Scavengers {#Wattys2016}

Chapter Two

The acid rain had lightened but that didn't mean it had stopped. Just resumed to a bit of lighter rain. I walked up the short steps of what had once been an apartment building. There were several buckets and jugs collecting rain. If it was boiled the contamination could be reduced. We take anything we could get. The door creaked open as if ready to let others in both the good and the bad.

    I shut the door and walked up the creaking steps three flights.

"Hold it!", yelled a deep scruffy voice. I heard the click of the rifle. "Just me dad", I said removing my hood.

My father retreated, "Come on up", he said.

I did and he ushered me into the room closing the door. He was cold and I could tell he had also recently just got back. I set down my bag and took out the seven waters and two loaves of stale bread.

   My mother sat on the worn out and torn up couch at the edge of the wall. There was a refrigerator next to the door then a stove, but all were useless since there was no running electricity. We had running water in the bathroom but no one said it was clean, yet it was better than what most places had. There were five sleeping bags scattered around the floor. Nothing but a broken clock hung on the wall. There were two full windows who hadn't yet succumb to cracks.

    My father rubbed his hands together and breathed into them to keep them warm and then picked up a blanket putting it over my shoulders and I sat against the couch side holding it close to dry up and stay warmer.

   "Took another swim didn't you?", he chuckled.

I managed a smile, "Something like that", I said my teeth slightly chattering and held my knees close.  

    My mother read from the three books we had. Moby Dick was in her hands right now. She's probably read it over 1 million times by now. Including the other two. She never wanted to forget how to read and she loved reading.

   My mother was a strong minded woman, tall and lanky. Her hair was a deep dirty blonde and hadn't seen sunshine in days. It used to go down to her chin but to prevent lice we had all chopped off a good length and kept it so. The cut was never straight either. Some areas were shorter than others and pieces stuck out every which way. But those pieces were dark and grimey not having been washed for several weeks. She wore dorm up faded jeans and a navy sweater. She had a small Calvin and Hobbes handkerchief that she kept with her and had stitched it to a scarf to keep with her in one place. She was 64 now and her hands were rough and she had slight wrinkles. And her eyes held deep circles under them from lack of nutrition and uncomfortable sleep. But she always smiled. Her teeth were slightly yellow as ours since we had to conserve our toothpaste. Her bright blue eyes defined her old European ethnicity.
  
    In the back was a tiny room which was the bathroom. There was a bathtub, sink and toilet. Above the sink was a mirror slightly cracked in the top right corner. The tiles were white and some had yellow spots and were chipped off. There was a line of ugly pink tiles rotating around the square room which was 8 by 8 feet. The sink had running water most days, just not in the winter when everything froze throughout the month of February.

    I heard a knock on the door. A distinctive knock: three knocks then a five second pause and then a quick paced four knocks. My father opened the door, and in stumbled two people. My little sister and little brother. They were wet too from the acid rain. Their sneakers were soaked. Their backpacks and arms were filled with what looked like junk but to us it was useful tools.

  They dropped their things on the table in a pile and it all clattered making a loud noise. Metal pieces fell off the wooden table. We hurriedly picked the objects up as not to lose them, everyone did their share setting them all back up.
   After we had all stored and sorted through everything in cardboard boxes and then put then in the cabinets hanging above the counters.