Leaving Tufty in the truck, Thaw walked swiftly into the cabin. The phone was ringing. He jumped for it.
“Thaw,” cried Natalie, “it’s me. Listen. There have been two more Dirty Bombs reported since I talked to you. One in northern Aesopolis. One in Waxton. Oh. And I’m coming up.”
“Good. When are you leaving?”
“In a couple of hours. But I thought about it. My family lives just outside Ariana. To the north. That’s only about forty miles from the Heights. I was able to reach them before they left. They’re heading to Bain, and I wanted them to come up to your place. They told me to go on ahead, but I’m going to wait for them here in Bain. I’ve been trying to reach them to get them to avoid Waxton.”
A sinking feeling hit Thaw. Who knew when the fallout might arrive? “They might be hours.”
“I know. I told them to take the secondary roads as the main ones are sure to be jammed. The route is a bit longer but they would have to drive thirty miles west just to get to Interstate 39. I told them they would be better off to take 3N. If they stay on it, they’ll avoid Waxton even if I don’t reach them. I’m going to meet them at MacDonald’s at the intersection of 6 and 3N. They refused to come further north than Bain. And they want to come for ‘just a little while, until they can move back home.’ I don’t think they really understand what’s happening yet. At any rate they’ll be better off here than in Ariana, so I’ll give them the keys to my place and they’ll have their car and can stay there. My sister and her daughter will be with them, and I want to bring them up with me. My sister is afraid of the nuclear fallout for her daughter. Children are so vulnerable. Even if they were to stay in Bain it would be a greater risk, she thinks. We’ll be traveling together. We think we may need one another…in case the going gets rough. Is that all right?”
“Good plan.” Thaw breathed a sigh of relief. She would be safer. He wanted her safer. “But you may be stopped because you’re only three in the car. If you have to pick up a fourth and bring him or her, do it. You can all stay here. We can use my air mattress and I think I can get a second one from Lem for your sister and her daughter. Do you think they could sleep on them or should they have our bed?” Our bed. It just came out so naturally.
“The air mattresses’ll be fine. Is there anything I can do while I wait?”
Thaw had an idea. “Yeah. Go shopping. Fill up the cart with staples. And anything medical. See if you can find us some potassium iodide. If you do, get as much as you can. It comes in two-week supplies. We need one pack for every one of us, but most especially for your sister and her daughter. They are younger and were closer to the sites.”
“Potassium iodide?”
“Yes. KI. It prevents the thyroid from taking up radioactive iodine.”
“Thaw, I know. I was just confirming. But I don’t know if we can buy it around here. I’ll have to see what’s open. What they have. If I can, I’ll pick up some for Lem, too.”
“Look, Nat, don’t try to do too much. Just do what you can. Go slow. Keep calm. Just do what you can. But most of all…,” his voice became level and intense, “… get out as soon as possible. Hopefully the wind will remain calm and westerly. That would give you a couple of hours.”
“Thaw, I’m not going to call you again. I’m just coming when I can. That way we’ll both be free to do whatever we think we must.”
He wished she were in his arms now. “Good idea.”
“But if you have to, you can leave messages on my cell phone. And if you should call and I’m in the car, I’ll answer. But I will not wait to hear from you.”
Thaw’s throat tightened as his love for her rose in a thick bubble through his body. They paused to collect themselves. “And Natalie, I love you…with all my heart.”
A train whistle sounded in the distance.
“I love you, too,” she said.
Thaw said goodbye but the line had gone dead and there was no response.
4. Preparations at Butternut
Thaw balanced the bag of dry dog food in the space behind the driver’s and passenger’s seats and Tufty and he returned to Lem-me’s. Lem was making a pot of vegetable soup. A chicken defrosted in the sink. Thaw gave Tufty food and fresh water. “Did you get through to anyone, Lem?”
“My sister and her two children are coming up from Waxton. Probably for the duration.”
“Natalie’s coming, too. And her sister with her daughter.”
“Where’re you going to sleep ’em all, Thaw?”
“Well, I’ve got my air mattress. And then I thought maybe ’til we get something better, I could borrow yours.”
“If you want. Sure. But maybe Natalie’s sister and daughter should stay here, instead. They could have one bedroom, my sister and her two daughters could have the one with the double bed and bunk beds and I could sleep on the couch in the living room. It opens out.”
“Lem. That would be too much.”
“And four of you in effectively one room would not be? How old is the daughter?”
“Twelve or so.”
“Come on now. So who’s sleeping where? You taking the air mattress? Is Natalie?”
“Well, no…”
“Tell ’em they can sleep here. Let Natalie’s sister decide which she thinks is better. Hell, I’ve slept on that couch many a night. And it wasn’t even open.”
“Well, if you mean it. But you propose it to Natalie’s sister. I think it would be better coming from you. I don’t want her to think I’m putting her out. How old are your sister’s children, Lem?
“Six and eight.”
“Heck. Maybe Natalie’s sister’s daughter could help out with them. Maybe she’d be happier with kids around. We’ll see what they say.”
“I know what Natalie will say.” Lem smiled Thaw’s way. That was Lem. Calm under fire. Still able to smile. But then he and Thaw had both had military training.
“Lem, I think we better call Martha about tonight.”
“I already did. She’s coming over. She said she’d meet the 6:10. She agreed we all need a game plan…for the community as well as ourselves. This thing is bigger than we are. Much bigger.”
At the sound of a car door closing, Lem rose and opened the door to a blond, middle aged woman. Tufty barely opened her eyes to confirm her watchfulness. But it was just Martha, a recent transplant from East Cordoban who had lived and worked many years there as assistant head librarian in the state library on 54th and Verde Boulevard. Having retired at age fifty-five, now a resident of Lochlee, she immersed herself in gardening, entertaining and volunteering, squeezing in time for reading only as she could. Anything but a stereotypic, mamby-pamby librarian, Martha remained an active learner who had no difficulty moving into a leadership role when the need presented itself. A look of deep concern was on her face as she opened the conversation. “Guess we’re going to have our work cut out for us…I called Larry and asked him to join us.”
“Well done.”
“I figured of everybody in the town, with your involvement in communications and the Internet, Lem, and your and Thaw’s training and experience in the military, Larry’s position as chair of the town council, and the little training I had in emergency response, we should be able to come up with an agenda for the town council.”
Sensing her intensity, Lem did not interrupt her as she continued. “Larry’s got a town meeting called for 8:00 tonight to be followed by an open meeting at 9:00. He’s put every telephone tree in the town into action…churches, council and volunteer fire department. Be nice if we had a police department at this point, if only to handle traffic, but with a population of just around a thousand, even with a few hundred people coming in, I think we’ll be fine without them. Hopefully we’ll just get a handful of emigrants. But I don’t know.”
They waited together, periodically checking the news or turning on Lem’s short-wave. Thaw found his thoughts racing. Jessum.
There was a knock on the door. Martha touched Lem-me’s arm and nod
ded questioningly toward the door. “Larry?” Tufty opened her eyes and raised her head.
Larry was tall, blond and youngish, perhaps in his early thirties, high energy but at times was almost taciturn. As necessary, he could become easily quite verbal. He had a degree in geology and worked for the state. He entered the kitchen, gave everyone a general greeting and put the daily planner and yellow pad he had with him on one of the longer sides of the table.
Lem-me shook his hand and indicated a place at the short end of the table and Larry moved his papers and sat in it, his back to the kitchen door. “I see you’re ready, Larry,” said Lem. “Maybe I should bring my computer out here now. We’ll be needing the Internet for research and updates. If we run out of ideas we can pull in the FEMA and SEMA sites and see what they recommend in accommodating forced emigrants.”
Tufty had not moved. She lowered her head and closed her eyes. It was definitely past her bedtime.
As Larry sat, Lem continued. “I’m sure there’re plans for responding to forced emigrations caused by floods or hurricanes and tornadoes that could be put in place. And, of course, they would have information on responding to nuclear disasters. And I’ll see if I can’t find some applicable chapters from my old military handbooks. Problem is, I don’t recall them dealing with Dirty Bombs as such. But we did learn about them in class lectures. But that can all wait. Initially we’ll just use what among us we already know.” With that he headed for the second bedroom, Thaw close on his heels. The younger man was hungry and beginning to get a headache. “Lem, can I ladle up some of that soup for the bunch of us? I’m starving!”
“Good idea. Go to it!”
On their return, Lem-me brought a computer stacked with a microphone and loose wires. Thaw carried the monitor. They set everything up so that Larry and Lem-me could both see the screen. Thaw announced he would be serving Lem’s homemade barley soup and ladled it, chunky, thick, and steaming, into mugs which he handed around.
Lem-me worked silently on the computer, sipping the soup which he kept stashed on the floor beside him. Thaw made available some pens and pencils he found near the telephone.
Martha shifted her weight in her chair and sat more forward. “Let’s see. It’s 4:30. If we meet for an hour we should be able to bang out an agenda for tonight. That will bring us to 5:30. We’ll still be able to hit the stores before they close at six and I can meet the 6:10 train in Ellensville to see what that brings. That will give us a sense as to how bad it’s going to get.”
“Sounds good.” Larry seemed energized anew. “Now for the agenda.”
Lem-me announced that the computer was up and running and suggested they start with a plan for decontamination based on what they already knew about it. He would function as general secretary, preparing a summary of key points on the computer. “And I think Thaw should call the hardware store. They don’t close ’til six. See if they still have those two family radiation measurement kits left from the Cold War in the 1960’s that they keep displayed there. I looked at them not too long ago. They include a small dosimeter. If Annie answers, Thaw, tell her we need a fallout detection meter left over from the Cold War then tell her it’s called a dosimeter, in case she’s not familiar with what a dosimeter is.” Lem sat back, ready at his computer to keep the minutes, so to speak.
Larry spoke: “You forget. I’m a geologist. I have one. But ask anyway, Thaw. I’m sure we could use more than one.”
Martha said she’d been reading about how the hospitals downstate had been getting ready in case of bio-terrorism. “They set up emergency showers outside in order to handle large numbers of people. The plan was that no one would enter the hospital before they had stripped and deconned. They give ’em hospital gowns to wear after.”
Thaw supported the need for a well defined decon process. Martha gave Thaw a look and proceeded. “So should I scare up some clothes in case they do need to decon?”
“Good idea, Martha,” Lem-me responded and looked to Larry. “So we need plumbers and clothes. And I think, Larry, deconning should be the first thing on the agenda. So Thaw, when you call the hardware store, ask them if they have HazMat stickers. And we’ll need large leaf bags that we can label HazMat. We’ll have the people put their clothes in them. And we’ll need a dump truck to collect the bags and cart them off to a safe distance from town for the state to handle later. And if we run out of clothes, we can have them put on the leaf bags. Just have to cut a hole for their necks and a slit up the front and on each side for their arms.”
“We need a hardware store list,” said Thaw, and he began jotting. “How about potassium iodide? Do you want me to call the drugstore, too?”
Larry spoke. “They probably don’t have any. What do you think, Lem?”
“Probably not,” Lem responded. “But maybe we need to talk to them about medical supplies in general.”
“Larry, suppose I talk to them about some kind of a system whereby authorized people can pick up any medical supplies that are needed and they can keep a tab that the town council could reimburse them for later.” Martha was on a roll now.
Larry assented. “Okay. I’ll add emergency supplies to the agenda, both medical and hardware.”
“And, Larry,” Martha continued, “clothes. For cheap and easy cover after deconning. We can’t have the whole world running around in leaf bags. We need flip-flops. Inexpensive sweat suits. It’s summer. Inexpensive bathing suits. These people are going to be arriving with only the clothes on their backs and we’re going to take them away from them. Also inexpensive housedresses.” Martha’s research into emergency response planning through the Red Cross was actually proving handy.
“Very sensible.” Larry sounded as if he really appreciated Martha’s list. “Still, I think we’ll need a general clothing drive for after. So I’ll put fund and drive as separate items on the agenda. And let’s talk to Dody, about helping with the showers and sanitation issues. He knows everybody who’s anybody in the plumbing business around here.”
Thaw looked at Larry. “That’s my dad.” Then, addressing everyone, Thaw added to their plan. “How about using the school or the church for decon? The school has showers in the gym and we could collect air mattresses and the likes for sleeping accommodations.”
“Straight thinking, Thaw.” Lem, at this point, seemed mostly to just be taking it all in, but he rallied in support of his boy.
Larry decided to include emergency quartering in his jottings, under which he wrote public buildings and church.”
As the discussion proceeded, their various roles became more clear. In addition to Larry’s work on the agenda, Thaw kept the shopping list; Martha, the to-do list; and Lem typed an overview of key points into the computer to print out later.
“Larry, maybe we’ll need the church for a sickbay.” Martha had picked up on Thaw’s concerns about accommodations. “There are bound to be some sick or injured people showing up. We could use the school or the firehouse for quartering and leave the church for medical treatment. And we should see if Doc Evans could help us set it up. And we’ll need as many nurses as we can locate…and social workers…maybe teachers…to spell one another in case the church gets busy. Maybe the teachers could help with the emergency housing in the school.”
As the discussion progressed, Larry continued to jot down ideas on his yellow pad…housing…firehouse. Close school if firehouse fills. Sickbay: church. Someone to contact Doc Evans. Someone to coordinate emergency housing in school if it becomes necessary. Emergency decon areas if school fills. Plumbers. Ask Dody to coordinate. Sanitation issues. In case school fills. As Larry wrote he read aloud. The others listened attentively.
Lem came up with the idea of asking the hardware people how much lye they had. “In case we have to move to establish emergency outhouses,” he explained, and a discussion of emergency privies ensued that further emphasized the potential gravity of the situation. But the men had all been in service and participated in intensive training in emergency
response. As such, while the men remained calm only Martha felt the largess of planning for community sanitation facilities overwhelm her being. Outwardly she remained as calm as the men and the moment passed, but more than any other point it had somehow shaken her to her roots. Perhaps because her thinking in terms of emergency response had never before reached that far.
Larry added sanitation fund to the list. They would have to set up the same kind of arrangement with the hardware store as they would with the drugstore, authorizing certain people to pick up things as needed after which the store would be reimbursed from the as yet hypothetical emergency fund.
Thaw spoke. “It’s way too soon to expect anything from SEMA or FEMA and the stores will close soon, so I think Martha and I should make our calls now. After that, though, I think we should try SEMA,” and just in case Martha was not familiar with the acronym, he looked toward her and added, “the State Emergency Medical Agency.” From Martha Thaw turned to Lem and Larry. “Also the Red Cross. See what kind of help they expect to be able to send. And find out how soon we can get a supply of potassium iodide from either of them.”
But Lem thought telephoning the larger agencies would prove useless. “Let’s email them. And let’s email FEMA.”
Martha sought confirmation. “You mean the federal agency?”
Lem directed his response to Martha: “Federal Emergency Management Agency. Yes.” That confirmed, he continued. “Yes, we’ll email both SEMA and FEMA. They won’t be ready to respond, but nonetheless we need to alert them to our needs.”
Thaw wanted to call the drugstore then but Larry intervened. “No, let’s wait. Let me get the agenda down first, then we’ll go online, and then at 5:30, Thaw, you go down and talk to the hardware store people. And Martha, you go talk to the people in the drugstore. Lem, you stay here as our communications center person…I’d better write that down.” He spoke as he wrote. “Communications center…okay…and Lem, you call the firehouse and superintendent of schools and see what you can find out about who might coordinate emergency housing. We’ll need someone to coordinate both places and a support person to cover for each of us when any of us is off duty. Also call Dody. Make sure he’s at the meeting tonight. We’ll try using our ad hoc telephone tree and invite everyone who agrees to help coordinate the emergency response plan to the 8:00 Town Council meeting tonight and tell them they need to plan to stay for the Open Meeting at 9:00 tonight. Agreed?”
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