“I’m coming with you.”
“It’s dark down there. No lights.”
“I’m okay.”
“Good. But when we come back up, you eat. Clear?”
“Yes, Harry.”
Harry gave a nod and headed down to the basement with Tyler.
Harry was a man prepared. On the wall of the basement stairs, hung a flashlight. He grabbed it and turned it on. “Boy, haven’t been down here since my wife died.”
“I’m sorry she died,” Tyler said.
“Me too.” Harry tossed the beam of the flashlight to the right. “It’s over here. Be careful where you step.”
“It’s cleaner than our basement.”
Harry chuckled and found the radio. “Dusty. Hope it works.” He found the antennae and wires and then he and Tyler took it upstairs and placed it on the kitchen table.
A second trip was needed. They went outside to the garage and on a shelf in there, Harry found car battery. He always kept a spare.
He wasn’t quite sure if he remembered how to power up an old radio with the car battery and it took him several tries as Tyler watched and, as promised, ate his peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
“Is this one of the radios you can talk through?” Tyler asked.
“Used to be able to, but can’t anymore. The input thingy went bad.” Harry pointed.
“How come you have this?”
“Well, my oldest son, Harry, was in the Boy Scouts when we got it. I don’t really recall now why. It’s was during the height of the cold war.” Harry spoke as his hands worked.
“How old is your son?”
Harry paused to think. “Let me see. Harry… Harry would have been 57 in June. Yeah, 57 or 58. Goddamn I can’t remember. Are you good at math?”
Tyler nodded.
“I was twenty-two when he was born. I was in the Navy. I’m eighty now, how would Harry have been?”
“Fifty-eight.”
“Fifty-eight.”
“How come you said he
“Well, because Harry Junior died when he was twenty-five. He left a wife and a baby. My grandson is close to thirty now.”
“How did he die?”
Harry looked at the young boy so full of questions. “He was shot. He and his wife were going to a Broadway show. Walking to the subway he was robbed and shot.”
Tyler’s head hung low. “That’s sad, Harry.”
“Yeah, I know. It broke my heart.” Harry exhaled.
“My mom and Dad were thirty or something like that. My dad was older.” Tyler propped his face in his hands as he watched Harry connect the antennae.
“That’s mighty young to pass away. Say, Tyler…” Harry halted in his task. “Do you have any other family that is not from this area?”
Tyler nodded. “I have a grandfather and two grandmothers.”
“Know where they live?”
Tyler shook his head. “Not exactly, but I know the state. They’re all from Ohio; that’s where my mom and Dad are from.”
“Hot damn, Ohio isn’t far at all. We can drive there. We just need to find out their address.”
“Oh!”
“What?”
Tyler gave him a bright smile, slid from the chair and raced in the other room.
“What are you doing?”
Tyler returned with his duffel bag. He opened it and reached inside. “They sent me a card.” He pulled it out, still in the mailing envelope. “The address is there.” He handed the card to Harry.
“Columbus, Ohio. And we have a street. We’re good to go.”
“Will you take me there?”
“Without a doubt.”
“Where will you go after? Will you stay?”
Harry shrugged. “I’ll probably try to find my other son and daughter; they live out that way, too. We’ll try to find out what’s going on using this radio. We’ll rest up and head out in the morning. Will that work?”
Tyler nodded excitedly. “Yes.”
“Good. And… ha!” Harry smiled and cocked back when static emerged from the radio. “We have a signal.” He turned the tuner. “This is a shortwave. We’ll be able to find something out there, a station that’s reporting….”
A rush of static, and then a male voice came over the airwaves. It sounded like a newscaster on an AM radio station.
“Now we have confirmed reports that the USS Bridgeport has sunk in its Mid Atlantic voyage back to the United States. The US is trying to recall all armed forces to America, but engagements in the Atlantic and Pacific are hindering those efforts. The British Prime Minister has gone on record as stating the strikes are in direct violation of the United Nations and is calling upon the United Nations to act and assist while the UK and the US both recover from the devastation. Meanwhile, Japan has expressed its outrage over the attacks, and while they are a sovereign nation, has promised to assist in any way possible. We’ll have more updates in the next half hour or as they come in. This is Stan Smith, Salt Lake City, Utah.”
The station went to static and Harry continued to search the dial.
“Harry? What does this mean? What’s going on?”
“Quite simply…” Harry looked at him. “Don’t know why, but some way, somehow, we are at war. And I think son, the war has come here.”
Foster found it. He kept going around the blocks up and down, until he finally got the bright idea to go to the roof of a nearby building and search for the bus.
After he did that, he was able to locate it.
