There was a flash followed by an earth-shaking thud that caused the embankment to shudder. The state troopers and Bostwick ran back and sheltered behind the cars. Frank and Lynn hugged the slope of the embankment. The rental car, dirt and debris flew over their heads. They watched the car sail in an arc and smash to the ground beyond them. Explosion followed explosion, In a lull in the noise Lynn yelled, “We're sure hell on cars, aren't we?”
Frank came close to her ear as the noise picked up again. “Good thing we purchased the optional insurance!”
Another explosion, larger than any before, tore away the heavy metal gate from its moorings. It bounced for a moment, then gave up and fell over like a drunk on his way home who has just run out of lamp posts to lean against. The gate clattered to a stop just short of the intercom box. Frank wondered what the spider was making of all this.
Other blasts followed as stores of explosives and ammunition went off. After a while the explosions stopped, Frank and Lynn climbed to the torn-up top of the embankment. On the way up they saw that the concussions from the blasts had caused a cap of thin cloud to form a few thousand feet above the facility. As they reached the top, all they saw was an intense fire finishing off the remains of the Ice House. They could feel the heat on their faces as a dark cloud of smoke was drifting in the light breeze toward the town. If the people had managed not to hear the explosions, the cloud would tell them that their comfortable secure little world was coming to an end. The containment vessel in the center of the facility had been built to take a nuclear blast from the outside, but a room full of explosives going off inside had obliterated it and the rest of the Ice House. Frank and Lynn stood watching the flames.
Bostwick and some state troopers went through the blown open gate after the explosions had stopped. Frank looked down at Bostwick who had a pained look on his face. Bostwick blinked, breathed a heavy breath and looked up at Frank. Frank nodded in approval at Bostwick.
The heat from the fire blasted at Frank and Lynn on the front of their bodies like a couple of pieces of toast. It wasn't a cold day, but their backs felt unnaturally cold. The contrast in temperature between the front and the back of their bodies was being interpreted by their brains as a cold back. They shivered and put their arms around each other.
“She was tired of living in fear, I guess,” said Frank, “dreading her husband seeing her old, dreading having to live with the knowledge of what her husband and Scott were doing.” The flames settled down.
“My God, Frank, we now know that there's definitely a spirit world...an afterlife...reincarnation.” Frank looked at her, wondering what she was getting at. She smiled and gave him an affectionate poke in the ribs. “Where do you suppose Walt Disney's spirit is right now?”
“I don't know,” said Frank, “but I know where mine is and it's right where it belongs...in me.” He held her tight and added, “and with you.”
THE END
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