qiyiying9557

@@@@@I tried to climb in to ascertain if it really was the same place?one second on that bowed floor and I would know it for certain?but I could not get any farther than the openingIt, too, was crammed full of boxes Stymied, I explored with my hands, moving back out into the hallI found I could go no deeper down the passageway; it was entirely filled with the mysterious cardboard squares As I hunted along the floor, trying to understand, I found something different from the crowd of boxesIt was rough fabric, like burlap, a sack full of something heavy that shifted with a quiet hissing sound when I nudged itI kneaded the sack with my hands, less alarmed by the low hiss than by the plastic crackle?it seemed unlikely that this sound would alert anyone to my presence Suddenly, it all came clearIt was the smell that did itAs I played with the sand-like material inside the bag, I got an unexpected whiff of a familiar scentIt took me back to my bare kitchen in San Diego, to the low cupboard on the left side of the sinkIn my head I could see so clearly the bag of uncooked rice, the plastic measuring cup I used to dole it out, the rows of canned food behind it? Once I realized that I was touching a bag of rice, I understoodIwas in the right place after all Hadn't Jeb said they used this place for storage? And hadn't Jared just returned from a long raid? Now everything the raiders had stolen in the weeks they'd been gone was dumped in this out-of-the-way place until it could be used Many thoughts ran through my head at once First, I realized that I was surrounded by foodNot just rough bread and weak onion soup, butfoodSomewhere in this stack, there could be peanut butterChocolate chip cookies Even as I imagined finding these things, tasting them again, being full for the first time since I'd left civilization, I felt guilty for thinking of itJared hadn't risked his life and spent weeks hiding and stealing to feedmeThis food was for others I also worried that perhaps this wasn't the entire haulWhat if they had more boxes to stow? Would Jared and Kyle be the ones to bring them? It didn't take any imagination at all to picture the scene that would result if they found me here But wasn't that why I was here? Wasn't that exactly what I'd needed to be alone to think about? I slouched against the wal