for the stove. We need to trap some animals to eat, and dig tubers up and…” Tara stopped and burst out laughing at Mary’s startled expression. It felt like teenage sleepover night with her best friend, and she hadn’t been this happy for a long time. Mary laughed long and hard then too.
“This is a good thing, Tara, a very good thing,” Mary said, nodding her head. “I was starting to get scared over there.” After Tara told her about the things they’d seen from the upstairs windows, Mary hadn’t come over as often. At least the daylight hours seemed safer. Now they would all be together to protect one another. They would either wait out the end of the world, or go down fighting.
“Mary, go home and gather your stuff. I can help you carry it over if you need. Bring those cans of corn—I have an idea for some stew, and I think it might be really good.” Lee came upstairs just then, and told Mary how glad he was she was joining them.
“We’ll all be together for Christmas, which is as it should be,” Tara told them both.
Mary left to collect her things, Lee went back into the basement to start on a trap, and Tara snuck out back with the small garden shovel to dig up some daylily tubers.
~
Mary made several trips across the street, stacking her belongings on Tara’s front porch. By the time Tara carried in her small basket of daylily tubers, Mary had finished. Tara wiped off her dirt-covered hands and helped her bring it all inside and store it in a corner. Mary showed her a silver pistol and several boxes of ammunition.
“Your gun is bigger than mine,” Tara joked.
“Let’s hope I never need to use it,” Mary replied.
Mary carried the cans of corn into the kitchen where Tara stood at the sink, scrubbing the tubers and laying them out on a paper towel to dry. Mary held up a bottle of red wine. “I thought this would be suitable for the occasion.”
“Wine! Mary, that’s perfect!” Tara rooted in the drawer for a corkscrew and handed it to their new roommate. She pointed at the paper towel. “Look, Mary, these are like little potatoes according to the foraging book.” Most of the tubers were small, about half the size of Tara’s little finger. “We have quite a few in our yard alone, and I know several other places where they grow wild.”
Lee came into the kitchen, a big smile on his face. “The stove’s ready. I already filled it with some wood scraps and kindling. I wanted to see if you were ready to cook something.” He hovered over her work area, obviously hungry.
Tara clapped her hands together in excitement and Mary and Lee both laughed, caught up in her elation. “We’re going to have a special dinner in Mary’s honor. I’ve got a plan for Mary’s and our last two cans of soup and her corn. I’ve got daylily tubers too. We’re going to have shaved Dahlia root salad, lightly seasoned with olive oil and herbs, and a main course of Celebration Stew.” Tara said as she pulled out a large pot from the cupboard under the sink.
“And look what else Mary brought, a bottle of wine. It’s a special occasion!”
Lee took the matches to light the fire in the pot-bellied stove. Tara asked Mary to get the fine crystal wine glasses down from the glass front cabinet. Tara opened her can of steak and potato soup, Mary’s two cans of corn and her can of bean with bacon soup. Mary pulled the cork from the wine next. Tara took it from her, shrugged, and dumped a big dollop into the pot.
“Think of it as Beef Bourguignon!” Tara laughed. She added the washed and cleaned tubers and stirred it with a long spoon, then dipped a finger in and tasted it.
“Mmm,” she nodded at Mary. They were all so hungry. This was a true feast. Maybe it wasn’t wise to use up the last four cans of food at once, but Tara knew they would make a couple meals out of the stew. Plus, it wasn’t so damn depressing this way, watching the cans go down one by one over the next couple days. Might
Brian Keene, J.F. Gonzalez