The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (24 page)

“Are you into sports too?”

“Nah, that’s guy stuff. But I’m glad it makes him happy.”

The road had markers to keep drivers aware of where they were on the Utah grid system. They had moved one square west of Dusty’s house. It seemed like they were making good time.

In the cold air, Jodi’s cheeks were pink roses and her eyes were bright. She was clearly enjoying being out of the house for a bit.

 
“Honus is such a sweetheart. He always surprises me with little presents. He’s funny and silly. I miss him so much.”

“Where was he sent again?”

“Colorado. Denver.” She said it very quietly, looking at the uneven trenches her legs were cutting through the snow.

Get used to being a widow.

“Ah. Do they usually send men out who’ve just been married?”

“Not before. Before it was unmarried guys when they turned eighteen, and old maids who hadn’t gotten married by twenty five. But Bishop Comstock said it had to be young men, and there weren’t that many of those. So they let us get married and have a week together, and then sent him out. It was kind of like a blessing, because now when he comes home I’ll be able to surprise him with a baby.”

“Will he be happy?”

“Of course he will! He wants to be a daddy, that’s why we got married.”

“Is he handsome?”

“Oh my gosh yes he is so cute. He’s taller than me, like way tall. He has brown hair and blue eyes and the best smile. He played basketball in high school. I was a freshman when he was a senior and I was crushing on him from day one. I used to go to his games. He was gonna play for BYU.” She looked wistful and proud, as if recalling achievements of her own.

“He sounds lovely.”

“Yeah, so like when he got called to Ottawa he was super excited. He really wanted to be called to like Japan or something, but whatever. So I promised I would wait and we made plans and stuff. I never thought I’d have to wait like this again.”

“I never thought I’d do a lot of things I’ve had to do since this all started.”

Jodi looked at her, a little concern wrinkling her smooth forehead. “Like what?”

Dusty waited a minute, looking up and down the white road. “I think we’re about halfway.”

“Can we take a break?” Jodi’s voice was plaintive, not quite whining.

“We really can’t,” Dusty told her. “We need to get somewhere warm before we sit down. It’s no good for you to be in this cold, and it would only prolong your exposure if we take a break out here. We’re almost there.”

“Ok.” Jodi launched into another long explanation of her favorite TV show, this time the scandalous real life of a group of rich and famous sisters. Dusty checked out and just said “Yes” or “Mhmm” or “Oh really?” in the right places. She reached back and put her hand on her gun periodically, like touching a talisman.

Finally, Dusty saw the outline of a house up ahead. It was two stories tall and the front door was drifted in. The snow was at least good for showing whether people had been in and out recently.

“Look!” She pointed it out to Jodi, who snapped her head toward it.

“Oh yay! We found it!”

They ran haltingly, struggling to get through the snow in the road and to the edge of the yard. As they got closer, Dusty saw that it was a large house with a huge bay window. She smiled.

“This could be good.”

The door was unlocked. Jodi opened it and they walked in together.

Dusty went straight to the decorative fireplace with a dry stack of oak beside it and looked around for kindling. She took the magazines off the coffee table and used them to start a fire. She wrenched the flue open and sat patiently, feeding the flames until it roared. She told Jodi to sit down in front of it and warm up, especially her legs.

“Try to stop me,” said Jodi as she shucked off her snow-caked shoes.

Dusty stomped her feet and started to check the place out.

It was obviously a family home. Stains on the couch and pictures on the mantle. A plastic high chair at the kitchen table. A tub of toys in a cozier family room, located off the side of the main entrance. She opened up the pantry and took a look. There was soup here she thought they should take, among other things. She thought she’d let Jodi check the food, since she did most of the cooking. She went up the back staircase and started looking through the bedrooms.

The master bedroom had a dead couple in the bed, their arms laid over the smaller corpses of their children under the blankets.

Well, good for you. Sound decision.

She took a bottle of frozen shampoo from the windowsill above their shower and tucked it into her pack. None of the clothes in the large closet looked like a good fit for either of them. She closed the door and moved to the next room.

She found a handful of board games in a closet and stacked them at the top of the stairs. She loaded her bag with books, including about twenty from a young girl’s bedroom. The kid had favored science fiction and fantasy and Dusty’s eyes grew large at the sight of them. She thought she’d love to travel in some other worlds for a change. In a boy’s room she found another stack, mostly adventures. She was so glad for this discovery that she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet at the sight of them. She thought the books alone made up for the walk.

She heard Jodi coming up the stairs. “Hey are you warmed up then? Will you take that stack of games down to the sled?”

Silence.

“Jodi?”

She came out of the bedroom and walked out into the hallway. She didn’t see anyone. Her breathing got fast and ragged and she put her right hand behind her, ready to draw.

“Jodi? Damn it, Jodi, answer me.”

She came close enough to see that the master bedroom door was open again, and Jodi was standing there, staring at the dead couple in the bed.

“Jodi, you scared the shit out of me. You shouldn’t be in here. And don’t fucking ignore me when I call you.”

Jodi turned on her, suddenly furious. “How can you talk like that in here? Don’t you have any respect? This was their house, and they died here, together. I hope they were sealed in the temple.”

Dusty tugged at her sleeve. “Come on, Jodi. Please get out of here. You shouldn’t be around dead bodies, not with the baby.”

“In the celestial kingdom, they will be together forever.” She nodded resolutely, but her eyes were troubled.

“Good. That is great for them. Let’s please get out of here, ok?”

Jodi turned away and left the room.

“You should try the last door on the right there for clothes,” Dusty said.

“I don’t think we should take anything,” Jodi said, turning to her.

“What?”

“This isn’t ours to take. It belongs to someone.”

Dusty was baffled. “They’re dead. Dead people don’t own anything. We’re living and we need it. I don’t think they’d mind, but even if they did, they’re dead. One more time. Dead. Most of the people in the world, dead. We’re gonna take what we need.”

“Not me. My clothes are fine. I’m not taking anything.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain, please.” Jodi’s mouth was a thin line of disapproval.

For a white hot second, Dusty wished she had continued the illusion that she was a man. She could have cowed Jodi into shutting up if she had that authority. As it was, they were going to have to wrestle it out. She took a deep breath.

“Alright. Your choice. Don’t take anything. I’m going to load up and then we’re out of here. We’ll leave the other houses for another day.”

She pushed past Jodi, picked up the games, and headed down the stairs.

“Wait!”

She turned back on the landing.

“What?”

“We should bury them.”

Dusty turned her back and kept walking downstairs. “You bury them. I’ll wait.”

She loaded up the sled, pretending to not pay attention. She had an ear cocked, waiting to hear if Jodi actually tried to get the bodies out of the bed. She stacked up the games and threw down her backpack. She didn’t hear the thumps of bodies. What she heard was Jodi vomiting.

She came down the stairs, pale and shaking, wiping her mouth.

“You good?”

“Whatever.”

Jodi sat down by the fire again.

“Exactly.” Dusty stalked back into the kitchen. She looked over the shelves. To herself, she muttered, “I wonder if I can make cake without fresh eggs.”

“You can.”

Jodi had come quietly to the kitchen door. Dusty turned around to face her.

“There’s tricks. I learned how as a girl scout.”

So domestic. I’d be annoyed except that I benefit from it.

“Ok. I’m gonna grab some cake mixes, then. Cake sounds good. What do you say?”

“I guess it’s ok.”

“Good.” She grabbed three boxes of mix and tucked them under her arm.

Quietly, Jodi came into the pantry and started picking out cans. Dusty didn’t say anything about her sudden reversal of morals. She didn’t want to fight. She wanted to get loaded up and get back on the road.

“You warmed up enough to go back out there?”

Jodi pouted a little. “Are you sure we shouldn’t just stay here?”

“It’s early afternoon. We can totally make it back. Come on.” She went back to the sled and stacked up the cake mixes, flat on their side. “There’s lots of food here. We should remember and come back if we start to run low.”

Jodi came up behind her and put her canned goods on the sled. “How long are you planning to stay in Eden?”

“I want to wait out the winter before I move on. If I’d known it snowed like this in Utah, I might have stayed somewhere else.”

Jodi laughed a little. “I’m from Ogden. I haven’t seen snow like this, ever. Not in my whole life. This is like the worst winter I’ve ever seen.”

“Perfect timing, then.”

“Yeah. Totally.”

The fire had died down. Dusty considered shoveling the ashes out, then decided not to bother. They closed up the house and left it unlocked, then set out to return. Dusty got ahead, dragging the sled slightly behind. They kept to their earlier tracks, and Dusty thought about the trail they had left. She deliberately walked into the snow that kept their paths separate and mussed them together. She didn’t want anyone to be able to tell that two had come and gone. Indeterminate tracks were better than an exact number. When she looked behind them, she saw a long churned-up track that might have been made by anything at all. She thought about laying the warm gun in the snow beside her, just for a moment, so that anyone who followed their tracks would see the impression of it. She dismissed the idea as stupid, but she felt uncomfortably exposed.