Ray Gorham - 77 Days in September

“I need some help. My girlfriend’s over there in our car, which isn’t working. We need a ride.” Kyle glanced in the direction the man indicated and saw a large, blonde woman emerge from a beat up Ford wagon.

“I’m sorry, but we’re too full. There’s a town back there. Maybe someone there could help you.”

The man shook his head. “We need a ride.” He moved alongside the jeep.

“I said I’m sorry,” Ed continued, “but we’re too full.” Kyle pressed the gun against his leg, keeping it out of sight. Ed eased off the clutch and began to inch forward.

The man grabbed hold of Ed’s door. “I said stop!” he shouted, then pulled a gun from the waistband at the back of his pants.

Ed stopped the Jeep. “Don’t do anything crazy, alright?”

“Or what? Cops going to arrest me? I’m tired of asking. Everyone just ignores you. Now I’m telling. Get out of the car!”

With the gun tucked under his leg, Kyle held his hands up. “Don’t shoot anyone, okay? I’m going to get out. I don’t want anyone hurt.” He opened the door and started to climb out, concealing the gun as he did so.

The man’s attention was on Ed. “See old man. It’s not so tough. Turn off the car and get out.”

Ed turned the jeep off and opened his door while Kyle helped Virgie from the back seat, all of them watching the man intently.

“Ashley. Get in the jeep!” the man shouted.

Kyle watched the man’s girlfriend lumber around to the passenger side of the jeep.

Ed stepped away from the jeep and looked at Kyle. Kyle barely nodded and watched the man tuck his gun in the back of his pants and climb into the driver’s seat. Ed came towards Kyle.

“Hey, I need the keys! You think I’m stupid?” came a voice from the jeep.

Kyle swung the gun up and ran to the window. “Keep your hands on the steering wheel and lean forward!” he ordered. “We’re taking our jeep back.”

The man seemed to weigh something in his mind, then closed his eyes and leaned forward. Kyle grabbed the man’s gun and handed it to Ed. “Now get out of the jeep!”

The two groups switched places in less than a minute. As soon as the passenger door closed, Ed punched the gas and the jeep lurched forward. “Just so you know, we’re not stopping anymore. Kyle, keep my gun in your lap and check the other one to see if it’s loaded. If anyone else tries to flag us down stick a gun out the window and make sure they see it. Our next stop is San Angelo.”

Kyle and Virgie nodded mutely in agreement.

Seven hours later, with daylight rapidly fading away, the Jeep finally slowed as it approached an older, one-story house on the western outskirts of San Angelo. They turned and drove up a driveway lined with a dozen tall trees, the branches creating a thick canopy. The headlights illuminated a collection of children’s toys and bicycles scattered around a well-maintained front yard, and a red pickup and an old lawnmower under a carport. They came to a stop, and as they climbed out of the Jeep, Kyle heard the front door swing open, followed by the shouts of two young children. A small girl, about six years old and dressed in a pink flowered sundress, came running towards them, followed closely by her younger brother, wearing only a pair of light colored shorts. Their shouts of “Grandma!” and “Grandpa!” filled the air as they danced excitedly next to the new arrivals. Not far behind the kids followed a tall, skinny man, who appeared to be in his early thirties. His clothes, a blue Nike t-shirt that was faded and stained and an old pair of cut-offs, reinforced his surprised expression, which said he wasn’t expecting company. He threw his arms around Ed and Virgie and gave them a long hug, squeezing his parents tightly and kissing Virgie on the cheek. He released them and stood beside his father, the resemblance between the two men, even in the dim light, obvious to Kyle.

Ed was the first to speak. “It’s good to see you, son. How’s your family doing?”

“We’re doing pretty good, all things considered,” he replied. “It’s such a relief to see you.”

“Son, I want you to meet Kyle Tait,” Ed said, motioning for Kyle, who was still standing by the Jeep, to come over. “Kyle saved my life on Friday. Kyle, this is my son, Donovan Davis.”

Kyle and Donovan shook hands. “And these two little munchkins,” Ed said, reaching down to tickle the kids who were hanging on his legs, “are Cheyenne and Logan. But they’re trouble, so you’d better watch out for them.” Ed grabbed his grandkids and wrestled them down onto the grass, causing them to laugh wildly and scream for help.

The three adults watched Ed wrestle with his grandkids for a moment, then Donovan turned to Kyle. “Sounds like there’s a story to how you met my dad.”

Kyle pursed his lips and nodded slowly. “Yeah, I can’t say it was under the best of circumstances, but we’re both here, so that’s what counts.”

As the men unloaded the contents of the jeep, Kyle gave Donovan a quick rundown of the events of the past two days. When the Jeep was empty, they gathered in the kitchen and assessed the stacks of food. “Doesn’t look like much, does it?” said Ed, a note of disappointment in his voice.

“Well, it’s more than we had an hour ago,” responded Donovan, sounding genuinely happy. “We’ve got a fair bit, plus a couple of fruit trees out back, so we’ll make things work. Don’t worry about it. I’m just so glad you and Mom are here.”

“Where’s Wendy?” Virgie asked from the living room. “Is she stuck somewhere?”

“No. She’s working at the hospital. She was there Friday when the thing happened; she had me worried to death because she stayed there Friday night and didn’t get home until last night. She rode a bike back in this morning and doesn’t think she’ll be back home until sometime tomorrow. I guess a lot of people didn’t come in to work on Saturday, and there are a lot of folks showing up who need help. It’s a pretty bad situation.”

“Do they have power?” Virgie asked.

“Wendy said they have generators and enough fuel to run them for about a week. After that, they’re in trouble. She said that even with the generators, most of their equipment wasn’t working. No one can figure out what’s going on.”

They settled in the living room and continued their conversation. “So how was your drive out here?” Donovan asked.

Virgie shuddered at the question, and even in the flickering candlelight, Kyle could see her tear up.

“It was real bad, Son,” Ed replied. “I guess I didn’t know what to expect when we left, but there’s nothing that can prepare a person for what we saw. The road was covered with stalled cars, and people, sometimes entire families with little kids, were walking down the side of the road like third world refugees. We gave away half our water in the first hundred miles before we decided we couldn’t help anybody else. I think your mother rode most of the way here with her eyes closed. She couldn’t bear to look at the people we were driving past. I know I’m going to have nightmares about that for the rest of my life.”

Kyle and the Davis’s spent the next few hours sharing more details of the past two days and discussing plans for the next few while a single, flickering candle kept the darkness at bay, both in a literal and a figurative sense. Kyle had sensed a feeling of relief in Ed, and a significant upswing in Virgie’s mood, since they’d arrived. For all of them, it felt as if some small victory had been achieved. And while they knew there would be plenty of struggles ahead, they savored the sweetness of that feeling late into the night.

Monday, September 5 th