Odd Billy Todd Read Online Free PDF Page A

more now as he looked back on it. If Rommel hadn’t been there, and snapped him out of the mess he’d been in, Billy knew he would probably be still sitting there. Frozen. Unable to make a decision.
    When Billy was calm, and not under stress, it was easy for him to see where his shortcomings were. He could see things clearly then, but if panic ever gripped him, or if he ever felt like he’d made a wrong move or a bad decision, it could cripple him for hours. With things like they were now, he couldn’t let that happen. He might not have the time to recover.
    Frowning, Billy sat further back, easing the rocking chair into motion. He would need a plan. For everything. His parents had taught him that making a plan was a good way to make sure that everything that needed to be done got done. He needed a plan for making sure that he didn’t have any more episodes like on the road today.
    So long as he made his decisions carefully, like his mamma and daddy had taught him, he shouldn’t have any panic attacks. If he was sure of his plan then he would know he had made the right choice, even when it felt like he hadn’t.
    “I need a plan,” he said aloud. “Yeah, that’s what I need. I need a plan.”
    He took the small notebook he always carried with him from his pocket. Something else he’d learned from his parents. If you don’t write it down, it didn’t happen. If you don’t write it down, you won’t remember it. It didn’t happen.
    “Plan,” he mumbled to himself again. He wrote PLAN in large letters atop the first empty page and then he sat back, rocking and thinking.
    This might take a while.
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER THREE
    The next morning dawned bright and sunny. As he stood on the porch looking out at the bright new day, Billy was almost able to forget that the whole world had died. That he was alone, save for Rommel, at least for now.
    True, there might be other folks somewhere, but everyone he knew of in and around Cedar Bend was gone. He shuddered at the memory of all the bodies, especially the ones in the cars between his home and town. For some reason those in the cars bothered him more than anything else. He didn’t know why, but they did.
    He still couldn’t figure why he was still alive and everyone else was dead. What had he done, or not done, that everyone else had or hadn’t? He had spent a lot of time figuring on that, but he just didn’t know. He just didn’t, and that bothered him too. If he had time to think over long on that, he knew it would bother him worse and worse until he couldn’t think of anything else.
    But he had plenty to do today. Picking up his rifle, he whistled loudly. After a few seconds, Rommel came racing up from where he’d been running around the yard and marking the trees. Billy started for the barn.
    “C’mon, boy. Daylight’s a wastin’.” The big dog followed him faithfully, right at his side.
    Once in the barn, Billy walked to the four wheel drive side-by-side his father had always used to check the farm over. Billy hit the key, and was pleased to hear the engine turn right over. He hadn’t used the Ranger in a long time, over a month he figured, which reminded him of something else.
    Whipping out his trusty note pad, Billy made a note that he needed to get parts, filters, oil and the like for the Ranger. Heck, he decided, he might even get a whole new one. Be nice if he could find one with a cab, and a heater.
    Rommel had backed away from the noise the small ‘truck’ made when it started. He now stood several feet away, evaluating this new development. Billy noted that, and called to him.
    “C’mon, boy. She won’t bite,” he laughed. Rommel cocked his head to the side, but remained rooted where he was. Billy frowned at that.
    “Rommel, come on,” he repeated. “We ain’t got all day, you know.” Rommel cocked his head in the other direction, but moved no closer. Billy began to feel frustrated.
    “What am I going to do if he won’t get