all god's orphans

Brian placed all of the insulin on the kitchen counter.

“Well aren’t you a cold bottle of Veuve Clicquot?” Smiled Daniel.

“A what?” Brian asked, crumpling his brow.

“My mom used to describe people as drinks. Veuve Clicquot was her favorite champagne.” Daniel watched as his mother flipped through one of her old architecture magazines, looking at the pictures of perfect houses. “‘That guy is a real dry martini’ she would say. One time when she got mad at my aunt, she called her ‘Michelob in a plastic champagne flute.’”

“She sounds like she was a lot of fun.” Brian said, immediately regretting using the past tense.”

“Yeah.” Daniel nodded. “Do you think she’s still in there somewhere? Like, will this just wear off?” Brian didn’t know what to say. The same thought had crossed his mind, too, but he didn’t know enough about regular amnesia, let alone, global amnesia to offer and relevant opinion.

“Maybe.” He said, not really believing it himself. Daniel surveyed the supplies he’d dumped on the counter.

“Where did you get all of this stuff, anyway?”

“Walgreen’s.”

“Did you get anything else?”

“No.” Admitted Brian. “When I came out of the pharmacy there was this weird looking guy with a gun so I just left.”

“We’re gonna need food.” Daniel didn’t want to nag, but it was true. They needed food.

“I’m very hungry.” Chimed Carla.

“I know, mom. We’ll get something to eat soon, okay?” She smiled at him.

“Okay.” She said cheerily. She didn’t seem to grasp the severity of the situation, which was fine with Daniel. He didn’t want to stress her out.

“I think we should leave soon.” Said Brian gravely.

“To get food?”

“No. To get somewhere else.” Brian’s voice was dark. “We need to go. I don’t think this situation is going to improve. In fact, I think it’s going to get worse.”

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Said Daniel, taking a seat at the table. “I think we should stay here.”

“What?” Brian was incredulous. “You can’t be serious. We need to get you somewhere we have access to medicine. The Walgreen’s isn’t going to cut it anymore.” Daniel had been thinking, but Brian had actually been outside.

“Don’t you think help will be arriving soon? The National Guard? Or the police.”

“No.” Brian said curtly. “There is nobody out there. No National Guard, anyway. We need to go to them.”

“What about my mom?”

“We’ll take her with us.” That seemed to soften Daniel’s opposition.

“You’d help me look after her?” Brian was genuinely hurt by that. He took a small step backwards.

“Of course.” Daniel saw that he was sincere and regretted hurting him. He jumped out of his chair and threw his arms around Brian’s neck.

“I love you!” He said without thinking then let go immediately. “I mean, you know. That’s lovely. You’re lovely. You’re a lovely person for doing that.” Brian smiled and wanted to let him off the hook, but saying the ‘L’ word wasn’t his style.

“You’re lovely, too.” He finally said. Daniel wanted to change the subject.

“So where should we go?” Brian had thought a lot about this as he drove back from Walgreen’s.

“Fort Campbell.” He answered. “It’s big. It’s close. The army has a lot of airpower there so they’ll probably be using it as a hub. We should go there.” Daniel sighed. He didn’t like the idea of leaving his home, but Brian was right. They needed supplies.

“Mom!” Called Daniel. “Do you want to take a trip?”