Tuesday, August 9, 7:55 PM. Garrett.

Dad said I should keep a journal. I don’t have to but I think it would be good to remember things.

I don’t know whether anybody but me is ever going to read this, but if you do you should know something about me.

My name is Garrett J. Wilcox and I am fourteen years old. The J. is for John, like my dad. I was going to be a freshman at Charlottesville High School this year but now I’m not. I am five feet nine inches, pretty tall I guess. My Mimi says I’ll be tall like my dad, but he’s six foot three and I don’t think I could be that tall. I have brown hair with some red in it. It is kind of long right now because I didn’t cut it all summer. My dad’s hair is red, except now it’s turning gray. My mom’s hair is brown except she dyes it blonde. I have my mom’s yellow eyes. They aren’t really yellow, more like very light brown. My eyes are deep-set like my dad’s but my face is rounder like my mom’s. She says I am very handsome but nobody else seems to think so.

I have a kid sister, Claire, who is ten. Sometimes she is annoying, but mostly she is really sweet actually and likes to make everyone smile.

I have a little brother, Trevor, who is eight. He is kind of a genius but kind of strange too. His hair is almost white and sticks up all over like Einstein. I love him and we get along just fine. He likes to do things by himself and so do I. But he likes to hang out with me.

Mostly I like to play games. My favorites are Breath of the Wild and Monster Hunter: World. I’m an expert at them and I think I could be a professional gamer someday. Except that now we can’t find anybody so I don’t know what’s going to happen.

We picked up our van today. Dad and I left it in Dallas when it ran out of gas. There are plenty of cars but it felt like we ought to have our own van. We all went to pick it up. Mom drove us in the neighbor’s van. I think I could’ve done it but I’m not ready to drive so fast yet. Then Dad and I filled up our van and brought it home. It felt good to have it back. It smells like us.

On the way back, Dad and I searched around town for a geiger counter. He wants to make sure a nuclear bomb or something didn’t go off. We broke into some electronics stores. It still feels wrong to do that.

We didn’t find one. We took some walkie-talkie-type things.

This afternoon we set up the Thompsons’ pool as an extra water supply. We’ve been swimming in the Smiths’ pool, but the Thompsons are across the street from them. We put chemicals in it and swept it, then put big tarps over it and strapped them down so it won’t evaporate so much and leaves won’t get in. I’ll have to go clean it every day. It won’t be clean enough to drink but we can filter and boil it.

Everyone liked my idea about making a farm. I don’t really want to take care of animals, but I also don’t want to be eating Spam and tuna for the rest of my life and I don’t like powdered milk.

There’s something about my family and what’s going on these days.