Children of the Dust Read Online Free PDF Page B

dumped in the garage. And she said Buster seemed a little brighter. He had drunk all his water and eaten the meat from his dish, unless it were rats. Veronica had seen the rats gnawing at the body of a dead sheep, and she carried a poker when she went outside to empty the commode.
    Sarah used new lengths of sticky tape to reseal the door and William filled a beaker with fresh water from the bucket. Candlelight flickered, showing the fireplace empty of rubbish, her father's old duffle coat stuffed up the chimney, and twinkling reflections on the blank television screen. Darkness was bearable with the candle burning and Sarah was reluctant to blow it out.
    'Leave it,' said Veronica. 'Let's play cards.'
    'Oh yes!' said William. 'Strip-jack-naked!'
    'And I want to play!' shouted Catherine.
    'We don't have any cards,' said Sarah.
    Veronica produced a pack from her apron pocket. She had been through the front door and fetched them from the study. They sat on cushions on the dampened carpet and played until after midnight. Nobody argued. Nobody said anything hateful — not even William when Catherine won. But William did grow tired and hungry. All he wanted, he said, was a dish of dog biscuits before he went to bed.
    They did not have dog biscuits. They had a feast. Veronica sliced potatoes very thinly into the frying pan and when they were cooked she stirred in a pinch of dried herbs and four beaten eggs. Afterwards they had cocoa made with powdered milk and two squares of chocolate each which Veronica had been hiding.
    'That was yummy,' said Catherine. 
    'Yummy Mummy! Yummy Mummy!' William chanted. 
    'How about cleaning your teeth?' Sarah suggested. 
    'We don't need to,' said Catherine. 'Because there aren't any dentists now and we won't ever have to go again.'
    'Which is all the more reason to clean your teeth,' said Sarah. 'Because if they go bad you'll have to have them pulled out with the pliers.'
    Catherine cleaned her teeth like she had never cleaned them before, and William fell asleep in the chair with his clothes on. The stub of the candle guttered and died as Veronica strip-washed over a bowl of cold water. Sarah lay in the darkness. She heard human sounds that no longer embarrassed her, Catherine's deep breathing, and the creak of the settee as Veronica settled for the night.
    'That was two extra candles and four eggs,' said Sarah. 
    'I think we needed it,' Veronica replied. 
    'Are you feeling better?'
    'I'm sorry about today,' Veronica said. 'Sorry about yesterday too. I had no right to withdraw and leave you to cope. It was selfish, I see that now. Do you really think we can survive?'
    'I think Catherine will,' Sarah said confidently.
    'Why Catherine?' Veronica asked.
    'It's as if she knows,' said Sarah. 'As if she has an instinct. Right from the beginning she wouldn't drink that water, not even when I mixed it with milk powder. She had to have hers from the container. And she hardly comes out from under the table except to go to the toilet. She's managed to avoid contamination and she hasn't been exposed to the dust. I think we have to forget about ourselves and concentrate on her.'
    Veronica thought for a moment.
    'If we die, how will she survive then?'
    Sarah struggled to find the words.
    'I don't know. I suppose we just have to trust. This is how things are meant to be and we're part of a plan. We don't need to see the reason and we can't question it, because the reason's out there, beyond us, with whatever it is that knows. We just do what we're supposed to do and make sure Catherine survives. All we are are fragments of some bigger meaning.'
    'You're talking about God,' Veronica said quietly.
    And maybe Sarah was talking about God.
    For in the end people turned to Him.
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    Sarah sat up and listened. Something had woken her. And it came again ... a rifle shot in the distance. She waited but heard nothing else. It was twenty past eight by her watch and she could have gone back to sleep, but instead she