It was already late afternoon and we had much to do. We busied ourselves with unloading the groceries, and then filling the freezer in the garage and our two refrigerators. The rest, we put in the trailer by electric four wheeler and drove up to the Rosenbergs; first, to see what they might need, and then, take the rest to Derek's house for storage there.

   When I rang the bell at the Rosenberg gate, Melissa, with her health already restored, but still skinny as a pretzel stick, came running out to greet us.

   I called out, "We've got groceries for you! Do you want to tell Mrs. Rosenberg to come out and see what we have?"

   Melissa reached the gate, near breathless. "Drake…" She paused to catch her breath. "Grandpa Jake is sick! He got to feeling bad this afternoon and went to bed!"

   "Can you have Martha come out? Maybe we can help?" I didn't have a clue on how to help.

   Melissa ran back into the house and came back with Martha. Martha had a very serious look on her face as she also reached the gate a bit breathless.

   "How is he?" I asked, waiting for her to catch her breath.

   "He… He… isn't good. He never gets sick. Hasn't even gone to the doctor for the last few years. Even though he has been complaining more lately about aches and pains as he goes about his daily chores. He started complaining a lot this afternoon and went to bed. He's having trouble breathing."

   "That's too bad. Sounds like it might be Covid. We've got groceries. Pick out anything you want and we'll take it in the house for you."

   Martha Rosenberg opened the gate and I drove the four-wheeler up close to the house. She went through the bags of groceries that we had and picked out what she wanted. We had gathered some different kinds of kids' cereals, but Martha objected. "Just some good old-fashioned cereals like Quaker Oatmeal, Cream of Wheat and Malt-o-Meal."

   I could see Melissa squirming a bit and asked her what she would like. She thought for a moment, and then, rattled off, "Fruit Loops, Capt'n Crunch, and a few others I hadn't heard of.

   "We only picked up store brand oatmeal and some boxes of the kind of cereal that Melissa wants. I don't think that store even stocks Cream of Wheat or Malt-o-Meal, anymore. But I do recall having those hearty hot breakfast foods when we went hunting in the fall at grandpas. Remember, Derek?"

   "Yes. I also remember them when grandma Jones made them for me when we stayed down in Watts when I was a kid."

   We started to unload the groceries that Martha pointed out and carried them into the kitchen to put away for her. I asked, "Martha, just make a list of what Melissa wants and you need for the next time we make a run to the grocery store. I hope what we brought here today will help you for a few days."

   "It sure will. I don't know how to thank you kids for doing this. I was scared we were going to run out of food until Jake got sick. That reminds me. I've got go check on him. Do you want to come along?"

   We followed her into the master bedroom where Jake was struggling with his breathing and wheezing. He smiled, but said nothing when he saw us hovering over him and me holding his right hand with my left hand and patting the back of it with my right hand. His eyes were very red and swollen. There were beads of sweat on his brow. All of it giving me the idea that he was very sick and feverish.

   Martha confirmed it. "His temperature is 103°."

   We waved Jake goodbye and left the room with Melissa following. I asked her, "Would you mind if we left Regis with you and grandma Martha? He was terribly lonely when we got back this afternoon."

   "I'll ask grandma Martha. I like doggies and he is beautiful!" I turned the four-wheeler around and we drove off to Derek's house and quickly unloaded what we had left into their refrigerators, freezer and shelves. Before we left I remembered…

   "Remember that I told you that I saw some exotic birds in a big cage at Barbara Wilkes-Hodges estate next door?"

   "Yeah, I remember when you told me about the place and what you found there. I'd like to see it and the birds."

   "I think we should let them out or they will die in that place without any care." We drove the four-wheeler over there and the ladder was still where I left it the day before up against the wall. We both climbed over the wall and entered the palace. Immediately, I detected a faint smell of decaying body. While that odor was revolting, it wasn't yet strong enough to be unbearable.

   "We have to do something about Barbara."

   "I'm too beat right now to do any grave digging."

   "Der, you're right. We can't be digging graves for everyone dead on this street. But we can't let bodies rot in their houses or we won't be able to use any of them for some time. We could find some plastic garbage bags to put them in, couldn't we?"

   "I read somewhere that the Zoroastrians always placed their dead on sacred high places for the vultures to eat like the Dakota Indians, I think. We've got plenty of those buzzards around here… Seagulls, too.”

   We climbed the sweeping stairs to Barbara's bedroom and I found that parts of her well-preserved aged body were turning blue at the surface where blood coagulated under the skin. She was no longer beautiful; looked every bit a cadaver out of a horror movie. Thankfully, not becoming a zombie like so many wild stories with no basis in reality, whatsoever. This was reality. How do we dispose of many decomposing bodies?

   "Der, I think you're right. Let's let the vultures do it for us."

   Silently and reverently, we wrapped Barbara in one of her very smooth, satin sheets and tied it tight at her head. Then, we both grabbed the sheet at her feet and pulled her off the bed carefully to not hit her head hard on the plush carpet. And then, pulled her unceremoniously down the curving stairway with her head bobbing and bumping as it dropped off each marble step. No use pampering the dead.

   We pulled her through the large dining room and out on the open veranda overlooking the grounds and pool. Finally, we dragged her down the stairs to the pool level and to the far end of the pool where we left her. We pulled the sheet off her leaving her naked body open on the edge of the pool for the vultures and seagulls above to see, smell and swoop down to feed. Already, they were forming the well-known spiral pattern above our heads. Waiting for us to end our feeding so they could feed without our interruption with their bird brains.

   On a hunch, I motioned for Derek to follow me as we walked down through the beautiful gardens that were no longer tended and starting to show weeds to the end of the property where there was a gate in the wall. I manually opened the gate and saw that a trail there led down the ravine and into the natural wildlife preserve in the distance. It was a beautiful sight watching the sun settling in the west lighting up the hills to the east across the valley below.

   "I've been thinking we could put all of the pets we find here. We can provide them with food and water and let them fend for themselves. They could leave through this gate on their own and go wild."

   Derek answered, "I don't have a better idea. And I'm also thinking we had better get to all the other houses on the street tomorrow or we may find bodies where we could've saved someone."

   That thought had bothered me since I found Melissa.      "I think before we go we need to call every house on this street that we can get a phone number for. Save time finding anyone alive."

   We returned to the house, opened the huge indoor cage door and walked to the small hanging cages for two macaws, a beautiful parrot, a trio of peafowl and several other exotic birds I couldn't identify. We took the birds, except the peafowl, in their cages outside and hung them from hooks under the veranda that were probably used for hanging plants or even the birds' cages before. The peacock and his two paramours followed us out of the big cage and onto the veranda like they had done it many times before.   

   We opened the cage doors to let the birds out. Some of them were already flying around the house and we left the sliding glass doors and French doors in the back of the house open to the outside so that the birds could leave, and unfortunately, the wild world could come in. Coyotes, feral cats and foxes would feast on a supply of tame, naïve birds.

   We would have to come back later and remove very valuable things like paintings, sculptures, books, jewelry and other things that we might put in museums in the future. For now, with plenty of bird food spread around outside, water in pans as it started to get dark was all we could do as we left the place to the birds and animals for the night and near future. People were more important. Seagulls and vultures were already feasting on the former owner.

   After we made something to eat from all the groceries we brought, we showered and went to bed, exhausted again. Finishing one very hard day, expecting many more to come.

   I woke up. The clock said 10 am. I shook off foggy sleep from my head and stretched my aching muscles. I smelled bacon again and found Derek, once again, cooking breakfast for us.

   "I thought you were never going to wake up, Dre!" He laughed.

   "It must be all this exercise and clean air." I chuckled.

   "So much for an early start today. We'd better check on Jake next door before we start tackling those bodies you found across the street. And, we had better start calling those phone numbers and names of our neighbors from the Internet."

   I was already eating as fast as I could so that we would get out on the street quicker. Derek had already finished much of his breakfast. He would be waiting on me

   Fifteen minutes later, we were at the Rosenberg's gate with our four-wheeler trailer loaded with tools we thought we might need for the day's work. I knew it wouldn't be easy.

   Melissa ran out to the gate again crying to greet us.

   "Grandpa Jake died last night." She didn't stop crying when she opened the gate for us and we drove on in, jumped out and hugged her, before running inside.

   As we came into the bedroom and saw Martha holding her husband's head in her lap with a determined look on her face, softly crying, she told us, "Jacob had a good life. He had a number of problems in recent years that the doctors couldn't cure. It was his time. He didn't believe in Jehovah anymore, anyway. So I guess it won't matter if he isn't buried with the blessing of the rabbi."

   I told her. "We can bury him here, like we did our parents. But it will have to wait. We need to find out if there are any more living people on our street like Melissa, first."

   Marsha waved her hands as if motioning us to go. "Thank you. I don't know what I would do without you boys. Go ahead and look for others. I will prepare Jacob for burial here.

   We left, taking the four-wheeler and the ladder from the wall at the estate. We called the numbers we had gathered from an address search for the next house on the right and the house on the left at the same time from our cell phones as we moved down the street. We got no answer from both. The Astors lived in the compound next to ours. We didn't know them. They didn't answer my call, so I put the ladder to the fence and climbed to the top, calling out to them.

   No one came, so we both climbed down the ladder and went to the house and knocked. No one was there. But in the bedrooms it looked like someone had been packing with doors open. We heard a cat meowing and saw a cat outside. We found some milk in the refrigerator and put a bowl outside for the cat to drink. We left the cat outside and crossed the street where the Waltons lived.

   Once again, we called from the top of the wall and no one came. But when we got in the house we were greeted by their German Shepherd, Mike, but no one else. He led us to the master bedroom where we found both Rosalie and Walter dead in their bed. Our friend, their son, Hunter, who was 16, was also dead in his bedroom where we had visited him many times before.

   We both were shook up over what we saw. Mike had loyally led us around and showed sorrow and hunger in his face, whining. Silently, we got him a large pan of water and some meat from the refrigerator that we took outside for him to drink and eat.

    Then, we silently wrapped the bodies in sheets and pulled them out the sliding doors in their bedrooms to outside where we left the three of them for the vultures while Mike gulped down the meat. He followed us outside where we opened the gate and took him with us to the next two houses. Our grisly task was only beginning. We split up to speed things up. I used a stepladder we had that wasn't as good as the ladder, but it worked.

   I started with the house directly below the Waltons, hoping for the best. The occupants had moved in only a month or so before, so I had no idea who they were. But the street number gave the phone number for the surname of Bloom.

    I called the number but got no answer. I called over the fence and still got no answer. So, I climbed over from the Walton side and found the front door locked. Then, by walked around the house and when I came to a sliding door for a bedroom, I could see a small girl sitting on the bed with a disturbing man appearing to be dead on the floor between the bed and the sliding door that was open about 6 inches.

   I waved to the girl and she waved back. I called out, "I'm here to help, what's your name?"

   She shyly returned my call, "Flower. Can you help me? My mom's very sick!"

   As I entered, I could see that she sat next to a sheet covered woman.

   "Is that your mother?"

   "Yes, her name is Melody. She's very sick and I don't know what to do!" She started crying.

   I came close and looked into the woman's half opened eyes, obviously feverish. "How long have you been sick, Melody?"

   She opened her red eyes a bit more, coughed and wheezed, "I don't know, but it's been days. This is the first day that I've been talking to Flower. She's really scared that I might die like Spike."

   "Is that your husband on the other side of the bed?"

   "Yeah, the bastard. Lying womanizer. Should have never married him at 17. Glad he's gone." She coughed again and fell silent.

   Flower said, "She peed."

   I knew it, because I could smell it. I lifted the sheet and found that she was wearing only a beige colored panty that was soaked with urine along with the sheet and mattress beneath. I couldn't say I hadn't been in a date's thong before, but this was entirely new.

   "Flower, she needs to be cleaned. I will help you do it." I didn't want to, but knew I had to.

   "She's tried. Just take off my panties and wash me. Don't be shy young man, I'm not." Melody fell silent again after choking those few words out.

   I reached under the soaked from sweat sheet at her beautiful womanly figure. Grabbing the band at the top began to pull it, and then had to grab the other side at the bottom, to gradually pull her panties down her legs and off her feet. I told Flower to wait while I went to the bathroom where I found a bucket and put them in it followed by some warm water that I added some hand soap to. I found another pan and filled it with warm water. Got a couple of washcloths and threw a bath towel over my shoulder.

   When I got there, I gave Flower one of the washcloths, and I showed her how to put some soap on it and work up a lather. We both began washing. Flower went to her feet and worked her way up, so I was tasked with starting on her lovely stomach and moving down into the completely shaved region where I applied the soap carefully and I heard Melody moan in her misery when I touched a sensitive part.

   I told Flower to come with me into the bathroom and we rinsed out the washcloths, poured out the soapy water from the bowl and filled it with fresh, warm water. And another bowl to ring out the soapy water we would remove. I found myself at Melody's hips again rinsing the soapy water from her nether parts and finding that she responded favorably through her fever. Flower rinsed the soap off her legs.

   I asked Melody, "Do you want me to put something on you?"

   "Heavens, no, boy. I feel much better already. I will have to thank you later when I recover." I wondered what that meant? But, had something more to tell her.

   "I want to move you to the dry side of the bed. Is that okay?"

   "Yes, but please get rid of spike's body first. I don't want to see him anymore." 

   "Right away. Mrs.… ah…"

   "Bloom, Melody… You can call me Mel."

   I went to a dresser in the room and found a clean sheet. I pulled the sheet and blanket off Melody and with Flower's help, put the clean sheet on her naked body, followed by the blanket that was already warm to get her covered again.

    Then, I took the sheet that had been on Melody and placed it over her husband, Spike. Rolled his heavy body with the sheet and had Flower help me drag it through the sliding glass door onto the grass where it slid easier, to the far end of the lot near the back wall where I hoped Melody would not see the vultures and seagulls feeding. During the whole time Melody was crying softly about the only father, as bad news he was, now dead.

   That accomplished, I had Flower help me drag and roll her mother to the dry side of the bed where she went to sleep.

   I whispered to Flower, make some soup for your mama if you can. If not, make sure she gets plenty of water. I have to go with my brother down the street until it is dark to see if we can find any more people like your mother and you alive. We will be back as soon as we can."

   Flower hugged me and whimpered, "I will, but be back soon. There's nothing to eat and I'm hungry."

   I reached in my pocket and found an apple and granola bar that I was going to eat later and gave them to her.

   She smiled again and hugged me again. I slipped out, not wanting to waste anymore time.

   Drake had already covered two houses across the street, so we were parallel again, going house to house. As we moved down the street we found three more vacant houses. And three more houses with dead bodies.

   We found Robert Emerson, his wife, Eleanor and their two children, Michael, 12 and Elizabeth, 10, all alive and working hard to secure themselves in their house like we were doing.

    They apologized for not answering the phone when Derek called earlier, because they suspected that our parents were dead. Unfortunately, like so many they had discovered that they knew. They had also raided the same grocery store for food. We told them that we would keep in touch as we began to make all these houses sustainable for the near future, hoping they would work with us.

   Robert assured us. "While I feel really sad about your folks, I'm really impressed with what you two have done already in spite of your grief. We are with you all the way wherever that takes us."

   We thanked him for that assurance and moved on, it was getting dark.

   Along the way, we freed seven cats. Four of them in one house with dead bodies. We took with us six dogs. Two poodles, a pit bull, a German shorthair, a beagle and a pomeranian that threatened to bite us until we fed him some water and food.

   They all followed us readily up the street by the end of the afternoon to the compound at the end of the street where we took all of the dog food that we had gathered through the gate to the back of the house where we filled up pans of it for them to eat under the veranda in case it rained.

    It was a ramshackle pack of strangers that I knew would get along and maybe, fight off predators and become wild themselves. They were already chasing the vultures off the dead body and the exotic birds to their cages, the trees and the wall. Since Mike was special, we took him home with us. He seemed to regret leaving the other dogs behind, but was soon wagging his tail at Martha Rosenberg.

   When we stopped off at the Rosenbergs on the way home with the sun going down, we found Martha struggling with half of a grave dug for her husband by her garden out back. We were dog-tired, but we took two shovels and finished the job for her. We then all dragged Jake's body down to the grave and lowered it and with a sheet and covered him with it. Martha said some words over him, dropped some mementos and we quickly shoveled the dirt back in.

   As I recall, Derek and I felt a deep sadness and concern for those dogs that we knew would not live all on their own. We vowed to try to find a way to take care of them.

   In spite of being so tired I didn't sleep well and had bad dreams throughout the night but knew that I had done my best. I hadn't gone back to see how Melody was doing. Hopeful that she was getting better and that Flower would have a mother as I tossed and turned until morning would find out.

Copyright 2023 © Ronald W. Hull

3/29/23