actually believed a catastrophe was going to happen, because he said it would she had to tilt to at least 60/40 in his favor.
What did one buy when faced with the end of the world as she knew it? Chocolate?
At the end of the aisle, with nothing but bananas and oranges in her cart, she pulled her cell phone from her pocket and searched “survivalist necessities.” Several prepper websites came up, and she picked the top one, which provided a long list of specialty items she couldn’t possibly find in Kroger. The second site she chose was more practical, for her current situation.
Bleach, matches, water, candles . . . Okay, those were doable, and not even unusual. There were several items on the prepper’s list that were more camping gear than anything she was going to find in a grocery store, but there were also some practical suggestions. She might be able to find some of the more expensive survivalist items at an outdoor goods store, but there was nothing close, and besides . . . this was just in case.
Prepare for the worst, expect the best. In this case, expect nothing.
She grabbed more toilet paper and canned meats—Spam, salmon, chicken, beef, multiples of each. Four big jars of peanut butter wouldn’t last long, so she made it six. She made a quick trip down the feminine hygiene aisle, then got some first-aid items: aspirin, antiseptic cream, bandages, Vaseline. She grabbed anything that looked like it might be useful, as she walked through the pharmacy section. While waiting for Carol’s prescription refills, she made another trip up and down the aisles, got more adhesive bandages, and an Ace bandage. More adhesive bandages. Another Ace bandage. No, make that three.
By the time the prescriptions were ready, her shopping cart was full.
She looked at the collection of stuff and blew out a big breath. She’d gotten only things they’d eventually use anyway, so she didn’t feel bad about her shopping spree. She had hedged her bets and done something. Did she have enough supplies for several months? No. Was she better off than she’d been when she’d started? Absolutely.
According to the sites she’d checked out, she should have a water filtration system for safe drinking water, heirloom seeds for growing her own food next summer, and enough freeze-dried food to get her by until then. She didn’t.
Jernigan probably did, though.
When she checked out she paid with a credit card. Nothing she’d bought was very expensive, but she wanted to conserve her cash.
If they were without power for months, would cash be any good? Perhaps. As long as people saw value in pieces of green paper, it would be. Cash would be a way to get items they needed and didn’t have. The bank was on her mental list of places she needed to go. She’d withdraw a nice bunch of cash from both her personal and the store account. If nothing happened she could re-deposit the money in a couple of days.
Feeling like a crazed squirrel, she darted from place to place, completing one errand after another.
As she drove home just after lunch, exhausted from the stress of hurry hurry hurry, she suffered a passing second thought. If Jernigan had been pulling her leg, if he was crazy, or even, hell, if he’d just been given bad information . . . she was going to be so pissed, maybe even pissed enough to get in his face and tell him about it, though confrontation wasn’t her style at all.
But if disaster did strike, she’d really be pissed because obviously anyone in the electric energy business should have known this was possible and taken steps to make sure it didn’t happen. Yes, definitely pissed, and deeply grateful, because without the chance to prepare she would’ve been in no better shape than anyone else. As she drove back into Wears Valley she glanced toward Cove Mountain. “Thanks,” she said aloud. “I think.”
Carol rolled her eyes a bit at Sela’s haul of groceries, but helped her get everything organized. “You think you got enough Spam?” She busied herself stacking the oblong cans, her lips twitching in a smile.
“I’ll remind you that you said that, if this thing happens and you run out of food. Besides, I got stuff that we can put on the store shelves if nothing happens.” Sela and Carol both knew that whatever one of them had belonged to the other, too, because family took care of family. If Sela had Spam,