Dangerous Shores: Book Three; The End of the Road

by Christine Conaway

  Hannah sat beside her and dropped her arm over her shoulder. “Don’t feel bad because you didn’t make it to the pharmacy. We still have a little of the antibiotics left and Margaret says there may be some at the pharmacy where she lives and they have a pet store as well. We’ll be fine.”

  “It’s not even that, although it should be. We didn’t get far enough south to see the pharmacy. I keep seeing all those poor dogs. I don’t know how many there were but the yard was full of dog houses.”

  “Maybe the people didn’t have time to do anything and maybe they didn’t starve to death. I don’t know if it is even possible, but have you noticed that we haven’t seen any dogs? Not anywhere we’ve been.” Hannah was trying to find a reasonable explanation for the deaths.

  “You don’t think they were somehow infected with the flu too? Is that even possible?”

  “I honestly don’t know but think of this. Where are all of the seagulls? We see some, but how many would you expect to see on the ocean? I remember not being able to see the rocks they were sitting on when they decided to land. Here we don’t have hardly any either. And the other birds. When is the last time we heard other bird sounds?”

  “What about the cats? I haven’t seen one anywhere. I don’t want to think of the ones trapped inside when their owner’s died, but this lack of them is puzzling.”

  “I guess our world really has changed. Does it make you wonder what we’ll find when we get up north? If the dogs, cats and birds are missing here what about the other animals; the cows, pigs, chickens and the wildlife?”

  Ellen shrugged her shoulders, “I guess we all become vegetarians. I don’t know. I guess it will have to wait until we get there. Did you hear from Frank that we have to leave tomorrow?”

  Hannah nodded, elbows on her knees she propped her chin up with her fists. “Yeah I heard that.”

  “Will Alan be able to handle the jarring from the waves?”

  “I hope so, but I think he’ll be okay. He’s already asked to get up but I had to put in so many internal stitches I said no. If he starts bleeding internally because he moved around too much and pulled them out I would have to open him up again and out on the water…it would be impossible.”

  From the cockpit they heard Margaret’s laughter along with that of Frank and Rob. Ellen saw the wistful expression on Hannah’s face. She hoped bringing them on board was not going to be a problem for Alan.

  “I hope having Margaret and her family on board is not going to be a problem. When I saw her and Dana I couldn’t resist. They need us as much as we need them.”

  “Oh no! I love Margaret so much already. She is so much like my Mom and Dana is a perfect friend for Olivia.”

  Ellen laughed, “So I guess I didn’t phrase that very well.”

  “Actually I ignored your query. I understood exactly what you meant. To answer you, no…Rob is not going to be a problem at all. He knows about Alan and I and respects that. You really need to get to know him a little better. He has morals and integrity. He would never make a move on me with Alan already in the picture.” She was silent for a minute, “I think I should feel insulted that you would think a handsome face would turn my head. I owe everything I am to you and Alan. Without the two…”

  Ellen held her hand up to stop her words. “That’s exactly what I was worried about. Hannah, you “owe” us nothing. We want you to love us because we’re family and not because you owe it to us. You don’t promise to love and honor someone just because you feel obligated to. Alan’s a big boy, but he deserves better if you don’t love him because he is your one and only, if he doesn’t make you wonder how you lived before you met him, if he doesn’t make you smile inside when he walks into the room, then you need to back off until you figure it out.”

  Hannah pulled away from Ellen and Ellen wondered if she’d hurt her feelings or pissed her off for sticking her nose in their business, but harmony on a boat this size was going to be a problem as it was, without jealousy coming in to play.

  “I’m sorry but it had to be said. My allegiance is for each of you in equal proportions. I have no favorites, except maybe to that new puppy and those two little girls. Her I love without reason and she comes before all of you, at least until she grows some. The girls deserve each of us putting them first.”

  Hannah giggled which was uncharacteristic for her and she leaned back against Ellen. “Do you see what I was getting at?”

  “Yes, I do and I know what you meant. I do love Alan, but at the same time I worry how he’s going to feel when I get big and fat with another man’s baby.” She put her hands on her abdomen.

  “Oh for pity sake, don’t tell or remind him it’s not his. He thinks it is and for all intents and purposes it will be. I guess I am worrying for nothing. You have it under control so I’ll butt out. Rob is a pretty good looking man though.”

  “Oh stop if you think he’s so good looking then go for it. He isn’t that much younger than you.”

  Aw geez…I couldn’t even think of him like that. Besides I like my men grown up to start with. Now let’s go join the others. It must be getting time to feed that baby.”

  “Well I guess that only leaves you one choice then” They both laughed and went to the cockpit.

  “Does anyone else think it’s odd that there are no people here? I would have thought there would be other people with immunities like us. At the hospital everyone was dying, and I don’t understand it. Why us?” Margaret settled back in to her seat.

  At fifty-seven Margaret had obviously taken good care of herself. Her hair had turned white, bypassing the ugly gray shade and her skin, while it had the color and texture of someone who spent their time outdoors was healthy looking and not over baked like some women her age. Her brown eyes always seemed to be carrying a sparkle. Her skin was loose as if she’d lost a great deal of weight, but it was the warmth she shared with all of them that was her greatest appeal. Ellen could see how she reached out and brought each of them close simply by being in the same area.

  Ellen understood how Rob had turned out so well. With her guidance it would be hard to fail. Dana was a reflection of Margaret’s personality as well.

  “Ellen and I saw people. There is a group of men headed this way. They seem to be clearing the buildings as they go. Up in the hills I saw smoke from multiple fires and I’m not talking house or forest fires. Someone had been feeding those dogs up until maybe a month ago. The bodies were still in pretty good shape as far as corpses go. This puppy wouldn’t have been alive without someone to feed the mother. I think there are lots of people out there and maybe some have grouped up to survive. They are afraid and hiding trying to stay alive.”

  Every one finally turned in for the night but Frank. He took the first watch until he woke Ellen at two am. He woke her with a cup of weak coffee.

  Feeding of the new addition was being left up to Hannah and Margaret. They were both happy to do it. By the third feeding the puppy was eating from the syringe like it had never ate any other way. Hannah had decided to add some potato flakes to thicken the milk and the puppy seemed to like it.

  By six, Frank began to stir before Ellen had a chance to wake him. She went down and heated the last of the coffee. There weren’t any more grounds left to make more and she thought about the trip up the coast. She hoped they would find more coffee when they arrived in Cullen, the town where Margaret and Rob lived.

  If they were lucky the trip would be made without any interference by anyone.

  Without waking the others, Frank started the motor while Ellen untied the dock lines. The offshore breeze held the fogbank well off the coastal waters. They were able to see it as a curtain of white sitting on the water to their west.

  Ellen pulled up the last boat bumper and returned to the cockpit. With a sigh she sat on the seat. “It seems like we were here forever. I am so ready to go.”

  “I know. I wish we could have made it to the pharmacy, but Hannah thinks he’ll be okay at least until we get to
Cullen. If we didn’t need the medicine so badly for Margaret, I would definitely pass on going there.”

  Frank stood at the helm and guided the Annie-C out of the channel and headed them on a northwest heading out and up the coast.

  “But, we can really use it and if her house hasn’t been looted she has so many things we can use. The medicine is only part of it. It would benefit us to get their winter clothes and any food stuffs she has. We’ll probably have to do some more arranging of sleeping quarters, but the benefits outweigh the inconvenience. We’re almost out of so many things we pretty much have to stop. By the time we get to Washington we all need to be healthy and strong. We still have the walk to do once we get there. I think we should bypass Bellingham and go to shore in Blaine. The marina there is a secure marina and the boat should be safe for a while in case we ever need it.”

  Chapter Twenty-three - Holly is her name!

  By the time the sun was showing over the hills they were well on their way. Ellen had raised the sails and the new ones proved how well the Catalina handled in the ocean swells.

  By the third day Rob was well on his way to becoming a competent sailor. His inability to use both hands had limited his sail handling, but he seemed to grasp the concept of reading the wind and water.

  Margaret had even stood her turn at the wheel. Hannah had found that staying topside when she felt ill helped her to adjust to her morning sickness.

  The morning they left the marina Dana and Olivia were sitting eating their breakfast in the cockpit when Margaret had brought the puppy topside.

  “Look what Santa brought for us.” She said as she pulled the towel back displaying the wiggling ball of dirty fur. All the pup wanted to do was eat. Once Hannah had fed her she curled up and went to sleep, ignorant of the girl’s excitement.

  “What’s her name?” Olivia asked her eyes never leaving the sleeping puppy. When no one answered she looked up and searched the adults for the answer. “She does have a name? Doesn’t she?”

  Dana had read the looks the adults had exchanged and jumped in, “Can we name her? Please?”

  “You’ll have to ask Ellen. It’s her dog.” Frank said passing the girls question off to Ellen.

  “She’s not my dog! She belongs to all of us and I think she’ll pick her own owner once she gets better. You girls can name her but only if you can agree on a good name.”

  Margaret covered the puppy back up with the towel and set the basket down below on the settee and propped a pillow in front of it to hold it in place. That had happened three days ago and as far as the adults knew the puppy still didn’t have a name.

  The girls spent all their time sitting and watching the basket and for any sign the puppy was awake. When they saw movement they would announce the puppy was hungry.

  Hannah had explained to them that if the puppy started putting weight back on and lived for a week she felt it would survive. She had also cautioned them about the likelihood that she could just as easily die from her previous neglect. She watched them both hide tears when they understood they could lose their little friend. They spent the next week sitting and watching.

  On the seventh day out of San Diego Frank put the boat on a tack to intercept the harbor at Eureka. They would be entering by line of sight only as they had no chart for the area.

  He thought they should see the town by the next morning. Several times over the past week they had gotten close enough to land to see that there were no lights whatsoever. The hilly terrain had remained dark each time they thought they should see a town of any size. They were using a California road map to plot their trip up the coast. While their view was not the same as being on the highway, Frank felt they could identify the towns by the terrain and coastline.

  Rob was standing behind the wheel when Margaret brought the puppy container into the cockpit. Frank had been resting on the starboard seat with his eyes closed, and Alan was propped in the corner seat covered by a blanket. Hannah sat reading and Ellen had her journal laying in her lap. She tapped a pen repeatedly on the cover as if she was lost in thought.

  Hannah reached over and put her hand on Ellen’s stopping the pen from moving. She smiled at Ellen to soften her action. “Sorry but that is driving me crazy.”

  Ellen hadn’t realized she was even doing it. She laughed, “Sorry. I wasn’t doing it to annoy you. I actually wasn’t aware that I was doing it.” She sighed and confessed, “I haven’t written in my journal in weeks. I’ve been trying to condense everything that’s happened to us from Panama to here and I am wordless. Maybe I’ve lost the ability to write.”

  “Maybe you spend so much time talking with us you don’t feel the need to write it all down. There’s a difference in wanting or needing to write.”

  Ellen laughed, “I think I wrote about that very idea a few entries back. Perhaps you are right, but I’d still like to document our journey though. Maybe when we finally get there I’ll sit down and start from the beginning and take it all the way to the end.” She sat for a minute, “Or maybe not.”

  “Can we have your attention please?” Dana asked. “Me and Olivia have a very important announcement.” Olivia giggled through the hand she had clamped over her mouth. They were holding hands presenting a united front.

  Seeing the girls standing side by side they looked like sisters. Both had dark brown hair, both had dark brown eyes and both had brown skin. At that moment they both had eyes that sparkled with untold news. Anyone could see that someday they would both be very beautiful exotic looking women. But first they had to survive through their childhood and teenage years.

  Standing together, hands linked they swung their joined hands. “We have thought of a name for the puppy.” Olivia announced. “We want to name her,” she looked at Dana to see if they were ready. In one voice they proclaimed her name to be, “Holly!” and clapped their hands as if they were witnessing the announcement and not making it.

  The adults joined in with hand claps of their own. Ellen wrinkled her brow in thought, “Why Holly?”

  Olivia stopped bouncing and turned to Ellen her exuberance deflated. “Don’t you like it?”

  As if she realized she was throwing a wet blanket on the girl’s excitement she said, “Oh no, I love it. I just wondered how you came to that name and how it fits her.”

  Olivia nodded at Dana as if it was her job to explain why they had chosen that particular name.

  “Well, she was a Christmas present. The berries are in the center of holly with all the leaves growing out around it surrounding the berry. She is our berry and we are all the leaves surrounding her…”

  As if she couldn’t stand not getting her two cents in, Oliva interrupted Dana and added, “And because she’s red!”

  They hugged each other and bounced in one spot in their excitement.

  “Okay then Holly it is. Holly sounds like a fine name.”

  Margaret who had been sitting with a smile plastered on her face, set the puppy basket on the seat and moved the covering towel back to expose Holly. The sun glinted of her newly washed fur. She had gained weight the past week and her coat shone. To the surprise of Frank, Rob, Alan and Ellen, sometime during that week Holly had opened her eyes. Small golden orbs stared out from her face looking at them all as if she were surveying her domain. She yawned and lay back down and closed her eyes. It was obvious Margaret had fed her before bringing her up and Holly wasn’t ready for visitors yet.

  Margaret explained the difference in the puppy’s appearance. “When I bathed her I realized she should have had her eyes open long before now. They were sealed shut with who knows what and I was able to clean them right up. As soon as I soaked the gunk off she opened them right up. Poor baby probably thought she was blind.”

  “She looks like Irish Setter to me.” Alan said. “Cute dog and her new name suits her.”

  They agreed that the girls had chosen well and their explanation said it all. Their analogy spoke volumes on how much time and thought they had given to nami
ng the puppy.

  “Frank, is that it?” Rob asked and pointed. “that looks like the point sticking out there that’s on the map.”

  Frank sat up and looked around himself. He stared off toward shore. He picked up the binocular’s and aimed them at the tree line. He was able to pick out the channel markers designating the channel in.

  “You should be able to almost see the markers in the channel. Keep on the heading you’re on.”

  “Do you need me to go onto the bow and watch for the shallows?” Alan asked. While he was feeling better and his wound was healing with no signs of infection, he still tired easily.

  Ellen laughed, joined by Margaret and Frank. Rob took pity on his ignorance and informed him, “We don’t have shallow water here. While I am used to having G.P.S. and a depth meter I remember this water being about 200 feet deep. The harbor basin is 35 in the shallows. So you just continue to sit there and look pretty.”

  “Well how am I supposed to know all that. You’re talking to a Florida boy. All the water there is shallow.”

  “Well you better start thinking like a west coast boy from here on out.” Ellen told him. “You now belong to the Pacific Northwest where the water is deeper, the trees are bigger and the girls are meaner.”

  “Isn’t that the truth.” Frank muttered under his breath. “So tell me this, how does one mean girl go around collecting various souls and a puppy and have the audacity to label herself as a mean girl and expect anyone to believe her?”

  “She doesn’t,” Margaret said. “She wasn’t talking about herself. She was just saying how everything is bigger and better on the west coast.”

  They gathered in the cockpit as they went past the last channel marker. A barricade of boats blocked the harbor entrance. Frank grabbed the glasses and worked his way across the line of boats. A rock jetty extended out into the water funneling the boats into marina. Someone had sunk a large commercial fish boat on the south end and a row of smaller boats had been chained together forming a blockade across the marina entrance.