Page 123 of One Adult, Please

The static surges. The signal wobbles. Joel straightens at the door. His face does the operations shift.

"Mom, the signal's not stable. I need to tell you things fast."

"I'm listening."

"WonderSphere is safe. We have walls. We have food. We have water, Joel keeps the water running, he's very... the water is his whole thing. We have other survivors now too, fourteen new people. We have a system for letting them in. The system is in crayon."

"Of course it is."

"If you can get here. If there's a way. The roads might be..."

"Mrs. Patterson has a car."

"Mrs. Patterson is there?"

"Mrs. Patterson came to the shelter the first night with Biscuit in a carrier and Mr. Noodles in her lap and a tuna casserole that she insists is fine and has been fine for days. I'm not going to be the one to test that theory."

The static is getting worse. The signal is thinning, stretching, the sound of a connection trying to hold across distance and infrastructure.

"Mom, I need you to know something. I had a snow globe for you."

"A snow globe?"

"From the gift shop. Little castle inside. Glitter. It was going to go on the shelf between Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon."

"That's a good spot."

"I killed a zombie with it."

Static. Long static. "You killed a zombie," she says.

"Glitter went everywhere. The castle is cracked. I'm sorry about the shelf gap."

"Grace."

"I'll get you a new one. A better one. Two, actually. One for you and one for Mrs. Patterson. Does Mrs. Patterson collect snow globes?"

"Mrs. Patterson collects ceramic angels."

"I'll find her a ceramic angel. This park has multiple gift shops. Gift shops are my core competency. I'll find the best ceramic angel WonderSphere has ever produced and I'll give it to Mrs. Patterson and she can put it next to Mr. Noodles and everything will be fine."

"Grace," Mom says. "We're coming. Mrs. Patterson's car has gas and I have a map and I'll be there."

"The roads..."

"I drove through the ice storm of 2007 in a Kia Sorento with you throwing up in a mixing bowl. I can handle the roads."

"There are zombies."

"There are always obstacles. When you were four, the obstacle was a ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese that you refused to leave for three hours. When you were twelve, the obstacle was a science fair volcano that erupted in the minivan. The obstacles change. The driving doesn't. I'll be there. I'm bringing the cat."

"Biscuit gets car sick. You have to..."

"I have been managing Biscuit for six years. I know about the car sickness. I know about the yowling. I know about the thing she does with her tail when she's stressed. I'll manage Biscuit."

"She's going to hate the carrier."

The static surges again. Louder. Joel takes a step into the room.