Sum Tactonics (Part 4)

One evening the vehicles’ oil froze. I realized this when I heard the neighbors cranking over the engine until the battery cracked. This signaled a change. It meant the cars needed to remain indoors, even those, like ours, with engine coils installed. The power need outpaced the demand and the second mass population reduction began. If my lover had an opinion I wasn’t privy to it. Her thoughts remained private and undetectable. I looked for signs but found none. Content to observe I watched for evidence of alarm to the cadence of the whale call that now filled the silence with similar calm. That night we slept near the garden where it was warmer and made love silently until she fell asleep with my hands around the bump which took on of late a decidedly roundish shape.

Near midday the traffic began to repopulate the roadways and I left to start the car and assess any damage. The neighbor had frozen and remained still in the driver’s seat with both hands gripping the wheel as if he were an attentive driver. There were no signs of the woman and child. I attended to my business with ordered haste, successfully started the auto and drove south to town for supplies. There were dozens of frozen motorists along the embankments, especially near the bridge that crews were clearing away with adapted cherry picker machines at least one of which appeared to be controlled remotely. At the grocer there were plastics being constructed to envelope the parking lot and fewer than half of the vehicles I would expect on a Tuesday afternoon.

Inside the store I noticed the Regional Times was sold out so I asked the clerk about it. “Ink Froze,” he replied and I nodded in understanding showing no sign of interest. The Clerk continued to restock bags below the register not noticing my eyes cinch up involuntarily for a brief moment. I got the usual and some extra moleskin to cover any flaked scales which there were more of with the gardening, hunting and habit I had of staying just a bit too long between plastics on the way from the car to the door. They had sold out of candies so I bought a sweet rose thinking my lover might like to suck its petals before bed as I rubbed her scaly thighs and belly.