“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Snap out of it, boy. Madeline does not deserve your stupid look of swooning.”
“What?” I’m confused. By both his tone and his words. Is he disparaging Madeline?
“What do you need, son? I’m busy.”
“Yes.” I shake the confusion off so I can get down to business. “I need more generators.”
“How many more?”
“Well. One for Pie’s bathroom, one for Pie’s kitchen, one for my room, one for the main kitchen… how about seven?”
Big Jim blinks at me. “Seven? With or without solar panels?”
“Oh, definitely with.”
“Boy, you do realize these generators are twenty-five hundred dollars each?”
I pause. It does sound like a lot of money. And I don’t want to keep adding to Pie’s debt. But she’s the one who told me to come get them. So I nod. “Yes. I realize that. It’s a lot. But we have decided they are necessary.”
“Welp. More money for me, I guess. I’m gonna have to go in the back. I don’t keep that many stocked out front.”
“Oh, one more thing. Madeline mentioned you sell burners.”
One of his bushy white eyebrows slides up his forehead. “You need a burner phone?”
“Madeline suggested I get one, yes.”
“What kind of shit you wrapped up in, boy?”
“I don’t understand.”
“What you got goin’ on up there in the woods that you need seven solar generators and a burner phone? You making drugs or somethin’?”
My face scrunches up. “Drugs? No. We just want power in the kitchens.”
“The kitchens, huh?”
“And Pie’s bathroom. And I want another radio, while I’m here. One for my room.”
He puts up a hand. “I get all kinds in here, son. So I’m not gonna ask no more questions. But if you need a gun, you’re gonna have to get that somewhere else. I don’t need that kind of heat.”
I have no clue what he’s talking about now. “I don’t need a gun.”
“Good. I’ll be right back with your seven generators and your burner phone.”
I smile at him, but he’s frowning when he turns and disappears into the back room.
I browse the glass case in front of me as I wait and find there’s a gadget in there with the same kind of map I saw on Madeline’s phone. Maybe I should get one of those? So I can keep track of how far away from the sanctuary I go.
I’ve asked Pell what happens when you venture too far away and he says it gets foggy and everything disappears. Then you wake up back at home. I’ve even tried to get him to drive me to the edge of the boundary, but he refused. Said we’d lose the car if he did that and it wasn’t worth showing me if we lost the Jeep.
But now we have two vehicles, so I might ask him again.
“Here’s the burner.” Big Jim returns, setting a phone down wrapped up in tight, hard plastic. “You’ll need some minutes, too, I expect?”
“Minutes?”
“To use the phone?”