We did not really celebrate any holidays, Thanksgiving we thanked each other and the dogs. Christmas, we decorated an indoor plant. I got Jillian dentist tools that she really wanted, a pressure cooker and some lingerie. Jillian got me an egg-shaped grill that was really heavy and a couple of new Hawaiian shirts. We got the dogs some toys and Jess a huge rabbit enclosure she rarely uses.

  New Year’s Eve we rode our bikes around the neighborhood and talked about making a list of what we wanted for the new year. Jess liked to sit in the tow behind trailer so she could see Pete (sometimes she would sleep in it at night.) We parked the bikes and jumped into the pool for a quick swim. The dogs joined in as Jess scampered around the perimeter.

  “Jillian?” I asked, drying off and looking towards the ocean, observing a small light blinking softly. Jillian stood in front of me as I dried off her back with a towel.

  “Catalina or San Clemente? Maybe?” She said.

  “Atmospheric Phenomenon?” I questioned.

  “Do you think any of our lights are visible?” Jillian asked.

  “I doubt it.” I responded wrapping the blanket around her and holding her tight smelling her wet hair.

  The only lights we had on were a few solar powered walkway and patio lights and the light over the stove inside the house. None of these could be seen from that distance.

  We watched the light for about fifteen minutes; speculating about its origin from a boat to aliens. We were getting tired and decided to go to bed. Just then, the mystery light ascended slowly and blinked out.

  “It’s definitely not a boat.” Said Jillian, yawning and stretching.

  “Are you coming to bed?” Jillian asked standing in the doorway.

  “I’ll be up soon.” I said. Ginger went upstairs with Jillian, Pete stayed with me. I grabbed the AA-12 and a cigar and sat in one of the large deck chairs watching the beautiful night sky and the black ocean.

  I woke up the next morning with a blanket covering me, Pete at my side, and Jess poking around the shrubs along the side of the house. Jillian was showered, dressed and bringing me a cup of coffee.

  “Good morning!” She said as she kissed my cheek followed by “Happy New Year!”

  “Good morning and Happy New Year to you. Thank you!” I said as I relieved her of the coffee cup.

  “We need to go shopping.” Jillian said as she pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket.

  “Do YOU have a list?” she said waving the paper at me.

  “No, I don’t, I’m not as organized as you this morning. Let me think… Night vision goggles, monster sized telescope, crab legs, maybe. What’s on yours?” I asked.

  “Canning supplies, food dehydrator, vacuum sealer, CPR dummy; for practice, just in case… it’s just good for you to know, and… crab legs.” Jillian said adding crab legs to her list. We packed up everything as usual for a shopping trip. The dogs were excited and we had a few new areas to explore on the map. Pete would not jump in the truck; he was looking around and sniffing for Jess. “I saw her this morning, near the shrubs. “I said to Jillian. Pete barked twice.

  “Come on Pete, she’ll be okay.” I said with a reassuring pat on the head. Pete reluctantly jumped in the truck and looked out the window at the house as we drove away.

  We picked up all Jillian’s items, including the creepy looking CPR dummy with instructional DVD. I found the telescope I wanted but the boxes would not fit in the truck. I managed to get a cargo van started and fueled up while Jillian and Pete investigated buildings near the camera store. We loaded the large boxes and Jillian started to laugh.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked.

  “Men just love toys; you’re grinning the whole time! You can’t wait to get home and put it together!” Jillian said sarcastically.

  “You think you know me, huh?!” I said slamming the doors shut hard. “YOU THINK YOU HAVE ME ALL FIGURED OUT!! I yelled. Jillian stood her ground not the least bit intimidated by me advancing toward her. The dogs were very confused. “What am I thinking about RIGHT NOW! TELL ME!” I said very loudly standing in front of her.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Jillian turned away from me and walked to the middle of the 6-lane intersection, stripping off all her clothes and then lying on her back with her hands on her knees, opening and closing her legs in the middle of a once very busy intersection. I joined her.

  I followed Jillian in the cargo van to the men’s clothing / club where we found the lobster tails, steaks and met Mr. Charity.

  “I hope I didn’t bring the coolers with ice for nothing.” Jillian’s voice over the two-way radio.

  “I have a good feeling about this one!” I said in good spirits.

  “Better than ten minutes ago?” Jillian asked. I laughed, “Not even close.”

  We pulled up slowly and exited our vehicles. I grabbed the necessary gear from the dog’s backpacks and told them to stay just inside the clothing store’s entrance. Pete sat down and was on full alert, Ginger sat and watched us disappear in the back rooms.

  Door’s number three and four were empty. Door number five had bundles of money in a duffel bag with a handgun, 2 cases of a variety of liquor and a freezer – not functioning, plugged into the wall.

  “Do NOT open this one.” I said as I unplugged it from the wall. The desk had a couple of thousand dollars, four keys, address book and some weed with rolling papers. I grabbed the address book and the keys. Jillian opened the bag of weed and smelled it.

  Door number six had additional dead bolts. It was filled with pornography from Europe, very strange and weird stuff, the DVDs still sealed, some with only blank covers and a series of numbers and letters. I moved the stacks to make sure nothing was hiding behind it: nothing of value to us.

  Door number seven had two freezers running and three wine coolers filled.

  “You do the honors.” I said to Jillian as she just smiled. She lifted the lid with her favorite blue crow bar standing off to the side. The light came on showing us a full freezer of food, dated 3 weeks prior to the virus. “YES!” we both said at the same time. We closed it and opened the next one; it was also filled. We rejoiced by hugging each other.

  “Someone was stocking up!” Jillian said. I suddenly realized she was right. Looking in a small box near the freezer I found prescription bottles, about a years’ worth of something I could barely pronounce.

  “This address looks familiar… I think it is only a couple of streets from our house.” Jillian said picking up one of the bottles and reading the label.

  “It will be best if we just take both freezers.” I said measuring the freezer and the door with a tape measure.

  “We will need a truck with a ramp.” Jillian said trying to lift the freezer. “I’m not going to lift these and neither are YOU!” Jillian said with every intention of compliance.

  Door number eight was unlocked and empty. We walked outside and discussed how we were going to get both freezers home as quickly as possible.

  “Furniture truck, with the platform… thing on the back.” Jillian said thinking out loud.

  “We will not be able to lift these into the cargo van.” Jillian repeated.

  “See if you can find some large adjustable straps, 6 of them, about three inches wide.” I said to Jillian as I found the solution just across the street. A landscaping trailer; dual axle with a hinged ramp. I thought to myself; why would this be here, in this neighborhood?

  The hitch mated up with Jillian’s truck as I unloaded the gardening equipment from the trailer and backed it up to the men’s clothing shop.

  A furniture dolly has become part of our shopping gear and moving the freezers to the trailer did not require Jillian’s assistance.

  “I was only gone for twenty minutes!” Jillian said holding the red straps exactly as I had pictured in my head as she looked at the one freezer loaded and me rolling the next one into position. “We need to move fast.” I said as Jillian started securing them to the trailer.

  “Watch out for train tracks or uneven road surfaces.” I said to Jillian closing the door to her truck. “This is not your Ferrari. I’ll stay back fifty yards, open radios.” I said. We drove home without incident.

  As soon as we arrived home, Jess popped out of the bushes and Pete spotted her immediately. They chased each other around the front yard with Ginger the entire time it took us to unload the freezers and plug them into the generators in the garage.

  “These things draw some serious juice. We will need to compensate.” I said to Jillian.

  “So, I can’t use my vibrators?” Jillian said with a sad and serious expression. I placed my hand on her shoulder. “I’m willing to step up to the plate, if that’s ok?” I said with the same sad serious expression. “Okay.” Jillian said, reluctantly with a smile.

  I pulled out a package of ground beef. “Burgers on the grill or spaghetti with meat balls?” I said smiling broadly.

  “We need to use the oldest date first; I have lobster tails in the fridge and steaks in the freezer – I have all the dates memorized.” Jillian said putting the ground beef back into the freezer and closing the lid.

  “Fire up the grill! Let’s have a pool party!” Jillian said to Ginger and Pete. After we cleaned everything up, I fired up the grill and heard the blender from the kitchen. Jillian approached me with a half-bottle of tequila and a Margarita with salt. She opened the tequila and drank from the bottle.

  “Whoa!” She said handing me the bottle. “Smooth!” she said gasping a little.

  “Well, it is a Monday, at 2:30 in the afternoon – Tequila time!” I said as I took two gulps.

  “Today is Thursday.” Jillian said. I shrugged my shoulders.

  We ate our grilled lobster tails sauteed in tequila with rice and beans. Jillian turned on some music and we started dancing. The animals were lying in the grass enjoying the sunshine and satisfied with full bellies and Jillian and I in good spirits. Jillian pushed me into one of the deck chairs and started giving me a lap dance, slowly taking off her clothes.

  By the time the CD was over, so were we, we lay naked in the soft deck chair and all was quiet and we both fell asleep. About two hours into our siesta, we woke to a rain shower that gently swept through. The rain was cold against our skin. We went into the house and watched the rain as we drank coffee and ate chocolate under a blanket on the couch.