{"id":225,"date":"2018-07-24T01:32:58","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T01:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/?p=225"},"modified":"2018-07-25T01:49:24","modified_gmt":"2018-07-25T01:49:24","slug":"last-sunset-at-the-lake-by-kilmeny-macmichael","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/2018\/07\/24\/last-sunset-at-the-lake-by-kilmeny-macmichael\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Sunset at the Lake by Kilmeny MacMichael"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kilmeny MacMichael lives in the Okanagan Valley, Canada.<\/em><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last Sunset at the Lake<\/h3>\n

Three weeks after we fled the city, taking refuge at the lake house up here in the mountains, a man walks out of the lake with a knife in his eye.<\/p>\n

Tom and I always try to make time to enjoy the sunset together. This evening we’re both out on the balcony when Tom grunts something, and I look up from my book to see the Diseased. We watch him walk right out of that sunset over the lake, up the beach, dripping blood and water. He doesn\u2019t see us, turns, and walks into the woods.<\/p>\n

After a few moments, Tom gets up from his chair, saying, \u201cWell, I think I\u2019ll need a second cup of coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile you\u2019re in the kitchen,\u201d I say, \u201cMaybe you should call the police. Perhaps an ambulance.\u201d Sometimes they still respond.<\/p>\n

We hadn\u2019t wanted to abandon the city. It was unfair to those who stayed behind, leaving them to deal with the worst of the mess. I still believe most of the Diseased can be helped, at least early on, with enough care and understanding. I volunteered for a time, taking food to the sick in our neighbourhood. But after one of the Diseased set fire to the elevator in our building, we packed up and came here. The airport is closed and the railways are refusing to run trains west of the continental divide, so we’re lucky to have the Prius.<\/p>\n

One of Tom\u2019s co-workers wanted a ride with us. He\u2019s a great guy, but we had to say no. We didn\u2019t know if he might be sick or not, and we have children to think of. He tried to stop us leaving without him, kneeling in front of our car, crying and begging. It was embarrassing.<\/p>\n

The Disease has been simmering on the edges of society for a few years. It started by killing a hundred people one year, five hundred the next, a thousand. It only attacked the weakest and most vulnerable. Then the plague made the jump, to its current aggressive form, which can eat up most anyone.<\/p>\n

The infection takes hold of different people in different ways. Many can go on with their lives with little trouble for a time. Some don\u2019t even realize that they\u2019re infected. Others seem to be gripped quick and hard. They degenerate to half-consciousness and unnatural hungers within hours.<\/p>\n

A certain panic set in over the metropolis when the mayor succumbed live on TV.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll go back to the city eventually. We love living in Vancouver. Most of the time.<\/p>\n

Our neighbours here at the lake are Mormons. We haven\u2019t seen them recently, but hope they\u2019re okay. We replaced the lock we broke through on their door. We\u2019ve been careful not to make a mess, and plan to leave them a cheque for the food we\u2019ve taken. It\u2019s not bad food, a bit bland. Tom misses avocados, and the children are not thrilled with oatmeal for breakfast. I\u2019m running low on almond milk. Yesterday I used up the last of the lip balm. Things are getting tough. I know it\u2019s getting to be time to move on.<\/p>\n

Some of the Diseased appear curable. A few manage to take it upon themselves to seek help, although the vast majority are far too crazed. They don\u2019t respect any limits in who they attack, family, children or lovers. You\u2019re safe inside if you don\u2019t let anyone in, but you can\u2019t let anyone<\/em> in. You can’t even open the door to your closest friends or relatives if you\u2019re not one hundred percent sure they\u2019re okay.<\/p>\n

And now the Disease has made its way here to resort country.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re out in the open and the hungriest see you, they will try to destroy you. We\u2019ll become prisoners in our own homes, and even Mormon stockpiles can\u2019t last forever.<\/p>\n

On the east side of these mountains, a fence is going up. It\u2019s got drones, guard dogs, and nervous armed people in ugly green uniforms. They\u2019re trying to contain the plague. Of course some people and some of the sick got across the border early, and even now, the fence is long and incomplete. Wire cutters aren\u2019t that expensive.<\/p>\n

Tom comes back out onto the balcony.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did emergency services say?\u2019 I ask. A Diseased woman appears down the beach, followed by two or three more. They are singing the Beatles\u2019 \u201cI Want to Hold Your Hand.\u201d They are off-key.<\/p>\n

\u201cGot a recording that all operators are busy,\u201d Tom says, taking a sip of his Nespresso Carmelito.<\/p>\n

I say, \u201cMaybe we can find a new place in Kimberley or Cranbrook to hole up in.”<\/p>\n

Tom turns to me. “Honey, I think it’s time to move to Alberta. I’m sorry.”<\/p>\n

It’s alright. I’m sure we’ll go on surviving. Somehow. We\u2019ve managed so far. There are quarantine centers at official crossings. I fear there will be no almond milk or avocados for quite some time. The sun is setting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kilmeny MacMichael lives in the Okanagan Valley, Canada.   Last Sunset at the Lake Three weeks after we fled the city, taking refuge at the lake house up here in the mountains, a man walks out of the lake with a knife in his eye. Tom and I always try to make time to enjoy … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa867U-3D","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}