GRAN DE DADDY Prelude to Apocalypse by Terry McDonald

Author:Terry McDonald
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic, Genre Fiction, Literature & Fiction
Publisher: Terry McDonald
Published: 2013-03-20T06:00:00+00:00

DAY TWO

Willa prepares breakfast. She is teaching Jasmine the art of making an omelet. The smell of bacon is strong in her suite. The wall screen is tuned to a local station, still no follow up on the shooting at the motel yesterday. The weather calls for off-on snow flurries, and the DOT asks that, ‘unless it’s an emergency, to stay off the roads’. The live clips show multiple collisions and people losing control to end up sliding and spinning, but there is some traffic moving on the freeways, vehicles with four-wheel drive. A peek out the window reveals at least eight inches of snow covering the parking lot.

We make small talk at the table. Willa is nervous, on edge. I am wondering if she regrets her bluntness and her proposal. Jasmine eats in a hurry, and then continues writing her Christmas list on the lined sheet of notebook paper.

I help Willa clear the table and load the dishwasher. As we work, I am planning my day. The snow will be a hindrance, but I want to trace the route the kidnapper used when he abducted Michael. At my request, Willa boots her computer and plays the video. We watch it together, and then I’m off to Walmart for a printer. She advises me to check to make sure they are open and Googles the number. The store is open, but with limited service due to staff unable to make it in.

The snow in the motel parking area covers a layer of ice from snow that melted and then refroze during the overnight low. I test, and the tires do lose traction if I goose the gas. The roadway fronting the motel, Pleasant Hill Road, is a main thoroughfare of six lanes. The Dot has been busy and the left-hand lanes in both directions have been salted and graveled. The Walmart is only a couple miles west with no turns. The huge parking lot is practically empty and the store almost devoid of shoppers.

Thankfully, there is an associate working in electronics. Heeding the advice Willa imparted before I left the suite, ‘that the different printers for home use are about the same and the most important thing is the cost of replacement ink’, I forward her advice to the young lady helping me.

On the drive back, an SUV in front of me swerves too quickly into a turn lane and the driver loses control. The front tires slam into the concrete median dividing the road. Passing, I see there are no injured, but the front wheel assembly is twisted at an abnormal angle. The driver should have listened to the DOT and stayed home.

Willa sets the printer on the coffee table. Jasmine commandeers me, leading me to the dining table to show me her list. It goes to the bottom of the page. She has drawn lines through several items on her list.

“It’s hard to make a list because I want so much. I marked some of them off so Santa won’t think I’m greedy.

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