M. Banner - Stone Age

“Great,” Steve beamed. He was filled not only with the joy from their mutual accomplishment and the upcoming sense of adventure, but from his eagerness at seeing Darla tonight.

He saw her the moment they pulled alongside the King’s dock.

She was radiant, and far more beautiful than he ever remembered. She wore a red, white, and blue bikini, with a wrap around her waist. Her hair was long and black, and it sparkled in the afternoon sunlight. Her smile, punctuated by her pretty red lips, turned into a laugh that she bellowed at two girlfriends facing her. Her voice reached their boat, and flew to him like the beautiful song of a rare bird. Wow , he thought, she’s gorgeous.

They tied up alongside another boat already docked, but Steve unable to wait any longer, dove into the cool lake water.

Waiting for his head to break the surface, John yelled, “Hang on, Steve, can you grab the cooler?”

“Sorry, I’m coming,” he yelled back from the dock a few moments later.

Pulling himself out of the water, he realized his suit clung to him somewhat more snugly than he would have wanted. Tugging on his suit edges, he looked up and saw Darla and her two friends, now quiet, staring right at him. Feeling flushed, he smiled, quickly turned and walked over to the boat docked to his family’s boat. His heart raced and his face red, he reached for a large cooler his father handed him.

Darla was beside herself with excitement, ignoring the giddy schoolgirl remarks from her friends, watching him grab a cooler from his father and walk down the dock towards her. She thought he was cute when she saw him in the boat this morning, but OMG, he turned out to be a major hunk.

She smoothed her wrap, and simultaneously combed back the right side of her hair, pulling it over her right shoulder. “Do I have anything in my teeth?” She breathed quietly to her friends, who were now ignoring her and watching Steve approach. They all waited, breathlessly.

“Hi, Darla. I don’t know if you remember me from years ago. I’m Steve,” he said with a slightly nervous voice, making eye contact with her.

“Hi, Steve,” she said playfully. “How could I forget? You saved my dignity when we were kids and my top came off when we were diving off this very dock. Your friend Robbie Benson wouldn’t give it back to me, even after I begged him. You threatened him. It was something about his braces…” she trailed off trying to remember.

“Wasn’t my friend. I told him I would pull his braces out of his mouth with pliers if he didn’t return your suit. “No wardrobe malfunctions today, I see.” He hated himself for saying this, not wanting to sound like he was only interested in her body. He tried hard not to let his gaze drop from her eyes.

“No, and it looked like I wasn’t the one having trouble with my suit today,” she said playfully.

“Are you here through the fourth?” he asked, wanting desperately to change the subject.

“No—” she started to reply, a voice behind her interrupting, “Darrrrrr. Grandpa wants you to go to the store to get something.”

“That’s Danny, my brother. Ahh, we leave really late tomorrow night. We’re flying to Rocky Point to meet my mom, dad, and my older sister in Mexico.” She paused, distracted. “Sorry, but I have to go run an errand for my grandfather…” she smiled mischievously, “You wanna come?”

Of course, he agreed, after apologies to his dad, who was helping Dar’s grandfather, Fred, with the BBQ duties. She drove and talked almost the whole way to the Clear Lake Market and back. She talked about her final year of studies, what she planned to do in the IT field — one more interest they shared, about where she wanted to live, and her family. They compared their travel plans for tomorrow evening and how their planes might even pass each other in the air, even though Steve and his dad were flying much earlier than she and Danny. He enjoyed her every word, and felt the time breeze by just listening. She loved how he listened to her so intently and how he answered her questions with strong confidence. Before they knew it, the twenty minutes it took for the round trip was over.

Later, after each made rounds with their mutual friends, swam, and ate with their respective families, long after the sun had set, Steve and Darla ended up in two Adirondack chairs, next to each other. Their conversation picked up where they had left off and continued non-stop, pausing only to listen and sip on a cold beer. They were completely captivated by each other’s words.

“What time do the firew… whoa, look at that. That looks like an aurora,” Steve pointed at the northern sky, about where the fireworks should be discharging at any moment.

Two wispy shimmering green clouds slowly snaked along the horizon moving towards them and to the west.

“Yeah, you’re right. I saw an aurora during an Alaskan cruise with my family many years ago. I thought you could only see those in Alaska or the North Pole,” she said, face pointed more towards him now.

At any other time, the auroras would have been ominous to both of them, but a larger force was at work.

The green light from the aurora illuminated her face, lifting the veil of darkness which had covered them both for the past few minutes. She had an expectant smile, which was even more alluring because of the green vaporous radiance above. He could not restrain his feelings for her any longer. Leaning closer, he kissed her.

First surprised, then she was fully accepting.

Slowly, he pulled away. “I’m sorry, but I’ve wanted to do that since I first saw you.” He sounded repentant, but felt no regret.

She kissed him back.

When the Clear Lake fireworks started, both smiled at each other, not just from the pleasurable kissing they shared, but because they both felt like they were part of an overdone ending to a romantic movie. Wanting more, they kissed each other again.

The foreboding green auroras were lost in the smoke and haze of the fireworks, and any concerns about them were lost in the fog of their kissing and newfound love.

As Max finished unloading his supplies in the warehouse, carefully stacking them in their allotted areas, he was lost in thought considering if he forgot anything. He felt like he had done just about everything he could to provide for their survival of what he knew was perhaps coming as early as today.

He just wished he could do something for all the others. So many would die from what was about to happen. Not right away, but in months from now. Mexico would be a little better off than the US, but even this generation of Mexicans was more and more like their American counterparts, relying on supplies and services that were delivered just-in-time. This method of delivery of goods and services was very efficient in a diverse, global economic world with lots of technology. However, it meant when the delivery systems stopped, people on average only had a week’s worth of food, and even less water.

When the panic starts, not at first, but in a few weeks, fueled by a realization that help is not on the way and their fear and pangs of hunger take over, then it would get really ugly. Neighborly love and friendship would be replaced with survival, not only for self, but also for one’s family. However, what really caused Max to lose sleep lately is the result of when weeks turn into months. That’s when the mass death would occur. What life wasn’t taken by disease, which would be rampant, would be lost when neighbors killed neighbors for a few morsels of food, or even one drink of water. Then there would be the gangs. Human nature included the ability to commit deplorable acts against one another. Those wired with one too many Y chromosomes or with a few extra brain cells and a Napoleonic complex would assemble like-minded miscreants, who together would rape, murder, and take from others.