Induction

Priceless is the only way to describe Jake’s reaction. Immediately following his scared exclamation of, “ooh, mothafucka” and an awkward ninja move, he ran and jumped at Vinny, tackling him to the floor. The two wrestled around for a bit, laughing, and finally settled down enough to fill each other in. News of his parents didn’t affect him as much as I’d expected. Though, I guess he’d already written them off for dead. He got a good laugh that his mom had gone down fighting with a frying pan.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. The two of them got Meg the same way Vinny had surprised Jake. The round robin of stories began again.

Chapter 29 Do Not Pass Go

We fell into a familiar schedule over the next couple weeks. It’s not that I could say life was good, but we were all still breathing so I couldn’t really complain. It took an apocalypse to bring Team Rossi closer than ever before. Vinny still slept in the barracks but came over to our place every night he wasn’t out on a scouting mission. Seth and Dale joined the scout team and we saw them less and less. Jake stayed on the wall with Will for fear of death by female. Nancy spent all her time with Gabby and the other children and we saw her only in passing after our first week on the island. Holiday decorations were on display, and the closer it got to Christmas, the more people added to the festive holiday spirit

We’d built a new life for ourselves. The Rossi’s and Will circled the wagons. The five of us were all we could worry about. Though, all the original group made a pact that if anything ever happened, we would stick together and meet at the houseboat. We made sure our contingency plan was in place and we kept the boat stocked with as much non-perishable food and bottled water as we could manage.

Jake updated us every night at dinner with news communication from other military strongholds. The island’s communication ability dwarfed the technology we had while held up at Target. We were able to communicate with folks as far up the eastern coastline as Pennsylvania, and we received word that contact had been made with groups as far north as Vermont. This news gave me hope that my family and friends had made it to safety up in Massachusetts.

Every night I would dream of reuniting with my parents. Some mornings I woke up happy from finding them alive. Others I woke gasping for air and in tears from a much different type of reunion. The weight in my chest grew heavier each day that passed, and I wondered how long I’d be able to stay on Sanibel. Jake would hear nothing of it when I suggested we even think about trying to go north. He didn’t understand. How could he? He knew the fate of his parents, and he had his siblings by his side. I had nothing, except Jake and his family.

Meg had found a bunch of board games stacked on the floor of her closet, and we put them to good use. One thing an Italian family loves to do is reminisce about the good times. In the decade I’d known the Rossis, I must have heard about the time Jake made Vinny cry during a game of Monopoly at least a dozen times. It went something like this.

Jake, Vinny, Meg, and their dad, Alfie, were playing a friendly game of Monopoly. For some reason, this game was always most appealing right before bedtime. Why? Because that stupid game never ends! It always started with a fight over who got to be the race car. Seriously, what’s so awesome about the stupid car? Give me the dog any day. The problem with Monopoly is that it’s never enough to just win. Opponents must be destroyed; their property’s seized without mercy and financially bankrupted. Basically, in order to play a successful round of Monopoly, you must crush your opponent’s will to live.

Vinny was losing and had run out of money. He landed on Park Place, currently owned by Alfie, and couldn’t pay the rent. His attempts to barter failed and he was forced to forfeit. Alas, poor little Vinny did not go softly into that good night. He jumped up from the table and threw the dice across the room, all the while wailing, “It’s not fair” and throwing the most epic tantrum in Rossi history.

So it should come as no surprise that Monopoly won the majority vote on our first game night. I’m happy to report there was no crying.

* * *

The air was crisp with the promise of winter and the breeze did nothing to take the edge off. Meg and I were outside hanging laundry while Daphne hunkered down on the lawn tearing the guts out of her plushy toy. She had long since killed the squeaker and apparently wanted to finish the job. Little white puffs of fuzz circled her small frame and she had bits stuck to the top of her head.