ALLUSIVE AFTERSHOCK (23 page)

“Let’s get some sleep
for a while. We can dig some more later.” With the doorway hidden under dirt,
there was no sunlight filtering in and we had no idea what time it was, but
what did it matter? We were both exhausted.

“Sleep would be good. I
think I could sleep for a week,” Adela agreed.

“That would help our
food situation,” I joked and she nodded and yawned.

I scooted my body down
into the sleeping bag, Adela came in beside me, and we settled down together.
She rested her head on my shoulder and within seconds, was sound asleep. Our sweaty
bodies turned cold as night took hold and we huddled together inside the one
and only sleeping bag we had since the other one lay buried somewhere under the
mountain of dirt.

 I tried to remember my
promise to myself as doubt re-entered my mind. I hoped the dirt would not cave
in again once we got to a certain spot.

I kissed the top of Adela’s
head and tried to think on the positive side. At least I would have Adela with me
when I died.

I decided that I really
liked kissing Court. He certainly had a lot of skill in that area. I rested my
head on his chest, wondering how many girls he’d kissed before. I’d never seen
Courtland with a girl, though, and wondered how he became so adept in kissing.

I hoped we did make it
out of the cellar, although I knew our chances were slim. Kissing Court made me
realize all the things I would miss if I died. I wanted to have a chance to
experience all the other stuff that people did as they built their lives. I
wanted to find out what it would be like to get married and have children, to
have a family of my own. There were a lot of girls in school that had already
had sex. They bragged about it in the girl’s restroom. I tried to pretend I
knew what they’d experienced. Kissing Court felt right and so I decided not to
waste any more time wondering what it would be like to kiss Max. I closed my
eyes and fell asleep thinking about Courtland’s soft lips.

I awoke with my head
still on Court’s shoulder and glanced up to see him still sleeping. My eyes had
become accustomed to the darkness, but without windows, it was still impossible
to tell what time it was. I stayed very still as his chest rose with each
smooth breath. As I lay there beside him, I heard him groan and looked up,
surprised to see him awake and frowning.

“The burns again?”

“Just a little. It’s
nothing I can’t handle. Did you get enough rest?”

“Yeah.” I unzipped the
sleeping bag, sat up, poured the cup a third full of water and offered it to
him.

He shook his head. “You
first.”

God, he always said
that. I should just take the first sip and then give him the cup, but I enjoyed
hearing him say, “You first.”

I took a sip and handed
the cup to him. After he drank, he got up and went straight to the shovel,
picked it up and began shoveling dirt from the steps. We had made a little
progress the day before and the first four steps actually looked like steps.
Dirt covered steps, but steps, with only six more to go if I remembered
correctly.

Court dug with such a
vengeance, I feared the dirt would cave in again as he got up higher, but I
didn’t mention it. I didn’t want to jinx anything.

I gathered up two of
the discarded cans and began scooping as much dirt as I could. Courtland dug so
fast and with such determination, sweat beaded on his forehead. I was afraid he
would pass out. His blistered burns still needed water, but we were almost out
and he didn’t want me to use anymore to wet strips of gauze. We needed it for
drinking.

I glanced up at Court as
he emptied another shovel full of dirt behind him and then sank down on his
knees, lowering his head. I bolted to him and grabbed him by his shoulders. He
looked at me and shook his head.

“I’m sorry, Adela, I am
so exhausted. I can’t lift that shovel one more time. I wish Max stayed for
you.” He glanced at me as I started to protest. “Don’t deny it. You know you’d
rather have Max here.”

Had my stupid, naïve affections
for Max shown that much? Then I remembered telling Court not to say anything
bad about Max because he helped me get home. Now that I thought back, though, did
he help me or did I help him?

I took Court’s face in my
hands and looked into his eyes. “Max left me, remember? He left me here. I don’t
think … no, I know
you
would never leave me. You are different. It was
you who saved me, twice, not Max. Besides, you love me. Right?”

“I do. I do love you, Adela.
You stood there in the lunch line looking lost.” He brushed a wild strand of
hair from my cheek with his finger. “I would never leave you. I do love you. I
would die to save you.”

I blinked. I wasn’t
certain exactly how I felt about Court. I knew it was more than like but my
feelings for him were all so new to me. I did enjoy kissing him. “I … I don’t
know if I love you. But I care about you and I do know that I would do anything
for you.”

“I guess that’s as
close to a love declaration as I’m going to get. I’ll just have to accept that.
At least it’s close. Let me hold you in my arms while I rest. Then I’ll get
back up and do some more shoveling.”

My dad’s voice bellowed
deep and loud, along with the sound of the pounding on my bedroom door.
“Courtland, get up. You’ll be late for school. Don’t forget to go by the
Castielle place. I heard they need help with those horses and we need the
money.”

He was relentless,
shaking my shoulders to wake me. “Stop, leave me alone. I’m too tired.” I
rolled onto my side to try to go back to sleep but the shaking continued.

“Court, wake up.
Someone is up there. Wake up.”
Not my father’s voice
. I opened my eyes
to Adela’s beautiful golden ones.

“Max! Adela! Are you
down there?”

I bolted up. “What’s
going on?”

“Someone’s here to
rescue us. We’re gonna get out!” She jumped up and went closer to the stairs
and I followed.

“We’re here! We’re down
here,” Adela yelled.

“Adela? Are you all
right?”

“Yeah, we’re okay.”

“Cooper Murdock? Is that
you?” I yelled.

“Yeah. Courtland? Glad
you’re okay.”

“We’re trapped. The dirt
caved in during the last aftershock and blocked the entire exit.”

“I’ll get you out. Sit
tight, kids. It’ll take a little while but Willy and I will get you out. How’s
your water?”

I glanced at Adela and
she held up the bottle. “We have about a half a cup left.”

“Sounds like I’m just
in time.”

“You got that right,” I
said.

“Where’s Max?” Cooper
yelled down.

“Max took off to find
food and some other people.” I glanced at Adela; her lips tightened and she
lowered her eyes as if she hated the reminder of Max leaving. Max taking off
the way he had really hurt her. I figured the mere mention of his name only added
to her pain and I wanted to take back the words.

“Okay, I’ll work as
fast as I can.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll
wait.”

“Roger that.”

As I walked away, I
thought I heard a chuckle then Cooper’s muffled voice said, “Stay back, I’m not
sure what’s going to happen when I start.”

Adela and I sat on the
sleeping bag and waited. I took her hand in mine as we listened to Cooper
digging and giving instructions to Willy to pull.

“I wonder what Willy is
pulling away,” Adela said.

I shrugged. “Could be
anything. Maybe a tree trunk or something.”

I was glad Adela wanted
to sit so close to me, holding my hand while we waited for Cooper to clear the
exit. About half an hour later, Cooper yelled down. “Okay, I got most of the
debris hauled away from the door. Do you have any tools to dig with?”

“Yeah, we have a
shovel. We’ve been trying to dig our way out for two days, but it all caved in again
on top of our efforts.”

“Okay, start digging
again if you can. With you digging on your end and me digging up here, we’ll
have you out in no time.”

I grabbed the shovel
and went to work. Adela used the cans again and we dug.

“I see light!” I said,
pointing up at the top of the pile of dirt. “Adela, I see light.”

She put down the
containers and ran to where I stood looking up at the sliver of light. We
embraced and I twirled her around in a circle, laughing.

I set her down and
picked up the shovel. Fueled by adrenalin, I dug and pulled enough dirt away so
we could crawl out.

When the opening became
large enough, I turned to Adela. “You first.”

“Wait. Let’s take these
with us,” she said, gathering up the matches and the little container of canned
heat. “You never know when we might need them.”

“Good call. Now up you
go,” I said, taking her by the arm and helping her up. When my hands pressed
against her bottom, she turned to stare at me. “Sorry, I thought you might want
a little push.” She rolled her eyes at me as Cooper took hold of her arms and
pulled her up the rest of the way.

“Okay, Court. Your
turn,” Cooper yelled down.

I rolled up the
sleeping bag and held it under my arm while I searched the floor until I spotted
the picture of my mom and dad. I snatched it up and stuffed it inside my shirt.
I took a last look around at our prison and smiled. I would never forget the
place where I first kissed Adela Castielle. Her very first kiss and I gave it
to her. I stepped up the mound of dirt and blinked, shielding my eyes from the
blaring sun. I grabbed onto Cooper’s outstretched arm, and he hoisted me up. Cooper’s
quirky smile reached from ear to ear as he patted me on the back.

“You sure you’re okay, son?
I heard you had some nasty burns and a sprained ankle. Want me to take a peek?”

I sat down on a rock by
the pile of debris, my eyes still adjusting to the brightness. I squinted
around the area, taking in all the rubble and destruction as the reality of the
situation once again hit me like a lead demolition ball. “I’m okay. They’re
healing. The blisters are almost gone. What was blocking the door?”

“Tree trunk. The quake
snapped that tree in half,” Cooper pointed to the half still standing to his
right, “and this part,” he gestured to the one on the ground, “fell right over
the mound of dirt filling the cellar entrance. If it hadn’t been for the rain
we had making all this mud and packing down this dirt, you would have been
okay. Let me take you back to my place. I managed to get some of the debris
cleared from my kitchen, salvaged some of the food, dry goods mostly, and I
have water. Court you’re looking a little peaked. How about you hop on top of
Old Willy here and let him give you a ride.”

“No, I’m good. Let Adela
ride.”

“Old Willy might be
old, but he can hold you both. Now get on up there.”

I walked to Willy’s
side and held out my hand to Adela. “You first.”

“Here, Adela, step up,”
Cooper said, holding his hands low and together to hoist her up. Then he turned
to me and did the same. I stepped into his hands, glad Cooper was there to
help.

Cooper actually had
running water, so we were able to take showers in one of the bathrooms that
survived the quake. The small room was missing a wall so Cooper hung up a sheet
for privacy. The water was cold, so they were extremely quick showers, but man,
it felt incredible to have clean skin again. After my shower, I walked out to
see a chicken Cooper killed from his own coop sizzling on the barbeque grill.
Rice simmered in a pot on a camp stove.

Cooper gave us some
clean clothes. The black jeans he lent me were a little big around the waist
but I tightened the belt all the way to the last notch. Adela wore a black
sweater and a clean pair of jeans. She was lucky; Cooper’s wife had been around
her size. Her hair was still damp. She looked amazing.

We sat by a fire set in
the ground with rocks positioned in a circle around it, just like camping. Adela
and I were pretty hungry. It had been four days since we’d had anything other
than soup and wine. Adela ate one whole breast and leg by herself and a plate
full of rice. I managed to down a thigh, a leg, a wing, and a breast.

“Adela, you can take
the bed inside. I’ve been sleeping outside in the barn since the quake. I just
can’t bring myself to sleep inside without Lisa.”

Adela glanced at me.
“Thanks, but I think I’d like to stay out here with you guys. After being
trapped in the cellar, I …” she lowered her gaze toward the campfire in front
of her, chagrin written all over her beautiful dirty face.

“I understand. Well,
there’s plenty of hay space. I’ll go grab some blankets. Court, if you want to
stoke up that fire, we can sit around and talk for a while before hitting the
hay.”

“Literally.” I chuckled,
glancing at Adela, so glad she spoke up and said she wanted to stay with me.

Cooper dropped off some
blankets and pillows by the door of the barn and joined us by the fireside. We
sat on blue-and-white-striped fold-up beach chairs around the fire, watching
the flames dance around, as sparks flew into the night air. I turned my injured
side away from the fire’s intense heat and huddled into the jacket Cooper had
given me, pulling the zipper up to my chin. I glanced at Adela who had already
done the same with one of Cooper’s wife’s ski parkas. She looked like a real
snow bunny ready to hit the slopes and I swore if, no, when we got settled
again, I’d take her up the mountain and show her off to all those jocked-up
snowboarders. Providing the ski resorts had survived the earthquakes. Who
really knew how much damage that nine-point-plus earthquake had done?

I glanced at Cooper. “Have
you heard anything about FEMA?”