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eye on our surroundings. The habit that served me well in our excursions, and did well when we were in supposedly friendlier territory.
    We walked up the hill, rounding the bend in front of the old school that was used as a legislative building.  Congress wasn’t in session right now, so the building was quiet and had minimal activity.  Supposedly, the original Constitution and Bill of Rights were housed within, but I hadn’t seen them myself.
    At Fourth Street, we walked over a small ditch and past a small grassy rise.  The little hill was about four feet high, but combined with the ditch; the barrier was actually over eight feet.  Once upon a time, Julia’s dad had helped build that barricade to keep out the zombies that had been all over the place.  Now it was a place kids played in and others cursed for its inconvenience.  It was funny how quickly people forgot the effort that went into trying to save the world from extinction.
    Two small rights and then a left found us standing in the door of a small, yet cozy home. Leport was like that.  There were big homes, and right next door, there were little homes. People tended to go where their tastes and their egos took them.  When the power was off, people stayed in the small houses because they were easier to heat in the winters.  When the power came back on, there was a bit of a scramble for the bigger homes.  These days, things seem to have settled down. 
    Julia knocked on the door and a small, older woman answered the door. 
    “Yes? Can I help you?”  She asked.  She looked at me a little apprehensively, and then kept her eyes on Julia.
    “Ma’am?  We’re the collectors you hired.  We found what you were looking for.” Julia opened up the duffle bag and pulled out two large books.  One looked like a photo album, and the other looked to be an ordinary book.  She handed them over to the woman, who surprised me by suddenly tearing up and crying. 
    The woman held the books tightly and didn’t say a word for a moment.  “You got them.  I thought they were gone forever.  I can’t believe you got them.”  She just kept saying it over and over again, tears falling off her face and splashing on the front porch.
    Julia smiled and put her hand on the woman’s shoulder, which seemed to shake her out of her moment.
    “Oh, my God!  You did it!  I can’t thank you enough!  Oh, God!  Charles will be so surprised.  Charles!  Come up here!  I have a surprise for you!”  The woman called into the house and then turned back to Julia and myself.  “Thank you so much!”  She hugged Julia and gave my arm a squeeze, her teary eyes filling with joy.
    “We lost so much when we fled, and I thought we’d never get anything we had back, not after the city had been closed.  Thank you again.” The woman was nearly delirious, and I think I understood why Jake tended to avoid this part of the job.
    “What is it, Maggie?  Why are you crying?  Jesus, you’re huge!” A middle-aged man stepped into the doorway, sporting a very balding head and a bright shock of red hair bursting from above his ears.  His big hands and arms told of years of hard work, while his bulging belly spoke of marrying a good cook.  His last comment was aimed at me, and his eyes took me in at a glance, noting my shoulders and arms, and running a practiced eye over my weapons.  If I had to guess, Charles here could handle a zombie or three without too much trouble.
    Maggie handed Charles the book, and whatever I was expecting, it certainly wasn’t to see Charles take the book like it was a newborn, and suddenly fall on his knees.  He looked at the book for a long time, and then he slowly brought the book to his chest. He held it there for a long moment, and then stood up with difficulty.
    When Charles was up, there were tears in his eyes as well.  He kept looking at the book, then looking at us.  He was so choked up he could barely speak.
    “Thank you.  May God bless