Once Peter bought his wife Ella an ancient record player and an album by Ella Fitzgerald. She would listen to that album day and night.

Music really doth soothe the savage beast.

Ella would hum along to the tunes as she cooked and cleaned. Cry me a river, cry me a river, cry me a river over you... The album began to skip. At first she'd calmly move the needle over and continue sweeping and so on, but Peter was late coming home from work--again. It was the third night in a row and the music wasn't working its magic any more. In the middle of, I cried--I cried--I cried... She picked up the album, it screeched then she shattered it against the living room wall. Rosebud wallpaper and shattered pieces of Ella. Sounded about right...

Ella obsessed, "Is Peter merely placating his boss as he said? Or is something else going on?" Ella had trust issues.

"They'll fire me Ella." Peter pleaded. "I have to stay late. You know we need this job. They've already cut your pay and hours at the hospital."

Peter sorted and gutted fish at the marina. The pay was awful, in fact--it stank. But they always gave him plenty of scraps and rejected fish to take home so they ate well enough. Every night he'd come home bloody and stinking of fish and sweat.

Even through all the stink Peter was a handsome man with head full of honey-blond hair and a man's man beard to match. Even with Ella's mood swings there was always a twinkle in his hazel eyes and a word of encouragement.

Peter would scour the beach looking for little gifts for his girls. Once he found a perfectly white round rock. He knew Izzy loved rocks. In permanent marker he wrote of the top: "turn me over," When Izzy did, it read: "You just obeyed a rock." This was one of her most prized possessions. He even found a pink glittery hair ribbon that still had most of its shine. Bell wore this almost everyday. For Ella he found a perfect conch shell. If you held it to your ear you could hear the ocean. It's inside was a shiny turquoise color. It was perfect except for one tiny chip.

Upon receiving the gift Ella said, "And what am I to do with this? It's just one more thing to dust. The seashore is littered with them. Put it back outside where it belongs." Izzy grabbed it from her mother's hand and stashed it in the box under her bed placing it with her other "treasures."

Peter was tanned from the sun and had creases around his eyes from squinting and smiling. Even in these post apocalyptic times he managed to find things to smile about, especially Izzy and Bell. As optimistic as Peter was, Ella was the opposite. She could find the flaw in anything. Peter's lateness was becoming his newest flaw in her ointment.

Izzy and Bell stood by their bedroom door. Bell was praying out loud for her father. Izzy ignored her and listened more intently.

"There's no way you can gut fish in the dark," Ella complained darkly.

"We have lights and generators Ella. Lately the pulls have been large. Swarms are coming closer to our shores now. The chemical spill has shifted." Peter rung his olive green beanie between his chafted hands.

Ella merely stared in disbelief.

Peter explained further, "They've laid off two more guys. The boss said they were moving too slow. Now I've gotta do the work of three men."

Ella threw up her arms in disgust. "Outrageous! Tell them you won't stand for that type of treatment. You have a wife and two daughters at home—be a man for once!"

At this remark Peter became angry, yet he did not lose his temper. "I'm being a man by doing whatever I can to feed my family!" Peter calmed down and tried to soothe her. "Listen I'll work faster, try and get home earlier... but you know we need this job. We've got four mouths to feed."

"Five," Ella said flatly.

Peter's eyes sparked. "What you're...?"

"Yes Peter, I'm pregnant."

Upon overhearing such glorious news the girls hugged each other, jumping up and down. It was so rare for women to get pregnant these days. The nuclear fall out, the pollution, the tainted food all added to the sterility problem.

Ella nervously paced on the faded floral carpet. "Soon, I won't be able to work at the hospital—remember how sick I became with the twins? " She traced the paisley pattern on the back of her sofa with her perfectly manicured fingernails.

Peter caught up with her and gently pulled her in by her elbows. He hoped to pull her out of her downward spiral. If he was very patient, his magic could still work on her. "Look Ells... That was years ago. You were so young. The radiation is fading. Many woman are having healthy babies—"

"--but now I'm 35 and considered a high risk pregnancy and it's only been six revolutions since the purple light."

"Stop," Peter said firmly. She actually liked when he was firm—which he rarely was. "I promise this time it'll be different. I'll take care of you—and the girls will help out..."

The twins took that as their cue to run into the room.

Bell said, "Oh yes mother I'll cook and Izzy will clean."

Izzy exclaimed, "Yes ma! I'll do double duty!"

Peter added, "Ella, you go lay down. I'll wash up and make you some tea. She obliged. She could get used to all this attention.

For six months Ella felt well. To her obstetricians dismay she wasn't putting on much weight but this pleased her vanity. When the doctor's confirmed it was a boy the entire Quest household, including Grandfather Alfred, were overjoyed. Grandfather had moved in temporarily to help out. Since The New Regime had haulted all government assistance he had nowhere else to go. Win-win?

Ella still worked her normal 7:00am to 3:30pm shift at the hospital three days a week. When she got home she'd take a nap while Alfred and Bell prepared dinner and Izzy cleaned. Izzy hated cleaning but would do anything for her baby brother. A boy? Oh boy!

One late afternoon they heard a howl from Ella's bedroom. The girls rushed in to their mother's aid. Grandfather Alfred followed. On the crisp white sheets bright red blood spread underneath Ella's bottom.

"It's too soon, " Ella moaned. "Too soon..." She felt her pregnant belly. I can't feel him. He's not moving."

Alfred spoke up. "I'll get Mrs. Kessinger down the hall—she used to be a midwife."

"Not that dreadful woman! She smells of cheese." Ella groaned and felt a strong contraction. "Yeeeowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"

Alfred left for Mrs. Kessinger at once but by the time he returned the baby boy had slipped from Ella's womb and slipped away from this world. So perfect. So tiny.

"Still birth," was all Mrs Kessinger said.

Oh yes the baby was so still. Ella sobs stilled and a formidable blackness crept across her soul. The emptiness in her belly was replaced by a simmering rage. She hid it through the depths of depression for as long as she could.

It had been six months since their baby brother died. Six quiet months. Ella barely left her bed and she rarely spoke. Peter had found her another Ella Fitzgerald album but Ella Fitzgetald was forbidden to sing. No joy was permitted in the Quest household if Ella could have her way. And she did.

Another six months passed. So much life and death can happen in the span of six months. Bell got sick with a new pestilence which bit some while it ignored others. "One out of four," the doctors said. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason. The Wasting was no respecter of persons. Bell was that one in four.

It didn't seem fair to Izzy. She was the scarred one. She was flawed. It caused her OCD to flare up. Worry is such a waste of energy but when there's nothing you can do it feels like you're doing something.

Peter began working later and later. He had to pay for the medicine which kept his daughter alive but would not cure her. Still he had hope so he worked his fingers to the bone. Alfred tried to get work but no one would hire an elderly man of 58. In these dark times if you made it to 60 it was a miracle. One night Peter didn't come home. One night turned into a week.

Ella accused Peter of being weak. "Bell is slipping away so Peter skipped town. Such a coward! Bell is growing weaker and Peter is too weak to stomach it!"

The girls protested, "NEVER!"

Shortly after, Ella's reign of terror, phase 2, began. They thought she was a control freak before? She took it up ten notches. She kicked Alfred out of their apartment and drew closed the black curtain of her heart.

-end of chapter 3-

Author's note: Thanks for reading! Tapping that star and leaving a comment really helps us to progress! It feels like a hug every time!