He walked back over to the girl and tried to hand it to her, but she shrank away from him, still frightened. George was getting annoyed now and stepped back to glare at her for a moment before sighing deeply. Take it easy, you old fool. She’s frightened and doesn’t understand, he silently said to himself before deciding on a plan. He put the robe on to show her what it was, and almost cursed when it stopped short of closing with six inches of his belly still exposed. Mary had given him the robe a long time ago. Taking it off, he again tried to hand it to the girl, but she still cried out when he stepped closer. He finally gave up and threw it at her.
“There. Put it on or don’t, I don’t care. Come down to the house when you feel like it.” He pointed over to the house as he spoke, but the girl just sat there staring at him. He decided to try some of the pidgin German that he had picked up from the movies and said, “Comen see to da housen, ya?” The girl still just stared at him, so he gave up and left.
George returned to the house and tried the phone again. Still dead. Taking a deep breath, he looked around. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Looking back out at the barn, he nodded to himself. That girl came from somewhere. The power and phone were out for some reason. That left only one thing to do: drive to town.
The keys to his truck were hanging near the door. That had been Mary’s idea when they first moved here, to hang the vehicle keys by the door like her parents had done. Now there were only two sets hanging there: the truck and the tractor. Grabbing the truck keys, he left, carefully locking the door behind him. No telling if anyone else was going to follow the girl to his farm.
He got into the truck and started it, then looked up at the loft. There was no sign of the girl, so he backed out and headed to town. He drove slowly, watching for pedestrians or any sign of a wreck, but there was still nothing out of the ordinary. He made the turn off of his road and headed toward town, but slowed and stopped in the middle of the road as his mind finally registered the countryside. There was something very wrong with what he was seeing. There was supposed to be a hill off to his left, but it wasn’t there. A column of smoke was rising into the air off to the south, but there should have been trees in the way.
Cautiously driving on, he kept his eyes open for any other signs of trouble. He made it into town and found people milling about, lining the streets. Whatever the problem was, it was widespread.
An old woman in her Sunday dress waved him down and immediately climbed into the truck. “George, take me out to Jimmy’s house. I have to get to the children.”
“Beth, what the hell’s going on here? I don’t have power or phones at my place, and there’s a little girl in my barn shouting German at me.”
“I don’t know, George. No one does. But the word we got was that Dan Frost has been shot, and there’s lunatics on the loose with antique rifles, shooting at whatever moves. Now, move, damn it! I have to get to the children.” Elizabeth glared at George as he put his truck in gear.
“All right, Beth, all right. If there isn’t any help here in town I may as well go home, too. Damn, I wish I knew what was going on around here.” He started driving back out the way that he had come, then slammed on the brakes. Looking closely at Elizabeth, he lifted one eyebrow. “You said the police chief has been shot? Who’s in charge, that fool Dreeson?”
“Drive, George. No, not Henry Dreeson. Mike Stearns has taken charge. Dan deputized him and the UMWA before he passed out. Now go. You said that there’s a girl in your barn? Ken Hobbs said a girl ran over the side of some cliff and collided with Dan just before he was shot. The men that shot Dan was chasin’ her. That might be her. It happened out your way. I’m surprised that you didn’t hear any gunshots.”