ALLUSIVE AFTERSHOCK (35 page)

“How’s Bambi holding
out?” Max asked.

“I think there’s enough
to get us through a few more days, as long as the snow keeps it cold.”

Max picked up the knife
and I put my hand out to take it from him.

“Relax. I’m just going
to go outside and cut some meat.”

I nodded. It was time
to start trusting him and I didn’t think Max was stupid enough to try to take
off with only a knife in this blizzard. Besides, now that Adela was hurt, I didn’t
think Max was going to leave her. Not the way he did before. He still cared
about her, although sometimes he had a bizarre way of showing it.

“I’ll bring in enough
for all of us.”

I sat on the sleeping
bag next to Adela and poked a stick at the fire then added two more logs to it.

Suddenly, the door swung
open and Max ran in yelling. “Helicopter,” gasping for breath, “helicopter.
There’s a helicopter circling over the museum.”

I jumped up and ran
outside. Up in the air above us flew a rescue helicopter. Max and I jumped and
waved our arms in the air, yelling, hoping to catch their attention.

Within a few minutes,
the helicopter landed in the middle of the street right in front of the museum.

I found myself hugging
Max and waited as two men stepped out and headed toward us, CAL FIRE emblems
stuck on the sleeves of their jackets. “You kids okay?” one of them yelled over
the whirl of the helicopter blades.

“No, there’s a girl
inside with a broken ankle,” I shouted.

The taller of the two
ran back to the copter and came out carrying a stretcher and a bag. “Take us to
her.”

Adela glanced up when we
entered the museum.

One of the guys studied
Adela’s ankle. “Good job on the splint, you do this?” He looked up at me and I
nodded, numbly.

“Name’s Paul. You are?”

“Court,” I said, pointing
to myself. “That’s Max and this is Adela.”

“That’s Sam,” Paul said,
pointing to the other guy.

“How did you find us?”
Max asked.

“We saw the smoke from
the chimney. This town’s been deserted for over three years. We knew somebody
must be stranded here. You look like you’ve been getting along alright, except
for this little break,” he said with a grin and winked directed at Adela. “Is
it just you three?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “We
were on our way to the next town, searching for a shelter when the snow hit. We’ve
been here for four days now waiting for it to let up.”

“It’s amazing you
survived this long. The earthquake and aftershocks have destroyed most of
California, killed thousands. You’ll be safe now. We’ll get you to a shelter.”

Paul and his partner,
Sam, carefully placed Adela on the stretcher and took her to the helicopter. I grabbed
the sleeping bag; it was something I wanted to keep forever, to remember, not
sure how things were going to work out now that we’d been rescued.

“I don’t think you’ll
be needing that anymore,” Max said when he saw the sleeping bag.

I shrugged and headed
toward the helicopter with the bag still under my arm.

The shelter, an old
elementary school recently restored and used as business offices, was now set
up with separate buildings for sleeping and eating and one infirmary. When we
arrived, the first thing we did, after Adela’s ankle had been set and plastered
with a cast, was ask about her parents and the twins and were advised to check
the list in the main building. Both Max and I insisted on sticking around the
medical building until Adela was ready to go with us. I pushed her in a wheel
chair and Max walked beside her as we headed to the facility where we would
find out about Adela’s family and receive supplies and cot assignments.

The main building, I
surmised, had actually been the old library, as there were still bookshelves
lining some of the walls. Four desks had replaced the other shelves—each with a
sign propped on it, stating which station it was. Station 1 was where we
checked in.

Three women sat behind
a long table piled with papers and lists. When we told one of the ladies our
names, she found them on her list and placed a check mark beside them. Adela
asked about her family, but her mom and the twins’ names were still unchecked.

We headed to the next
station—the one with the dreaded list of casualties.

The lady looked at her
list and then back up at us, her eyes filled with sorrow as she said, “I’m
sorry, your parents didn’t survive, Max. And your father, Courtland, is also
gone.” Max and I looked at each other. We already knew about our folks, but
having someone actually say it made us both teary eyed and we hugged each other
and held on like we’d been the best of friends our entire lives.

“What about my dad?”
Adela asked. “The other lady mentioned my mom and brother and sister, but she didn’t
say anything about my dad.”

The lady searched her
list by Adela’s name, looked up and shook her head. “I’m sorry. He … he’s
listed here as deceased.”

I swear, if Adela
hadn’t already been sitting in that chair, she would have collapsed. Tears
streamed down her cheeks and she sobbed into her hands. I sank down on my knees
in front of her and pulled her against my chest. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. I’m so
sorry.”

The lady said they
received updates every morning from all the other shelters and to check back
with her the next day after ten o’clock to see if there was any word about the
rest of Adela’s family. Then she told us to go to the station 3 and pick up
some supplies and we would get further instructions there on where to go and
what to do.

Adela’s head hung low,
her eyes teary. I stood beside her, placed my hand on her shoulder as Max came and
did the same on her other side. I didn’t mind as much as I thought I would. The
old fourth grade proclamation of sharing Adela came to mind and I couldn’t help
smile. We could share this way, as long as Max knew his place. Adela needed
friends. We all did. Instead of heading to the next station, we huddled against
the wall in the corner of the room for about thirty minutes or so to give Adela
some time to accept the fact that her dad was gone.  

After we got our
supplies, including water, food tickets, bedding and some other incidental
things, we headed toward our allotted areas. We stopped in front of the three
cots, holding our stuff in our arms. I still held on to the sleeping bag.

“It’s not the Hilton,
but I suppose it’s better than the museum,” Adela said.

“Or the cellar,” Max
said.

Adela and I shared a
glance. I’d always remember the cellar, the place where I kissed Adela the
first time—her very first time ever being kissed. I doubted either one of us
would ever forget it.

We made up our beds—well,
Max and I made Adela’s, too—with the sheets and blankets we’d been given and
put our other stuff on the floor underneath. Max sat in the center of his cot
and I plopped down on mine. Adela stayed in the wheel chair between her cot and
Max’s, trying to shove her cot against mine. I smiled and got up, pushing the
two cots together. I picked her up out of the chair and placed her in the
center of her cot then sat on mine and held her hand.

The second day in the shelter,
Court found out they had horses there. When he and Max approached me, Max holding
a pair of crutches, I blinked. “Come one, we’ll go see if he’s there,” Max
said.

“Don’t get your hopes
up, Adela,” Court said. “The chances of Big Blue wandering this far north are
really slim.”

“I know, I know,” I
said, but when we entered the yard, I couldn’t believe my eyes and gasped.
There he was down by the fence at the end on the left side. Misty stood right
beside him. “They survived!” I took off as fast as I could on my crutches and
Court was right behind me.

“There you are, Blue,” I
purred, stroking his nose and he nuzzled my neck letting me know he missed me.

Court laughed and
patted Big Blue’s back and then did the same to Misty. “I can’t believe it,” he
shook his head. “I never would have thought they’d make it.”

“Do you think I can
ride him?” I asked Court.

“Not with that cast.”

“You kids like horses?”
A dark-haired man about the same age as my dad said from behind us.

“Court has a way of
calming them, even when they’re frightened,” I bragged.

“Sounds like you know a
little about horses, son,” the guy said.

Court glanced at the
man and then turned back to petting Blue. “Yes, sir, so I’ve been told.”

“Well if you’re not too
busy, I could use some assistance around here. How’d you like to help take care
of these superb creatures?

“Love to.”

“My name’s Doug, what’s
yours?”

“Courtland … Court, and
this is Adela and Max.”

“Nice to meet you all. That’s
a beauty you got there little lady. You can tell right away he knows you.”

“Yeah, that’s Blue
alright. He loves Adela,” Max chimed in. “And Misty loves Blue. Don’t your
girl?” He stroked his horse and smiled at me.

Doug looked at Court.
“When can you start?”

“Just say the word.”

“How’s right now sound?
Follow me.” Court smiled and waved to Max and me then walked off with Doug.

For the next couple of
days while Court helped with the animals, I assisted in the kitchen. I couldn’t
do too much, needing to use crutches to get around, but I managed to help cook
a few meals. My cast would be on for four weeks. Afterwards, the doctor said
I’d get a soft cast that I’d be able to walk on. There were injured people that
needed to be cared for and I helped out there, too, the best I knew how. Max
signed up to help look for missing people and Court was gone most of the day working
with the horses. I got out to the yard where the horses were kept as often as I
could to check on Big Blue and see Court. But I still hadn’t heard anything about
my mom and siblings.

One morning, as I
brushed the hair on Big Blue, Court came up and kissed the back of my neck. His
lips startled me and I jumped.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean
to scare you.”

“It’s okay. How are
you?” I said as he stroked Blue’s nose.

“Great. I think there
are some people here who want to talk to you.”

I felt my eyebrows grow
together as I studied the smirk on Court’s face. “Who?”

He pointed at the door
and my eyes followed his hand. There stood Cooper, Ambrosia and Aaron and my
mom.

“Mom? Ambie, Aaron!” I
hobbled toward them as Ambrosia and Aaron ran toward me. I dropped the crutches
and gathered the two kids in my arms. My mom threw her arms around the three of
us and we cried and hugged in the center of the yard.

“You guys, where in the
world have you been?” I finally managed, looking at my mom for some explanation
while stroking the twins’ heads and pulling them against me again.

“When I took the kids
to school before the quake started, I decided to stay and help the teachers
since Ambrosia had been so reluctant about going.”

“Our teacher took us to
a basement building,” Ambrosia said.

“Yeah, then we got to
ride in a helicopter,” Aaron added.

“We were in another
shelter until this morning when Cooper found us. He said you’d been looking for
us. Adela I’ve been so worried. Thank God you’re okay!”

“Yeah. I’ve been
worried too.”

Cooper stood behind us,
nodding. “We checked the lists there and found out what shelter you kids ended
up in.”

I hugged Cooper. “Thank
you. Thank you so much for everything.”

I wrapped my arms
around my mom again. “Mom …” As much as I tried not to cry, the words sobbed
out of me. “Daddy … didn’t make it.”

Mom cried too. “I know,
honey, I know.”

We walked back to the
main building and Max came walking out to greet us. Ambrosia saw him and ran to
him; he picked her up and twirled her around. “Hi, squirt.” He set her down,
then rustled Aaron’s hair and walked with us back toward the building.

I inhaled deeply, taking
in the cool crisp air of winter then sighed with relief. I had my family
back—most of it. I would miss my dad forever and I was so sad he didn’t make
it, but it was such a joy to have my mom, Ambie, and Aaron with me. My family.
Including Max and now Courtland.

After week four in the
shelter, they finally removed my cast. Right afterward, I wandered out to the
yard to show Court the new soft cast I had to wear. It looked more like a big
ugly black boot and it weighed a ton, making each step very awkward. He stood
there petting Big Blue and talking to him like he was a person. I smiled and
asked, “Can’t find anybody else to talk to?”

He turned and grinned
at me. “Wow! You got your cast off. Sweet. How’s it feel?”

“Well, I won’t be
running any marathons for a while. This thing is heavy.”

“Looks lethal with that
steel around the front edge. Remind me not to make you mad.”

“I’ll try to remember
that.” I laughed. “It needs to stay on for two weeks. This is taking forever to
heal. The doctor said I should try not to ride Blue for another two weeks after
I get rid of this thing.”

“The time will fly by,
you’ll see. I was just asking Big Blue how he felt about me becoming part of
his family or if he thought I was too weird and freaky.”

I smirked. “Oh? What
did he say?”

“He thought it would be
okay.”

“Really, Court, I
thought we were past all that stuff, and you know I never thought you were a
freak. You never need to feel like you don’t belong with humans.”

He covered Blue’s ears
with his hands. “Shhhh. Big Blue thinks he is human.”