth now. Tidal waves. Flooding, blackouts, panic. Lorraine's hysterical."

Aunt Lorraine was prone to hysteria, Alex thought. Papi's nickname for her was La Dramatica, and Mami still hadn't forgiven her for the scene she'd made when Carlos announced he was enlisting in the Marines: "You'll die! They'll kill you! We'll never see you again!"

"Can't they move the moon back where it belongs?" Julie asked.

"I sure hope so," Jimmy said. "But even if they can, it'll take a while. In the meantime, Lorraine says we might as well have the food and not let strangers steal it from our babies' mouths." He pressed hard on the horn at the sight of a car cutting across Third Avenue. "Idiots," he muttered. "Rich people, pulling out at the first sign of trouble."

"I don't see any cops," Alex said.

Jimmy laughed. "They're off protecting the rich people," he said. "They don't care about nobody else."

Uncle Jimmy seemed to have a little dramatica in him as well, Alex decided. Life with Aunt Lorraine probably did that to a person. Their kids sure had tantrums, but they were still little and Alex could only hope they'd outgrow them. Not that Aunt Lorraine ever had.

"Good," Jimmy said. "Benny's here." He pulled his van over to the front of the bodega. "Get out," he said. "Alex, you and I'll load. Julie, you assemble cartons. How's it going, Benny?"

The large man standing in front of the bodega nodded. "It's been quiet," he said. "We should have no problems." He pulled a gun from his belt. "Just in case," he said.

"Benny gets paid first," jimmy said. "Beer and cigarettes." "The new currency," Benny said with a grin.

Alex began to wonder if he was still asleep. None of this seemed real, except for the reports of Aunt Lorraine's hysteria. Uncle Jimmy unlocked the steel gate. Alex and Julie followed him into the bodega while Benny stayed on guard by the door.

Jimmy handed Julie a flashlight and told her to sit on the floor behind the counter and assemble boxes. He showed Alex where the cartons of beer and cigarettes were, and as Alex carried them to Benny's car, Jimmy filled empty boxes with milk and bread and other perishables.

Benny told Alex to load his trunk first, and then the backseat. It was remarkable how many cartons of beer and cigarettes the car could hold.

Finally the only room in the car was the driver's seat. "You know how to driver" Jimmy asked Alex.

Alex shook his head.

"Okay, I'll drive the stuff to Benny's," he said. "Benny, you stay out front. Keep that gun where people can see it. Alex, start packing cartons for my family. Tell Julie to use the plastic bags for your stuff. I'll be back in half an hour."

Benny stayed outside while Alex joined Julie in the bodega. Uncle Jimmy locked the steel gate, leaving Alex with the uncomfortable sensation of being a prisoner, even though he knew he and Julie were safer if the store was locked shut.

"Uncle Jimmy's crazy, right?" Julie asked.

"Probably," Alex said. "You know Aunt Lorraine. She's only happy when the world's coming to an end." He noticed all the cartons Julie had assembled. "You've really been working," he said.