I looked at her, but she hadn’t been paying close attention to the question. “Allie, do you have stuff to eat in here?”
“For two days? It’ll be a stretch.”
“If you need additional food, there is a strict protocol you must observe. Someone can bring food to you, but they must place it outside the door of your building, and you must not open the door until they have retreated to the inside of another building or a vehicle. You should not be near another person, even outside. Is this clear?”
I said, “Yes, we can probably have our parents bring us some more food if we need it.”
“We need to make sure that your parents do not inadvertently enter the building where you and Allison are located. Can you call them and give them these instructions, or would you like us to call them?”
“No we’ll let them know, but we’ll probably wait until later in the morning.”
“Jason, it is critical to notify them as soon as possible. We need to take every step possible to prevent any additional encounters.”
“OK,” I said, “I understand. I’ll call them now.”
“We will call you periodically to monitor your progress. Can you make sure your phone is charged and able to receive calls from us?”
“Yes, I have my charger.”
“Thank you, Jason and Allison. Please contact CDC if you have any questions or need information. We have a special hotline set up for this event, but I’ll ask you to keep this number for your personal use only and not share it with others so we can keep the lines free.” She proceeded to give an 800 number, and we disconnected.
I’d been kind of sleepy after the long day and the long flight, but the call had jolted me awake. Allie had her head in her hands and I couldn’t see her face.
“Jesus, I’m sorry, Allie.” I had no idea what to say.
She looked up at me with red eyes. Tears were pulling mascara toward her cheeks. I don’t like making people cry. This time it wasn’t something I did deliberately, of course, but I still felt rotten. Especially I don’t like making my baby sister cry. We’d had our differences growing up, but if I’d made her cry when we’d been roughhousing or something, I’d always felt a dreadful pit in my stomach. I had the same dreadful pit just then.
I opened my arms and reached to give her a hug, but she twisted away from me and took a few steps toward the other side of the room. With her back turned, she said, “Dammit. Kendra’s birthday party is on Friday. I’ve been planning it for a month.”
“I’m sorry,” I said again, though it was no help at all.
Allie turned back to face me. There was anger in her face now, pushing aside the sadness. “Kendra’s going to think I ditched her. She’s never ditched me. Not one time, Jason.”
“She’ll understand,” I said.
“And you know I don’t get paid if I don’t go to work, right? I have a hard enough time getting hours, and now I have to tell my boss that I can’t go in with, like, 6 hours notice?”
It was killing me that she was so upset, but there was nothing I could do. “I guess I need to call Mom and Dad. Do you want to be on the call with me?”