“I’m tired Sean,” Chris said to his older brother. Chris was six. His brother Sean was ten. Sean wasn’t sure where a safe place to sleep was, but he knew it should be indoors and not on the street where rats could eat you. He saw a rat earlier that day. He and Chris were walking through a park. Chris saw a swing set but it was useless, because a police tank had rolled over it. It lay on its side bent and twisted.
It was about mid-afternoon, and Sean and Chris were looking for something to eat. It was hard to find anything to eat. They crossed the park pass the bent swing set, but they had to stop for a moment and play on the manual merry-go-round, which was undamaged. When they got off the merry-go-round, they made their way through a parking lot of a community center and library. Both the community center and the library were abandoned. The parking lot had few cars in it. A blue Sedan and red pick-up truck were riddled with bullets and their windows were broken. All the tires on the Sedan were flat and it rested there permanently.
Sean was intent on exploring the community center. He suspected there might be food in it. Chris stopped him and said, “Sean look up, look up. What’s that?”
“It’s a cherry-picker,” Sean said.
“Wow. What’s a cherry-picker?”
“Well a guy sits in that bucket at the top, and he cuts the trees.”
“Oh.”
“Come on Chris, we have to go.”
Sean took Chris by the hand and continued across the parking lot. The community center was connected to the library by a square. Their entrances faced a street, but there were also entrances on the sides and rear. In the square was a small fountain with pennies in it. There wasn’t any water in the fountain though.
Sean and Chris entered the comm. Unity center through the west entrance. The lobby of the community center had a few chairs and couches with grey upholstery. The carpet had red specks and light blue stripes on a grey background. Sean spotted two vending machines across from them. They were next to a drinking fountain and restrooms.
“Let’s go over there,” Sean said pointing to the vending machines. He and Chris looked at each other, giggled and started racing each other to the vending machines.
“I won,” Sean said.
“That’s not fair,” Chris said. “You cheated.”
“I didn’t cheat.”
“I’ll tell mom.”
“Mom’s dead.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot. Did she use to take us here Sean?”
“Yeah, she took you to the library for story hour.”
“Did you go to the story hour?”
“Yeah, but I’m a big kid now.”
They didn’t say anything for a moment and just stared at the vending machines. One of them was a coke machine and the other had candy bars and other snacks behind a thin glass. “We don’t have any money,” Chris said. He stepped up to the snack machine and started punching random buttons. Sean looked around and saw a receptionist’s window. He told Chris to stay where he was as he ran over to the window. There was no one behind it, but there was a chair, two other desks, a computer and a cash register. Sean opened the door next to the receptionist’s window and crept through it. The register was plugged in and Sean stared at it, trying to discern how to open it. He began pushing the buttons on the register and then heard a ‘ding’. The register popped open. Inside was a stack of Ones, a few Fives, a single ten bill, and about ten dollars in change. Sean took all the money and stuffed it in his pants pockets.
“Oooh, I’m telling,” Chris said, standing in the doorway.
“Shut up Chris.”
“You’re not allowed to take money from there.”
“Shhhh. Look, there’s no adult around.”
“But what if…”
“Be quiet. Just don’t tell anyone ok?”
“Ok.”
“Come on, let’s go,” Sean said in a conspiratorial whisper. A mischievous grin came over Chris’ face and they slipped out of the office. When they stood in front of the vending machines, Sean fished the change out of his pocket. He gave a handful of change to Chris and some of it fell out of his small hand.
“It’s says seventy-five cents for a coke.” Sean said as he stared at the coke machine.
“I want a coke,” Chris said.
“They also have Sprite.”
“I want a Sprite.”
“Ok.”
“Sean?”
“Yeah?”
“Do I have seventy-five cents?”
“Yeah. Here, give me your quarters.” Chris started giving Sean his quarters until Sean said, “Ok, that’s enough.” Then as Sean deposited the money in the coke machine, Chris put his change in his jean pocket and picked up the change he dropped on the floor. Sean got his younger brother a Sprite and a bag of chips. He then got himself a coke and a bag of chocolate chip cookies.
After they got their snacks, the two brothers sat on a couch in the lobby and began munching on their snacks. Chris looked around as he ate his chips. He could see inside a multi-purpose auditorium and next to its double entrance doors was a bulletin board with flyers and random notices. After Chris took a gulp of his Sprite he turned to Sean.
“Hey Sean, where’s dad?”
“He died like mom.”
“Why did he die?”
“The police killed him.”
“Why?”
“You know why Chris.”
“Yeah but why? Why do the police kill people?”
“Because dad was in the militia and the police don’t like the militia.”
“Oh.” Chris thought about this as he stared at the carpet and bounced on the couch. “Why don’t the police like the militia?”
Sean started telling Chris what little he knew and what facts he didn’t know, he filled in with fiction. “Dad said the economy collapsed, the government wanted people to work for rations. They didn’t want to work for rations, and they wanted to be in charge so they made a militia. Then the government flew planes and bombed cities that didn’t work, but the militia flew their own planes over the government and bombed them.”
“Wow.”
“I wanna fly a plane when I get older.”
“Me too,” Chris said.
“Hey Sean?”
“Yeah?”
“Where are the grown-ups?”
Sean sighed with irritation. “I already told you, they’re hiding.”
“From who?”
“The police. Sheesh, I already told you.”
“Shouldn’t we hide from the police?”
“Nah, they’re hiding too. I don’t think they’d shoot us anyway.”
“Oh.”
After Sean and Chris finished their snacks, Chris stood up and started jumping on the couch. Sean wandered over to the exit of the community center and looked across the square at the library.
“Hey Chris,” Sean said over his shoulder.
“Yeah?”
“Do you want to go to the library?”
“Oh yeah, I want to go to the library.”
“Come on then.” Chris jumped off the couch and then he and Sean stepped out of the community center. But as they walked across the square, they stopped before half way between the library and community center. In front of the library entrance laid a white kitten.
“Is it sleeping?” asked Chris.
“No, I think it’s dead,” said Sean.
“What should we do?”
“I don’t know.” Just then, a huge black sewer rat emerged from green foliage next to the entrance and dragged the white kitten into the foliage. Chris screamed and ran back into the community center. Sean followed. They both hid behind the grey couch.
“I’m not going out there,” Chris said.
“Maybe we should kill it.”
“It’s too big.”
“I want to go to the library still.”
“I’m not going out there.”
“Come on. Let’s see if he’s still there.” Reluctantly, Chris followed Sean to the center entrance. They stood in the doorframe and looked across the square. The kitten and the rat were gone. The brothers stared intently at the green foliage, waiting for something to come out of it. The library’s front doors were open, but they seemed dangerously far away. Sean took a couple brave steps away from the center.
“What are you doing?” Chris asked.
“Come on.”
“I’m not going out there.”
“There’s no rat around.”
“We should hide here.”
“We can make it if we run.”
“I don’t know.”
“We’ll run and once we’re inside we’ll shut the doors. Come on.” Chris took a couple steps out while still holding onto the doorframe with one hand. Sean grabbed on to his free hand. “Are you ready?”
“Alright.”
“Ok, go!” Sean and Chris ran as hard as they could towards the entrance of the library. They screamed too as they ran, probably putting the fear into every small living creature in the vicinity. Once they made it inside the library, Sean closed the front doors. They stood panting and coughing for a moment. After they caught their breath, Sean took in his surroundings. To his immediate left was the reference desk. Sean remembered that’s where librarians sat and they helped you find books. A little to his right were several computers occupying their own small individual tables. The tables were pushed against each other. Chris ran over to a computer started playing on the keyboard. All the screens were blank, but he tried turning his computer on.
“Hey Sean, do these have games for them?”
“No, this is the catalog system. They don’t have games.”
“They won’t turn on.”
Sean continued taking in his surroundings. Several tall shelves were overturned. All their books were on the floor. The wall opposite of the entrance was made of individual glass panes. Many of them were broken and the shards were scattered on the carpet. Maybe the police had come in here looking for militia. Sean imagined them in their black uniforms with their machine guns blasting away everyone in the room. He thought the police were very angry all the time, but he liked their uniforms and the dogs they always had with them. Chris liked their dogs as well.
Hanging from the ceiling near the reference desk was a yellow sign pointing to the children’s section of the library. Sean grabbed Chris by the shoulder and directed his attention to the sign. “Cool,” Chris said. He stepped away from the computer he was at and ran around the corner with Sean. In the center of the children’s section was a small reading table with different colored chairs. Stuffed animals were strewn on the floor. There was a Clifford, the Big Red Dog, an Elmo and a Panda bear. The reading table was in the center of a space surrounded by four bookshelves that were filled with picture books. Chris grabbed the plush Clifford and sat on the floor, playing with it. Sean perused the shelves. He found a section with books for older kids and picked out a Harry Potter. The he sat down in a cushioned chair and began reading it.
Eventually nighttime rolled around. Chris got bored with the toys and wandered around the corner to find Sean sitting in his chair reading a book. “Sean I’m tired.” Sean put his book down looked out the window. He could see it was dark out and not safe to go outside. The rat was still on both their minds.
“I think we should sleep here.”
“Alright.”
Sean and Chris took spots on the carpet next to the reading table. It was a warm night, and they felt safe inside the library. Oblivious to the police, the soldiers, the factions and the entire chaos happening all over the country, they slept contently.
