ALLUSIVE AFTERSHOCK (5 page)

My father trusted
Courtland Reese, and after this morning, as much as I hated to admit it, I began
to understand why.

The week without school
whizzed by so fast I never had time to enjoy it. We’d had several immensely
powerful aftershocks that I thought were just as strong as the first quake and
most of my time had been spent getting things back in place. Earthquakes had a
tendency to suck the fun out of life. Now it was time to get back into the
norm, as my dad had said. Today was to be the first day back to school since
the quake last week.

Cruising out from the
bathroom and into my room, I yanked the towel from my wet hair and shrieked seeing
Ambrosia sitting on my bed, her tiny hand dipping deep into my makeup bag. God,
sometimes little sisters could be a pain. The sparse contents of the small
zippered pouch aside—a half empty tube of petal pink lip-gloss, mascara, an
eyeliner pencil, and some powdered blush—it was still my stuff. I didn’t wear
much of the makeup in it. For one, heavy eyeliner would only smear on me as I
spent so much time with Blue, oftentimes sweating, constantly having to wipe my
face and my eyes. Two; I didn’t want to look like some of the girls in school,
a cross between a diva and a preening clown. I chuckled thinking how a few of
them actually looked like they let their little brothers help them put that
goop on their faces. I tended to keep it simple—a little mascara to accentuate
my eyes, a little blush on my cheeks to provide a soft healthy glow and,
voila
.
Besides, I was terrible at getting it to look right. Every time I tried to draw
a line on my eyelid, it went crooked and you could see a space between my
lashes and the line. Talk about looking clownish.

I tugged the towel
around my body a little tighter, making sure to securely tuck the top in well. “Ambrosia,
please get out of my room so I can get dressed, and stop playing with my stuff.
Go to your room and get your shoes on. Aaron is already in the kitchen eating.
You don’t want to be late for school, now, do you?”

The little squirt didn’t
make a move to get up; instead, she grabbed hold of the blue and white eyelet
quilt from my bed and scrunched the soft cloth under her chin, looking
somewhere between angelic and elfish, pulling at the strings of my heart. How could
I make her leave my room with her lower lip sticking out in that pout?
Something was wrong and I had no choice but to try to comfort my little sister.

“What’s the matter,
Ambie?” Keeping the towel in place, I pulled on my undies then grabbed my
jeans. I plopped down on the bed next to Ambrosia and draped my arm around her
little shoulders, tugging her in close. “Don’t you want to see Miss Julie
today?”

“Yeah, but what if
another earthcrack happens while we’re at school? Who will hold me and protect
me?” Her bright blue eyes glistened with the threat of tears. Ambrosia and
Aaron, with their golden-reddish curls and blue eyes, take after my dad and were
quite the contrast to my dark features that were so similar to my mother’s. I
had some red in my hair, but it ran mostly to the dark side, the red only showing
up in direct sunlight.

“Aren’t you ready to go
back to school? I am. It’s been a whole week since we’ve been there. I’m sure
everything will be fine. There hasn’t been an aftershock in three days. You’ll
be okay. Mom told me Miss Julie has a special hiding place at the school for
all you guys to go if there’s another earthquake. All you have to do is grab
hold of Aaron’s hand and Miss Julie will lead you and all the other kids to a
safe place where she has everything you’ll need: blankets, water, food,
including snacks. I bet she even has watercolors stashed away.” Ambrosia’s
favorite activity at school is painting with watercolors, and she is quite
talented for a four-year-old, but not even the mention of the fave activity got
her to smile. She shrugged and I surmised that my little sister needed more
convincing.

“You know, Mom told me
Miss Julie is going to have a practice drill first thing this morning for all
you kids so you’ll know exactly what to do in case another earthquake happens.”

“But all the talk on
the news scares me. Did they ‘stablish
a lible warning system like they
said?”

“The word is ‘reliable’
and I’m sure they did.” In truth, I really hadn’t a clue. All week long on the
news, scientists talked about trying to establish an early warning system that
would accurately estimate the magnitude of an earthquake within the first few
seconds. In my opinion, a few seconds would hardly give people enough time to
take cover, but I supposed a few seconds were better than none, providing you
were even listening to the radio or television. The news on TV had been
swarming with seismologists from all over the country talking about the
earthquake’s size and the possibility of a megathrust earthquake registering as
high as nine on the Richter Scale. The one we had last week only registered a
six, and that had been terrifying. How would anybody survive a nine-point
earthquake? I shivered a little under my towel, understanding Ambrosia’s fear,
but tried my best to reassure her.

“They also said the
chance of another strong aftershock is really slim, so you have nothing to
worry about.”

Ambrosia screwed up her
little face. “Do you believe them?”

“Yes.” I hated lying to
her, but in this case, I thought it would be best. I was having a hard time
believing it myself but I had to try to make Ambie feel safe. Like my little
sister, I needed reassurance too. I usually relied on my father for that, but since
he was so busy with Courtland these days, I didn’t want to go anywhere near
him.

I stuck my legs in my
jeans and stood, pulling them on the rest of the way. The gleam of the light
coming through the window caught my eyes. Relieved to see the sun and the
opportunity to wear something other than boots, I grabbed my black crocheted
flats and slipped them on my feet. I strolled to my dresser and opened the top
drawer, chose my favorite hot pink bra, fastened the hook in the front before
turning it to the back and pulling up the straps. The sun had me thinking warm,
so I slipped on a lightweight black tank top. I grabbed my black-cropped
sweater, and shrugged into it. Wanting to change the subject, I twirled around
with my arms out and asked, “So … how do I look?”

Ambrosia smiled and
opened her eyes wide, pointing her finger at me, squealing, “Hot! You look hot!”

What could I say? Ambrosia
was my biggest fan; that and maybe she’d been watching too much
Glee
. She
wasn’t allowed to watch it, but sometimes she’d sneak in while I did and I
never had the heart to make her leave. She loved the music and sometimes tried
singing along. “Come on, Ambie, let’s go get some breakfast before Aaron eats
it all.”

Ambrosia giggled—mission
accomplished. She followed me, grabbing onto my hand as we walked down the
hallway. As we entered the kitchen, someone knocked at the front door. I glanced
at the kitchen clock; seven fifteen. Max, punctual as usual, left me with no
time for breakfast, again.

Living in the Sierra
foothills as we did, somewhere out in the boonies, the closest school was nearly
six miles away; the closest neighbors, at least a half mile from our house. My dad
hated the rush and hustle bustle of big cities. “Too much noise,” he once said.
“No place to raise kids and horses.” I didn’t mind too much. I wasn’t into the
social scene anyway, so being far from friends wasn’t a big deal. Max’s house
and winery sat somewhere between a quarter mile and a half mile away and my
house was on the way to the bus stop for him. Every day since fourth grade, he’d
come by to walk to the bus stop with me, but now that we were seniors and Max
had his own vehicle, he picked me up in the totally sick burgundy Chevy Tahoe that
his parents had given him the day after he got his license.

During the ride to
school, we talked about everything except earthquakes. As much as I need
reassurance about them, it was almost a relief not to discuss the topic as if by
mere mention of the word one might start. Not wanting to jinx things, I kept my
mouth closed on the subject and thankfully, so did Max.

I glanced out the side
window of the Tahoe and recognized Courtland Reese standing at the bus stop
with Shiloh right by his side. The dog went everywhere with him. The driver didn’t
even mind her being on the bus. A few years back, Court tried leaving Shiloh
behind, but she only chased after the bus and the driver felt sorry for her.
Court was still stuck riding to school with all the under-classmen because his
dad couldn’t afford to buy him a car. From what I heard, his dad shouldn’t be
driving half the time anyway and should just give Court that old dilapidated
heap he rode around in. His dad did too much boozin’. At least, that is what I
overheard my dad say.

Court glanced up at us
as we passed, his eyes boring into mine as we whizzed by. I sort of felt sorry
for him as well as a little guilty and thought of asking Max to give him a
ride, but I already knew the answer would be “no.”

School was a different
scene completely. Every other word passing through everyone’s lips was either “earthquake”
or “aftershock.” My brain was about to explode from an overflow of the words.

As Max and I strolled into
the classroom—well, I strolled, he strutted—the cold air hit me as if I’d
walked into a freezer, sending shivers through my body. Out of reflex, I rubbed
my hands up and down my arms. I’d only worn a sweater, not realizing the
heaters would be off. Even on sunny days, early November mornings were chilly,
but usually only until about noon. The school always had the heaters on this
time of year.

“Cold, Adela?” Mr.
Montgomery asked.

“Yeah. What’s with the
heaters?”

“They’re off because
one of the lines got damaged in last week’s quake. They haven’t fixed it yet.”

Goose bumps prickled my
skin and I wished I’d worn a heavy coat. No one told us the heaters weren’t
going to be on. You never knew with November weather, especially early in the
month. Yesterday it was seventy-five degrees in the afternoon. I thought today
might only reach the low seventies, but that’s still fairly warm. The sun glowed
bright but the wind coming over the ridge brought a cold front from the north.
No doubt, by the end of the week the warm weather would probably disappear
completely until next spring.

“Okay, class. Pay
attention. This is our first day back since the earthquake and all first period
teachers are required to instruct you all on the very extensive drills set in
place for earthquakes and ‘earthquake preparedness’ today.”

Several moans erupted
throughout the room.

“Okay, that’s enough.
Now listen up. Our regular curriculum is on hold until we complete the talks
and the drills. This means you all got lucky because the pop quiz on Dickens I
had planned for today won’t happen, so you have another night to brush up.”

All those groans and
moans quickly turned into cheers. Leaning back in my chair I listened to Mr.
Montgomery explain the dangers of hazardous material spills from local
refineries and fires. When he mentioned the threat of possible tsunamis on the
coast, a shudder ran through my body making those tiny hairs on the back of my
neck tickle.

“No chance of a tsunami
here. We’re what … two hundred miles, maybe two-fifty from the coast?” Max
laughed from the row across from me and several other kids joined him. I frowned
at him, thinking of all the people living close to the beach. Sometimes Max could
be a total jerk, but the cutest jerk nonetheless.

“Right, Max.” Mr.
Montgomery ducked his head under one of the hanging mobiles we all made a
couple of weeks ago, depicting governments in a state of anarchy. We all
thought it was a juvenile project, but it turned out to be fun. “But if a
tsunami occurs on the coast, a lot of people will die. Others lucky enough to
survive will need support and supplies from people like us who are fortunate
enough to live in a higher elevation. Are you willing to open your home to
someone who might have just lost theirs?”

“Depends on how hot she
is!” Max’s lips widened into a cocky grin as his comment received another round
of laughter from some guys as well as a few girls in the class. I grimaced at
him and he jabbed me in the rib with the eraser at the end of his pencil.

“Ouch.”

“Okay, okay, settle
down. Max, keep that up and you’ll find yourself sitting in Mr. Chaney’s
office.”

I glared at Max and he
looked back at me all googly-eyed, and as much as I didn’t want to, I grinned.

“Now, moving on, if you
find yourself in the situation of needing water, do not, I repeat, do not drink
it from the tap because the treatment plants may be down. And do
not
boil water. Can anyone tell me why not? Adela?”

Max kept his gaze on me with that
dimpled smirk of his. I wasn’t sure if I should be irritated with him or amused
like the other girls, his entourage. I liked to refer to them as “Max groupies.”
Max always beamed his arrogant smile whenever they giggled at his charming wit.
I didn’t understand why he always needed to be the center of all their
attention when he had me. I glanced around the room until my gaze connected
with Courtland’s. He sat at his desk in the back of the room, staring right at me.
He was always staring at me. The expression on his face was blank and I couldn’t
help but remember how he berated me to my horse after he saved my life.

“Adela? Are you with us?”
Mr. Montgomery’s voice shoved its way back into my head, invading … or should I
say rescuing my brain from those unpleasant memories of the other day. I flinched
at the sound of my name and faced forward. “Yes ... um, gas lines might be
ruptured and people turning on gas stoves might cause an explosion.” I knew
this next part because my dad told me. “Everyone should learn where their main
gas shut-off valve is located so they can be sure to turn the gas off to the
house. Oh yeah, and we should use bottled water instead of tap.” All this talk
about earthquake preparedness made my stomach quiver and I suddenly wished I’d
stayed home. Poor Ambrosia, she must be going through much the same.