Gordy and Jenny were already up when we got back to the house. They were in the middle of heating up the food on the gas stove.
"Where were you two?" Gordon asked suspiciously.
"Uh we went exploring a little." Sam answered quickly. "Charlie, found you some shoes, Jenny." He smiled warmly at her.
"Yes! Good ones? Well it doesn't even matter shoes are shoes." I laughed at her enthusiasm.
"Yes, they're in good condition." I smiled at her and handed her the box I found. "You're a size 8 and a half?"
"Wow, you're close, I'm an 8, but thank you so much!"
"Um, yeah sure no problem." I muttered.
"Well what did you bring me? Where is my present?" Gordy asked me.
"Oh I'm sorry I didn't know you needed anything. Uh, but there are some clothes upstairs in the master bedroom. I found them last night and I spotted some guys clothes too."
"I was just kidding, but I could use the clothes so thanks." He winked at me.
We sat down for breakfast and went over the plans for the day. We would work on exploring and going through the town bit by bit looking for things we could use. We split up in two groups with me and Sam together and Jenny and Gordy together.
We took the right side of the town and they took the left, we worked our way up from the south to the north. Sam and I walked quickly, not wanting to be in the open for too long. He didn't say very much and I didn't have much to say, so the conversation was lacking to say the least. I finally got tired of it halfway down. We were in one of the old warehouses looking through the dirty and mostly empty aisles when I got bored.
"So, Sam, Where are you from originally?" I spoke loudly, because he was on the other side of the aisle. It wasn't even an original question, but I didn't care. I was sick of silence.
"Well, I was born in Westport, Ireland. I was two when my family decided to move to New York. And I moved to California when I was seventeen. We came to Arizona about two months ago."
"You said that your grandfather lived in this town when he was a child."
"He did, but he moved to Ireland to be with my Grandmother."
"Oh. What happened to you parents?" I wasn't sure if that was an inappropriate question.
"Dead." He was emotionless.
"Oh, sorry."
"Why? Life is a death sentence. We all have to go through it at some point. My parents were lucky to have a life full of love. I'm happy they're gone, I would never have wanted them to live through this tragedy." His words seemed callous until you listened to them correctly.
"I get it." I said, because I didn't know what else to say. We were quiet again. I had found some trash bags in one of the stores and was putting all my treasures in it.
"Well what about you? Where are you from originally?" I wasn't as responsive since I didn't like talking about my life.
"I have been in Arizona all my life. My parents died when I was seven, I lived with foster families all over Arizona until I met Gary at my high school in Tucson. We got married and I was there for 12 years."
Sam walked around the corner so that we were face to face.
"Why did you marry him?"
"I don't really know." I did know. "I was bored." I lied.
"You're lying. People don't get married because they're bored."
"Yes, celebrities did it all the time."
"No, they got married for media attention." He retorted dryly. "When you're bored you eat or watch TV, you don't marry a guy you can't stand."
"I liked him well enough when I married him."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"Yes, it does to me, well it did at the time anyways. I liked him, he was strong and masculine and smart. He made me feel like I had a place to go home too…" I stopped before I started sounding like an idiot.
"So you married him for security." It wasn't even a question. It was a fact.
"I never said that."
"You did without realizing it. Why wont you just come out and say it?"
I sighed, he was right and he knew it. I looked around. We had both stopped working and were now involved in something way more entertaining.
"It sounds terrible. I didn't have money and I wasn't book smart. Gary was my best option." I was ashamed of myself. It was embarrassing to admit you married someone, because you thought you would end up homeless.
"I don't think it does. It's honest at least and I'm sure it wasn't easy for you." He said softly.
"I…It wasn't that bad. If anything it made me realize how important independence is."
He chuckled, "If independence makes you realize anything, it's how much being alone sucks."
"People are overrated… no offense."
"None taken, but I have to politely disagree." His green eyes sparkled, "Us being here is proof against that. We are a dying species who knows how many are left on this planet, yet instincts have drawn us together." He was staring at me again, making me nervous.
"Well I don't see how that proves anything." I said defiantly ready to end the conversation and continue working. I turned my back to avoid his eyes, but I could still feel him watching me as I picked up a stack of dishes off one of the shelves. Determined to ignore him I tried humming while I was wrapping up the dishes.
"What is that song?" He asked me quietly.
"It's called Romeo and Juliet." I said, still keeping my eyes averted.
"I like it. It reminds me of something…" When he trailed off I turned to look at him. His eyes were vacant as if he was lost in time. I shook my head and went back to work. He was weird. Like hot and cold or bipolar, I could never predict what he was going to say. It scared me.
We finished the day at around 7:30 pm. We went in to wash up and eat more beans and fruit. I wasn't sure how long this could last, but I was pretty sure I was running out of tolerance for the meal. As we ate we discussed the things we found. Gordy was excited because he found an old football and he used to play in high school. Jenny had a bunch of clothes that had been wrapped in plastic and were still usable. They also found more soap and cleaning supplies. I was sure the majority had lost its effectiveness, but it was hard to complain about it.
After dinner we sat in the living room while Gordy and Jenny talked about life before the invasion. Sam and I listened, totally entertained, through stories about boyfriends, girlfriends, neighbors and household pets. Gordy was great at story telling, he made me laugh so hard I had to go outside and use the restroom before I had an accident on the couch. Jenny always talked with enthusiasm and painted a great picture with tons of detail. They didn't really talk about Lisa, I had a feeling it was because Sam didn't want her mentioned. I would often look up to see him watching me and we would both quickly turn away out of embarrassment.
Gordy and Jenny had an amazing friendship, most siblings would probably be fighting about everything at this age, but Gordy was sweet and let Jenny get away with everything. They had been through so much, Jenny had become like a jewel to both of them. She was to be protected.
These were our days. Get up and work until nightfall. Afterwards we ate and told stories or played games. I was working on the house. I used whatever I could to fix what needed to be fixed. Jenny cleaned the house, top to bottom dusting and washing everything. In a week the house almost looked new. Thankfully, the hardware store had not been cleaned out and we found tons of supplies along with new paint. Gordy and Sam worked on the rest of the town, going through wreckages and using the scraps to repair what was salvageable.
We didn't see each other all too much during the day, Jenny and I probably spent the most time together. She was good company. I would repair, and she would clean and talk.
"What happened with Sam and your mom?" I asked her one day, while we were trying to fix up the downstairs bathroom.
"Well we all lived in the same area up north, Sam and her had been really good friends since they were young, I guess, anyways he fell in love with her, but she didn't feel the same. She met my dad and they got married, but right after Lisa was born he left her."
She stopped cleaning and turned to look at me, "Sam was amazing though, he had never left her side and helped support us after my real dad took off. He really loved her."
"How did she die?"
"Drug overdose. We aren't sure if it was an accident or on purpose, but they never found a note or anything. I was only five when she died. Sam was devastated, he knew she was depressed, but she never got help."
"How did he manage to get custody?"
"She left us to him, in her will. Nobody tried to fight him."
"Oh." It was all I could manage.
She picked up her cloth and continued scrubbing. I sat there for a moment thinking about what she said before I grabbed my tools and went back to fixing the sink.