Post by María Vallejo on Sept 6, 2017 9:49:45 GMT -5
Next couple months managed to pass without incident, and before they knew it summer had broiled in. Any of the Bunniculas… Conejos de Vampiros… could be forgiven for feeling like they may have finally found a new life of peace and stability. The kind of life that seemed would only be the stuff of dreams and memory not so long ago. It wasn’t the cushy, technologically enhanced life of old, bit it was still everything they could have dared hope for in the new death-filled world. As the summer marched on, they came to realize they had been at Motunui for a year now. That was something worth celebrating.
Another perfect reason to get out to Little Disneyland. Today they already had two other excuses, Clem’s 13th birthday and the peak of a recent heatwave. The dry 102℉ heat big enough reason to cool off in the old muddy pond. Such heat could make a trip all the way down to the lake tempting.
Going to the lake would be easier and more practical once even Tina can walk around more on her own. Lee was already there, and quite the terror with his growing mobility when he wanted to be. Most everyone, including María were in their skivvies for swimming.
The cold waters of the old cow pond that was Little Disneyland offered the perfect remedy to the searing heat. Sitting up under the shade of an oak tree on the hill just above the pond, María wished she was back down there swimming and splashing around with the others. But even in play caution could not he relaxed. Someone had to stay on watch even now. To keep it fair and make sure every Conejo de Vampiro got to enjoy the day at Little Disneyland, the older girls took turns on watch. No one was expected to be on watch more than 30 minutes at a time. María was quite proud to be trusted to take her turn on watch, so no matter how much she wanted to be back down in the water María meant to stay the full 30 minutes.
María leaned back in the small wooden bench swing they’d hung from the oak tree’s strongest low branch. She took a sip of water and glanced out toward Lakeport and the lake. It was the most likely direction for trouble to come from. The summer had turned the hills and fields around the area to a crispy golden brown except the living trees. So far, there hadn’t been any sign of wild fire in the immediate area all summer. Maybe there were a few days made hazy by smoke, but those fires were far enough away to be someone else’s problem.
Neither hide nor hair of trouble, living, dead or fire, could be seen in any direction. Just quiet, scorching summer scenery. Nothing else for María to do but partly wonder how dry her hair would be before she got back to the pond. It had only been about 11 minutes and already it was just barely damp. That was with basking in the shade of the hilltop oak tree.
God this was boring. There was nothing to see in any direction. María clasped her small silver crucifix and her bowed her head for quick prayer for forgiveness in thinking the Lord’s name in vain. It was then she heard a strange sound from the sky. María felt the sound should be familiar, but it was alien and out of place in a post-apocalyptic world. She found the source of it up in the sky over Lakeport and the lake. It was an old crop-duster biplane painted blue. On either side, a stylized outline of the Golden Gate Bridge surrounded by a circle with the words ‘The City’ sitting over both was spraypainted with a crude stencil of golden yellow. Also in golden yellow spraypainted stenciling were the capitalized letters of ‘FCSF’ to the right of the symbol. An old world NBA fan might recognize the stylized bridge as an older team symbol for the Golden State Warriors.
Though María was in lower elementary school before the Old World ended, and not much of a sports fan, the signage was vaguely familiar to her. King City was just close enough to the Bay Area for her have seen it around.
Still, María didn’t have time to figure out why it was familiar at all. That there was a plane, any plane, at all command her foremost attention. Her surprise delayed her call out to the others as she watched the biplane wheel over the lake.
The fear the pilot had seen them snapped María to action. She whistled the alarm, getting to her feet. María called, ”There’s a plane! There’s a plane! Over the lake! There’s a plane! Hide before it sees us!”
The Canejos de Vampiro’s recent history with strangers sent all of them scrambling for cover under the stand of trees around one of the pond’s banks. There they all stayed until the biplane had flown off back the way it came. It didn’t hang around long, just making a couple passes over Lakeport.
Another perfect reason to get out to Little Disneyland. Today they already had two other excuses, Clem’s 13th birthday and the peak of a recent heatwave. The dry 102℉ heat big enough reason to cool off in the old muddy pond. Such heat could make a trip all the way down to the lake tempting.
Going to the lake would be easier and more practical once even Tina can walk around more on her own. Lee was already there, and quite the terror with his growing mobility when he wanted to be. Most everyone, including María were in their skivvies for swimming.
The cold waters of the old cow pond that was Little Disneyland offered the perfect remedy to the searing heat. Sitting up under the shade of an oak tree on the hill just above the pond, María wished she was back down there swimming and splashing around with the others. But even in play caution could not he relaxed. Someone had to stay on watch even now. To keep it fair and make sure every Conejo de Vampiro got to enjoy the day at Little Disneyland, the older girls took turns on watch. No one was expected to be on watch more than 30 minutes at a time. María was quite proud to be trusted to take her turn on watch, so no matter how much she wanted to be back down in the water María meant to stay the full 30 minutes.
María leaned back in the small wooden bench swing they’d hung from the oak tree’s strongest low branch. She took a sip of water and glanced out toward Lakeport and the lake. It was the most likely direction for trouble to come from. The summer had turned the hills and fields around the area to a crispy golden brown except the living trees. So far, there hadn’t been any sign of wild fire in the immediate area all summer. Maybe there were a few days made hazy by smoke, but those fires were far enough away to be someone else’s problem.
Neither hide nor hair of trouble, living, dead or fire, could be seen in any direction. Just quiet, scorching summer scenery. Nothing else for María to do but partly wonder how dry her hair would be before she got back to the pond. It had only been about 11 minutes and already it was just barely damp. That was with basking in the shade of the hilltop oak tree.
God this was boring. There was nothing to see in any direction. María clasped her small silver crucifix and her bowed her head for quick prayer for forgiveness in thinking the Lord’s name in vain. It was then she heard a strange sound from the sky. María felt the sound should be familiar, but it was alien and out of place in a post-apocalyptic world. She found the source of it up in the sky over Lakeport and the lake. It was an old crop-duster biplane painted blue. On either side, a stylized outline of the Golden Gate Bridge surrounded by a circle with the words ‘The City’ sitting over both was spraypainted with a crude stencil of golden yellow. Also in golden yellow spraypainted stenciling were the capitalized letters of ‘FCSF’ to the right of the symbol. An old world NBA fan might recognize the stylized bridge as an older team symbol for the Golden State Warriors.
Though María was in lower elementary school before the Old World ended, and not much of a sports fan, the signage was vaguely familiar to her. King City was just close enough to the Bay Area for her have seen it around.
Still, María didn’t have time to figure out why it was familiar at all. That there was a plane, any plane, at all command her foremost attention. Her surprise delayed her call out to the others as she watched the biplane wheel over the lake.
The fear the pilot had seen them snapped María to action. She whistled the alarm, getting to her feet. María called, ”There’s a plane! There’s a plane! Over the lake! There’s a plane! Hide before it sees us!”
The Canejos de Vampiro’s recent history with strangers sent all of them scrambling for cover under the stand of trees around one of the pond’s banks. There they all stayed until the biplane had flown off back the way it came. It didn’t hang around long, just making a couple passes over Lakeport.