Title Yet To Be Discovered (Part 5) Poem by Mike Smith

The mutts had begun to fizzle out. A heap of them lay where they had first caught fire. Two or three others had run some distance off before falling over awkwardly in mid stride. Good riddance.
It was time to move along. I still had two stops to make before returning to the school. Pack on back and gun in hand I once again maneuvered myself out the front window. I kept my eyes glued to the pile of roasted beasts to my right. If one of them decided to wake up I'd have a slug in them before they made their first step. Much to my relief, they were still.
The grocery on Hennepin was roughly a mile and a half off. Despite the extra weight I was carrying, my clip was faster than it had been earlier. The exercise kept my mind off of things. I focused on my breathing, and on keeping a look out, neither of which were easy tasks in the mask. In 15 minutes I'd reached the entryway of the grocery. I slid open what used to be the automatic doors. Maybe out of habit I went to grab a shopping cart. It kind of made sense once I thought about it. Pack everything in the cart then distribute it into the bags to carry back to our hideout. For that matter, take the damn cart with me. Why not?
The market had been largely depleted. Much of what was left was rancid moldy breads and fruits. The butchers corner looked as if one gigantic buzzing fly. Still I was able to locate some canned fruits and water chestnuts. There were plenty of packets of tuna and some spam. The only other salvageable items were frostings and pie fillers, and then I smiled a huge smile at the tins of coffee. All in all I may have had my cart halfway filled. A disappointing haul. I decided to make up the difference with non food items. I hadn't considered it at first, but we were running out of tissue and such. I went down the paper goods isle and tossed in a package of napkins, a box of Kleenex, but when I bent down to grab the largest quantity of toilet paper I saw a tiny foot poking out from the bottom shelf.
No. I, we all, had encountered so much death, so many tragedies even to make it to this point. But something about that little pink shoe with the white ribbon laces with the flower imprint just about caused me to cry. All alone. Just lying there under the shelves. She'd spent her last moments in this world frightened to death with no one there to console her. An anger rose up in me at the thought of it.
Who? Who would leave their kid? She couldn't have been more than five. Who could possibly let this happen to such an innocent fragile little life? Pulling up my mask to wipe away the tears I grabbed the toilet paper and stood back up, logging one more detail of the trip I would never tell any of the others at the school. Just before I went to turn the cart around though, I saw it. Had I not made that momentary pause to wipe my eyes there may not be any reason for telling the story at all.
The foot moved. As if pointing the toes, the foot had moved. And then, there was the other foot. I bent back down removing my mask so as not to alarm her. She was clearly frightened nonetheless. You could hardly blame her.
'Hey there.' I didn't know what else to say but I tried speaking it in the most friendly voice I could muster. She huddled into a seated ball back beneath the shelf.
'It's okay. It's okay. My name's Ian. I live in a school down the street. Do you have a name? '
She coughed a few times still visibly timid, but seemingly willing to respond.
'Em-Em...Emily'
'Emily. What a pretty name. You know, I had a sister named Emily. So Emily, are you here all alone? '
She shook her head no but did so hesitantly.
'How'd you get in here Emily? Do you remember? Did somebody let you in? '
'I- I dunno.' It was in the tone kids use when they know they're lying and they know they're about to be found out. Like when you ask them who spilled juice on the carpet.
'Emily, this is important, I want you to think real hard, okay? '
She nodded putting her left thumb to her mouth as children will when anxiety reaches them.
'Emily, who brought you here? Are they still here with you?
She started into it in a yell almost. So excited to speak she forgot the volume of her own voice.
'New Momma said I'm not a'sposed to talk to...'
'Shhhh! ! ' I used the universal finger over closed lips to emphasize the point.
She responded again, this time in a whisper.
'New Momma says that I'm not a'sposed to talk to no one 'sides her. She says I'm a'sposed to stay right here, ' she pointed to the spot on the shelf where she was sitting. 'Until New Momma gets back! '
With this she crossed her arms and dropped her chin. Proud of her response and stubborn not to let down this 'new momma'.
'Okay Emily. Em? Can I call you Em? '
'That's what Old Momma used to call me.'
'Okay Em, how long has New Momma been gone? '
'I dunno.' This wasn't the 'juice spilling' I don't know, she sincerely didn't know the amount of time.
'How long have you known New Momma? '
' Well when New Momma came to..' She'd forgotten to lower her voice again. I used the 'shhh' sign again and she was back to a whisper.
'When she took me away I was only four and a half. But now New Momma says that I'm five.' She was glowing with pride and wore a smile ear to ear. She started in again loudly but then caught herself before I could remind her.
'We even had... oops. We even had donuts for my birthday. New Momma said they might be the last donuts in the whole wide world and since she was such a nice New Momma to share with me I had to stay with her and listen and do what she said forever.' At the end a hint of a frown had crossed her face.
'Em, do you wanna stay with New Momma? '
She was standing now and she pivoted her pink shoe and clasped her hands together almost bashfully.
'Well...' But then she stopped, too embarrassed to say what was next.
'It's okay Em, you can tell me. Do you wanna stay with her? '
'Not always.' Her eyes planted on her pivoting shoe and she twiddled thumbs in her hand.
'Why not Em? '
'Sometimes she yells a lot. And...' Just then her stomach growled and she looked down at it before covering it with crossed arms and swaying back and forth.
'And? '
'Well, sometimes she leaves and I dunno if she's gonna ever come back or not.... Sometimes....' She hiccuped and droplets formed at the corners of her eyes.
'Sometimes I miss Old Momma.' At this she could no longer hold back the tears. She broke into a whimper and sat down cross legged onto the tile floor.
'It's okay. It's okay.' I scooped her up and she hugged me the way only kids can and cried into my shoulder somehow knowing not to cry too loudly. I held her like that for a time feeling a convoluted swirl of emotions at this turn in events.
'Emily? '
'Y-yeah? '
'How would you like to come and stay with us for a while? ' She looked up and met my eyes as I set her back on her own feet.
'Us? '
'Yes us. There's me and Trina and Mick and Terry and Oliver and a bunch more. There are other kids there. Just like you. We've got toys. We eat three times a day and play games together and even sit around and tell stories.'
Her eyes gave her away. She wanted to say yes but she'd been trained against it.
'You'll have your very own bed, and there's so many of us there, you'll never ever get left alone. We've got books you can read, and there's crayons and markers for coloring.'
'But I don't know how to read.'
Well, then I guess we'll just have to teach you then won't we? ' She lit up at this but still couldn't muster the strength to say yes.
'What do ya say kiddo? Wanna come stay with me and my friends for a while? It'll be better than this smelly place that's for sure.' I held my nose with my left hand and fanned the air in front of it with my right. This produced a mild chuckle, but truthfully the place reaked of rot.
'Okay.' Her eyes were once again glued to her pivoting foot.
'What was that? I couldn't hear you? ' I feigned myself hard of hearing and cupped my hand around my ear.
'Okay.' This time a bit louder and with a huge smile.
'Alright. Then let's get out of this dark place and back to meet our new friends huh? '
'Yeah! ' Again she'd increased her volume to a near yell. I didn't correct her this time. Let the kid be excited. She deserved it.
'Do you wanna ride in the cart? '
'Sure! '
'I've got another idea. Why don't you wear my mask? It's fun. Kind of like playing dress up. Did you ever play dress up? '
She put her index finger to her temple and tilted her head to the side as if trying to recall.
'Like Halloween? '
'Yes. Yes that's right Em. Like Halloween.'
After I'd gotten the mask adjusted to somewhat fit her tiny smiling face I pulled the cart to an empty set of shelves and began loading the food into a duffle bag. I threw the bag into the cart with Emily and we made our way for the door.
'Hey Ian? ' Said the tiny muffled voice from behind the respirator.
'Yeah? '
'Is there any puppies at your friends house? Old Momma and me used to have a puppy named Wagz and I just loved him.'
I cringed and turned my head to the side trying to hide the look on my face. The horrible events of the last two days flashed before me in an instant. I took a breath and brushed it off as best I could.
'No puppies Emily, sorry....' She had no response, only a slight slouch in posture.
'You know, you were very brave today talking to me like you did. I can tell you're not four and a half anymore. Only big five year old girls can be that brave.'
I couldn't see the smile from behind the mask, but I knew it was there.
I could feel it.