Jacqueline Druga-Marchetti - Dust

It all turned to dust. Without a second to comprehend the reality of it, the world exploded. Earth and all its inhabitants did not literally evaporate from existence, but the way of life for mankind did. How long ago it occurred will forever be a question impossible to answer. Because no matter how much time passes, it will always seem like it transpired yesterday. When it happened is not important. It just… happened.

It happened.

In my own right, I was a complete contradiction. Of all the people I knew, I was the most prepared, but the least ready. Some would say that I had been laying the preparation groundwork for over twenty years. I made it my obsession. Gaining all the knowledge I could, then trying to impress others with it—in the eyes of my peers—made me some sort of apocalyptic genius. It wasn’t that I had achieved a level of superior intellect when it came to surviving; it was that I practiced what I preached. I put things into motion even if it was just as a precautionary measure. I carefully laid out detailed plans for my friends that reiterated what everyone would do, where they would go, and what course of action would be taken following a nuclear strike or any type of apocalyptic threat. We would be the new civilization. Many times I was labeled completely insane. However, my core friends always labeled me, ‘the place to go’. I was Joanna Reed-Collins, the woman who had all the means to survive. Rations, water, stockpiled necessities, and a corner-made bomb shelter were all right there in the basement of her home. I knew they saw me as a safe haven. I was coroneted some sort of ‘Post-War Moses’ who would lead them from the ashes when it all turned to dust.

It did.

Seventeen months prior, Israel made a bold offensive move and crossed their borders in an act of war. Nothing new. The Mid East was always a ‘hot’ spot for conflict. This chimed my attention bell, but didn’t send warning flags hailing. Even in retrospect, the Israel initiative wasn’t enough. But that was the last ‘big’ thing to have happened. There was no global confrontation. No clash of super powers. No declaration of World War Three. Nothing. It was the ultimate metaphor of the parental excuse, ‘Because I said so’. No rhyme or reason. It just… happened.

Simon Reed was a little old man trapped in a toddler body. The extremely short three-year old, with a paper-thin frame, had enough energy at times to power a city. His mischievous smile was wider than his face, and his wiry blonde hair always stood on end. There was something about my nephew Simon that reached inside of me. He had this keen ability whenever I looked at him, to grab hold of my soul and make me scream from inside, ‘God, I love this kid’.

Babysitting Simon was not something I did often, nor for any extended period of time. But he was with me that day. A Tuesday in May, my windows were open and the warm, bright sun called for Simon to go outside. Aside from the fact that it was still early, the ground was muddy from a weeklong battle with thunderstorms. Simon was housebound.

He hit me a million times with that purple dinosaur he always carried with him. His way to get my attention, and to get me back in the living room to watch the movie he loved so much. A movie I instantly replayed as soon as it ended. From my experience with my own two children, I learned a child’s favorite movie was the parent’s great escape. That day was no exception.

Around ten in the morning, the phone began to ring, and it didn’t stop. One call after another in an annoying fashion made for continuous noise. Stopping just before the machine would pick up, then ring again. Answering the phone was not an option, for I was in the middle of an impending victory. Simon was halfway up the staircase in his first venture to the bathroom alone.

“Almost there, Simon.” I stood at the bottom of the steps.

Dinosaur dangling in his hand, Simon turned to look at me. “Ten more steps, Aunt Jo?”

“No, only six. You can do it. Go on. I’m right here.” Breathing out, I turned my head to the right and caught a glimpse of myself in the hallway mirror. I looked absolutely haggard. My shoulder length dark-blonde hair was straggly and messy. The slight coat of make-up on my thin face, completely wiped out. Why did I even bother getting myself fixed up? The truth was, I had been Simonized in less than an hour. “Come on, you can do it,” I beckoned.

Another two steps and Simon stopped again. The barter in him took over. “Then can I go out and play?”

“If you go up there by yourself, yes. We’ll sit on the porch.”

“Okay.” Simon readied to step. “Five more, Aunt Jo?”

“Only three now. Go on.” My eyes shifted from watching Simon to the phone. It still rang. Perhaps it was my obsession in getting Simon up those stairs, but after several minutes of continuous ringing, it dawned on me that the call might be important. I ruled out the possibility that it was the grade school calling about my daughter Matty, after one attempt the school would have tried an alternative contact. Nor was it about my son, Davy. In typical fifteen year-old fashion he was home from school suffering from a case of fake-itis and was fast asleep on the couch. How he managed to slumber through Simon’s racket, I don’t know.

Finally, Simon made it to the top. He dropped his drawers as he turned the bend. Seeing that as my sign, I made my way to the phone. After glancing at the caller-box and recognizing the number as my friend, Mona’s, I lifted the receiver. “Hello.”

A rush of static rang out. I pulled the phone slightly from my ear. “Hello?”

“Jo.” Mona’s voice was barely coming through. Knowing she was in Tulsa on business was my immediate blame for the bad connection. “Jo—are—watch…”

Static.

“Mo? Mo, I can barely…”

“Jo.” Her words broke up like a bad transistor-radio broadcast. “Jo—watching—the news?”

“Am I watching the news? No.” I chuckled, “I’m stuck watching the annoying dinosaur.”

“Watch—the—news.” A few blurbs of words fizzed in and out.

“Mo? Hey, your cell is really bad.” I cringed at the sound that mimicked crinkling wrapping paper. “You want me to call you back?”

“Son—love—please. Please. Turn—the news. Oh, God.”

Static.

Instinctively I yanked the receiver away from my ear, and when I brought it back, the line was dead. “Mo?”

There was something eerie about the happy children’s song that played loudly in the living room, in the after-feel of that phone call. Hanging up the phone, I went immediately to the television and shut off the movie. I obviously performed some sort of dastardly deed, because Simon screamed upstairs. I heard him race down the steps.

Searching out a news channel was not a problem. One click of the remote brought me the sight of a news anchorman. The sound was bad, and the picture jumped and distorted as if I didn’t have cable. I crouched down to fix the set.

“Aunt Jo, my movie.” Simon tugged my arm.

“Just a second, Simon.” I changed the channel, the flipping picture did not improve, but the sound did.