But the Children Survived (35 page)

Chapter 43

Jason had fallen asleep in front of the monitors again.  Mark was also asleep on a window seat, his laptop on the floor next to him.  Mindy climbed up the stairs.  She peeked into Command Central and saw the boys were asleep.  She then tiptoed down the back stairs to the kitchen. 

The hurricane shutters were closed on all the windows and the sliding glass doors.  She went into the living room and checked the front door.  Jason had bolted it shut and Mindy could not budge the lock.  Baby Girl had woken up and followed her downstairs.

“You can't go with me this time, Baby Girl.”  Mindy whispered.  The little dog sat down and stared up at her.  “I have to go by myself.  I don't want you to get hurt.”  Baby Girl stood and wagged her tail.  “No, you have to stay.”  Baby Girl barked.  “Shhh!” 

Mindy stopped and listened to see if the boys had heard the bark.  She didn't hear anything overhead so she continued to try and open the bolt.  She felt it give a little.  She walked over and grabbed the dog stairs.  She propped them up against the door.  She had a better handle on the bolt now and was able to turn it completely around.  She got off the stairs and moved them out of the way. 

Mindy opened the lock on the doorknob.  She opened the door a crack.  The wind was blowing and it was starting to rain.  She opened it a little more.  There were no streetlights and it was pitch black out there.  Baby Girl barked again. 

“Please shut up,” she whispered to Baby Girl.  Mindy bent over and pet the little dog.  “I have to find them, Baby.  I just have to.”  Then the door slammed shut and Jason was standing over her.

“There is no way in hell I am going to let you out of this house. What is wrong with you?”  Jason was furious.  He thought they might try to get out, but the reality of it really pissed him off.  This kid would be lost in no time between the dark and the storm.  “Why would you think of doing something so stupid?”

Tears welled up in Mindy's eyes.  She was upset at being yelled at and at being caught. 

“I was going to stay on the road.  I would be okay.”

“Stupid, you’re really stupid.  There's no way you could stay on the road.  The wind would knock your bike right over.  You could be hurt and alone, and I wouldn't be able to find you.” 

Jason was so mad he was shaking.  Mindy was scared he might hit her.  When he grabbed for her she tried to pull away until she realized he was trying to hug her.  She fought him a little, but then let him hug her.

 “Mindy, please, I can't stand anyone else dying.  Please don't do that again.” 

Mark had heard the noise and come downstairs.  He saw Jason hugging Mindy and picked up Ricky's bowl and threw it at them.

“WHAT'S GOING ON?”  Mark was very mad.  He didn't like them hugging like that.  Mindy was his friend, not Jason's.

Jason looked up, surprised by Mark’s outburst. 

“Mindy was trying to leave.  I stopped her.”  He took his arms off Mindy.  “I think we should all go to bed now.” 

Jason walked up the stairs, leaving Mark and Mindy in the kitchen.  Mindy walked over to Mark.

“I think we should see if he has any chocolate,” she said. 

Mark turned off his mad face and calmed down.  Mindy took the dog stairs and put them next to the cabinets.  She climbed onto the counter top and began to look through the cabinets. 

In the middle cabinet, she found a box of chocolate bars with “David’s” written on it.  She grabbed two and threw one to Mark, who caught it first try.  Mindy then jumped off the countertop and sat at the table.  Mark joined her and they both ate the chocolate. 

“Do you like Jason?” he asked her.

Mindy thought for a moment.  “He has a nice dog.”  She said.  “I like his dog.” 

“Yeah, but do you 'like' him?”  Mark had an anxious look on his face.  He had found a friend, the first one he had ever had, and jealousy was something new to him. 

“I think you’re my best friend right now.  Jason isn’t my friend yet, but maybe later.” 

That seemed to appease Mark.  He looked relieved to know he was her best friend.  He chose to ignore the fact that she had said “right now.”

*****

By morning the wind was howling and the rain fell in sheets hard against the walls and shutters.  Jason woke up and heard the kids laughing.  They were in Command Central.  Jason took the stairs two at a time and peeked in the door.  They were sitting in front of Mark's laptop playing a game. 

Jason went to the kitchen and pulled some waffles and sausages out of the freezer.  Everything was still cold.  If the storm lasted much longer, he would have to direct the power to the freezers until the sun came out again.  He put the waffles in the toaster and threw the sausage in a pan.  He then went to look out the front door to see what was going on outside.

The street was flooded with about six inches of water.  Jason knew from living at the beach most of his life that the storm surge following the hurricane would be worse than the hurricane itself.  He hoped the Carson house would be high enough to withstand it.  If not, he would be stuffing two kids and two dogs in an SUV and heading for the hills. 

In the meantime, he would track this thing on the satellite.  He just hoped the wind wouldn’t knock the satellite over.  He went into the garage and checked the gas in the SUV.  It had a half tank.  He decided to put some food and water in the back just in case they had to leave in a hurry.

When the food was ready, he called the kids to the table.  The kids scrambled down the stairs together, almost knocking each other over.  “Was I such a pain in the ass?” Jason thought as they raced each other to the table and sat down.  They were giggling and out of breath.  Jason put the food on the table and the kids grabbed it fast.  Jason put his hand on top of the waffles.

“ENOUGH!” he yelled.  “Slow down and take one piece at a time.” 

They both looked at him then at each other and laughed.  He sounded just like their mothers.  Their laughter incensed Jason more.

“What's so funny, huh?  You think it's easy taking care of you guys?  I cooked all morning....”  Then he realized that he sounded just like
his
mother.  He had turned into his mother!  He appreciated her more in that moment than he ever had before.  Then he smiled.  “Yeah, okay, just slow down.” 

They each slowly took a waffle and a sausage, but they couldn't stop giggling.  Maybe it was just the stress relief they needed.  It had been a long time since they laughed like that.  Suddenly, there was a loud CRACK. 

Jason bolted from the table and ran up the stairs.  He looked at the anchors for the satellite dish.  They were intact.  He then went into Command Central and climbed the ladder to look at the dish.  The dish was fine, but the stupid tree Mr. Carson had planted had broken in half and landed on the roof.

Jason climbed down and looked at the screens.  They were going in and out intermittently from the rain, but they were all right.  The weather monitor showed the storm passing through and heading out to sea.  Now Jason would have to watch for the storm surge.  When the wind died down, he would open the shutters.

He ran back to the kitchen to finish eating.  The kids had left him one sausage.  He threw another waffle in the toaster.  He gave the kids some orange juice to keep them there so he wouldn’t have to eat alone. 

“What was your Grammy like, Mindy?”  He asked. 

“She was nice.  I liked her.  She was like Mr. Carson.  She thought something bad was going to happen so she dug a hole in the shed and put guns and food down there.  She had a friend teach me how to shoot.  He gave me a little gun that fit my hand.” 

Mark looked impressed.

“Did you ever shoot anything?” he asked her. 

“Just a rat I thought would hurt Baby Girl.”  Mindy looked down at her plate.  She didn't like thinking about the rat.

“Was it a big rat?”  Jason asked.

Mindy nodded her head.  “Like a cat.” 

“Whoa, that's a big rat.  You had to be very brave.”  Mindy looked up and smiled at Jason.  

“I'd like to blow off a rat's head,” Mark was saying.  “See the head fly off and the guts fly all over.  My mom didn't believe in guns.  And if she saw me eat this meat, she would slap me silly.” 

Mark was laughing again, which made Jason and Mindy laugh too.

“Why was that rat still alive?” Mark asked.

“It must have been in a storm drain or something.  It had to have been underground when it happened,” Jason said.

“What was
it
, Jason?” Mindy said.

“I don’t know,” Jason answered.

For a while they were quiet.  Then they began telling their stories one at a time; Mark and how he took his parents out to sea, Mindy and how her Grammy left and never came back, Jason and how he cleaned the beach and streets by taking bodies out to sea in the 20-foot boat. 

“Is the boat safe out there?”  Mindy asked.

“I took it to the other side of the street to the canal, away from the ocean.  I tied it behind a neighbor's house.” 

“I didn't know what happened,” Mindy said.  “When Grammy didn't come back, I waited a long time.  I had to take Baby Girl outside and then I saw the man across the street on the porch, but he never moved or waved back at me.  All the other people left because of the hurricane.  They had to leave because it was mobile homes. 

“Grammy went out to get water and batteries.  We were gonna go to my house when she got back.  After a couple of days I looked across the street and the man was still there.  When I walked outside, the smell was really bad.  I stayed inside for a while and only took Baby Girl out sometimes.  After a while the smell got better, but the man looked real bad.  I just didn't look at him anymore.”

“I was afraid at night,” Mark said as he looked at Jason.  “When I saw somebody was moving the bodies I got scared.  I...I didn't know it was you.”

“I wonder why we never saw each other?”  Jason asked.

“Because I would stay at home.  I locked the doors and kept the windows shut.”

“Sorry kid.  I didn't know you were there.  If I had, I would have helped you.  I thought I heard a truck one morning, but I had just woken up and thought it was a dream.”

They sat quietly around the table.  In that hour of conversation, they had found a common bond that would hold them together from now on.  They were more than friends; they were brothers and sister in the trenches, akin to soldiers in war.  All their inhibitions were gone, their masks stripped away. 

Jason took Mindy's hand and Mindy took Mark's as they sat together thinking of how much they had changed in just a few weeks.  Then they cleared off the table and headed for Command Central.

Chapter 44

The storm had passed and the water was rising.  Jason took out the stick David Carson had made to measure the water height.  The water measured just under four feet high.  It looked like the worst had passed, and Jason decided to ride it out.  If the water rose above the dock, then he would take the kids away.

The sun was shining again.  Three days had passed and but for the water, it was a beautiful day in Florida.  The kids were getting cabin fever.  They were picking fights with each other or running up and down the stairs. 

Jason was also getting antsy.  They had played every board game in the house and watched every DVD.  And the water was getting lower.

“I think it's time to map out Mindy's house,” Jason said.  With the water receding, he was eager to get them out of the house.  When it measured six inches, he would take them out to the main streets and try to find the Lane house.

He tried to log on to Google but the American site was still down.  He didn't know if a foreign Google would have the same maps as the American Google.  He remembered the satellite had found his street so he went to the tracking software.  He was able to pull up St. Petersburg.

“Where do you live?” he asked Mindy.

“It's on 22
^nd
Avenue, but I don't remember the number.  We found it before, so we can find it again.” 

Jason moved the mouse until he found 22
^nd
Avenue. 

“When Calvin drove us over there, he turned this way off of 18
^th
Avenue South.”  Mark pointed at the map in the direction Calvin had taken them. 

“Good, that's a start. Get me some paper.” 

Mindy ran around the room looking for paper.

“Justin had a desk, Mindy.  He should have some paper and pens,” Jason said, still looking at the screen. 

Mindy ran downstairs to Justin's room and began going through the desk drawers.  She found a picture of Justin with Jason and brought that back to Command Central along with a notebook and a pen.  She handed them to Jason.  Jason looked at the photo.

“I didn't know he had this.  Wow.  I remember that day.  We had written a song and were thinking we were gonna be famous and wanted to mark the day.”  Jason looked at the picture a long time.  He slipped it into his pocket. 

“You wrote a song?”  Mark asked.

“Yeah, we played guitars together.  We thought we would have a band.  You know, kid stuff.”  Jason thought of all of his dreams as kid stuff now.  After what he had been forced to do, his childhood was well behind him.

“I can play.  Maybe we can play together.”  Mark had an excited look on his face. 

“Sure, kid.  I think Justin's guitar is in the closet.  I have to check out my house anyway so I could bring mine back.”  Jason wrote down the streets going to Mindy's avenue.  He then got up and ran downstairs.