After the buses were parked in front of the motel Pauline and Sarah went to a restaurant a thousand feet from the motel. They found that there was a good stock of food at the restaurant and they started preparing sandwiches and salads for everyone. Anna made several of the girls pitch in and help.
Everyone ate the simple dinner and then milled around waiting for instructions from the adults.
Pat hollered out to make himself heard over the chatter of the girls, "Make sure everything is cleaned and the food is put away. Don't leave any food out."
"What does it matter?" Ruth asked sarcastically, "Who is there to care whether the place is dirty or not?"
"The idea is to make it harder for the rats and bugs to get to the food," Pat told them, "We don't want to feed the rats. They're going to be enough of a problem without us feeding them."
"Ugh," Ruth whined, "I think that we ought to stay away from the cities. I hate rats."
"They're going to be a problem anywhere we go if we don't practice good sanitation. Sanitation will be more important than ever if we want to keep the pests down. Bad sanitation will also lure predators to where we live."
After they were alone in the kitchen Pat turned to Pauline, "There's a night club across the street. Are you up for a couple of drinks?"
"Is this a date?" Pauline grinned.
"I guess it could be. Let's slip out before anyone sees us."
They slipped out of the motel and walked to the night club. Pauline walked into the club ahead of Pat and stopped at the door in shock. There were drinks on most of the tables like everyone had just stepped outside for a smoke and they would be back in a minute. The ice in the glasses had melted and the condensation that had been on the glasses had left a ring on the table at the bottom of the glass. The club had a depressing feel without people.
"This place gives me the creeps," she said with a shudder.
"Me too," Pat said, "What if I get whatever we're going to drink and we'll take it back to our rooms."
"Rooms?" Pauline sneered, "Make that room. You're not going to make me sleep alone again tonight."
Pat smiled and got up and walked behind the bar, "What do you like to drink?"
"Rum and coke for me. Bacardi if they have it."
Pat got a full bottle of Bacardi rum and George Dickle bourbon and a Marker's Mark whiskey and put them in a box to make it easier to carry them and to hide them from the girls if any were roaming the motel. He grabbed a couple of large bags of potato chips and pretzels. Pauline was still standing at the door and Pat walked over to her and they left the club.
When they walked into the motel the girls had already found rooms and the small lobby was empty. Pat was sure that the incident that Brenda had with the dog was keeping the girls from leaving the motel and exploring Las Vegas. As they walked to the suite that Pat had snatched the keys to earlier they heard many of the girls talking animatedly in their rooms.
Pat unlocked the door to the suite and Pauline walked in ahead of him, "Wow, this is nice. It's almost as big as my first apartment."
The suite had a small refrigerator stocked with sodas. There was plenty of Coke but there wasn't any ice. Pat had seen an ice machine in the hall so he told Pauline that he was going to get them some ice.
As he was filling the container with ice Anna walked out of her room, "Hi Anna, Pauline and I are going to have a drink in my room and talk. Why don't you come in and sit for a while and talk with us."
Anna hesitated, "I guess I could. The girls are settled down. Only one drink though."
Pat chuckled, "Don't worry. There's no way that I would want to be even the slightest bit tipsy around the girls. I've never been a drinker anyway."
Anna walked with Pat as he walked back toward the room.
"You and Pauline seem to be becoming close," Anna said.
Pat watched Anna's face as he answered her, "We are becoming close. Right now it's just two people that are very confused about what has happened and we're clinging to each other for support."
"That's good. Pauline is a very good teacher and a fine person. I've watched her and she will make a great educator. She has a gift although I don't know if educators will be so necessary if we are the only ones left."
"If we are the only ones left educators will be more important than ever if we expect to survive," Pat replied.
They walked into the room and Pauline smiled when she saw Anna. Pauline asked her to sit down on the sofa.
"What would you like to drink Anna?"
."I really shouldn't. Oh hell, give me a rum and Coke."
Pat fixed the women rum and Coke and himself a bourbon and water. He brought the drinks to the women and then sat down next to Pauline on the sofa. They sat for a minute in silence.
Finally Pat spoke, "I'll start this conversation. We've been through small towns and now a large city and we haven't seen any sign that anyone else survived whatever it was that happened to the earth. What do we do now? Do we wander the earth trying to find anyone else or do we find someplace to settle down and make a new life for ourselves? I feel that if we keep roaming we'll soon run out of options to survive. We won't be growing our food, we won't be making a secure habitat, and we won't be able to protect ourselves from whatever lies ahead. I think that we have to set down roots and prepare for our future. I'm not saying that we should stop searching for others but we have to make sure that we protect ourselves."
There was a moment of silence and then Anna spoke, "I agree that we just can't roam the earth for the rest of our days but I would like to take the girls back home."
"Do you think that's wise?" Pat asked, "Don't you think that it would be traumatic for the girls if they got home and everything was like what we've found so far?"
Anna thought for a minute before answering, "You are right; it might be traumatic for them. Think of this though: if we don't go back the girls will always have some doubts. They will never know for sure if their loved ones have survived like we did. They might begin to hate the rest of us and might even try to get revenge for depriving them of ever seeing their loved ones. If we are the only ones left and we go someplace, and make a new start, we don't need someone that feels that we've cheated them out of their lives."
Pauline spoke next, "She might be right Pat. Any doubts that the girls have today will grow and grow until they start imagining things and the thoughts will start festering until the girls take some irrational actions. It would be better to give the girls absolutes; something they can never throw back at you later."
Pat leaned back in his chair, "I'm not the boss here so if you think that you want to go back, we'll start back tomorrow. Sarah might be a problem though. What is she going to do if she becomes sure that there is nothing left of the life she left behind? The girls will have to be made aware of the fact that there might not be anyone back at their home when we get there. I think that you women have your work cut out for you."
"I think that the work is going to fall on all of our shoulders," Pauline said, "The girls look up to you as the father figure and there's nothing any of us can do to change that. I know that you're not a father but believe me when I tell you that girls have a special and a very strong bond to their fathers and, like it or not, until the girls see their real fathers, you are the main man in their lives."
Pat saw that the women had finished their drinks so he got up and fixed each of them another. They all sat for a long time with their thoughts.
"When do you think we should let the girls know that we're going to go back home?" Anna asked.
"We should talk to them right after breakfast tomorrow," Pat said, "As soon as we turn around and head back the way we came they'll know what is happening anyway. I don't like the idea of them thinking about it for days but I don't have anyway around that. It will give you time to prepare them for whatever we find. I think that we should take one of the new Van Hool buses and leave the other two. I thought that we might need all three buses but if we're going back home three buses would slow us down. We can travel faster with the one bus and the Van Hool is a lot more comfortable than my company's old bus and the Van Hool has a rest room on board. If we find that no one is left when we get back home we can pick up whatever vehicles we might need there."
Anna paused for a long time before she continued, "You said something that needs to be discussed further. You said that you're not the boss. There has to be someone that will be the final say in any discussions, disputes or future plans that come up. I would hope that you would discuss all major decisions that come up in the future but I feel that there has to be someone that will have the final say in any plans or disputes until or if we find anyone else alive. I think that person should be you, Pat. I've watched you for the past few days and I don't think that you'd abuse our trust."
Pat let out a deep breath, "Well, I can't say that I'm entirely comfortable being the top dog around here but I will accept the position of tie breaker or arbiter. I promise to never abuse the authority that you have allowed me to have."
Everyone smiled and Pat continued, "I also realize that I'm in the minority here and I sure don't want three women and twenty girls beating me to a pulp."
Anna stood up, "I think that I'll go and get some sleep. The drinks will knock me out fast. I'm not used to alcohol. I think those two drinks are more than I've ever had in one day in my life."
Anna left the room and Pauline turned to Pat. "Are you ready to mess up the bed?"
Pat stood up and picked her up in his arms. He took her into the bedroom and dropped her on the bed. They made love until they both were exhausted and they fell asleep in each other's arms.