It took much, much longer to get back to the house than I thought it would. We had to shut the truck off and just sit in the standstill traffic—it seemed—for hours at a time. We rolled the windows down and the air outside was noticeably still. At one point we came to the train tracks that separated the western part of the city where Nancy’s and my house was and the downtown. I couldn’t bring myself to park on the tracks, even though the trains had stopped running. So I didn’t, I parked ten feet back. My father grumbled at me under his breath as someone pulled ahead of us. He crossed his arms, and pretended to try and go to sleep. But he was watching me the whole time.
When we finally did get back to the house the sun was coming up.
As we pulled up Nancy and Elizabeth came walking out of the house, Nancy came up to me, arms outstretched. “Fuck!” she said, when her mouth got close enough to my ear.
“I know.” I said to her.
“Did you get everything?” she asked.
“Let’s get this stuff packed and get the hell out of here,” I said to everyone. When I let go of Nancy, Elizabeth and Dad were still shaking hands. My father looked up and shook his head. “Are the kids up, Elizabeth?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Well, lets wake them, they can carry things too.”
The kids were groggy as they got dressed, which changed into anger as they began hauling boxes with us out to the Streamline. My Dad was in the trailer packing boxes away. The kids might have been scared of him.
“You know Joeseph, I’ve been thinking,” Elizabeth said when the children were still outside. “Maybe this isn’t the best idea after all.”
I was still tired, not having slept all night, and Elizabeth always drove me a little crazy when I was drunk, or stoned or tired. “What isn’t the best idea, Elizabeth?”
“The trailer. Going west.”
I dropped the box I was carrying on the sofa; “Jesus fuck Elizabeth, what are we supposed to do?” I said, as Nancy walked back in.
Elizabeth assumed an indignant face after she saw Nancy, and she said, “Well it took you all night to get seven blocks west, I just think a lot of people have that idea.”
“What’s the shortest distance between two points Elizabeth?” I said.
“Joe!” Nancy said. I looked over at her instinctually, and she was giving me a dirty look.
“It’s the shortest way out of the city!” I shouted.
“Is the traffic moving out front now?” She asked.
“I don’t know.” I said more quietly, still firm. I knew it wasn’t, I’d had an eye on it since we get back.
She rolled her eyes at me.
“What?” I said exasperated to nobody in particular.
“I’ve got my children to worry about, ” Elizabeth said, Nancy just gave a pained expression.
“If you have something to say, Liz, just say it.”
“Maybe we could go north.”
I shook my head, “That’s, like, four times farther than the western edge of the city.”
“Not all the way north, Look” Elizabeth said, taking a map from her pocket and unfolding it. She held it out in front of her. “The city thins out up north.”
“I know that Elizabeth.”
“So we go up north until the traffic thins out, or we have to, then head west.”
“If we have to?” Elizabeth looked at me stony-faced not speaking, “If we have to, we’ll be being followed by them. How safe is that for Kim and Brad?”
“Joseph, stop!” Nancy shouted.
Elizabeth looked like she didn’t even notice her sister; she looked at me just as sternly as she started to cry. The kids came back in. “Should we move in a direction, or sit in traffic?”
“That’s a waste of gas,” I said. “We can’t afford it.” The kids ran up to their mother and wrapped their arms around her, confused, and scared of things themselves, and trying to protect their mother.
“This isn’t that big a city,” said Nancy.
I turned to her; “You’re kidding me right now.” Nancy put her face in her hands.
“I don’t have time for this.” I said, “None of us do. If we’re still planning on bringing food with us.” I said picking up a box of cans and carried it outside. My father was in the back of the trailer packing boxes on either side of the bed there. Boxes were already piled up so high their corners touched the wooden panel of wall where it curved into the ceiling.
