Sinagua Rising: A story of survival after a worldwide catastrophe

by R. G. Andersen-Wyckoff

  Jason got in the car next to the kids and immediately fell asleep. They drove him to Colby’s home on Sun-Up Ranch Road and Maria, his mother, met them at the door.

  Maria was a very attractive lady of Hispanic heritage. She had her jet black hair pulled back in a ponytail and her dark eyes fairly shined as she saw Tanner help Jason out of the car. She stood just 5’5” and weighed all of 123 pounds, soaking wet. She was wearing an apron with brown smudges on it over her beige blouse and jeans and had smudges of flour on her face and arms. She had obviously been baking; her specialty.

  “I think he needs a bit of bed rest, Maria,” Tanner offered. “We found him walking around the IGA parking lot with a group of doomsayers. Said he wanted to score some weed but it sounded to me like he’d already had his quota.”

  “Thanks, Tanner,” she said and waved at Bishop. “I’ll put him to bed and let Colby deal with him when he gets home. He called and said he was coming home early because of the projected solar flare or something. I’m baking some goodies for tomorrow’s barbecue,” she added with a wan smile.

  Bishop drove home, put the Wrangler in the garage behind the golf cart, stacked the water next to the refrigerator and left the ice in the Yeti in hopes it would last longer if left in their plastic bags. Then he sealed the cooler with duct tape. He put the jerry cans of gasoline near the garage entrance so no fumes would enter the house and moved his generator down that way, too. If need be, he could plug the freezer and refrigerator into the generator. He had recently purchased a new Honda 3,000 generator that could run for up to 20 hours on three and a half gallons of gas. That should keep his refrigerator and freezer operating for several days, and they could syphon gas from Carly’s Toyota Avalon, if necessary. By then, he reasoned, maybe the electricity will be back on. He moved the Avalon out of the garage and had Tanner move his four-wheel drive Jeep Cherokee in next to the Wrangler. Tanner had filled up the Cherokee just two days before and it had sat in the driveway unused since then. Bishop reasoned that they now had two four-wheel drive vehicles full of gas in the event they should need them. He didn’t know what might be coming, but he wanted to be as prepared as he could be.

  The kids had already headed back inside to the TV, so Bishop cautioned Tanner again not to say anything about anything unless the kids should bring it up. He pushed the automatic door closer on the garage and they, too, went inside.

  ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘

  They were surprised to find the living room filled with people. Carly suggested that the children go watch TV in her bedroom so the adults could talk. “Just like Carly,” Bishop thought, “she senses there’s a need for preparedness and has rallied the ladies.”

  “I’m sure glad you got back,” Jack Lloyd said, grinning at Bishop. “I was beginning to feel like the proverbial thorn among all these lovely flowers,” he chuckled.

  “It seems we weren’t the only ones to hear the News Alert,” said Carly. “First Jack and Celeste came over and before long Melanie and Jennifer were here too. We’re all concerned about what might happen.”

  “So,” thought, Bishop, “Carly didn’t call this meeting, just facilitated it. I thought you were all here to finalize the plans for tomorrow’s barbecue. I’ve got everything on my end ready and when Bud brings his big smoker down tonight, we’ll get the brisket started.”

  “Actually,” said Jack, “we’re all ready for the barbecue, too, but we’re also concerned, and rightly so, about the potential CME they’ve alerted us to. I know enough about this sort of thing to know that it could be just a small one and we’ll just have a beautiful light show in the sky tonight, like the aurora borealis, and some temporary power and phone outage, or it could be something in varying degrees worse. We think we need to discuss it and be as prepared as we can,” he concluded.

  “You’re right, of course, Jack,” Bishop said, “and I certainly defer to your knowledge of such things at a time like this.” Breaking his own previous decree he informed the group about getting the extra ice and water, topping off the vehicles, and filling the jerry cans to use for the generator to keep the refrigerator and freezer running. He also gave them a brief account of the doomsayers and running into Jason. He didn’t tell them about Jason’s condition or about the man he had put on the ground.

  “Good,” said Jack, “that was good thinking.”

  “We have a large freezer, too,” offered Jenny Thomas, “and, we have a 3,000 watt generator, like yours, and two bigger 7,500 watt generators we use for our construction work. Bud has a couple of jerry cans on his truck for use on the jobsites and there are four of them on the trailer we haul our ATVs on, up at Colby’s. So I think we can at least keep our food supplies cooled for a few days or more.”

  “Good,” said Jack, again. “Since you and Bish have the big freezers and generators, I’d suggest that we all take our frozen foods to one of those freezers just in case we have a sustained power outage. Don’t worry about other perishables—and no ice cream,” he joshed. “Travis and I both have generators like yours, Bish, but it doesn’t make much sense to run multiple individual generators and use up gas if we don’t have to.”

  “I’d also suggest that you fill up any water containers you have, especially those five-gallon jobs we’ve used on some of our outings. Also, fill your bathtubs and sinks. If for any reason the water service is disrupted we’ll have enough to tide us over for a while. We can take water out of the tubs to put in the toilet tanks so we can continue to use our toilets.”

  The women let out a collective sigh, to which everyone laughed. “A little levity goes a long way,” thought Bishop.

  “They’re predicting this thing could hit us, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said ‘hit’ but rather occur, around 4:00 p.m. So, I’d suggest that at 3:30 we turn off our computers and throw the main power switch on our homes. After that time, until we have some idea how serious this might be, don’t open your refrigerators. Let’s keep the cold inside,” Jack continued.

  Bishop noticed that Melanie Brenner was looking quite concerned. “What’s wrong Mel?” he inquired.

  “Travis had to fly down to Phoenix for an Ag. Department meeting yesterday and was going to fly on down to Tucson to pick up the kids and get back here tonight. I’m worried this CME thing could be dangerous to his flying. I mean, they’ve grounded all the airplanes, haven’t they?” she asked.

  “Well, first of all, Melanie,” said Bishop, “Travis is an experienced pilot so I’m sure he won’t try to fly during the CME. And, the grounding you referred to was for commercial airplanes because they depend on radar and GPS for their guidance systems, which could be disrupted during a CME event. Travis, and other personal aircraft, on the other hand, can and do fly low enough that they don’t need other navigational support, at least in the daytime. They can just follow the highways and other known landmarks. It’s a straight shot up I-10 from Tucson to Phoenix to I-17. He’d take that north to 179 and then he’d follow 179 to the Sedona Airport. As long as he’s not flying during the CME, he’ll be just fine.”

  “Have you called him since the announcement or has he called you?” asked Bishop.

  “No,” responded Melanie. “Should I call him, now?”

  “Sure, go ahead. Use the phone in the kitchen to call his cell phone,” Carly chimed in.

  Melanie excused herself and went to the kitchen.

  “The other thing I’d suggest,” Jack interjected, “is that you take the batteries out of any battery operated items, especially your flashlights, so they’re not affected. They say that if the CME is bad enough, and there’s no proof that it’s going to be the case here, any electrically operated devices that are turned on may have their circuitry fried. Remember, we haven’t had one of these in modern times, other than those small ones that cause the Northern and Southern lights, so we’re just trying to be overly prepared; that’s all.”

  “I called Bud right after I heard the News Alert,” said Jennifer. “He hadn’t heard anything about it bec
ause he was working on the jobsite, but said it’s probably no big deal. But he’ll be home before four o’clock, just in case. And, he was going to tell Colby so he’d be home with Maria and the kids, too. Oh, Bish, he said he’d bring the big smoker with him from Colby’s.”

  “I suggest that Melanie bring her frozen goods to my freezer and Celeste take hers to yours, if that’s all right with you, Carly?” Jack said.

  “Absolutely,” Carly responded. “If nothing else we’ll have plenty of water and frozen food to tide us over for a while,” she laughed tightly.

  “What else would you suggest, Jack?” asked Bishop.

  Just then Melanie rejoined the group after having been on the phone with someone, hopefully Travis. “I just talked with my daughter because I couldn’t reach Travis. Sometimes he won’t answer his cell phone when he’s flying. She said that Travis had called her and that he was about to land in Tucson. She’s going to pick him up at the airport. He said he’d refuel and tie the plane down and plan to spend the night with her and Michael. They won’t fly up until tomorrow, assuming everything’s okay. He was going to call me from there. She said that Michael has already decided to close the restaurant for tonight because they can’t operate without electricity, should that go off. She said it will finally give them a night off together for a change. He’ll probably call me when he gets to Ellen’s,” she said smiling. Obviously, she felt relieved that he was safe.

  “Why don’t you plan on staying with us tonight, Mel, since Travis won’t come back until tomorrow? We can make up the couch and the kids can sleep on it. You can take their room,” offered Carly.

  “Thanks, Carly. I may just take you up on that. I’ll stay home until I hear from Travis and come on over before 3:30.”

  “Bring all your frozen food over to my house, Mel,” said Jenny, “and we’ll put it in our big freezer in the garage.”

  “Okay,” said Bishop, “back to my question to Jack. Is there anything else we need to do before we experience this CMEXYZ, other than pray, of course?”

  “I don’t think so, Bish. As we’ve said, we’ve never been through one of these potential events before so we just have to wait and see what develops. The whole event should be over within a few minutes and then we can start salivating for that wonderful brisket and all the trimmings we’ll be able to savor tomorrow as we celebrate our Nation’s birthday. And, hopefully, we can talk about what a non-event this really was,” concluded Jack.

  ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘

  At about 3:00 that afternoon, Bud showed up pulling the large smoker behind his Dodge Ram 360. Jackson, Bud’s black Lab, sat patiently in the passenger’s seat with his head stuck out the window. As Bud backed it down the driveway Bishop and Tanner came out to help guide it onto the gravel at the end of the drive.

  Bishop’s home was not the largest of those occupied by the Mavericks, but he had a graveled pad at the end of the drive that was perfect for the smoker. Bishop’s garage was at right angles to the house so that the garage door faced east. When he backed out of the garage he made the right hand turn onto the gravel pad and then turned up the drive to exit. His home also had the largest deck, which offered a magnificent view of the red rocks. And, the lot behind his home was undeveloped.

  He and Tanner helped unhook the smoker from the truck and manhandle it onto the gravel pad.

  “Well, you ready for this?” asked Bud.

  Bishop wasn’t sure whether Bud was referring to the barbecue or the anticipated CME event.

  “Ready for what?” asked Bishop.

  “Well, the barbecue,” responded Bud, “what else would I mean?”

  Obviously, Bud wasn’t in the least concerned with what the CME might bring. He loved his barbecue, beer, and friends.

  “There are a half-dozen 25-pound bags of charcoal sittin’ in the smoker for you, Bish. I think that should be enough.”

  “I agree,” responded Bishop, “I plan to start the fire going this evening and give the meat plenty of time to slow cook. And, I have some mesquite to put on the coals to help flavor the meat. Makes my mouth water just to think about it.”

  Bishop had also concocted his own barbecue sauce and refused to tell anyone the recipe, but they all loved it.

  “Why don’t y’all come on up for a beer this evening?” Bishop offered to Bud. “We’ll pop a few, get the meat cooking and talk about what did or didn’t happen with the CME.”

  “Do you really understand what this CME thing is all about?” asked Bud. “It’s got Jenny a bit worried but I can’t imagine it’s any big thing or they’d be blasting the warning horn at the fire station and the TV would have nothing but talking heads forecasting their gloom and doom.

  “I just got a big delivery from Pro Build,” the Sedona building supply outlet for contractors and the public, “for the large commercial project I’m working now; and Colby got a huge delivery for the big home he’s working on. We both had large deliveries of Tyvek earlier this morning. It was too late to start anything today, so we covered it all and came on home, as Jenny had requested.”

  “I don’t know much about it,” replied Bishop, “but Jack seems to be our resident expert and has indicated it could be something or it couldn’t, which I guess is about as definitive as anyone’s going to get. It appears there could be a disruption in communications and electricity but, beyond that, no one really knows. So, we’ve all taken some basic precautions and all we can do is wait and see. They said it should start around 4:00 and be over within a couple of minutes. So, y’all come on up after dinner, if you want.”

  “Okay, will do. Just keep those brewskys good and cold,” he said as he climbed into his truck and drove the 200 yards down Morningside to his home.

  A half hour later, Mel came in through the front gate, knocked lightly on the door, and entered the house, as was the habit of all the ladies on the block. She looked a bit concerned as she entered the great room and took a seat in one of the recliners. Bud, Carly, Tanner and Tara had all been sitting there talking and the kids were out on the back deck occupying themselves with Legos.

  “What’s up?” asked Carly, having seen Mel’s irritation as she came in.

  “I just talked to Travis. He’s okay. He’s in Tucson at Ellen and Michael’s. He said that he was at his meeting in Phoenix when the News Alert occurred this morning and the conversation immediately turned to the CME rather than agriculture. He said that some of the bigwigs there intimated that the government has known about this potential event for at least three days but was keeping it hush, hush.

  “He said that the White House had issued an order to shut down all nuclear reactors, had ordered the Navy to get its ships to port, and had ordered the Army, Navy, and Air Force to make sure its combat squadrons were fully fueled. And the same went for NATO. It also put all the U.S. Embassies around the world on alert. He said the IAEA had issued an alert to all foreign countries to shut down their nuclear facilities, as well. He thinks the White House isn’t being completely honest with the people, evidenced by the fact they didn’t inform the media and us until this morning, and all the while they’ve been making their own preparations for the past three days.”

  Mel slumped in her chair as if the recounting of Travis’ story had taken a lot out of her.

  “Travis said that he would wait until tomorrow morning to fly back up here from Tucson with Michael, Ellen, and Kathleen,” she began again. “He knows he can just follow the Interstate and the rest of the familiar landmarks to Sedona. He said he’s done it lots of times before. He’ll stay with the kids tonight.

  “You know, I spent over ten years as a surgical nurse, and several years before that as a hospital nurse, in all kinds of trauma situations, and never let it bother me. But, now, maybe because of the unknown, this thing has really gotten to me,” she admitted.

  “Now, Mel,” Carly said, “it’s getting to all of us. Like you said, it’s a new experience and we don’t really know what to expect. So you’re in good company. We�
�ll just hang together and deal with it, whatever it is. We’ll all just do whatever we have to.”

  Suddenly Tara spoke up. “Turn up the TV,” she said, pointing at the flat screen above the fireplace. On the screen it said NEWS ALERT, as it had earlier in the day. Bishop grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

  “…and now,” the announcer was saying, “here’s Lester Holt.”

  Holt came on the screen on the same set he had appeared on earlier, but this time he looked harried and very concerned.

  “As you know, we said we would track this story and report to you any time we had something new to add. We have just had a report from our chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel, in Israel. Here’s Richard from Tel Aviv.”

  “Thank you, Lester. I’ve just learned that the Israeli military has been placed on full alert due to reports of unusual activity at known missile sites in Iran and with large movements of armed people in Iran, Iraq, Jordan, and Yemen, not to mention the Hezbollah. I’ve also heard from other of our correspondents that similar activity is occurring in North Korea, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. It’s too soon to tell what has prompted this activity but we can only assume the news of the Coronal Mass Ejection is fueling some instability around the world, especially in heretofore troubled areas. So far, I’ve received no reports from the major powers but I have to assume that defensive preparations have been undertaken in those countries without provoking public concern. Back to you, Lester.”

  “Thank you, Richard. Back here, oh wait, we’ve just been handed a report from a source in Washington, as yet unconfirmed, that the President, Vice President, leaders of Congress, and the members of the Supreme Court have been moved to undisclosed secure locations. Congress adjourned yesterday, ostensibly to go home for the long 4th of July weekend. However, this new report raises many questions as to what Washington knew about the potential severity of the predicted CME event and hasn’t shared with the American people. Moving our leadership to secure locations seems to validate that …” and the television went to static.