17. Alan
17
ALAN
A lan didn’t bother trying to sneak into the gravel pit on his second visit, two nights later.
Kendra’s van was already tucked along the edge of the gravel pad and leveled. It sounded like a generator was running. The sky was still light, and there was no sign of Ferdinand. (Alan vowed to get a real name out of him that night so he could stop calling him that, even if it wasn’t meant disrespectfully.) Two chairs were already set up, a whiteboard leaning across the arms of one of them. There was a fire ring built of rocks, and a fire was laid out but not lit.
Alan drove right up, got out, and knocked on her door.
“Come in!” Kendra called, and Alan opened the door to a wave of warmth and laughter.
He climbed three steps up into the interior. There was a cross-stitched sign just inside that said, “Home Sweet Rita.” The van, apparently named Rita, was mostly full of counters and cabinets, looking much more like a vet’s mobile clinic than a home. Everything was stainless steel and linoleum. It was tall enough for Alan to stand up in with room to spare. There were half a dozen wire-fronted kennels, but most of them appeared to be full of duffel bags and clear plastic boxes. There were two seats against the back of the cab, and one of them had a high-chair tray screwed to the wall next to it. All of the cabinets below counters had child locks.
The space in the back of the van was divided by a closet that Alan suspected was a tiny bathroom. There was an equally tiny kitchenette next to it, with a sink, a little fridge, and a microwave up high. In the back, double doors had big windows, and there was a surgical table with a scissor lift that looked large enough for a large dog or a small sheep. The ceiling was hung with specialized-looking equipment, including oxygen tubing, cameras with radiation warning labels, and industrial-strength hooks. One small, backless shop stool was bungee-corded to the wall in the back by the table.
It was brilliantly lit, and industrial, with just a few sparse touches of home, like the sweatshirt spread out to dry on the counter, and two toothbrushes in a cup bolted by the sink. There was a bed above the cab of the van, with barely enough clearance to sit upright in. There was a military net stretched over the opening.
Amy was standing on the floor, human, but flapping her arms as if she were still an owlet. “Oo! Oo! Oo!” she was saying happily as she jumped in place.
“You live here?” Alan had been expecting more of a camper set-up, with couches and comforts.
Kendra immediately went wary. “Why wouldn’t I? I own this outright, don’t pay any rent, and can save everything I earn for gas, day care, and a down payment on a house. No landlord yanking my lease out from under me, and if my neighbors suck, I can camp somewhere else.” This was clearly a tender point for her.
“I just meant that it’s…small.” Alan wasn’t sure he’d made anything better by adding that.
“So are we,” Kendra snapped. “For now. But I do keep feeding Amy. This isn’t a forever home, just for now. Speaking of feeding…”
Amy caught wind of Kendra’s plans and bolted for the rear of the van. Kendra swooped after her and turned the squeals of protest into laughter as she tossed her into the air. “Who wants NOODLES?”
“Oo oo OOO!”
Kendra deftly buckled her into the seat and slipped the tray down in front of her. “Gotcha!”
Amy pounded on the tray. Alan wasn’t sure if it was delight or rage, even after a week of caring for her at Tiny Paws.
Like magic, Kendra unfolded one of the counters to reveal a gas stove, which she lit. A pot was produced from a narrow overhead cabinet and filled at the miniature sink, then set to boil. Noodles were in one of the plastic bins stacked in a pet kennel.
“Can I get you something?” she offered
“I ate before I came,” Alan said.
“I have coffee and tea. Instant coffee.”
Alan had dressed considerably more sensibly for sitting outside in a frosty gravel pit and while he thought Ferdinand might fit in the back of the van, it would be very crowded and uncomfortable. A hot drink would be a nice touch tonight. “Tea sounds good. Herbal, if you’ve got it.”
“I’ve got Sleepy Time?—”
“Sweepy time!” Amy chorused.
“—and some decaf Earl Gray. I also have apple cider.”
Alan accepted a package of the Earl Gray. “Earl Gray. Hot,” he quipped, quoting Star Trek.
“I always wondered if there were people in the future who drank it cold,” Kendra said with a twitch of a smile. “Wouldn’t replicators have ordinary defaults programmed in?”
Alan was delighted that she got the geek reference. “Some drinks should be hot.” Alan took the seat beside Amy when Kendra pointed him to it, as he was otherwise standing around awkwardly in the way. Amy cooed at him and patted his arm.
“Iced coffee has always confused me.” Kendra boiled and drained the noodles efficiently, and gave Amy a divided plate with noodles, shredded cheese, and a handful of kidney beans from a Tupperware container. The little girl started eating carefully, one noodle at a time. Her own plate was a paper bowl with the same ingredients mixed together and topped with hot sauce. “Don’t judge me.”
“I kind of am judging you,” Alan confessed. “But not in the way you might think. This is amazing. I can’t believe how efficient it all is and how much you can do in this space.”
Kendra looked pleased and seemed to relax a little as she rinsed the pot, filled it with a cup of water, and set it to heat again. “It may not be a normal life, and there aren’t a lot of frills, but it suits us just fine.”
“I definitely didn’t mean to sound condescending.”
“You probably weren’t,” Kendra admitted. “I just…I’m afraid there are people who might think that living in a van wasn’t acceptable for a single mom. That I’m putting us in danger, or something. Depriving my child of a childhood. Raising a vagrant.”
She went to the far end of the van to release the rolling stool and pushed it back to sit facing Alan and Amy, who was offering Alan a smashed handful of shredded cheese. “No thank you,” Alan said. “I have some pretend cheese.” He mimed eating it and Amy giggled.
Kendra ate gracefully, holding her plate in one hand, and when the water in the pot began to boil, she put it on the counter and manifested a cup from a cupboard he hadn’t even noticed. “Sugar?”
Alan barely kept himself from suggesting her sugar. “No, thank you.”
She showed him how to lower a hidden table at his elbow for his tea and Alan set it down to cool. Despite its size and sterility, the van felt more like home and comfort than his well-appointed townhouse, and Alan could feel his own tension ease. It was cozy, and the generator wasn’t very loud. There were periodic noises from the highway, but for the most part, it felt like they were alone and isolated in a perfect little bubble of happiness.
Nest , his raven said contentedly.
Amy kept up a commentary about her food and tried to grab for Alan’s tea when he went to drink it. Alan told stories about a diaper he’d tried to change at the day care that made Kendra try to breathe her noodles and she coughed and laughed helplessly.
She was still recovering when there was a crash at the door that rocked the van.
“Ferdinand, if you dent my van again, I’m going to double your vet bill to cover the damages!”
Kendra left what remained of her dinner on the counter and opened the door. Sure enough, there was a hulking black shape standing there looking not the slightest bit contrite.