Alone

Maddie sees geese flocking overhead. She wonders if other species also experience love through their connection to each other in groups. She misses her family.

To cheer herself up, Maddie takes George on a picnic in the park.

At the picnic, Maddie thinks about what her life would be like if the evacuation hadn’t occurred. She would be in ninth grade, maybe in honors classes and on a soccer team. If 18 years pass, like in Island of the Blue Dolphins, even baby Trevor would be an adult by then, and Maddie would be 30 years old. George would be dead. Maddie doesn’t think she could exist alone without George.

Maddie and George walk to another nearby town, Lewiston.

They don’t see any people. They play on the carousel, and then it starts to get dark, so they head home.

Time passes, and it’s hot.

Since getting injured during the tornado, Maddie wants to avoid medical emergencies, so she religiously checks expiration dates on foods. Eventually, there won’t even be any more nonperishable foods left in town. Most gardens are a mess. She finds a few carrots and radishes and a pumpkin, but not much else. The fruit from trees is too rotten or filled with worms to eat.

A storm comes while Maddie and George are at the lake swimming. They shelter under a picnic area and then run home.

While they’re sleeping, lightning strikes and starts a fire in a nearby tree.

The fire spreads from the tree to Maddie’s mom’s fence and other trees and then to the Nortons’ house and Maddie’s roof.

Maddie only has time to save her backpack and shoes.

Maddie and George watch the fire burn the neighborhood down all night. In the morning, Maddie decides it’s time for them to walk to her dad’s house. Her bike and her mom’s van were both destroyed.

The fire left a powerful smell of smoke. Maddie has to throw away her clothes. In her rescued backpack, she finds a single flattened Twinkie. She eats it, noting that the taste makes her feel as if nothing has changed.

All of her mom’s stuff was burned, so Maddie searches her dad’s house for anything that might be her mom’s. She finds a birthday card her mom gave to Jennifer as well as an old postcard her mom sent Maddie. She puts the postcard with Elliot’s book report and takes them both with her everywhere.

The postcard itself is shown. It’s from Washington, DC. Maddie’s mother was enjoying the cherry blossoms and hoped to one day take Maddie to see them too.

Nights are difficult. Maddie finds praying awkward, so she tries writing a letter to God instead. Although she tries to write about what she appreciates at first, she becomes increasingly angry about why God has not rescued her yet. She takes out her anger by smashing all the dishware in the backyard. When her rage is spent, she decides she can’t blame God after all and reflects on how “ancient” her experiences make her feel.

Maddie and George are both jumpy after the fire. Scavenging supplies for winter takes longer without a van. Maddie uses a wagon instead.

George doesn’t seem to mind eating the same things over and over, and he still delights at the sound of the can opener. Maddie, however, craves fresh vegetables or fruits.

Maddie remembers that her grandfather used to keep a summer vegetable garden. She finds seeds in their apartment and learns that she should have started earlier, but she decides to plant them anyway.

Maddie makes the garden look nice, labeling each row of plants and adding a scarecrow.

Radishes sprout, giving Maddie new hope and confidence.

She eats a radish and relishes the experience.

It rains, which is good for Maddie’s garden.

It rains too much, and the basement floods. Maddie bails water out the windows.

The streets also flood, along with Maddie’s garden.

The nearby creek has swelled into a river with muddy banks. Maddie slips and falls into it.

Maddie struggles against the rapids.

Maddie spots a rope swing and grabs it, pulling herself out of the water.

Maddie cries, traumatized from nearly drowning. She hugs and rocks herself for comfort.

Nobody is around to hear Maddie crying or come get her. She walks herself home.

Maddie cuddles George in bed. She remembers a story where a man drowned and then was angry at God for not saving him. God actually did send people to rescue the man, but the man turned all assistance away, insisting that God would save him instead. The moral of the story was that the man did not recognize God’s attempts to help him. Maddie wonders if she made the same mistake with the looters. Perhaps isolation and loneliness will be the end of her after all.

The heavy rains displaced animals and especially snakes from their habitats. Now, snakes invade everything, and some are dangerous. Maddie knows which ones, thanks to her dad, and she takes proper precautions until it gets cold out and the snakes start hibernating.

Maddie turns 15, but she feels there’s no reason to celebrate since nobody is around.

The first snow occurs. Maddie gathers winter supplies. The water is gone from the basement, but a smell remains.