R. Allinson: The Long Road Home

She found him in the kitchen, looking in the pantry.

“Good, you got food,” he said without turning to her. Claire padded over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Yeah,” she said softly. “Lisa and I did the first night we found out. There’s more in the garage. Apparently your Uncle Jim has a big stockpile as well, so we should definitely be okay on the food front until… you know.”

Tom pulled her in tighter to him.

“And we’ve got a bunch of supplies for… after… if there is an after,” Claire continued.

“After?” Tom echoed.

“Dad’s got this idea in his head that we could survive, if we’re prepared.” She looked up at her husband. He looked puzzled. “That is, if the asteroid doesn’t land too close to us. Or on top of us. I don’t think anyone would be surviving that,” she added.

“But I thought if it hit, then that’s it. We’re toast. Has something happened? I’ve been out of the loop a bit…”

Claire sighed and led her husband over to the table. She could feel his eyes on her as she rummaged around the kitchen. His face lit up when she pulled two bottles of his favourite craft beer out of the fridge. She’d made sure to grab some before they ran out.

“Are you hungry?” she asked over her shoulder.

“Famished. We’ve been living off gas station food for the past two days.” Claire grimaced and poured them each a glass of beer, and then quickly put together a platter of cheese, dips and chips, and rustled around in the fridge until she found the gourmet salami she knew she’d stashed in there somewhere. She put the platter on the table in front of Tom.

“I’ve got a roast ready to go too, but it won’t be ready for a couple of hours. Sorry, I didn’t know what time you’d be getting back.”

“No, no this is great. Thanks, honey.”

The cat emerged from whatever hidey-hole he’d been in and wound himself around her legs, meowing for attention. Tom leaned over and scooped the cat up. The meowing changed to purring as Tom stroked the fluffy creature.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Claire started after she sat down at the table again. Tom reached out for some cheese and salami. “No one does. But after talking to Dad, I think it would be best if we prepared for all possibilities.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Tom nodded.

“Who knows, maybe it will all be sorted when we wake up in the morning and everything can go back to normal,” Claire said, sounding more positive than she felt. Tom smiled at her.

“Yeah, maybe.”

“So, what happened to you? I’ve been so worried.” She reached out and touched his hand lightly. He turned his hand over and squeezed her hand. With his other hand, he reached out for his glass of beer and took a deep swig.

“I don’t really know where to start. Getting out of Vancouver…”

“I kind of know what happened then,” Claire interrupted. “You still had your phone. What happened after you took off?”

“Right. Yeah. Well, so we rented the plane. It wasn’t really Mike’s fault that we crashed. We hit some pretty bad weather. The crash was scary, but… but it was kind of weird because I didn’t really know what was going on, I was asleep for half of it. It was more of a crash landing than a fall-out-of-the-sky and plummet to your death type thing.”

They both picked at the platter of food while Tom continued to tell her what had happened on the long journey home.

“I’m so glad you met Frank and Cora!”

“They saved our lives,” Tom agreed. “If we survive the next few months, I want to go back and make sure they’re okay and thank them again.”

Claire nodded. “Definitely.”

She rolled her eyes at Tom’s description of the vigilant border guard, and gasped and shook her head when he told her about the car-jacking. A shiver ran down her spine, thinking about how close he’d come to never coming home again. Claire told him about the woman and child in the car wreck.

“Oh, honey. That’s horrible.” Tom held her for a few minutes.

“How’s Lisa? I haven’t talked to her since the day we found out.” Tom asked.

“She’s already at your Uncle Jim’s.”

“She didn’t wait?” Tom frowned.

“It’s okay. I told her to go. Her house was broken into, she didn’t feel safe here anymore. She wanted us to go with her, but I wanted to wait for you. When do you want to go?”

Tom looked around. Claire followed his gaze.

“If we go, will we ever come back?”

“I don’t know,” Claire replied. They’d both thought this was the house they’d raise their children in. Tom stood up and held his hand out to Claire. She reached out. Together they walked around the quiet house, checked in on the sleeping boys, and started discussing what they should take with them. They decided to leave for Uncle Jim’s as early as possible in the morning, savouring one more night in their house.

“WHAT would be on your bucket list?” Claire asked, curled up in his arms. The fire crackled in front of them. The remains of the roast dinner sat forgotten for now on the side table.

“My bucket list?” Tom stalled.

“Yeah. You know, if it was just us with the death sentence and not the entire planet.”

“Well…”

“I can’t decide on mine,” Claire went on. “Everything that used to be on it seems a bit trivial now.”

“Well, what did you used to have on it?”

“Oh, the usual cliched kinda stuff. Write a book. Jump out of a plane—”

“I never knew you wanted to go sky-diving,” Tom interrupted.

“What? Really? Oh. There you go, still learning stuff about each other,” Claire said and leaned up to kiss him.

“What else was on your pre-asteroid bucket list?” Tom asked.

“Let’s see. I wanted to go to Antarctica. You knew that one.” Tom nodded. “And, I wanted to own my own tropical island. Live in the south of France for a year. And also I wanted a pet pig.”

“A pet pig?” Tom half laughed.

“Yeah. I would call it Ferdinand. Or maybe Napoleon. Napoleon the pig.”

“Mmm, I bet he would have been tasty.” Claire hit him.

“No, note that I said ‘pet pig’. No eating Napoleon! I grew up with Dad butchering enough of my pigs. It was my job to feed them, and I was terrible at it. I always fell in love with them and was so upset when they’d turn into bacon. Dad never got it. Neither did Mum, really. They always thought the whole vegetarian thing was a phase.”

“You eat meat sometimes,” Tom said, thinking back to a particularly nice steak dinner they’d had for his birthday last year.

“Like once every two years or so. I admit it, I’m weak. Enough of that, what about your bucket list?”

Tom shrugged. “I dunno. I got the girl I wanted.” He kissed the top of her head. “We got married. Had a couple of kids. Bought a house.”

“That’s very domestic of you, Thomas.” Claire entwined her fingers through his.

“What can I say, I’m a domesticated man.”

Claire laughed softly. He’d always loved her laugh.

“When I was coming back to you, when I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get to see you and the boys again…” Claire squeezed his fingers. “I had a lot of time to think. You, Noah and Tristan are what’s important to me. And Mom and Lisa and Molly, and Uncle Jim. Family. I just want to spend every last moment with you. I don’t care about jumping out of planes or seeing the pyramids or anything like that. I just want to be surrounded by the people I love.”

“Me too. I love you, Tom,” Claire said quietly. Tom looked down at her. Tears were running down her cheeks. He reached up and wiped them away with his thumb.