Alex didn't blame her. They had just passed one that had been decomposing in front of a pizza place for a week now, its flesh eaten away by rats. At first when the bodies started appearing, they got picked up within a day. But now there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to when the sanitation crews removed bodies. With more people dying and fewer trips to the crematorium, the corpses were becoming part of the city landscape. Good for body shopping but nothing else.

"If it's cold like this in August, what's it going to be like in December?" Julie asked.

Alex shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted. "But maybe by then they'll have figured out a way of clearing the ash from the sky. The scientists must be working on that."

"I thought they were working on getting the moon back in place," Julie said.

"First things first," Alex said.

"I hate the scientists," Julie said. "I hate the cold and the volcanoes and the moon. I hate everything."

Alex didn't bother to correct her because at that moment, he hated everything, too.

Tuesday, August 30

Alex walked Julie to Holy Angels that morning, but instead of dropping her off and checking on the five remaining people on his list, he searched out Sister Rita.

Like everyone else, she seemed older than when he'd seen her last. There was sadness in her eyes, and he realized she must be grieving for the loss of the garden as deeply as Julie.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Sister," he said. "But I need to know if Holy Angels will still be feeding the girls lunch everyday."

"As far as I know," Sister Rita replied. "At least for the time being."

Alex smiled. "That's good news," he said. "Thank you."

Sister Rita gave Alex a long, hard look. "Your parents never came back, did they?" she said. "Julie doesn't talk about it, but you're responsible for her now."

Alex nodded warily. "We're doing fine," he said. "Briana's at a convent upstate, and Julie and I have enough to eat. I get lunch at Vincent de Paul, and we're okay."

"I'm not interfering," Sister Rita said. "Even if I wanted to, if I thought Julie would be better off, nothing's left. No foster homes, no group homes. At least not in the city. And Julie's doing as well as she possibly could under the circumstances. She's a very bright girl and very hard-working. You must be quite proud of her."

"Thank you, I am," Alex said, startled at the idea that Julie was someone to be proud of. But Sister Rita had a point. Julie was tough, and nowadays that was a virtue.

"For New York to have such a heavy frost in August, that's very bad," Sister Rita said. "I think there's going to be famine throughout the country this winter. Throughout the world. And with famine come epidemics. I think we're in for horrifying times."

Alex thought about his father most likely washed out to sea, his mother most likely drowned in a subway tunnel, his older brother who might or might not have made it to Texas, his uncle and aunt who might or might not have made it to Oklahoma, one sister living with strangers upstate, the other sister surviving on two small meals a day, and decided famine and epidemics were the least of his concerns.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said. "Thank you, Sister."

"Alex," Sister Rita said, and grabbed him by the arm. "Listen to me. What's bad now is nothing compared to what might be coming. Think of Joseph and the seven years of famine. The people survived because he prepared them for what was to come. The archdiocese is providing us with food now, but if the crops all die, there won't be any more coming in. Maybe things will be better down south. Maybe there's someplace safe in the world. But if you're planning to stick it out in New York, you'd better get as many supplies as you can, because food may stop coming and we won't be able to grow our own."

Alex remembered the baby trampled in the food riot. It was an image that haunted him. If things got that bad that fast on a day when at least some people got food, what would it be like if no food at all was available?

"I'll do what I can," he said. "Thank you again."

Wednesday, August 31

Alex dropped Julie off at school, made his rounds, then went to St. Margaret's, arriving there shortly after Mass ended. His wait to see Father Franco was much shorter than it had been earlier in the summer. Fewer people, fewer problems.

He didn't bother asking the priest if there was any more word from Puerto Rico. He'd stopped calling Nana's number even before his phone service had stopped —a couple of weeks before. Papi was gone, the same as Mami, the same as Carlos, the same as the sun.

"I haven't heard anything from my friends at the convent," Father Franco said apologetically. "But I'm sure everything is fine with Briana."

"That's not why I'm here," Alex said. "It's Julie. She's okay; we both are. We still have food and the schools are still serving lunch. But I don't know how much longer that will last, so I wanted to know if there's any place outside the city taking girls her age. She'll be thirteen in a few weeks, and she's strong and a good worker."

"You mean someplace like Briana's convent?" Father Franco asked. "That's the only one I know of."

"I mean anyplace," Alex said. "In case things get worse. The church must have someplace for girls to go, an orphanage or something."

Father Franco shook his head.

"There must be something," Alex said. "Can't you call the archdiocese and ask?"

"I'll tell you what I know," Father Franco said. "The past three months, the church has dealt with the dead and the dying. Only two Catholic hospitals are open in the city now. Most of the smaller churches have closed, and I've been told St. Margaret's will close before New Year's. I just pray it will still be open for Christmas. The social service agencies have all closed. All the children in foster care were sent out of the city in July, and no new children are being accepted. This fall, most of the schools will close. There are federally run evacuee camps inland. The closest one I know of is in Bingham-ton. You and Julie could go there, but I don't think it would be wise to send her alone, and once you were there, you'd still have to find someplace safe to move to."

"Aren't there any convents taking in girls?" Alex asked. "I know she's too young to be a postulant, but there's got to be a convent somewhere that she could go to."

"The convents have been decimated," Father Franco said. "The ones on the coasts have been flooded out, and the ones inland have had to deal with earthquakes, volcanoes, and disease. No place is safe anymore, Alex. Julie's better off with you than she would be anywhere else. I thank the Blessed Virgin that we found a safe place for Briana. Perhaps in her all-merciful heart, she'll find such a place for Julie, also."

The Blessed Virgin had found a place for Julie, Alex thought as he left St. Margaret's. It was with Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Lorraine. Whatever happened to Julie was his fault. She lived in hell because of him, and he would spend eternity in hell for her suffering.

Thursday, September 1

Alex woke up thinking about the thirty-dollar flashlight, not sure why. Of all the decisions he'd made, not buying the flashlight was one he never regretted.

Then he remembered how he'd been told the cost of the flashlight was going to go up to forty bucks, and he figured it out. The value of what he brought in body shopping was going to go down as food became sparser. Today a pair of shoes was worth two cans of beans and a box of pasta. In a month he'd be lucky to get the pasta.

At first he thought he should leave the apartment and search everywhere for new bodies, but then he knew what the flashlight really meant. He had access to four apartments, all filled with things that could be used and bartered. Four treasure chests he'd been ignoring because somewhere in the back of his mind he thought taking things without permission was sinful.