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me.”
    He looked uncomfortably at the ground, then finished
    “I hope that’s good enough of an apology.”
    Mom stared at him then just as a hint of a smile reached the corner of her mouth
    “Well, it could have been worse, thank you, and correct you I will. Now let’s you and me get some food.”
    She took his arm by the elbow and let him out of the armory.
    The living room was empty and the TV was off, it was getting dark outside but there were no lights in there. He followed Mom into the kitchen. Everyone else was there but we hadn’t waited. I was starving and I guess we all were. Old Man Tucker took a bite from the bowl Mom had offered him.
    “Ahh..Chili, my favorite vegetable.” ‘
    This made Lucy laugh but Mom just rolled her eyes. He then walked over to the fridge and took what must have been a five pound bag of ‘Shredded Mexican Blend Cheese Product’ and poured some on his dinner then passed it around. It was good, of course I thought Mrs. Driscol was probably the 2 nd best cook in the world behind my Mom. We ate until there was no more left, but several times Mom had to get Elaine to eat, she kept staring off into space.
    After dinner, me, Billy, Lucy and Elaine went into the living room, Old Man Tucker put on a DVD of what he called his second favorite movie, ‘Galaxy Quest’ with Tim Allen. The adults gathered around the table in the kitchen and while they were trying to be quiet, we could hear quite a bit of disagreement. Mr. Franks kept calling for votes. Old Man Tucker cursed using some very bad words that there was no way he would let votes determine his future. Mr. Franks wanted the keys to the guns, he wanted to know how much food Old Man Tucker had, and Old Man Tucker said that Mr. Franks wanted to be elected Queen. Even Elaine choked back a laugh when she heard that. She had been listening in just like me and Billy. They argued a long time and when Old Man Tucker pointed to the door one too many times, Mom took charge and said that like it or not we needed each other and we were going to have to get along.
    As it got late Mr. Franks volunteered to sleep in the living room with his wife. It was decided that we would share the big bedroom with Mrs. Driscol and Billy. Mr. Caulfield and Old Man Tucker would trade using the bed in the guest room. Old Man Tucker said he would keep a watch until 2 AM, and then he would wake Mr. Caulfield to take over until breakfast. Mom and Mrs. Driscol slept on the outside of Old Man Tucker’s king size bed. Elaine slept with her head at the other end, me, Billy and Lucy just found a warm spot in between. It had been a traumatic few days, my dad and Billy’s were unaccounted for. I finally figured out that poor Mr. Caulfield’s wife had died in the car accident and there were the crazies, the shootings and the fear. The constant, never ending fear that assailed us all, made us feel weak and unable to move, unable to respond to anything.  But still we lived and we all slept like those who just didn’t have much left to keep them awake. It was Elaine who must have gotten up for the bathroom or something. I remember her shaking Mom awake saying
    “Mom, come quick, something is wrong with Mr. Caulfield.”
    Mom hurried out of bed and was immediately followed by Mrs. Driscol and the rest of us. In the kitchen, leaning against the refrigerator was Mr. Caulfield and he had a huge knot on the side of head. Old Man Tucker had gotten up and joined us. The Franks were gone.
     
     
    Day 4, Old Man Tucker’s Kitchen
    Mr. Caulfield said that around four AM Mrs. Franks came into the kitchen, she said she couldn’t sleep. She and her husband were both concerned about things, about Mr. Tucker and all those guns. She thought that maybe if Mr. Caulfield would back them up then things could get organized. Mr. Caulfield said that he wouldn’t do that. He felt that Mr. Tucker had done nothing that warranted this level of suspicion. He was about to say that he was willing to