The Journal (Book 5): Fault Line Page 7

  “I’ll get some tomorrow. Right now I’m having fun, so don’t worry about it,” she answered, wheeling a full basket of bread and donuts right into the large van. She pushed her blonde bangs out of her eyes and left a streak of dirt across her forehead.

  “We’ve done a great deal today,” Trevor said. “It’s almost six. I say after we unload this stuff we go to dinner. How does sushi sound?”

  ***

  “That was wonderful, Trevor. I had no idea that place was here. I love sushi, I just wish I knew how to make it,” Christine said, unlocking her front door. “Would you like a glass of wine?”

  “Sure, then I need to get going. I think.” He muttered. She handed him a glass with the red blend he’d brought the other night. “I didn’t see your car in the drive.”

  “It’s at the shop getting that back window replaced,” she told him.

  “Well if you need a ride anywhere, let me know,” he offered.

  “Thanks, I’ve got my dad’s car if I need it. It’s got a big storage area, what if we use both vehicles tomorrow? We could get more done.”

  “That’s a great idea, Christine,” he said hesitantly. “I really enjoyed having you with me all day. We work well together. It feels like I’ve known you a lot longer than a few days. I’ll see you in the morning at Main Street.” He reached out for her and she came to him willingly. He kissed her deeply then reluctantly left.

  Christine leaned her back against the closed door smiling and sighed.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Christine was up early, dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt. The temperatures took a sudden drop overnight and she was cold. She bumped up the heat and turned on the coffee maker, wondering when Trevor would be by, then remembered she was supposed to meet him at the Main Street store. After pouring the freshly brewed coffee into a thermos, she grabbed her purse and her dad’s keys.

  ***

  “I sure hope that’s coffee!” Trevor said, eying the thermos in Christine’s hand. He stretched his back and put his jacket back on.

  “Trevor… I j-just saw a g-gun on your belt…” Christine stammered.

  “Oh, yeah, I’ve had a permit to carry for years, ever since I got robbed one night at closing. I carry a lot of cash around at times. Chief Marty thought it prudent if I could defend myself. Does it bother you?”

  “No, it just surprised me. Having a gun makes sense.”

  “Have you ever shot a gun before? I could teach you,” Trevor volunteered.

  Christine giggled. “My daddy likes guns, all kinds of guns. He taught me to shoot by the time I was ten, which my mom hated. By the time I was fifteen I was doing competition shooting. Years ago he took some classes about repairing guns, thinking it would be a good backup profession someday.”

  “Competition shooting? You must be really good.” Trevor felt embarrassed that he had offered to teach her, thinking she was probably better than him.

  “It’s been awhile. I usually shoot with my dad when he comes home on rotation, though we didn’t get around to it last time. And Trevor, I actually feel safer knowing you’re armed. When we were holed up in that hotel, I heard gunfire. To me it was stupid to be shooting each other when some of us were fighting Mother Nature for our lives.” She shuddered, remembering how frightened she was. Quickly changing the subject, she said, “So what are we doing today?”

  “I’ve been restocking this store with the perishables we loaded up last night. I started early because that stuff couldn’t sit out for long. I’m just about done. There are some boxes by the back door, if you can load those in the van, I’ll finish here and we can head over to Exit 31.”

  ***

  “It feels like weeks since I’ve been in here, not days,” Christine remarked as they made their way to the front counter of the next store.

  “I know what you mean.” Trevor took her hand and turned her toward him. “I feel like we’ve been together for months. I’m really comfortable with you, Christine, I want you to know that.” He let go of her and coughed to cover his nervousness. “Okay, first things first. We need to stock you up. Do you have a freezer at home?”

  “I just use the small one with the refrigerator. My dad put a deep freeze in the garage, but it isn’t plugged in.”

  “Good! Bread freezes fairly well, and so does milk and cheese. Eggs stay fresh a long time in the fridge. I want a good portion of this stock at your place. Let’s load you up first.”

  “Why are you doing this, Trevor?”

  “Christine, I like you. I mean I really like you, and I’d like to believe we will be spending a lot of time together. This food will make things much easier for both of us.”

  They loaded the SUV with garbage bags filled with bread and baked goods, crates of milk, and boxes of eggs, leaving more than half still on the shelves and in the cooler.

  “What next?” she asked, overwhelmed with the amount of food in her car.

  “Now we load up the step-van with boxes of canned goods. When we’re done, I’ll follow you back to your house and help you unload,” he said. “Then it’s back here and get ready for the first giveaway.”

  ***

  “What are we going to do with all that juice, Trevor? We can’t possibly drink all of that before it starts to ferment.” Christine was now beyond overwhelmed, looking at the box filled with fresh orange juice.

  “It will freeze, just like the milk, and just like the milk, we need to take some out first so it doesn’t rupture the container when it expands,” Trevor said. The refrigerator was near full with bread, lunchmeats, milk, juice, butter and eggs, dozens and dozens of eggs. The big freezer in the garage was humming away, more than half full, with pizzas, frozen dinners, snacks, more lunch meats and bread, with room reserved for the milk and juice.

  Trevor opened the back of the step-van and started unloading boxes onto the handtruck. He maneuvered his way to the back of the garage and settled the boxed food against a wall.

  “More food?” Christine exclaimed.

  Trevor just smiled and kept unloading. He knew deep in his heart and soul that even if things didn’t work out between them, Christine would let him have back anything he wanted. He also knew it was safer here than at his store.

  “Look at it this way: you won’t have to go grocery shopping for a long time.”

  She didn’t see the crates of dried pasta, pancake mix, salt and flour. And all the boxes of wine she had filled the day before.

  ***

  At the Exit 31 store, they stacked a dozen boxes of canned goods by the front counter. On top of the counter, Trevor lined up the cartons of cigarettes, while Christine made room on one of the shelves for the liquor bottles. Then Trevor started phoning his employees.

  “They’ll be here in an hour, Christine,” he said after he’d called the last one. “We need to push some of the remaining warehouse stock out of sight and we’ll be ready.”

  “Isn’t the rest of this for them?”

  “No. I want the perishables and the frozen items taken. That’s the idea here, to not waste what could go bad. This stock,” he waved his arm toward the rest of the unopened boxes, “is mine. I’m not giving it away. When I reopen, I can still use it. Tomorrow we take this over to Spring Hill.”

  “That makes sense,” Christine agreed.

  “I’ve got one more thing I need to do. Pull your car around to the gas pumps and fill the tank. I’ll do the same.” After he filled the van, he slipped a heavy yellow plastic sleeve over the pump handle that read “Out of Order”, and attached a padlock. He did the same for all six pumps.

  “The pumps aren’t really empty, are they?” she asked.

  “No. People are used to following and believing signs, though, so I’m hoping this will be diversion enough to save the rest of the fuel for us.”

  “You’re really smart, Trevor. I would never have thought of that.”

  ***

  At exactly 4:00pm, Trevor’s employees began showing up, parking in the rear
as they were instructed. As they gathered in the main section of the store, Trevor wandered through the group and passed out pay envelopes to those he hadn’t paid yet.

  “I’m sure those of you who worked the last couple of shifts know we had really good sales. As much as I like that happening, why it happened isn’t good. The earthquake that hit the New Madrid has shut down all shipping coming in from the west. People realized this was a crisis, and started crash stocking just like they would if we had an ice storm coming. Beer, wine, chips, and smokes were the first things to go. If I stay open, we would be completely sold out in a day, so I’m shutting down the stores until shipments start up again.” The crowd of employees stood in stunned silence. “For the last two days we’ve been condensing the stock, especially the perishables. All of you have been good employees, and rather than have some of this go bad, I want to share it with you.

  “I know you are all over 21, so as an early holiday bonus, I’ve saved out a bottle of booze for each of you, and there are a dozen cartons of cigarettes, one for each of you. If you don’t smoke or drink, take it anyway and trade it for something you do want. Take everything, guys, I need the freezers and coolers empty!”

  Riley spoke up first. “Take? You mean just take it, Trevor? We don’t have to pay for it?”

  “That’s right, Riley. I want everyone to take what they want out of the coolers first. Be reasonable and share. It might not be a lot, but it’s more than you had ten minutes ago.”

  ***

  “That was interesting,” Christine said when the last of the employees had left. “I was thinking there would be more... I don’t know, conflict? Fighting over the food? They were all very polite and reasonable.”

  “Yeah, they were, weren’t they?” Trevor smiled. “I spent time and effort forming a good team, and today it really showed. I’m proud of them. I hope tomorrow goes as smoothly.”

  They walked to the back door, and Trevor turned out the lights, then pulled the main switches for the pumps, the coolers, and the main store to ‘off’ on the power box, leaving the back room with power to keep the keypad active. He locked the door, changed the code, and they drove back to Christine’s for dinner.

  ***

  Christine sat on the couch, her back against Trevor and his arms draped casually around her as they watched the late news flicker across the big screen. More statistics scrolled across the bottom, the death and injury toll increasing every minute.

  “This whole thing still has me reeling,” she commented. “I feel like I’ve gotten a lifetime of common sense education in less than a week.” She turned within the circle of his arms. “I wouldn’t admit this to anyone else, but back at the hotel, I didn’t even know my keycard wouldn’t work without electricity! I think that’s because my—our—generation has never known anything else. Most of us can’t even comprehend what would happen if the power was gone. When you turned the breakers off at the store, it was only then I realized the pumps need power to work, and how lucky I was to find a gas station on my drive home that had a generator. I thought it was so they could have lights. What would happen if the power was really gone? And then I got to thinking about those people, hundreds of thousands of people that still don’t have electricity and might never again.”

  “The main thing is that you are thinking now. This disaster has opened your eyes to how fragile our comfortable world really is.”

  “You’re good for me,” she said with a sigh.

  Trevor kissed her temple. “I guess I should get going. We have another big day tomorrow.”

  “Trevor,” she said nervously, “would you like to spend the night?”

  “I would love to. I would really, really love to,” he said, looking deeply into her blue eyes, “but I’m not going to. I don’t want to rush us. I’ll see you in the morning at Main Street.” He kissed her and left.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Good morning, Chief,” Trevor said. “We’re right on schedule for today. If you and your deputy could be here around 2:30, we can get him some supplies and still be ready to open the doors on time.”

  He hung up the cellphone and gazed out over his store. It felt like he was losing part of himself by giving away so much that he had paid for. His thoughts turned to Christine. She wasn’t here yet, and he wondered if he had offended her too badly by not accepting her invitation last night. His body instantly ached with the thought of holding her, of making love with her. He ached even more thinking she wouldn’t be coming today, that he had misjudged her.

  “Trevor? Are you in here?” Christine called from the back door, surprised it opened.

  “There you are. I was getting worried you weren’t coming.” He pulled her into his arms for a long hug and a quick kiss.

  “Of course I would be here,” she reassured him. “About last night… you’re right. Going slow is a good idea. When the time is right for us we’ll know and there won’t be any hesitation on either side.” She smiled warmly at him, and pressed her lips to his, lingering a moment, inhaling his scent.

  “Things are just about set,” Trevor said, taking a deep breath. “I need to secure the pumps and set out some shopping bags. Otherwise, we’re just waiting for the police to show up.” While Trevor slipped the yellow sleeves on the pumps and padlocked them, Christine busied herself by opening the shades halfway, just enough to let some light in without turning on the lights. She put a pile of the thin plastic bags beside the door for people to use, just as Trevor came back inside and locked the door behind him.

  At 2:45pm, the police chief and his deputy came in through the back. People were starting to gather out front. The deputy quickly grabbed several things from the cooler, plus a case of beer and a case of mixed vegetables that Trevor had set by the back door for him.

  They were ready to open the doors. Trevor unlocked the glass door and left the gate secured while he gave another speech similar to the one he gave his employees.

  “I know all of you think it strange that I would just give away this food. Food that I purchased to sell to you. I find it strange too! However, with the calamity that has hit our country this past week, I would be remiss as a human being if I just let all of this go to waste. What is here for you to take are things that will eventually become inedible: milk, bread, bakery goods. And although the frozen foods will keep longer, they won’t keep indefinitely, and I want to shut the coolers down before that happens. Whatever is on the shelves has an expiration date and is yours for the taking too.

  “During the first few days of the crisis, I was wiped out of beer, wine, booze, cigarettes and chips. Don’t ask if there is anything in back because I’ll tell you right now, the answer is no.

  “I’m sure all of you are familiar with Police Chief Mallory and Deputy Johnson. They are here to help make sure things go smoothly and fairly. However, I have confidence in you that they will stay just pretty faces in the back ground.” The crowd chuckled. “I see some of you have brought your own cloth bags, and thank you. For those who didn’t, there’s a dispenser next to the door with plastic bags. Please everyone, be polite and be fair.” Trevor unlocked the security gate barring the door, and people rushed in.

  It took less than an hour and the store was stripped clean. All that was left was six gallons of ice cream Trevor had set on the floor in the freezer where no one could see it. He gave a gallon each to the police, and thanked them again for their assistance.

  “That went better than I thought it would,” Trevor said to Christine when they were alone.

  “I think so too. I thought there was going to be a problem once, then Officer Johnson stepped in and all tension was gone,” Christine said remembering when two women were arguing over a gallon of milk. “Johnson showed up and said ‘here, let me help you with that.’ He took the milk, looked at the two baskets, saw one already had milk, so he set the container it in the empty one. Problem solved.”

  Trevor closed the blinds again, dropped the security gates, and the two of them swept the
floors and wiped down the now silent coolers. He turned off the necessary circuit breakers, and changed the code on the door yet again.

  “I have a great deal of paperwork to finish on the computer,” he said. “As much as I’m getting used to spending my evenings with you, I need to go home tonight to get that done.” He looked into her eyes and stroked her cheek with his fingertips. “I couldn’t have done all this without you, thank you. I’ll see you in the morning.” He kissed her lightly and they drove away in opposite directions.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Trevor tapped in the new code on the back door at the Spring Hill store and let himself in. The low glow of the security lights gave him just enough light to see his way to the nearly invisible door that led to his apartment. When he first remodeled, he paneled the door to look like the other walls. With the exception of the locks, no one could see the door. After relocking the deadbolt, he climbed the stairs and unlocked yet another door. He had always been a cautious person.

  Sitting at his computer that linked the three stores together, he filled in the payroll he had given out in cash. Guessing at the approximate value of the merchandise he gave away, he made note of that too in his tax program, thinking it was possible to use it as a charity deduction at some point in the future. After an hour of busy work, he backed up the computer and put the external hard drive back in his fireproof safe. He copied all the files again on another hard drive and put it in his go-bag by the door. Then he backed up his documents to a thumb drive he had retrieved from the bank pouch. He sorted the cash from checks and credit card receipts, filled out a deposit slip, put all of it back in the bank pouch, and slipped that into the go-bag too. It was all automatic; he had done this same routine every night for the last five years. Exhausted, he dropped into bed and was instantly asleep.