The Lamb and the Gray Battle

October 29, 2022

Jo's skin was tight. She scratched her arms, paced around Evie's house. Evie ignored her and was placid, which was completely unlike her. The food made a clanking sound hitting the food dishes. Cats swatted tails as Jo marched after her.

Jo said, "We could go shopping. We could drive into Columbus, eat, chat like a couple of teenagers."

Evie scattered food for the chickens, then she moved inside to the dog dishes. Cassie loped behind her, Tess running to keep up. Lemon stayed in her bed, didn't even lift her head.

The news kept announcing random accidents. Car accidents and hospital visits were at a record high. Cleveland reported a tidal wave off the coast of Lake Erie.

Evie said, "I have a lot of packing to get done."

"Take a day off."

"The movers will be here tomorrow," she said, a Sunday. "With Halloween on Monday and November first on Tuesday, it was the only time Dethewaite and Sons could manage it."

Jo didn't believe that, but she offered to help pack. Not that much needed to be packed.

"You've done enough. Spend some time with Dylan."

"He's glued to his phone. King Ao Guang arrived this morning."

"He showed me," Evie said.

Of course he did. He probably sneaked out and banged on Evie's window until she let him in.

Evie said, "Someone burned down a sorority house. The girls had a pair of skeleton brides hanging on the front porch."

But Jo wasn't listening. Brantley still hadn't answered her and she had sent him three more texts. She called every hour on the hour until she passed out and started again as soon as she was conscious again.

"Mom, look! The cops arrested the Banned Music Committee."

All the kids in the footage had jet black hair. Thank God Brantley had already washed that crap out of his.

Jo clapped her hand on Aoibh's elbow, held her as tightly as she could. The air was thin and she was dizzy. She said, "Abandon everything. Let's get in a car, you, me, Dylan, drive up to Canada."

"Jo, are you all right?" Evie said, pausing.

"Yeah. It sounds fun."

"Canada, um, no, it doesn't sound fun. It's cold up there." Evie said, "USW, that would be fun. But most of it is desert."

"Okay. We'll go to USW."

Evie threw a stuffed Red Dragon at Jo. "I was kidding."

Jo switched to the kitchen. "You haven't baked anything today. You've got to be starved."

"Jo, go home," she said.

It was just past 1:00 o'clock. How long would it take for King Ao Guang to get here? How fast could he fly? Siri didn't know.