Chapter 35 Reality Check

Grant felt so alive; more alive than ever. It was a combination of excitement, thrill, fear, restlessness, and a need to do a thousand things at once. He knew this was the beginning of the most important time in his life. The decisions he made now would keep him and his family alive or get them killed. The stakes could not be any higher. He was ready for what he thought was coming, but he knew that things never turned out exactly like it is predicted they will. He knew there would be awful things ahead. He knew.

He needed to get Manda up to speed. She would be invaluable in convincing her mom to do things she didn’t want to do.

Grant pulled into the Cedars. What a contrast from his cabin. His neighborhood was a pathetic collection of grasshoppers. Pathetic. After talking to Bill, Grant was envious of Bill’s Texas neighborhood. Down there, they were pulling together, prepping openly, and having a neighborhood defense plan. He couldn’t see that happening here. One of the reasons he was so thankful to have the cabin was that he knew how vulnerable they were in Cedars. His neighbors were oblivious.

Grant clicked the garage door opener and saw that Lisa was not home. Good. He could talk to Manda without having to whisper.

Cole saw him come in the house and said, “Hi, Dad. How was your day?” Cole was working hard on being conversational with people. He would ask the same handful of questions like that, along with “What does the weather look like outside?” He was doing well. He was working so hard. For Cole, talking and listening to people was the hardest thing in the world, so he had to force himself to be conversational because he wanted to be connected to people. God, Grant loved that little guy, though he was thirteen now and not so little. But he talked like a three year-old so it was still easy to think of him as a little kid.

“I had a bad day, little buddy,” Grant said. “But I’m home with you so I’m having a good day now. Thanks for asking. How was your day?”

Cole thought a while. “It was fine, Dad.” He was grinning from ear to ear. His dad was home. It was impossible not to love this kid. “Awesome, little buddy,” Grant said as he hugged Cole. “Is your sister home?”

“Why, yes, Dad,” Cole said. “She’s upstairs.”

Grant went up to Manda’s room. She was listening to her iPod.

“Hey, Dad, what’s up?” Manda asked. She had no idea what had been happening. Grant envied the innocence of being a kid.

“Manda, our little plan might need to be activated,” Grant said with as little concern as possible. “Not immediately, but long term.” Grant was trying not to scare her.

She slowly pulled the iPod headphones off, looking very serious. She wasn’t scared. She looked calm and confident. Like a grown up.

“OK, Dad, what’s the situation?” she asked. That was a pretty mature thing for a sixteen year old to say.

Grant described the stock market and, more importantly, the bond rating. She had seen the news about the California and Mexico situations, but thought that was far away. She instantly understood why the bond rating and other crises were a problem. Grant told her about his phone call with Bill Owens.

“I don’t expect the refugee problem to be affecting us all the way up here,” Grant said. That was downplaying his concerns, but he didn’t want to scare her unnecessarily. “The Federal Government is freaking out right now. They are losing control of Texas and probably California, Arizona, and New Mexico. This is a dangerous time because the feds might try to overreact.”

Manda was taking it all in. He had never seen her so focused on what he was saying.

“I don’t think we need to bug out right now,” Grant continued. He didn’t really believe that, but he was trying hard not to overreact so he told himself things like that. “Maybe we never need to. But we need to do as much now as possible, in advance, so we can leave on a moment’s notice.”

“I understand,” Manda said. “What can I do to help?” Whoa. Did she just say that? The girl who never picked up her room was asking how she could help the family evacuate? Awesome. Evacuating was way more important than picking up her room.

“Start by getting all the stuff you need — I mean need, not just want — and making a list so you could throw it together quickly,”

Grant said. “Think about what you use every day.”

“OK, Dad. I understand,” Manda said. She was serious but also seemed relieved that her dad was taking care of her. She knew how hard this was on him, but he was doing whatever it took to protect her and Mom and her little brother.

“If I need to, I’ll ask you to come and talk to Mom with me,” Grant said. “Can you do that?” Grant knew what the answer would be.

“Of course,” Manda said with a big smile. She realized that talking Mom into leaving was what she could do. Manda was proud to have an important role in all of this. “Mom needs to understand how much better off we’ll be at the cabin than here.”

Wow. Grant couldn’t believe how Manda got this but her mom didn’t.

She’s on board. You did a good job, said the outside thought. He hadn’t heard it in quite some time.

Keep doing what you’re doing. That was reassuring.

Grant realized he was anxious to get this going. To get the Collapse going. How odd: hurry up and collapse. He was like the eccentric meteorologist who predicts snow in June, gets laughed at, and then sees the snowflakes and gets excited. Grant wanted the snow to come down. Hard.

Then he realized that he really didn’t want the Collapse to come soon. He had plenty of things to get done before then. He was very well prepared, but even he could use more time to get everything together and do more. There was always more to do. No, Grant didn’t really want the Collapse to come. He just knew it would.

The garage door went up signifying that Lisa was home. Great. Reality check. Time to quit thinking about the end of the world and return to being a supportive suburban husband. This double life thing was getting harder and harder as the Collapse approached.

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