I woke up early on day 4. I think it was because I went to bed early. Without a TV, or a computer, I drifted off to sleep after it got dark. The water was still working, but the water heater wasn’t anymore. We had a gas one, and I guess the gas had still been on for a little while, but it too had gone the way of the electricity. I had a fight with myself between the cold of the shower and the way I smelled and felt. Eventually the feeling won out against the cold and I took a real short shower. Now I miss even those cold showers. I went outside after that.
I met my neighbors then. Really met them. At least the ones who were still there. I had seen them at block parties, but really I’d never spent any time talking to them. Now I did. Mrs. Spooner, who lived next door, was still around, but her husband and son had disappeared. She was in her thirties and working in her garden when I wandered by. I asked her what she was doing and she said working on her tomato plants. She said, with as hot as it had been, they were likely to come early that year and she wanted to be ready for it. I think at the time the ridiculousness of the situation was lost on me because I just kept talking to her while she pulled weeds or trimmed or did whatever she was doing. Thinking about it now, how crazy was that? Working in a garden two days after your husband and son had just up and disappeared. I guess it was probably her way of coping with the loss. She probably still had hope left that they would be found. I know I still did at the time.
That night was about as interesting as the last one. Mostly it was the same thing as the night before. We all gathered in the middle of the street around the radio. The President gave an address that said the same thing as before. They still hadn’t figured out why everyone had disappeared, but they were looking into it. Stay calm and don’t panic. Afterward the man in charge, Mr. Homitzer took a head count of everyone as well as a disappearance count. There were 45 of us on our street, with 52 missing. A little over half.
Mr. Homitzer said the police had come by today and given him some information about the city. The three power plants outside the city were all down, but the workers were working to bring them back online. Similarly there were trucks going around fixing the downed power lines and other trucks going around clearing car wrecks and the like, but with the lack of people it was taking a long time. He said anyone who worked for the utility companies or the city should go into work tomorrow and help as needed, and if they didn’t have cars to let him know so he could get them a ride. Everyone else was asked to keep to their homes and off the streets until the wreckage had been cleared. He said until something changed that it would be best if we kept meeting like this every night.
Day 4,