What Comes After

August 1

Wood gathering day.

Mom and Dad split our household in half for tasks for today. Mira, May, Leon, and I all went with Dad to the woods while Mom stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa. They're going to keep working on the greenhouse we're trying to build in the garage. So far they've set up a rudimentary lighting system, but heat and finding a non-solar power source for the batteries is still going to be an issue.

"We can take my car, if you want," Leon said. "I don't want to bother you guys if the walk is long."

"The woods are about five, ten minutes away," Dad said. "We'll be fine."

"Are you sure? I—"

"Save your gas," Dad said. "It's precious in time like this, and I want you both to be able to get home in time."

Leon looked shocked and you could see the subtle jaw drop. I was too. Dad, a couple of days back, would've kicked Leon out instantly if given the choice. I guess even adults can change. Dad turned towards all of us.

"What are you guys staring at?" he asked. "Let's go."

I adjusted my air mask, and Mira looked at Dad. "Thank you," she said.

Dad forced out a pained smile. I know that it's going to be tough for him if Mira leaves. It's going to be tough on all of us.

We walked down the street, heading towards the woods. Dad walked in the very front, carrying a wheelbarrow filled with canvas bags, and Mira and Leon were right behind, talking quietly amongst each other.

"Do you think Mira and Leon are leaving?" May asked.

"Maybe," I said. "I don't know. Why don't you ask them yourself?"

"Whatever," May said. "It's just that, the house is going to feel a lot emptier without Mira being around."

"I thought you wanted more space."

"I do," May said. "It's so annoying being with Mom and Dad all the time, and with Mira gone, it's like there's one less person that isn't like our parents."

"Plus, Leon's pretty cute," she added.

"You have a crush on Mira's boyfriend," I said. "Why? Didn't you have an argument with him on Saturday?"

"First, we didn't argue on Saturday. We had a thoughtful conversation about religion. Second, I don't have a crush on him," she said and walked slower. We didn't want Mira to hear our conversation. That would just be awkward. "He's just objectively hot. Don't you agree?"

"I don't know," I said. "That's just weird."

"It's not weird. It's natural," May said and sighed. "I just wish that I was Mira sometimes."

"Dad would fight with you a lot though."

"It'll be worth the trade off," May said and looked at Leon. This was male objectification at its finest moment.

We walked for a couple of minutes before reaching the woods. There were small stumps of sycamore and pine laying around, but unlike a couple weeks back, there was no one here. It was like we had stumbled into a ghost town, abandoned and lonely. There was dew this morning, so there were no ash clouds blossoming whenever we walked over the leaf litter and the air was unusually clear.

Dad divided us up into two groups. May and Mira would be looking around for branches and twigs that we could use for kindle while Leon, Dad, and I would be trading shifts and using the puny hatchet to chop down some smaller saplings.

"Good luck," May said. "You're going to need it if you even want to try to cut down any one of these trees."

"I know," I replied.

Mira and May walked into the forest while Dad and Leon started chopping down a small sycamore. They weren't making much progress on it because the tiny hatchet just wasn't strong enough. After about half an hour of trying to chop down the tree, they had only made about a three-inch notch in the trunk.

Dad dropped the axe on the ground and sat down, panting. Leon took off his sweatshirt and wiped beads of sweat off of his face. His shirt was stained with dark sweat-marks, and he sat down on a tree stump, catching his breath.

"You want to do some chopping?" Dad asked me.

I shook my head. "It's too much work, and I'm busy gathering sticks."

"You haven't gathered a single stick since we've started chopping," Dad said. "We're not going to maintain a fire with just twigs. We're going to need real wood."

Dad picked up the axe and placed it in my hands. "It's pretty simple. It's just like swinging a baseball bat."

"Then why don't you ask May to do it?" I retorted. "She's the softball player. I flunked out of baseball after a year."

"You just have to do it," Dad said. "So let's start."

I pulled the axe back like I was trying to swing a baseball bat. Dad was literally staring at me while Leon was looking in my general direction, probably searching for Mira. I pulled the axe back and tightened my grip on the hatchet, trying to swing it, but I just couldn't do it. It was just too weird with Dad staring at me.

"Can you just go somewhere and not stare at me?" I asked Dad.

"Why?"

"It's just really weird."

"I'm just making sure that you're doing it right, so that you don't hurt yourself."

"I'm going to be fine," I said. "You said it was easy. Now, just, I don't know, help May with picking up sticks. I'll call you when I'm tired."

"Alright," Dad said and stood up. Leon stood up with him too, probably to find Mira. "Be safe."

They left the wood-chopping area and went into the woods to help May and Mira pick up branches and sticks. I took a deep breath through my air mask and swung the axe. It hit the wood with a solid thwack, but when I went over to the trunk to see if my swing cut any wood, the notch looked like the same size before I chopped the trunk. Who knew that wood was so tough?

After a couple minutes of swinging, I checked again. There didn't seem to be a big difference in the trunk though how was I supposed to know without a measuring stick? I think I might have cut about half a centimeter into the trunk.

I swung the axe a couple of more times before putting it down. I think the blade of the axe was dull because there's no way people back in the eighteenth century were able to cut trees in a reasonable amount of time if all their axes were like this. My arms were on fire, and my back was sore.

"You want me to take over?"

I turned around and saw Leon. "Yeah," I said. "Go for it."

He grabbed the axe and began swinging at the tree. There were small splinters of wood that flew from the trunk.

"You should probably sit farther back," he said. "I don't want you to get hurt by the wood splinters."

"Yeah," I said and stood up, backing away from the sycamore that we were cutting. "Actually, I'm going to go and help Mira and May with their stick gathering."

"You can stay if you want to," he said. "I feel like we haven't really talked that much."

"Sure, I'll stay," I said.

I sat on a wood stump a safe distance away from the sycamore tree while Leon cut the tree. "You play any sports?" Leon asked.

"Table tennis a couple years back," I replied. "Badminton recently."

"Ever try out for the team?"

"Too competitive. I wouldn't even be able to substitute for the JV team," I said. "And I've never really been into sports."

"That's cool," he said and nodded, wiping his forehead. "Man, it's hot out here."

It really wasn't that warm that day. The afternoon we were chopping down wood was about the low sixties, which, I guess, was warm because the past couple of days had been in the mid to low fifties.

Leon was sweating like a bull, and he pulled up the hem of his t-shirt and took it off. He was well built, to say the least. I don't know why, but I started blushing all of a sudden. I don't know, but I felt, I guess, jealous, almost. I don't even know. I think Leon thought that I was staring because he started giving me a weird look.

"Did you play any sports?" I blurted out.

"Volleyball mostly," he said. "I used to do it competitively in high school, but in college, I mostly played it with my friends."

I nodded and tried to look into the distance as Leon chopped the trunk, but for some reason, my eyes just kept drifting towards Leon's body. I don't even know why they were doing that. They just did it. I don't think he noticed, but this was just so awkward. Maybe something is wrong with me. Correction, something is definitely wrong with me.

"Mira told me that you like to read," Leon said all of a sudden.

"Yeah," I said.

"So what types of books do you read?" he asked. "Tolkien? Fitzgerald? King?"

"They're too old," I said. "I like more modern books."

"That's cool," he said. "Any suggestions?"

"What genre?"

"Horror," he said. "Or one of those really detailed fantasy novels."

"Sorry, I don't really read in those genres," I replied and shuffled leaves on the ground with my foot.

"So what do you like to read?"

I shrugged. "Mostly coming-of-age stories."

"Any favorites?"

"They're all fine."

There was another silence. Leon had hacked through half of the trunk as a soft wind gusted through the woods, picking up the damp leaves scattered across the ground. The branches were all bare on the sycamore trees. The only trees that were covered in green were the pine trees that dotted the woods.

I heard the soft crinkle of leaves, and I looked back. Dad was carrying a bag filled with twigs and branches and Mira and May were behind him, talking to each other. Leon turned towards them and waved. May looked at me and mouthed, "Hot."

I shook my head at May and looked at the ground. Mira walked up to Leon. "You're gross and sweaty right now. Go shower when we get home."

"Yes boss," Leon said and saluted.

Mira laughed and they shared a kiss.

"Too much PDA," May said and Leon abruptly broke from their kiss, blushing.

"Are you close to cutting down the tree?" Dad asked.

"I only need a couple of more minutes," Leon said.

"Do we have a whetstone or something to sharpen the axe?" I asked.

"Maybe in the garage," Dad said. "But we'll have to make do with whatever we have now."

Leon swung the axe a couple of more times at the tree. The branches rustled against each other, but the tree wasn't getting any closer to falling down.

"What about the Hunters' house?" I asked. "They used to go camping and fishing a lot. Maybe—"

"We're not going into other people's houses," Dad said. "That's a line that I'm not willing to cross."

"But they—"

"No," Dad said. "And I don't want to hear any more of it."

"Whatever," I said and sat down.

The wind gusted through the forest, picking up the dried leaves and tossed them around. Our whole family stood there and watched Leon try to chop the tree down. Dad offered to help, but Leon said that he'd go and finish the job. There was nothing much for the rest of us to do because all of our twig bags were filled, so we just waited and watched.

Sweat dripped down his back and stomach. I have never seen a person that sweat so much, but maybe that's because I only swung the axe for about five or ten minutes before handing it off to Leon. All of a sudden, the tree started swaying back and forth. "Kids," Dad said. "The tree's going to fall soon. I want you guys to stand a hundred feet away from the tree."

"How are we supposed to know what's a hundred feet?" May asked. "It's not like we have a ruler or something."

"Stand around that black rock." Dad pointed into the distance.

"And what are you guys going to be doing here?" I asked.

"Just finishing up cutting down the tree," Dad replied. "The tree is going to fall away from the direction we're cutting, but I want you guys to be safe just in case something goes wrong."

"Be safe," Mira said to Leon as we walked to the boulder.

"Don't worry," Leon said. "I'm not going to get hurt, especially not by a falling tree."

"Just stay safe."

We walked all the way to the dark boulder and over there, Mira flashed Dad a thumbs up, and they resumed their wood chopping. The tree swayed and teetered. Mira looked at the scene nervously. I'd be nervous too because if the tree fell on them, there would be no ambulances to pick them up and who knows if the hospitals are even functioning?

Very luckily for everyone involved, Leon chopped the tree and it fell down away from him. Dad motioned for us to come back to the tree, and we all looked at the log on the ground, all of us suddenly realizing something.

"So," I said. "How are we going to take it home?"

"We're going to need a sharper axe," May said. "That's for sure."

"Maybe start at the top," Mira suggested. "And then cut down the tree."

"No," Leon said. "The wood on top isn't good. It's too green and too wet. The wood on the bottom of the tree is better for fires."

"So what are we going to do?" I asked and turned to the side. "Dad?"

"Does anyone here know how to make a whetstone," Dad asked.

"Nope," I replied. "Maybe the library."

"You and Mira can go there tomorrow," Dad said. "You guys brought back books about survival, right?"

"Yeah," Mira said. "Hunting, gathering, planting. All that kind of stuff."

"I'll search through them to check if there's anything about sharpening tools."

"I can't go to the library tomorrow, Dad," I said. "I've got to go to Charles' garden."

"That's fine," Leon said. "I can go to the library."

"Then I'm coming too," May said. "I'm sick and tired of being at home all day. I'll even spy on Mira and Leon to make sure they don't do weird stuff."

"So what are we going to do with this tree?" I asked.

"There's nothing we can do," Dad said. "Hopefully, someone with a chainsaw doesn't come here and take our tree."

"This definitely feels like a California chainsaw tree massacre," Leon said all of a sudden and everyone looked at him.

Dad was not amused. May was just plain confused because she didn't understand the reference. I cringed a little on the inside. Mira was the only one to smile.

"Was that too much?" he asked.

"No," Mira said. "C'mon let's head back now."

Mom was very surprised that we came home without any wood logs and only bags of twigs. Dad was so tired that he just took a quick shower and went right to bed. Same things with Leon. At six, both of the men were snoring and fast asleep.

The rest of us were sitting at the dining table, spooning in mushy corn and string beans in silence. We didn't want to wake them up. May turned towards me and whispered, "At least there's one thing they have in common."