But the Children Survived

by A. L. Jambor

  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 22nd 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 22nd Avenue.

  “When Calvin drove us over there, he turned this way off of 18th 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.

  “He's going to get his guitar,” Mark said. “I'm gonna look in Justin's room.”

  The water was receding fast now, and Jason was able to easily wade over to his house. He went inside and noticed the floor had gotten a little wet. The house was pretty high so it may have been rain pushed under the doors. Other than that, the place fared pretty well. He went upstairs to get his guitar. The upstairs looked okay too. Those storm shutters were a godsend.

  When he got back to Command Central, Mark was plucking away at Justin's guitar. Mindy was looking a little left out so Jason suggested she sing. She looked embarrassed.

  “I can't sing.” She suddenly became shy.

  “Everybody can sing. We'll play something and you make up a song.”

  “I'll have to go in the other room.” Mindy ran downstairs and sat on the last step. The boys began playing in harmony and Mindy began singing a song with her own made-up words.

  “Baby Girl, you're my Baby Girl, and I love you very much, and I love your little belly, you're my Baby Girl.” Mindy's voice was high and sweet.

  As she sang, Baby Girl came over to her and shook her head from side to side as if to dance to her song. When she was done, the boys clapped and whistled. They were standing at the top of the stairs. This embarrassed Mindy even more. Jason came down the steps. He put his arm around Mindy and praised her voice.

  “We'll have to have more sing-alongs. In the meantime, I think we could go take a ride. What do you think?”

  Mindy's eyes lit up. “Oh, yes, please, can we go right now?”

  “Yup, get the dogs ready.”

  Ricky had been hibernating during the storm. He wasn’t used to so many people or dogs in his house. He had taken to sleeping under Jason's bed. When he heard “Go bye-bye” he ran out from under the bed and down the stairs.

  Mindy put their leashes on and took the dogs to the garages. Jason put the notebook in his pocket and Mark brought a bottle of water and a dish for the dogs. They piled in the car while Jason closed the door and opened the garage. He then climbed into the driver's seat and they were off.

  The storm had left quite a mess on the streets. It had also washed some of the bones from around the area back onto Jason's clean streets. He would have to deal with that later. The water was going down and by the time they reached the highway, they were on dry land.

  There were still cars parked in the road and Jason navigated around them. They made good time and soon were at the same turn they had taken when Calvin was driving. Jason turned and the kids told him it was about four or five blocks down. Pretty soon Mindy’s school came into view. Mindy and Mark looked at each other and started to giggle. They would be there soon.

  “Stop when you see a white house with green shutters,” Mindy shouted.

  They all saw it at once. It was hard to miss. Parked in front of it were two school buses, and milling around the school buses were at least 100 children.

  PART FOUR

  DANI AND JOE LANE

  Chapter 45

  Somewhere outside Las Vegas, Nevada

  Dani Lane woke up. She’d been dreaming about Mindy. She and Mindy were sitting in front of a birthday cake, and she was teasing Mindy.

  “You look like a monkey, and you act like one too!”

  Mindy was giggling. When Dani opened her eyes, she saw a multi-colored stalagmite a few feet in front of her. She could see Jenny, a sixteen-year-old room attendant, sleeping in the next bed. Joe lay next to Dani on his stomach, snoring.

  Dani didn't know how long they'd been sleeping. Her body felt stiff from the cold, and when she got out of bed, she stretched. The cavern was huge and very quiet. She could hear Jenny and Joe breathing.

  Dani had been keeping track of the days on a little cavern hotel notepad. So far, there were eight strokes penciled on it. Today she added number nine. She had slept in her underwear. She picked up her shorts and tee-shirt and put them in the bathroom. She then headed for the stockpile.

  There was food and water for two thousand people stored in the cavern. Someone thought it would make a great bomb shelter, and Dani was grateful they had. They'd be able to survive for years underground, but Dani hoped they would only be here a few more hours.

  The water and food were stored a few feet away from their cavern room. She walked down two stairs to the cavern floor and over to the stockpile. She grabbed two gallon bottles of water and took them to the water tank located behind the bathroom. She filled the water tank. She then repeated the process until she had added 20 gallons in the tank. She could wash her body quickly before the water ran out. The others would do the same if they wanted a shower.

  Dani appraised her looks in the bathroom mirror. She had just turned thirty-four and there were little wrinkles appearing around her eyes. She had recently cut her light brown hair so it just touched her shoulders. It was dirty and dull. Her gray eyes, so like Mindy’s, were bloodshot from lack of sleep.

  The fluorescent bulb added a few years to her face, so she didn’t look very good. She quickly brushed her teeth and avoided looking in the mirror again. She stepped in the shower and wet herself down. She turned it off while she washed, then turned it back on to rinse. She quickly rinsed out her underwear and dried herself. She put on her tee-shirt and shorts.

  Dani left the bathroom and hung her underwear over some chairs to dry. She put on her socks and shoes. Every morning she walked up the winding ramp that led to the elevator. She would push the elevator button, and then she would wait. So far, nothing had happened, but she hadn't given up hope t
hat one day the elevator would arrive.

  That morning as she approached the button, she paused and listened. There was no sound. She pushed it. Jenny told her it would take several minutes for the elevator to reach them from the top. Dani checked her watch. Five minutes had past, and nothing happened. Dani headed back to the “room.”

  Jenny was awake and stretching in her bed. Joe was still asleep.

  “I pushed the button,” she said to Jenny, “and nothing happened.”

  Dani noted how good Jenny looked. Ah, to be sixteen again. Jenny’s straight blond hair fell perfectly into place when she shook her head. She had blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and her lips had just enough pucker to be called pouty. She was petite, just over five feet tall, and slender. But Jenny wasn’t full of herself at all. She was sweet, smart, and optimistic.

  Jenny tried the phone on the table between the beds. She could hear a dial tone, but no one picked up on the other end. She put the receiver back, and got out of bed.

  “I still don't understand why nobody picks up. There’s supposed to be somebody at that desk all the time,” Jenny said. “When I'm on the desk, I have to get somebody to sit there if I have to leave, especially when someone's down here.”

  Jenny felt so bad for the Lanes. She'd brought them down that first day and she felt responsible for them. She had showed them the “room”, an island in the middle of the cavern that had two queen-size beds, a sofa, a small table with chairs, a hope chest, a small refrigerator, a microwave oven atop a small cabinet, and a big screen TV. There was a bathroom with a shower too.

  Jenny told them the water tank had been filled and if they needed anything, she would bring it to them. The elevator had taken the last tourists back up to the surface, so Jenny summoned it back down. It never came back.

  At first, Jenny hadn't panicked. She kept pushing the button and cursing Wally, the tour guide, for not getting his guests off the elevator fast enough. After 10 minutes, she walked back to the Lanes and asked if she could use the phone. When she picked up the receiver there was a dial tone, but no one answered. Then Jenny panicked, but she kept her fears to herself.

  She bid the Lanes a good-afternoon and went back to the elevator. It still hadn't arrived. She leaned up against it, trying to figure out what to do next. She heard the Lanes laughing. She opened the gate and put her hands between the elevator doors, trying to pry them open. They wouldn't budge. She felt tears starting and took a deep breath. She wouldn't cry, not in front of guests. She pulled herself together and went back down the ramp.

  When Joe Lane saw Jenny returning yet a second time, he knew something was wrong. He made a lame joke in an effort to keep things light, but Dani could tell the girl was anxious. Dani walked over to Jenny and asked her if she was okay.

  “I...I can't get the elevator to return,” Jenny said.

  “Well, I'm sure it's nothing. You can stay with us until it comes,” Dani said.

  Dani put her arm around Jenny, and they walked back to the island. Jenny sat on the sofa, while Dani and Joe sat on one of the beds.

  “There are games in that chest,” Jenny said, “puzzles and old magazines, too. Or, I could show you the caves. I'm not a guide, but I've been through them, and I'm sure I could tell you something about them.”

  “Okay,” Joe said. He looked at Dani, and she nodded.

  Jenny always carried a large flashlight whenever she came below surface. As she led Dani and Joe through the cavern, she used it to highlight different formations. For a while, she was able to forget the elevator. After an hour, she could tell the Lanes were getting tired, so she took them back to the room.

  “I'm sure the elevator is working by now,” she said. She left them, and headed back to the elevator. She pushed the button and waited. It still didn't come down.

  Dani found her sitting on the floor next to the elevator. Jenny was crying now. She turned her head away from Dani, and wiped her eyes. Dani knelt down next to her and asked if she was okay. Jenny smiled.

  “I'm fine, Mrs. Lane. I just can't seem to get the elevator to come back down. I didn't want to bother you again.”

  “It's silly for you to sit here. It's cold, and we have the sofa. Come back with me.”

  They stood up and walked back to the room. Joe was eating a protein bar he found in the refrigerator. He smiled when he saw the two women walking towards him. He was disappointed to see Jenny again. What if they couldn't get rid of her? He had been looking forward to sex in the cavern that night.

  “The elevator still hasn't returned. I found her on the ground, and told her to come and sit on the sofa,” Dani said. She smiled.

  “Yeah, sure. Why don't we try the front desk again?” Joe picked up the receiver, but still no one answered.

  That was nine days ago. They were all still wearing the same clothes. Dani alternated washing hers, underwear during the day, tee-shirt and shorts at night. Joe and Jenny hadn’t washed theirs. They'd been able to take showers using the gallons of water stored in the cavern, but their clothes were beginning to stink.

  Joe woke up and turned over. He stared at the ceiling of the cave and sighed. He got up on one elbow and saw Jenny sitting on the edge of her bed. He looked around for Dani and saw her walking towards them from the direction of the elevator. He could see she wasn't happy.

  “No elevator?” he asked.

  Dani shook her head. She walked over to the box of ready-to-eat meals and looked inside. She pulled out an instant oatmeal packet. She grabbed a bottle of water, a paper bowl, and a plastic spoon from the cabinet. Then she mixed the oatmeal with water and popped it into the microwave. Thirty seconds later, she took it out of the oven and headed for the small table. Dani didn't look happy. Joe got up and went to the bathroom before joining her at the table.

  “So, where's mine?” He said smiling.

  “Don't push me, Joe. I'm not in the mood.” Dani shoveled oatmeal into her mouth. She wasn't enjoying it.

  “I was just kidding,” Joe said defensively.

  “You're never just kidding, Joe. You want me to make you breakfast, so you make jokes instead of just asking me. And your timing always sucks. You just don't get it, do you?” Dani kept shoving oatmeal in her mouth. When she finished the oatmeal, she got up from the table.

  “I miss Mindy. I want to go home. And you two smell so bad. Why don’t you wash your clothes?!” Dani yelled. She had held her feelings in too long.

  “Yeah, well, I want to go home too. I miss her,” Joe said sheepishly. “And I take a shower every day!” Dani turned around and glared at him.

  “Listen, you haven't mentioned her once since we've been here. All you talk about is getting back to Vegas.”

  “That's bullshit. I love Mindy!” Joe got up, and walked off the island.

  He headed towards the elevator, and Dani could hear him beating on the doors. The noise rang throughout the cave.

  Jenny had sought refuge in the bathroom when they started fighting. She peeked out the door, and saw Dani. She came out and sat on the sofa. She could hear Joe's banging and cringed. The owners wouldn't like that. If Joe made a dent in the elevator, he'd have to pay for it.

  When he finished hitting the elevator, Joe came back to the island and again sat down at the table. He hadn't had a cigarette in three days, and the door banging had helped relieve some of the tension. Dani was on the sofa now, watching a DVD she'd found in the cabinet. Jenny was sitting next to her, but not too close. They were both ignoring Joe. Joe walked over to Jenny, and put out his hand.

  “Can I have your flashlight?” he asked her.

  Jenny pointed to her bed. Joe walked over to it and found the flashlight hidden in the blankets. He grabbed it and headed towards the caves.

  When he'd first read about the cavern hotel, he thought it would be an adventure. The ad said it was the quietest place on earth, that it was a totally unique experience, sleeping 150 stories below the earth's surface. It was something new to try, and only minutes from Las Vegas. Dani had b
een excited about it, too.

  Now, after nine days incarceration, Joe just wanted out. He missed his cigarettes and his gambling. He felt suffocated in this huge, quiet place. It was the quiet that was the worst. He couldn't fart without those two hearing it. But worst of all was not being able to take a twenty minute shower. Joe loved his showers. But Dani was wrong about his clothes. They weren’t that bad. And besides, he couldn’t take them off in front of Jenny now, could he?

  Joe walked through the cavern. It really was a beautiful place. As he walked, he thought about how many days it had been since a tour came down here. That would be costing the owners a bundle. No tours and no income from the hotel. Why didn't anybody answer the phone?

  In his guts, Joe knew something bad had happened on the surface. He couldn't figure out what, but he believed that someone would have contacted them by now if all was well. His mother would have called the hotel in Vegas, or Dani's mother would have flown out to look for them. Jenny had to have parents, too. No, something bad had happened, and Joe wasn't looking forward to finding out what it was.

  As he walked back to the island, he could hear the women talking. The movie must be over, Joe thought. He could see them sitting on the sofa. He climbed the stair up to the room floor, and sat at the table.

  “Well, ladies, what are we doing today?” He asked.

  “We could play a game,” Jenny said.

  Joe half-smiled at her. They had played every game in the cabinet. Dani sat and stared at the blank TV.

  “You could wash your clothes,” she said. She sat quietly for a long time while Joe fumed. Then she turned to him. “What if we never get out?” she asked.

  Joe and Jenny looked at each other. No one wanted to think about that.

  “We have to get out someday, Dan,” Joe said. “We have to.”

  “They have to come for us soon,” Jenny said. She didn't sound very convincing.