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about to start calling an ex-friend. Why is Steve always around here when I’m gone, and then he wants to leave as soon as I show up?”
    Mary grew quiet and focused on cleaning the kitchen.
    “So what if you have caught him here a couple of times, that doesn’t prove that we’re having an affair,” she retorted.
    “Well, you still aren’t denying it, are you?”
    “Don’t try and change the subject on me, Troy. Maybe if you had paid more attention to your family, our sixteen year old daughter wouldn’t be sexually active, and your son wouldn’t be thinking he was gay.”
    “Oh, that’s real low, Mary. You are blaming me for all of these things? I am the only one around here who seems to be making Brandon feel better about who he is, which by the way I am willing to accept. I am not so sure about you. Jesus, Mary, we are living in the twenty first century. It’s time for you to get rid of those small-minded values that dictate how every child should grow up.”
    “I just don’t want him to struggle through his life!” she was now fully weeping. “Is it so wrong to wish that your child was normal so that he can have a happy existence?”
    “He will be happy when he can be around people who aren’t so narrow minded. In the meantime, we need to help him accept who he is,” said Troy.
    Mary didn’t say anything in response to this. She just stood at the sink, weeping to herself. Troy thought about coming up behind and putting his arms around her to comfort her, but he thought better of it. After all, why did she deserve to be comforted if she was sleeping around with his friend?
    Troy left her standing there, went over to the refrigerator, grabbed a beer and walked outside. He walked around the back of the house towards the shelter, listening to the chorus of whippoorwills and owls that had started up in the woods all around him. He took a fold out chair and sat it in front of the shelter. He took a deep drink of his Budweiser and looked up at the stars.
    “I know that I’m doing this for a good reason,” he said out loud, as if to reassure himself and the universe at large about his plans.
    Then he began to think about the provisions that he had stocked. Would they be enough in case of some kind of catastrophic event? Did he have enough water and oxygen stashed away? He went back over the plans in his mind, again and again.
    Something inside of himself told him that the matter was urgent. He needed to finish up the shelter and do it relatively quickly. In two weeks, he planned to have it completely stocked and ready.
    Then, he could begin making his family do safety drills so that they could get inside of the bunker as quickly as possible in the event of an emergency. He was already picturing all of the eye rolling that would result from these drills, but he knew deep down that it was necessary. Despite the grief that his family gave him, he would make sure that they were safe, for he still loved each one of them greatly.

Chapter 3
    After a couple of weeks, the shelter was nearing completion. Troy, with the help of his friend, Ken, put together the incinerator and did a few test runs with it. At first, it burned part of the front of the bunker, so one wall had to be replaced and reinforced with fireproof netting. Troy was proud of his shelter and knew deep down inside that there was a good reason that he had built it.
    The next morning after the shelter had been all but finished, Troy had the dream again. This time he saw a crowd of people in the streets looting and burning up buildings. Troy was trying to make his way home and get his family members to follow him. He shut the door just as a horrible, disfigured man tried to gain access. Then, Troy awoke suddenly and sat up, covered in sweat again.
    “Another bad dream?” Mary asked as he sat up in bed.
    “Yes, but it ended about as well as could be expected,” he answered.
    “Maybe you should see someone about that. You’re starting to have those