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smackenzieThe house was clean, the dog had been walked, the food in the freezer was cooked so it wouldn't spoil, she'd practiced for a couple hours, she'd found someone else alive in the neighborhood, and now Marya wasn't sure what to do with herself. Normally she'd watch TV or read or call someone or surf the web, but there were only a few channels left broadcasting, she couldn't get online, and very few people were answering their phones, when the calls went through at all. You could only try someone's number so many times before you got tired of getting "This call cannot be completed as dialed" messages.
Marya wiped Oscar down to prevent him from shaking himself dry all over the house and hung her wet raincoat on the open door of the front coat closet. She gave Oscar some water, realized it was almost time for dinner, and fed him too. She called her dad again - you never knew - and when that failed, she tried Cass. She got the voice mail.
"It's Marya," she said. "I found someone else in my neighborhood, and I think the little old lady next door left with her daughter. How are you guys doing? Did you hear any more from Spike's cousin?"
She hoped Cass' phone was still working and that it was just turned off or Cass was on another call or couldn't hear it or something, and not that Cass and Spike and whoever else was at the apartment had disappeared too. Marya didn't want anyone else vanishing on her. It was creepy to think you were the only person left alive. At least she'd found Annette and Phil, although she didn't think she'd see them again unless she walked down to their house.
"What's up with the dog allergies?" she asked Oscar, who was too busy snarfing down his dinner to pay attention.
Marya heated up another sausage and scrambled the rest of her eggs with an onion. She ate dinner and watched the rain and watched Oscar and tried to think what to do next. She really wanted to know whether or not her dad was ok, but so far she hadn't been able to reach him at all. She'd emailed him a couple of times and hadn't gotten an answer, although she was still half convinced he'd gone hiking over the weekend and was just out of reach in the mountains somewhere. And there was of course the possibility that he was home alive and had been home the whole time, but he couldn't get online or call out any more than she could. She did wonder why her cell phone worked even though the landline was down, but maybe that was because they ran on different systems. And she still had electricity and plumbing, so the world hadn't come to a complete halt yet.
Maybe she should do the laundry while she still had electricity and plumbing, speaking of working utilities. It would suck to run out of clean undies after the power went kaput, and she was reduced to washing her clothes in the sink. That would suck. And she'd started cleaning the house, she may as well go all the way.
When she was done with dinner, she washed her dishes, gave Oscar some love, and went to strip her bed. She sorted dirty clothes and clothes that weren't unwearable but could stand to be washed anyway, she collected the towels from the bathroom and the kitchen, and she hauled everything down to the basement to make piles of laundry by the washer and dryer. Sheets, towels, socks, undies. Darks. Lights. Oscar followed her down the stairs to watch while she stuffed clothes in the washing machine and added detergent. Her grandma swore by Tide but Marya had been using Arm & Hammer since high school, when her dad discovered it had nothing in it besides soap. No dye, no perfume, no nothing. And Arm & Hammer was slightly more socially conscious, or at least less into animal testing, than other big companies that made laundry detergent.
Marya left the laundry laundering and went upstairs to see what was on TV. Maybe the public access guy was still there. But she couldn't get public access. Almost every channel on her TV showed snow, except for a few that had a "No transmission at this time" type screen. The only channels she got were BBC America, weirdly enough, TBS, and CNN. CNN had news, naturally, and BBC America, for reasons known only to the Brits, was broadcasting old episodes of Dr Who. Marya knew they were old because she didn't recognize the Doctor.
words: 779
total words: 16,716
Marya wiped Oscar down to prevent him from shaking himself dry all over the house and hung her wet raincoat on the open door of the front coat closet. She gave Oscar some water, realized it was almost time for dinner, and fed him too. She called her dad again - you never knew - and when that failed, she tried Cass. She got the voice mail.
"It's Marya," she said. "I found someone else in my neighborhood, and I think the little old lady next door left with her daughter. How are you guys doing? Did you hear any more from Spike's cousin?"
She hoped Cass' phone was still working and that it was just turned off or Cass was on another call or couldn't hear it or something, and not that Cass and Spike and whoever else was at the apartment had disappeared too. Marya didn't want anyone else vanishing on her. It was creepy to think you were the only person left alive. At least she'd found Annette and Phil, although she didn't think she'd see them again unless she walked down to their house.
"What's up with the dog allergies?" she asked Oscar, who was too busy snarfing down his dinner to pay attention.
Marya heated up another sausage and scrambled the rest of her eggs with an onion. She ate dinner and watched the rain and watched Oscar and tried to think what to do next. She really wanted to know whether or not her dad was ok, but so far she hadn't been able to reach him at all. She'd emailed him a couple of times and hadn't gotten an answer, although she was still half convinced he'd gone hiking over the weekend and was just out of reach in the mountains somewhere. And there was of course the possibility that he was home alive and had been home the whole time, but he couldn't get online or call out any more than she could. She did wonder why her cell phone worked even though the landline was down, but maybe that was because they ran on different systems. And she still had electricity and plumbing, so the world hadn't come to a complete halt yet.
Maybe she should do the laundry while she still had electricity and plumbing, speaking of working utilities. It would suck to run out of clean undies after the power went kaput, and she was reduced to washing her clothes in the sink. That would suck. And she'd started cleaning the house, she may as well go all the way.
When she was done with dinner, she washed her dishes, gave Oscar some love, and went to strip her bed. She sorted dirty clothes and clothes that weren't unwearable but could stand to be washed anyway, she collected the towels from the bathroom and the kitchen, and she hauled everything down to the basement to make piles of laundry by the washer and dryer. Sheets, towels, socks, undies. Darks. Lights. Oscar followed her down the stairs to watch while she stuffed clothes in the washing machine and added detergent. Her grandma swore by Tide but Marya had been using Arm & Hammer since high school, when her dad discovered it had nothing in it besides soap. No dye, no perfume, no nothing. And Arm & Hammer was slightly more socially conscious, or at least less into animal testing, than other big companies that made laundry detergent.
Marya left the laundry laundering and went upstairs to see what was on TV. Maybe the public access guy was still there. But she couldn't get public access. Almost every channel on her TV showed snow, except for a few that had a "No transmission at this time" type screen. The only channels she got were BBC America, weirdly enough, TBS, and CNN. CNN had news, naturally, and BBC America, for reasons known only to the Brits, was broadcasting old episodes of Dr Who. Marya knew they were old because she didn't recognize the Doctor.
words: 779
total words: 16,716
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 04:38 pm (UTC)