Installment six in Rowan's Journey

Rowan was playing Candy Land with Joshua. She slid her red plastic counterpart into place near Lollipop Woods as a commotion caught her attention out in the front yard. There was Rascal bearing his teeth at a man. The most awful hissing noise came from the little critter. Rowan grabbed the shot gun once again and headed to the door. She instructed Joshua to hide behind the door and wait. As Rowan stepped onto the porch she felt a sinking feeling like she did when she confronted Rascal earlier in the day. It seemed like there was danger every time she unlatched that dead bolt. A smile spread across her face and she could not help herself but Chuckle. Cowering away from Rascal was their good friend Mac. Mac was a quirky man who looked about 20 years older than he was. He was only 52 but looked like he was ready for the nursing home. “Ro shoot this mongrel before it takes a bite out of me” Mac stuttered pointing towards the attack raccoon. Rowan jokingly quipped, “Oh that’s just Rascal our guard coon. He won’t hurt you much.”

Relaxing her grip on the gun Rowan playfully shouted, “It’s O.K. Rascal, He is a friend. You can stand down.” To their amazement the brute looked over at her and then ran off. Rowan thought to herself that a little Mac and cheese goes a long way. She then laughed out loud with a snort when she realized Mac was also her scared friend’s name. The scene was just too weird for her to believe. It must have been just in her head. Her nerves must be getting the better of her, she thought. With the sentry now gone, Mac ran up to the porch and hugged Rowan tight. It was awkward for a moment when he realized he had never even shaken her hand before. “By God Ro, I am so glad you are safe. Where’s Josh?” Rowan hated when people shortened his name to Josh, but for some reason it never bothered her when Mac did it. He was also the only one allowed to call her Ro. That is until he would start singing “Ro, Ro, Ro, your boat” at that point she would always send him home. She was so glad to hear it now though. Rowan pointed to the house and said come on in. Yelling to Joshua that is was “just Mac” they made their way to the door. They spoke for a while in hushed whispers because she did not want to scare the little one. He filled in her on what he knew, which was not much. He said that it was some sort of Electro Magnetic Pulse, but they (whoever they were) did not know yet what kind. It was unclear if it had been nukes set off above America or if it was some sort of solar flare or something else. As Mac relayed information Rowan began to grasp that most of what Mac was saying was gossip that he heard from that nosey Miss Tarcon down the road. Mac owned the big farm that bordered Wade’s property. He had made his rounds to each nearby house on an old silver moped that he had stored in one of his out buildings. Rowan was a little upset that she had not heard him approaching and she admonished herself for not being more vigilant and vowed to not let it happen again. For some odd reason she felt lucky that it was only Mac and not some stranger or worse. Though at that minute she could not figure out what could be worse or what she was afraid of.

Mac said that all of the local neighbors had touched base and that the two Drieffer boys had taken an old dirt bike up to City Hall to see if they could get any information. There was a “Neighborhood Watch” meeting scheduled for noon the next day where they could hopefully find out what happened and what they were supposed to do next. Mac asked if they had food and water. Rowan nodded her head and said, “We are O.k. Mac.” Mac then scrunched up his eyebrows and scratched his head messing up what little of a part he had left in his hair. Rowan always thought it was nice that Mac had a full head of healthy hair. It was still dark brown despite his deceptive age. Mac looked like he was struggling to find his words. Then he said, “No one’s heard from Wade. Have you heard anything or know if he is……um…alive?” For some reason the words hit her like a slap in the face. She could almost feel a sting on her cheek and her skin turning cherry red. Rowan had not really comprehended that Wade could have been hurt when the planes all crashed. By Mac’s report there were at least twelve maybe even fifteen planes that plummeted to the ground when whatever happened happened. Normally she would have driven right past Wade’s girlfriend’s house on the way out to the property. Since she had taken the highway around though, she avoided all of town. It had not even crossed her mind before, but if she had stopped at the apartment they may have been able to bring Wade home with them. Now Rowan’s eyes filled with tears and she realized that he may never come home. It was an unusual feeling for her. Over the last year she had wished him dead a number of times. Rowan moved her head back and forth and swallowing down a lump of goal said, “No his car is gone and the house was cold when we got here. I assumed he was with…..HER.” Mac chirped up saying, “You know Wade! I am sure he is fine. He will come wandering in here soon complaining about getting his shoes dirty because he had to walk home.” Mac pulled a flare gun out of his pants belt and handed it to her saying, “If you have any trouble or need any help or anything you just point that up towards my place and I will come with a posse.” Mac using the word Posse eased Rowan up a bit. He used it in the correct context but of course all she could picture was Mac rolling up with a truck load of Rappers wearing baggie jeans and gold teeth grills. The image was comical and gave Rowan a much needed sigh of relief. “I have to get back now, Molly will be worried” Mac said as he stood heading towards the door. Molly was Mac’s Golden retriever. She was old as dirt and never left the house any more. Mac’s wife had been killed in a car crash going on ten years earlier. Mac had never remarried or even dated since. He had a spell of drunkenness the first year after her death but straightened up when Molly was diagnosed with diabetes. Molly had become Mac’s reason to live and Rowan knew that when he said “Molly would be worried” he was really saying he was worried about her. Rowan had seen Mac age twenty years in the first month after his wife passed. Mac rubbed the boy’s hair and ordered, “Josh you take care of your Mom you hear.” Mac started out the door and stopped. He again hugged Rowan tight, this time it was not awkward at all. As he started the silver bullet moped, Mac waved and yelled, “Tomorrow noon at the Sherman’s place.” Rowan watched as Mac drove off, turning down the dirt road and disappearing out o


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