Deep Shadows by Vannetta Chapman

Author:Vannetta Chapman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736966542
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

FORTY

Shelby came home to a can of tuna on the front porch, the neighbor’s cat licking hungrily at what little was left, and Carter sound asleep in his bed. A little odd for eight in the evening. A few minutes later Bianca came over to talk.

“Carter worked on the digging?” she asked.

“For a few hours, before his stint on the neighborhood watch group—which I’m not happy about.”

“We didn’t realize we had the perfect life, did we?”

“I don’t know how perfect it was, but it certainly was more manageable than this.”

They moved to the back porch, which was barely big enough to hold two lawn chairs. Shelby peeked at the sky, relieved to see no sign of the aurora. She didn’t want to sit in the front where she would be forced to watch the street. She didn’t want to think of Mr. Evans or the blockades set up at both ends of their block. She wanted to pretend, if just for a few moments, that life was as it used to be.

“Tell me about your shift at Green Acres.”

Shelby paused, wondering if she should share all that she had seen. But this was Bianca—her closest friend besides Max. The four of them, when you included Patrick, made up the ragged support network that had seen her through the last fourteen years, ever since Alex had died and she’d become a single mom.

In a way, Shelby had already been a single mom even before Alex’s death. His drug addiction had destroyed any semblance of a normal life. While her parents had been alive, they had been incredibly supportive. After Alex died, her dad was always bringing up the names of eligible bachelors—hinting that she should give love a try one more time.

Shelby wasn’t interested in going through that particular type of heartache again.

Their church had also provided help—prayer, meals when she had her appendix removed, and guidance when she didn’t know how to navigate the waters of single parenthood.

But now they were all floundering, trying to get their feet back beneath them.

“We transferred the patients who had died over to the morgue, but we have no way to contact their families. Food is limited, and there aren’t many people there to fix meals anyway. Although they have a big generator to power the medical equipment, they’re going to run out of medication. Everyone there is doing the best they can, but I’m not sure it will be enough.”

“Do they need more volunteers?”

Shelby shrugged. “Employees are beginning to trickle back to work. At least three showed up while I was there today—a nurse and two aides. They could only stay a few hours, as they had their own emergencies to tend to. But they cared enough to stop by.”

“What did you do all day?”

“Cleaned bedpans, offered sips of water, and occasionally took a temperature with the fancy thermometer that you wave over their forehead.”

“At least bedpans, cups, and thermometers still work.”

“Some of the residents understand what has happened, and others don’t. One old guy kept calling us to his room because he couldn’t get his television to come on.

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