This is a fictional story. All names, places, and viruses are used fictitiously. Resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, past or present, are intentional.
If you haven’t read from the beginning, please start at Chapter 1 here.
***
Due Date: 74 days away
“We’re on our way back.”
“That’s good,” Liz said. “I’m so cold.”
“I will get you a mountain of blankets.”
I imagined her appreciating that.
“They won’t let you in here,” she said. She was still conversing, but I could hear the strain in her voice, worse since the last time we spoke
“Is there someone there I can talk to? A doctor or something?”
It took about 10 minutes, but she put me on the phone with one of the nurses. I asked some questions, trying to get a feel for how serious they were taking Liz’s case. The nurse was concerned when she heard I was out driving in all this, coming back downtown. She said I could visit, but she would not recommend it at all, and I wouldn’t be able to be in the same room with Liz.
I glanced in the rear view mirror at Shepherd. He was smiling in his car seat.
I wrapped up the conversation with the nurse and transferred back to Liz.
“Want to talk to mama?” I said. I clicked over to speaker phone.
“Hi,” Kenneth said.
Shepherd didn’t say anything.
“Alrighty then.” I smiled at Kenneth. “Liz, when we stop, I’m going to upgrade to a plan with data. If we can’t visit right now, we’ll at least be able to fall asleep to each other on video chat.”
I knew I’d need the network connection anyway.
“Get some rest, okay?” I said. “My mom is calling. I’ll call you back in a bit.”
My mom had just woken up.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get your text earlier,” she said.
I filled her in the best I could. She didn’t know about the bridges. She didn’t know about Liz. She certainly didn’t know what we were doing. I told her about the first two.
“Let me tell your sister, and I’ll drive up,” she said. “I can be there this afternoon.”
“It’s okay. You need to stay there. You can’t be driving through three states. If I’m right, you won’t be able to get to us anyway. If I’m wrong, if I’m overreacting, we’ll go home soon anyway.”
“What do you mean go home soon? Where are you now?”
“Mom, we’re downtown. We’ll be all right. Stay safe. Pray for us. I’ll call you later once we know more about what’s happening.”
Jerry had texted me while we were on the phone. “About to head out. Did you want me to swing by and get your boys?”
Downtown had progressed—or regressed—a lot just since I’d left to get the boys.
The mostly empty streets had become mostly full. More cars, more traffic, but mostly more people. Everywhere. Walking on the sidewalk. Spilling into the roads. It was starting to look like a big city downtown, somewhere like Chicago or New York, and it was still early, on a Sunday morning, in Louisville.
I stopped at a traffic light, partly to text Jerry back but also because the crowd was going to cross whether I stopped or not.
Thankfully, no one was mad. They parted when we drove through their groups in the middle of the streets. It still felt intimidating, driving that close to them, nearly wiping our windows with their shirts. I wanted to respect their right of way at the crosswalk.
We circled the block like that, making eye contact with many of them. I wasn’t sure how they were gathering, why everyone all of a sudden thought it was a good idea to gather in the streets instead of quarantining at home. I hadn’t kept up with the news.
“Where are we going anyway?” Kenneth finally asked.
“We’re already here.”
I took a hard left off the one-way street into the driveway. I knew it was narrow, but this was worse than I thought. Kenneth immediately noticed the gate.
“What is this place? Can we get in?”
I put us in park.
“Do you remember me ever talking about a place called The Castle?”
