4 Sisters of the Apocalypse

73- Jo

Jo
As I beamed into the center of cabin Beth was seated on the floor drawing. She looked up and casually spoke. "Hi Aunt Cee and Uncle Jay! I'll draw a room for you."

Aunt Catherine looked confused. "What does she mean she'll draw us a room? Is that like drawing us a bath?"

Uncle Jerry kissed his wife on the cheek. "Nevermind Shug. Go with the flow as the kids say."

My dad came out of the bathroom and saw his sister and brother in law. "What are the two of you doing here?" He hugged them as if they'd been away at war.

Uncle Jay spoke up. "It's a mess out there Reggie. I think Mary was right. It's the end of the world."

As Beth finished her drawing the cabin elongated and magically a new door appeared. "Aunt Cee, Uncle Jay your room is ready. "I hope you like blue."

We took a peek inside Beth's new addition. "It's so blue Beth."

She beamed. "I imagined the color of an azure blue sky as hard as I could, then I started drawing and this room happened."

Inside the walls were blue, the ceiling and floors also blue. The bed cover was a fuzzy blue with different sizes and shapes of blue throw pillows. A thick--blue--shag carpet covered the floor.

Aunt Catherine chuckled. "Well Mary always loved the color blue. She had such a flair for design."

"This creation is Beth's Aunt Cee. She's been hiding her hidden talent." I smiled at Beth. "Until now."

Uncle Jerry yawned. "May we take a nap in the blue room. I'm beat."

While we were away Beth had drawn a bedroom for us four sisters too. When she erased the tent it disappeared. Our bedroom was just off the kitchen and had two oversized bunk beds, a pullout sofa and a working stereo with retro vinyls. As I surveyed the room I told Beth, "You've been busy little sis. I love what you've done with the place."

I took a bottom bunk. It had plenty of room to sit up in and each bottom bunk had a privacy curtain and sparkly lights weaved around the bed posts.

Beth seemed very pleased with herself. "The lights are solar. I put some in every room. The solar panels are on the roof."

"But Beth we don't get much sun living in a forest. How are these solar lights even working?"

Amy came bouncing in our room. "Oh I prefered it. You're welcome."

I didn't want to dampen anyone's spirits but if our house grew and was full of light the Powers That Be might see us. Dad built his cabin small and without any modern day conveniences so he could live off the grid. Our grid grew by the moment. I had to do it. I had to call another family meeting.

No one liked family meetings--especially me but it was time we became real. We weren't the Carriso family stranded on a deserted island. We were the Smiths living in the end times. We needed to discuss what we would do with our remaining days. We needed to find out if we, 4 Sisters of the Apocalypse, could stop said Apocalypse from happening--or learn how to live through it..

By 8:00PM everyone had gathered into the living room area. Everything looked bigger and cheerier to me. I could see Beth's touches everywhere. There were way too many throw pillows with birds and butterflies on them. I stood up. "Thank you all for agreeing to meet with me?"

Uncle Jerry asked, "Did we have a choice?" Everyone laughed.

"Very funny Uncle Jay. That's my line... but we need to be serious. I call this meeting to order."

Uncle Jerry laughed at his own joke. "Couldn't we call the meeting Sally instead?" Everyone laughed but me and Amy. I looked at her imploringly.

Amy cleared her throat. "I'd prefer everyone took this meeting seriously."

Before Beth or Meg could object, everyone sat up a bit taller. Aunt Catherine asked if she might have a pen and paper to take notes. Well done Amy. My former nemesis had become my closest ali.

I asked everyone to share their experiences in the last few weeks. Meg looked nervous. Meg had secrets. Suddenly she shows up at the cabin practically engaged. She objected, "I don't agree with sharing personal information. I realize we're family but this is crossing the line."

Amy became annoyed. "What's crossing the line Meg? You yourself believe we are living in the 'your redemption is nigh' times. Why can't we just spill what we know in order to save the world--or at least warn them?"

Meg stood up and paced on the oval braided rug. "What if I merely want a few babies and to live a normal life?"

We all belly laughed. After a while even Rory and Meg started laughing. The lunacy of it all starred us in the face. The growing cabin, the fact that we had popped in only hours before. Nothing would ever be normal again. My life had turned into a sci-fi fantasy; I really wanted to stop the world and get off.