“How are you doing out there, all by yourself?” Rayn tentatively asked.
“I’m doing okay, thanks. I still come into town every other day to put some time in at the office, and have managed to keep Tom’s raised beds weeded,” Allexa answered. “I’ve got the big garden planted and even moved the few tomatoes out. When will your spot be ready for the rest of the plants?”
“Soon, I hope. I get out and rake where Eric tilled whenever Alan is napping. And on her days off from school, Emilee watches him for me. She is so good with her brother,” Rayn said happily. “I’m not complaining about the company, but was there a particular reason for your visit?”
“It was more a visit for Tufts and Chevas. Tufts has been moping around the house.”
“Chevas too,” Rayn said. “Would it be okay if Tufts spent the night?”
“I think he would like that. Maybe next week Chevas can stay with us,” Allexa laughed. “Those two seem more like kids on a play-date!”
“How is Joshua dealing with not having Emilee around?” Rayn asked hesitantly.
“He tries to hide it yet I know he misses her company even though they still see each other at the office when they’re taking turns on the ham radio.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The day broke with soft blue skies and the ever present muted sunshine. A hot breeze caressed the back of Allexa’s neck while she worked the ground around the new seedlings in the big garden. After a while she stopped for some lunch. Trying to break the rut she was in and establish a new routine, she fixed a sandwich instead of soup.
She cooked some rice and added broth and finely chopped venison from her previous dinner, setting the bowl on the floor for Tufts, who hungrily gobbled it down. He had gotten leaner over the past two years and was healthier for it, she thought, stroking his silky black fur.
After digging up pots of sage, oregano, tarragon and thyme for Rayn’s new garden, Allexa split her rosemary, carefully planting half of the tender perennial back into the greenhouse bed and the other half into a large pot. Satisfied with the transfer, she lined them up on the wooden bench seat by the fish pond in the greenhouse until she could deliver them. The miner statue caught her eye as usual and brought thoughts of John. A single tear rolled down her tanned cheek.
“No pity parties!” she said out loud and stepped outside into a strong gust of hot wind.
***
Allexa walked into the empty street away from the big maple trees that graced her front yard to get a better look at the sky. To the west and northwest black clouds were forming in a yellow sky and were starting to block out what little sun there was.
“Well, crap. I don’t like the looks of that sky. It looks like we’re in for a doozy of a storm,” she said to no one. She quickly scooped up Tufts who had followed her outside, and put him in the house to stay safe while she went down the road to talk to Joshua.
***
“Joshua! Are you in the barn?” Allexa called out.
“Yes, Ms. Allexa, and it sure is nice to have you back here. How are you today?” He stepped out from mucking the stalls. “It looks like we might get some rain later,” Joshua said, unconcerned about the coming storm.
“It looks like it might be more than some rain, Joshua. Those clouds are already starting to rotate which will pick up more water from the big lake, and that yellow sky has me worried.”.
“Hmm, maybe I’ll put the girls in the barn for a bit, though they sure do like grazing on all this new spring grass.” He glanced at the yard where the cow and goat were munching on greens under the apple trees.
“Girls? You mean Bossy and Matilda?” Allexa chuckled, remembering how Joshua tried to get her to take Matilda the goat as payment to Dr. Mark for him treating Martha, Joshua’s grandmother.
Joshua grinned. “Yes, ma’am, those are my girls!”
“That would be a good idea. I would love to chat more, but I need to start closing windows.”
The hot wind buffeted Allexa as she walked the short distance back to her house. At one point, the breeze turned very cold, then back to hot. Not knowing what that might mean, she walked faster. In her haste to get home, she tripped on a newly downed branch and fell, bruising her knee. She limped to the greenhouse door, pushing it open as the first icy rain drops splattered on the triple pane glass overhead.
Once inside, Allexa heard Tufts mewling under the bed.
“Poor baby. Are you scared?” she reached under just far enough to rub his forehead in comfort. Memories of other storms bombarded her thoughts. Icy rains that turned into straight-line winds, blizzards, and electrical storms that lasted for days. She shuddered and dashed to the glass sliding door where there was a better view of the coming storm. The rotation that seemed so far away mere minutes ago was almost overhead. Fear gripped her heart as lightning flashed amid the dark clouds.
Allexa rushed to the back room, pulling and tossing storage items from the closet until she found the cat carrier. She set the mesh box on the bed and reached again for her cat. He wasn’t there. Grabbing the bedside flashlight, she found him cowering in the far corner. A quick push of the bed gave her enough access to grab him. Once inside the carrier, he really protested, sending out a constant stream of angry meows.
Ignoring Tufts’ distress, Allexa yanked the spread off the bed and rushed them to the kitchen. Knowing the cast iron cookstove was the heaviest and least likely item to move if things got really bad, she set Tufts down beside it and wedged a table between the bookcase and the stove, draping the bedspread over it, making a tent. With Tufts safely inside she grabbed two bottles of water from the silent refrigerator and a bowl and filled it with water for the cat.
Another glance out the glass door stunned Allexa. The rotation she witnessed earlier had tightened and a funnel cloud now took its place. Debris circled and was gone. A lawn chair danced around the edges, fifty feet high, and then was sucked in, flung out a moment later. The rushing wind howled like a banshee joy riding an out of control freight train. It was deafening. Forcing herself to look away from the frightening yet mesmerizing sight, she crawled under the table and huddled in the artificial darkness with the cat.
Hail pounded the metal roof in a non-stop barrage; the cadence hurt her ears, and as loud as that was she could still hear when glass shattered somewhere. A horrendous crack overrode all other sounds and the house shuddered as timbers cracked when the newly formed tornado tore down the narrow road. The beams supporting the roof over her head moaned under the assault of the ferocious wind. With the mesh cat cage tucked between her and the heavy stove, Allexa covered the cat with her body and braced herself by clutching the legs of the stove. Chunks of plaster from the ceiling rained down from overhead. The bookcase that held all her favorite books toppled, showering the table in a thundering cadence. The bedspread kept the books and plaster from hitting them. However, the weight of the sturdy case itself, now broken in half, cracked the table, strong as it was. Allexa and Tufts were buried in the rubble of what was once her house. Tufts meowed mournfully and Allexa groaned in pain unable to move.
***
“What is the matter with Chevas?” Rayn asked Eric. After Tom sounded the storm alarm, Eric had hurried home to shelter with his wife and children.
“I think she’s just scared. The storm is passing now, so she should quiet down,” Eric replied, taking the crying baby to soothe him. Chevas howled again, pacing from one door to the next.
“Maybe she has to pee,” Rayn suggested, grabbing the leash. As well behaved as the dog was, they didn’t take any chances of her roaming free, not after she had been shot once by a poacher looking at her as food. Once outside, the dog dragged Rayn to the big truck, pawing at the door.
“She wants to go for a ride?” Eric said. He looked to the east and watched the storm clouds move away. “That storm was pretty bad. I’m going to check the town and then over
to my mom’s to make sure she’s okay. I’ll take Chevas with me. Maybe the ride will settle her down.” He handed the baby back to his wife and took the leash. The golden retriever lunged for the front seat when Eric opened the door.
He drove through the quiet town, noticing a few branches down and big puddles everywhere, rivulets draining into the township’s old sewer system. People were opening doors and windows, and waved when he drove by. As he headed out of town, the dog put her paws on the dashboard and barked. He turned south on county road 695 and the closer he got to his mother’s house, the more agitated Chevas became. The possibility of what the dog’s strong instinct might mean worried him.
Trees were down everywhere, uprooted or splintered into pieces, some lying across long abandoned houses.
When Eric turned into the narrow road that led to his mother’s house he stopped, overwhelmed with the destruction in front of him. Although many trees were down here too, some completely uprooted, none of them blocked the narrow asphalt road until he arrived at the house he once lived in.
“Oh my God!” He slammed the truck into park and jumped out, ignoring the heavy rainfall, the dog on his heels. Two of the giant maple trees that shaded the house were leaning against and through the roof, roots bare to the elements. A third tree lay across the now shattered greenhouse. Shreds of living bark hung precariously in chunks, torn from the big maples, dripping with the rain that was still coming down.
“Mom!” he yelled, only to be met with silence. Chevas ran past him, barking and whining at the side door, pawing at the handle. Eric shouldered the twisted door open and Chevas ran inside. The dog sniffed a few directions and headed into the chaos of the kitchen. She barked once, and Tufts meowed loudly. The dog started digging at the rubble. Eric pulled her back and told her to sit.
“Mom,” he called again, “can you hear me?” He heard a moan. “There’s a tree on top of you. I’m going for help. I’m leaving Chevas here. I’ll be right back.”
The broken roof settled, sending a fresh cascade of insulation, dust, and drywall over the woodstove. The pounding rain loosened the roots of the tree lying across Allexa’s house and it sagged even more.
Eric took off running for the truck. His first thought was to get Joshua, until he saw every building there flattened. He turned up 695 and sped as fast as possible back into Moose Creek, panic and fear flooding his body.
Seeing Tom White emerging from his car at the township office, Eric swerved into the lot.
“I need help, Tom, lots of help! That must have been a tornado and my mom is trapped, maybe hurt. I’m going for Jason. Meet us out there!” He drove off again before Tom had a chance to ask him any details.
Tom pushed the alarm that would sound the emergency siren, only for nothing to happen. The big generator that ran the entire town was silent. He rushed to his car and headed back home.
Seeing Harold outside, he yelled, “Allexa is trapped! We need to gather as many people as possible to dig her out! If anyone has a chainsaw, they should bring it.” Tom shouted to a stunned Harold to hurry. Tom then got the two chainsaws and a five gallon can of gas from the big barn and raced to the house several miles away.
***
As Tom approached Allex’s house he started to cry. How could anyone survive that carnage? He parked on the street and took the chainsaws from his trunk. After setting them down to get the gas, he saw the house across the road for the first time. The beautiful two level building that was once home to Allex’s brother was… gone. Completely gone.
Emergencies were what he had been trained to handle, but this…this was too much, too close, too personal. The magnitude of the destruction overwhelmed him and he froze.
***
Eric returned to the scene with four men in the back of the truck, all of them ready to start digging. Jason had stopped first at Keith Kay’s.
Inside the house, Eric knelt down in the debris. “Mom? Can you hear me?”
Silence.
He tossed aside books and chunks of ceiling. The chainsaws buzzed constantly outside. The tree shifted and dropped lower into the house, pressing on the broken bookcase. He heard another moan, and Chevas barked and whined.
“STOP!” he screamed, and ran outside. “That’s making it worse!”
Jason pulled into the drive and parked on the lawn, giving Keith room to drive his logging truck in. He nosed the big red truck in near the house and climbed out, assessing the situation quickly.
“I’m going to grab the tree with the grappling hooks to keep it from moving, while you guys cut it free of the roots. After that I’ll lift it out of the way.” Keith’s calm and easygoing manner disguised the turmoil festering inside. Allex was his friend and had been for a very long time. The thought of her buried in there and possibly injured, or worse, tore at his insides. He maneuvered the long arm of the machinery from the seat at its base. He pushed and pulled levers, opening the jaws of the claw, and positioned it as high on the tree trunk as possible through the many branches. Once he had a firm grip, he lifted it slightly. The truck protested at the weight of the big tree. The others set to work releasing it from the stump.
Eric and Jason both hurried inside and began pulling the carnage off their mother. They heard another groan and crack from overhead as the first tree was lifted clear. With the weight off, the trusses that once held the roof up also shifted, but were stopped from falling further by the heavy cast iron stove.
Jason ran outside and took a chainsaw from Harold Wolfe. Inside he began making strategic cuts and Eric pulled each board away, handing it to the crew that was now inside trying to help free Allexa.
An hour later most of the collapsed roof had been moved off the stove, leaving the bookcase and the table to be dealt with, and a half ton of debris. “Don’t do anything, Mom, let us get you free,” Jason scolded his mother when she tried to move. From under the table, Allexa pushed on the cat carrier and sent Tufts to freedom.
“She is so stubborn,” Eric said with a pained smile. He picked up the cage and set it in the other room with Chevas. The dog sniffed at the cat and gave a soft woof. Tufts purred even though he was still contained.
Someone handed Jason a car jack and he braced the splintered table, lifting it, and most of the debris enough to grab Allexa’s feet. He pulled and she groaned loudly. He stopped.
Eric belly crawled behind the stove. “Mom, we have to get you out of here. What hurt when Jason pulled?”
“My hand, and I can’t move my legs,” she whispered and then coughed from all the dust.
Seeing that neither of her arms were caught on anything, Eric backed out and told his brother, “Lift the table a bit more and then let’s get her free.” They pulled her out of the rubble.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Allexa opened her eyes in the soft evening light. She turned her head and grimaced. She let her eyes roam, trying to figure out where she was.
“There you are,” Dr. James Geneva said. He shined a penlight in one of her eyes, and then the other. She tried to sit up and the doctor put a restraining hand on her shoulder. “Oh, no, you don’t. It’s bed rest for at least two days, Allex. You have a concussion, a fractured wrist, and dozens of bruises. I’d say you were rather lucky.”
“Lucky? My house fell on me,” she said, closing her eyes. They popped open as the memories came back. “Where’s Tufts?”
“If you’re referring to your cat, he’s with Eric, and he’s fine. Now get some sleep.”
***
Tom sat beside Allexa’s bed and held her hand while she slept. Her casted wrist lay restless at her side.
“How long have you been sitting there, Tom?” she asked when she saw his gaunt face.
“Only a few minutes,” he replied.
“Liar.”
He chuckled and let go of her hand. “You gave all of us a big scare, Allex.”
“We need to talk first,” Tom said.
“About what?”
“Well, you certainly can’t go back to your house, there’s nothing left of it. And with your dislocated knee, it’s going to be difficult for you to do stairs until the swelling goes down,” he said gently. “Dr. James put it back in place, though it’s still pretty banged up.”
“My knee? No wonder it’s sore. I thought I only bruised it when I fell.” Allexa briefly closed her eyes. “What are you recommending, Mr. Mayor?”
“You can have my room on the main floor and I’ll move to the basement, even though I know you prefer being down there,” he said.
“What about…?”
“Eric wants you at his house, but you would have to sleep with the baby. I don’t think you would get much rest. Jason wants you at his place, but that would mean sharing a room with Jacob.”
“Okay, you win. I’ll move back into our house. Now can I get out of here?” Allexa asked.
“Not until you have the bad news.” Tom shifted in his seat.
“That was the good news?” She grinned.
“Joshua is dead.”
Allexa went still. “How?”
“The tornado flattened the barn. He was in there with the cow and goat. We guess to keep them calm. The cow was killed too. The goat is staying with Eric for now. It’s for you to decide where the goat goes.”
The Journal: Martial Law Page 12