What Comes After | ✔️

Chapter 11

July 30

Leon tagged along with all of us to the food drive.

Dad was trying his best to be nice to Leon today. I mean, even I would at least try to get to know the person that may become your son-in-law. Before we headed out to grab our weekly bag of canned food, Dad offered an air-mask to Leon, almost a kind of olive branch.

"Here," Dad said gruffly. "Take this."

Mom smiled approvingly.

"It's alright mister— Sorry, Avi," Leon said. "You guys have already done so much for me. I've got my own stash of air-masks."

"No, I insist," Mom said. "We're the hosts and you're our—"

"I've got plenty of masks. Don't worry about it," Leon said.

"But—"

"Mom," May said. "Leon doesn't need any air-masks. He's got his own. You guys don't need to keep doing this pointless 'I insist' battle. C'mon let's go."

"Okay, great," Dad said. "Let's go."

We walked down the empty sidewalks. Mom in front with Grandma and Grandpa. May and I behind them, crammed in the middle. Dad, Mira, and Leon hanging out in the back. The houses all around us were abandoned, or at least looked so. There was no movement inside of them, no fluttering of curtains or flickering of candles or anything. Just complete stillness.

Occasionally, you would see some movement around the houses. In some of the houses we passed, the curtains were billowing as the wind blew, but if you looked closer, you'd realize that the windows were smashed, and the house was more likely than not looted. The kitchen cabinets would be flung wide open, and any valuables would be long gone. I wonder if Charles and his family need to do that to survive.

Dad made sure that we stayed close to each other, especially when we went downtown. It had been two weeks since the mayor's speech, and with food running thin, people's memories of that nice speech may be fading away. Last week seemed too calm to be true, so this week, Dad was extra wary.

We passed by the looted buildings and smashed windows of cafes. The shops that were looted had a couple of chairs thrown around, and all the glass was broken. It felt like the people weren't looting the store, but just smashing all the glass containers and windows because they're angry at the mayor or the president or the Moon.

When Dad wasn't looking around for rifles or other guns, he was busy talking with Leon. Leon had checked one box in his approval sheet, which was being a Democrat, but Dad wanted to know more. The more cynical part of me wants to think that the only reason Dad was talking with Leon was because Dad wanted to find some flaw with Leon and somehow get Mira to dump him, but the more hopeful part tells me that Dad was talking with Leon to make up for the past few days.

"What was your major in college?" Dad asked.

"Journalism," he said.

"You want to work for the New York Times someday?"

"Maybe when the world goes back to normal," he said. "But I'm probably going to work for the local newspaper just because it's close to home."

"Any particular writing focus?"

"I did sports journalism back in high school for our local team," he said. "Right now, I'm more interested in the environmental stuff."

"What sports do you watch?"

"I watched mostly volleyball and basketball, some baseball, not a whole bunch of football since the rules are pretty confusing," he replied. "What about you?"