Quarantine

The wall around Four Trees was started in mid-November around Thanksgiving and was completed by early January. The town officials claimed that was to help keep the wild life on the other side like mountain lions and wolves. The residents of the town didn’t even bat an eye at the explanation. There were mountain lion sightings almost on a daily basis throughout the whole town. They were always looking for ways to keep them away from the town and not harm them.

The wall was the fastest thing built in the small town. It would have normally taken them half a year to just get a quarter of it completed, and that was if they were lucky. Four Trees didn’t get in too much of a hurry to get much done. The town motto was ‘Relax by the trees’. The people in this town lived up to the first word. They relaxed a lot-to the point it should be changed to ‘Relax by the TV’.

Four Trees was named after the four trees in the exact middle of the town. The four trees have a million stories going around the town. The most famous was that they were four angels that protect the town and when provoked come to life. It was just a story that parents told the children to get them to sleep. The trees never appeared to died, and the leaves would always be green much longer than all the other trees that surrounded the city.

The people in the town were a bit oblivious it seemed like when it came to the wall and the vaccines. No one even paid attention when they required everyone who lived inside of the walls to get the flu shot. They just said that the flu was going to be bad this year, and they want everyone as healthy as possible. Everyone did even the most reluctant ones. It was almost like they were trained dogs. They barked when the town officials told them to.

Devon Grimm thought they were all crazy. The wall was nothing less than suspicious. The required vaccines were a little early for the flu, and they hadn’t been required when they thought it was going to be bad. Devon always had the tendency to look more into things, and that may have just been an old habit that he never seemed to kick.

Paul Ratcliff claimed that the walls wouldn’t work which vaguely interested Grim. “That damned idea has been talked about for years, and they just gonna build it as large as a normal fence,” he complained in the local dinner called Avery’s Kitchen the day it passed in city council. He complained about it for throughout the rest of the winter.

Avery’s Kitchen was owned by Ramona Winter, the grand-daughter of Avery. She was a short plump woman of forty-five. She had graying blonde hair and a bright smile. She was a great cook and mothered everyone she saw. Everyone called her Four Trees’s Mom. She would just blush and say that she was only doing what her momma told her to do.

Devon Grimm listened to Paul as he worked. Mountain lions weren’t seen as often as they claimed to be. Most of the people were exaggerators or they just didn’t tell you they saw the lion out in the forest when they were hunting. Devon was smart enough to know that a ten foot wall with barbed wires on the top with only four exits was meant to keep something in, not out.

“I’m telling you, Mona. Those things will jus’ get in here somehow,” Paul continued. He was always more of a complainer than a go-getter. His thick country accent was more than enough to make people think he wasn’t as educated as he would claim, but the way he spent his time complaining was more than annoying to most. “They always do.”

“Oh, Paul. They’ve tried everything else. The state is paying for the fence and who knows? Maybe it will,” Ramona said, setting his plate down in front of him. Her warm smile was mirrored in her eyes as she looked at him.

The food shut him up for about five minutes until his wife, Angie Ratcliff, walked in. She gossiped with Ramona about getting her nails done after she ate when Paul went back to complaining. This time it was about the money his wife spent, not the new construction in the town. It was kind of pleasant for Grim who was getting tired of thinking about it.

Devon turned his attention back to cleaning off the tables. He worked as a cook, but Anthony Morrison had called in saying that he had to take his pregnant girlfriend to the hospital. Devon was left cleaning the tables while Big Rudy cooked. Devon didn’t mind much, and besides he didn’t want to stand in front of a hot stove when it was nearly ninety degrees outside as it was.

“Grim, how’s it hanging?” Cameron Overton called out as he walked into the diner. “Got any job applications?”

“Quit or fired?” Devon asked, not even bothered by the nickname. He had been called that since middle school. Few said it was because of his last name. The majority said it was because he looked like the Grim Reaper itself. Devon wasn’t as skinny as the people claimed, but he was a bit bone-ier than he liked to admit. He had tried to change that multiple times, but never seemed to get fat.

“I quit before they could fire me,” Cameron replied. “The boss didn’t like my dating choices.”

Devon grabbed the box of dirty dishes and looked at his cousin curiously. “You are going to have to talk to Ramona about a job, not me. Just don’t date her son,” he said, turning to take the dishes into the kitchen.

Devon could feel like something major was linked to the wall and the flu shot that he was asked to take. He had taken it even though he always got the flu afterwards. Ramona had asked him to get it done and agreed when she said that she would give him a week off to get better. He had gotten the flu after that and stayed home for the week. This was his first day back on the job which was kind of nice. He hated sitting in front of the TV all day.

He was curious as to how they were linked and what was up with it. He even talked about this to his mother, Rosie Grimm. She couldn’t hear him. She was far beyond listening to anything from anyone. She was dying, and it was clear to Devon. The only thing he could do is hope that she wasn’t in any pain. He just liked to get his thoughts out when he was there with her. It was almost like her mother was his journal which helped him vent.

He actually wrote his thoughts out sometimes in journals that he kept in his apartment. Most of it was gibberish and just his worries like how much he was getting paid and how much he needed to save so he can move back to Alaska. The thoughts of Juneau flickered through his mind and he missed the city more. He had lived there since the day he turned to twenty until he turned twenty-six to take care of his mom. He had sold everything he didn’t need and came back to this small town in the middle of the heat like the good man he was.

Maybe he could have taken her up there. He wouldn’t had gotten to watch the walls of the small city go up as the population went down.