A Dream I Had

2

KATRINA'S POV:

Out of nowhere the washer started making a humming noise and Carl and I immediately looked at each other in disbelief. It then started filling with water, acting as if there were clothes in it to be washed. I clicked the power button to turn it off because we aren't going to waste any water or power but this is insane. We haven't seen anything working like this other than the prison showers in almost 2 years. As if we talked about it we both took off running into his old room and grabbed some of his old shirts. I didn't want to ruin the only clothes I had if this didn't end up working properly and I guess he had the same idea. When we came back downstairs, clothes in hand, everyone in the living room was looking at us like we were crazy.

"Kay got the washing machine to work." Carl said in almost a panicked tone. Everyone sort of just looked at us like we were lying or hallucinating or something. We simply ignored them and ran back into the laundry room and threw all of it in the floor in a pile. Out of habit, I took over doing the laundry, not like Carl knew how to do it anyway. Lori spoiled that boy. As I pick up one shirt at a time I began noticing a pattern.

"Carl?"

"Yeah, Kay?"

"Can I ask why all of the shirts I've picked up so far have been the same dusty maroon color?" I giggled a little.

"What can I say? It used to be my favorite color." He shrugged and smiled.

"What do you mean used to be?" I looked over at him while I continued untangling his clothes.

"I mean it isn't my favorite color any more. I have a new one." He laughed.

"Ohh, I see, okay. So, what is it?" I asked, genuinely curious. I finished putting as many shirts as I could fit into the washer before closing it and starting a cycle. Thankfully, if this works, Carl can't fit into these shirts, but Cassandra and I can. There may be a couple things he can still wear that were big on him, though.

"It's a very specific color. Sort of one-of-a-kind I guess." He looked at me with a soft smile.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I laughed. "That makes zero sense." I said and hopped up on top of the drier to sit down. Carl walked around in front of me so we could continue our conversation.

"I mean that it isn't a color that really has a name, but there is a general name for it. And it's based off something I've seen and see...or get to see...every day. When I saw it, it automatically became my favorite color and has been for at least a few months." He explains, leaning against the window sill. I looked at him like he was dumb. That only made half-ass sense to me.

"Uhhh, okay." I finally said. "So you get to see it every day and the first time you saw it was a couple months ago. It immediately became your favorite color and has been since, but it's not a color that's typical?" I tried to sum up what he just said to me.

"Yes, basically." His eyes lit up when he realized I understood. "But I'm still not going to tell you what it is." He smirked.

"Carl!" I whined and he chuckled. "Ughh. Whyyy?"

"Because, what's the fun in that?"

"You're an ass, you know that?" I joked.

"Oh yeah I know." He laughed and so did I. Before we even knew it the washer was done and I switched the load over to the drier. After starting the drier I began adding more clothes to the washer to start another load in there. Good thing nobody raids houses for laundry detergent or drier sheets in the apocalypse. Carl and I continued talking and I tried guessing colors that he may see every day to try and figure out what his new favorite color is. All of my guesses were wrong and I was beginning to get slightly irritated that he wouldn't just tell me. I asked him what felt like a million times to just tell me and every time he refused.

"Was one of my guesses right and you just told me it was wrong? At least give me that."

"No, all of your guesses were truly wrong." He came over and took my spot on top of the drier.

"Hey, rude. That was my seat." I pushed him a little.

"Well you can still sit here." He gestured to his lap.

"In your dreams, Grimes." I finished loading the washer and started the second load. I then hopped on top of the washer and sat there instead. "I think I'll be just fine right here." He stuck his bottom lip out a little and then laughed. I followed in laughter before continuing to guess his favorite color. "So, is it the color of your hat, cowboy?"

"No, but you're getting closer. And it's a sheriff's hat, not a cowboy hat." He said really upbeat like he was getting excited that I was getting closer.

"So is it a shade of that color? Brown?" I asked with too much enthusiasm.

"YES!" He almost yelled and that cracked both of us up. Neither of us have laughed this much in a long time, it's actually really nice to pretend our lives are normal for a little bit. As if on queue, Rick, Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, and Daryl returned from their run.

"Hey everyone. We found some canned food and a few gallons of water. We also found some clothes but it looked like a walker was killed on top of them so we didn't grab them." Rick stated, setting down his bag on the table in the living room.

"We can wash them, apparently." Carol chimed in from the rocking chair in the corner.

"What do you mean we can wash 'em?" Daryl asked, dropping his bag to the floor at his feet.

"Well, unless I misheard Carl and Kat, she got the washer and drier working." Carol continued rocking Judith to sleep. Everyone looked over at me for reassurance.

"Uh...I'm currently doing a load of Carl's old shirts if you wanna go in there and see for yourself." I pointed to the doorway behind me. Rick immediately went for the laundry room, followed by Daryl, Michonne, Carl, and myself. When I walked in, Rick was leaned over the washing machine, looking through the glass at the clothes in awe. He looked up at me after a minute.

"How..." He trailed off.

"There's a fire hall down the street. Long story short it's a generator." I explained.

"That's amazing Kat. I can't believe this. How long you think it'll last?" He stood up from leaning on the washer.

"They were made to last around 10 years, give or take." I informed him. "Not sure if anything has been running on it though."

"Well either way we need to preserve power. No using lights during the day and short showers, things like that. Maybe we'll be able to stay here a while." Everyone nodded in agreement, including those still in the living room that had crowded around the doorway to listen.