by Pamela Davis
"Now, Phoebe," Maria said soothingly, almost as if she were talking to a wounded animal. "I know you don't like to travel. I know that you never travel. But you have to go this time. It's life and death, and I want you to live. So you have to come with me. Besides, you don't want to stay here--it's going to be very, very messy here very soon. We're going to go someplace nice and clean--the desert."
Phoebe's eyes were locked onto Maria's and speaking seemed to take all of her effort. "But--but the desert has all that sand--you can't keep it out of your things--sand everywhere--"
"No," said Maria sharply. "No, the sand is good. It's clean and dry, and the sand keeps everything clean. Now don't worry about the sand. Don't think about it. What you have to do is go home right now and pack a bag with whatever you want to save because you are never coming back here. Atlanta is about to be destroyed. So, go fill a suitcase with some clothes and mementos--but, Phoebe, remember this--we have to leave in two hours. That's all the time we have. So you have to act quickly. No matter how hard it is."
Phoebe just shook her head. She heard Maria, but she couldn't imagine how she could pack, leaving her safe home behind forever, and get it done in such a short span of time. Just the planning alone for what to take could take weeks!
Maria sighed, knowing that her assistant, who could normally work wonders, was probably headed for a breakdown. She had watched Phoebe through the years and knew what made her so good at her job was probably a symptom of more severe problem. She had even talked it over with a counselor in personnel who said that since Phoebe seemed to have adapted so well in her life, it might be best to leave things alone, so Maria had done just that. Now she was wishing she had inquired further and tried to help Phoebe deal with her problems.
Zack stood watching all this in some confusion, not really sure what was going on. Maria pulled him out the door so they could talk privately. "Okay," she said. "Here's what's going on. Margaret says that the hurricane in the Gulf is about to move inland a bit, and the effects will be felt here in Atlanta. This city won't be safe for us. We have to get out of here. There's a plane waiting for us, taking off in two hours. Here." She reached in her pocket, pulling out a pad and writing down the information. "Here's where you need to be and when. You need to bring as much equipment as you can, don't requisition it, just take what you can get your hands on. We may not be able to transmit, I just don't know about that yet, but I'd still like to record whatever we see when we get out there."
Zack broke in, "But what is all this with Phoebe? Why is she so nervous?"
"That's the reason I brought you out here. Phoebe has some kind of problem--I think its obsessive compulsive disorder or something like that. It makes her a great assistant, but she can't handle change very well. This is too big a leap for her to make, but I can't leave her here to die! As it is, I feel like I will never be able to deal with the guilt I'm going to have leaving behind all the people here--and that's the other thing I wanted to ask you--to try and tell as many people as you can, if they will believe you. I know they probably won't and don't let it keep you from making the plane on time." She paused, eyes faraway for a moment. Then coming back to the present, she said briskly, "Anyway, I am going to have to go with Phoebe and get her things together. We'll swing by my place too. There's a photo album of my parents that I want. Then we'll meet you. I think I may be the only person who can get Phoebe to do this. Plus I think I have an old bottle of valium in my medicine cabinet which may be needed to deal with Phoebe."
"Valium?" asked Zack, looking surprised.
"Frankly, these days I could use a few myself!" Maria said. "About a year ago, a doctor prescribed it when I was getting tension headaches. I took one and hated how it made me feel and that was the end of that. But I kept them, thank goodness, because I'd bet money we'll need them."
Maria walked back into her office to find Phoebe still standing in the same place, twisting and turning a pencil in her hands. She walked up to Phoebe and gently took the pencil away, setting it on the desk. Firmly, Maria said, "Phoebe, you are the best assistant in the world. And I need you with me. You have to come with me. So you and I are going to your house to pack your suitcase. This is the right thing to do. You have to trust me."
Tensely, Phoebe gripped Maria's hands and spoke, "You--you're coming with me? To help?"
"Yes, of course, yes, I'll be with you to help."
"And you need me--need me to go--to go with you to the--the--the..."
"--desert," Maria said. "That's right. I need you to be my assistant there. Because this office will be too messy to work in. So you need to be with me. Now get your purse and your keys and let's go."
Phoebe slowly started walking out of the office, and as Maria watched her, she seemed to move with more purpose, as if she had made up her mind. Zack moved closer to Maria with raised eyebrows. She said, "I know, I know. It's hard to tell how it will go. But like I said, I can't let her stay here and die. Now you go, and don't forget to take whatever you need from your place--because from the sound of it, according to Margaret, the Disaster Maven, Atlanta isn't long for this world."
Zack threw an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze, and then, turning, he saluted her and took off at a jog from her office. Maria slowly gazed over the walls of awards and certificates plastered everywhere. She would take none of it with her; none of it really meant anything, anyway. For a moment, her eyes welled up with tears and a racking sob shook her body. Then, with steely determination, she shoved the emotions down, saying in a tightly controlled voice, "No time for tears now. There'll be time to cry for all of them later...if we are very, very lucky."
Jackson, Mississippi, 5:45 p.m.
Lisanne rolled down the window, looking up at Andy's face in stupefaction. "You found us," she finally said.
Andy stared back at her. He couldn't really believe he was looking at the same woman, and, yes, there was the black cat too. It just didn't seem possible. He realized he was standing there like an idiot. "Oh," he said, as if waking up from a dream. "Yeah, we did. Found you, that is. We. Waldo...my dog. And me. Found you." He stopped, realizing speaking wasn't going so well.
Waldo saved them both from further embarrassment by putting his paws up on the door, leaning his head in and licking Lisanne's face. "Oh--Oh," she started.
"Waldo!" Andy said sternly.
Lisanne laughed and reached out to Waldo and gave him a hug. "No, no, it's okay," she said, laughing even more. "He's a great dog. I can tell that already and I hardly know him."
As she saw their food orders coming out to the cars, Lisanne suggested they all move to his larger Range Rover and share the space to eat and talk together. With the back seats collapsed, Waldo happily munched on several burgers and Merlin was ensconced with a bowl of milk and fish with the breading scraped off. He wondered how Lisanne could have forgotten to buy any of his regular cat food, and then remembered...it was Lisanne he was referring to. Nothing she did should surprise him anymore.
Lisanne and Andy settled into the front seats and were suddenly uncomfortably quiet.
"Well," said Andy. "I guess I should introduce myself..." which set Lisanne to laughing again, this time with a touch of hysteria to it.
"Sorry, sorry," she gasped for breath. "It's just that this is all so totally insane!"
Andy blinked and then let out a big sigh of relief. "I'm so glad to hear you think so too! I thought you were thinking this was all just normal."
He stopped as Lisanne blurted out "Normal?" and watched as she started laughing again, only to burst into tears.
Andy sat in awkward silence, not knowing what to do for her, questioning just who he had gotten hooked up with and wondering why he had followed a dog's advice. All his doubts returning, he started marshaling his arguments and explanations to tell her why this was nuts and that he was going back home.
Just as suddenly as they had started, Lisanne's tears stopped and Andy turned to face her and saw that the cat was sitting in
her lap staring into her eyes. She was softly petting the cat and nodding. Then she looked directly at Andy.
"I'm sorry...again!" she said. "We don't have much time and we do need to know each other's names at the very least, and we don't have time for me to go getting upset no matter how crazy all this feels to me, so, yes, I'd like to know who you are, and my name is Lisanne Locklin and this cat is Merlin. He's very smart and he saved my life today. I'm a recovering drunk, astronomer, occasional computer expert and up until a couple of days ago, a general goof-off and party girl."
Andy watched as Lisanne took a bite of crunchy onion rings after completing that speech. Her cat saved her life? While he was contemplating that, she said, "Oh, and can you order me a large coffee 'cause I think I'm going to need it--you should get one, too, since we'll be driving all night."
"Sure," he said, and without a single question he ordered two large coffees to go.
"Wait a minute! Drive all night? To where? What's going on? What--?"
"First...your name? Rank? Serial number? Some info on you would be nice before we go further, if you don't mind," asked Lisanne a bit primly.
"Oh, well, okay," said Andy, taken aback. "I guess you don't really know me--"
"More than you would realize, but go ahead."
That brought a raised eyebrow before he continued, "My name is Andy Jordan, I'm twenty-nine, a meteorologist at a Biloxi TV station--oh, you know that already--what else? I live alone, except for Waldo, my dog, who is a Black Labrador. Single, never married. Only child. Parents dead."
"Hmm. Similarities are that I'm single, never married, and also an only child and my parents are dead, but I doubt that those facts have anything to do with this," said Lisanne, brow furrowed as she thought over the information he'd provided. "Although, really, how do we know what factors play into this?"
"So? Are you going to tell me what's wrong with Waldo? And who you are, really? And how you knew about the hurricane?" Andy asked impatiently.
"What? Oh, yes, I was just thinking...not that thinking about this has gotten me very far at all. But I'll tell you what little I know. Let me just say at the outset that you won't be satisfied with my story, that you will end up with more questions than you have now, and that you'll never look at that dog or this cat in the same way again," Lisanne assured him.
Air Field, Atlanta
"I can't! I can't get on an airplane! They crash--I can't leave my home--I--I--" Phoebe stuttered. Her usual perfect appearance was marred by smeared makeup due to several bouts of hysterical crying that had occurred at her apartment. Maria finally had to drag her out the door and shove her into the car. She already made her take one valium and was handing her another one now.
"Here, Phoebe. Take this pill. It will help you sleep on the plane so you won't even know what's going on. You can just fall asleep and rest. You really need to rest."
"Y-y-yes...I d-d-do need to r-r-rest. But I'm to-too scared to get on the pl-plane!" Phoebe cried out, tears beginning again. At that instant Zack came into view at the top of the stairs of the Learjet. Maria motioned him down the steps.
"What's up?" he asked, looking at Phoebe.
"We need to get her on that plane. We need to get her to take this pill. I'll get the bags if you'll do whatever it takes to talk her into going up those steps."
"Sure thing," Zack said. He promptly turned to Phoebe and before she knew what was happening, picked her up and carried her up the steps into the plane.
"Well," said Maria to a steward who had appeared to help with the bags, "that's one way to solve the problem."
She climbed the steps and entered the plane to find that Phoebe was already belted into a seat with eyes closed, Zack beside her talking softly and rhythmically in a deep, low voice. Maria found a nearby seat as the co-pilot let them know they would be taking off immediately. Glancing at her watch, Maria thought whoever this Margaret Larson was, she had organized their exit from Atlanta with precision as they were leaving exactly on time. Maria leaned back in her seat and willed her body to relax. The tenseness of the past hours, the guilt of knowing so many people were about to die while she would be saved, knowing she couldn't save them, the days of seeing so many dead, of so much loss--she felt as if her body was weighed down with a ton of grief. Without even noticing, tears spilled from Maria's eyes and she tried to blank the awful images that rolled across her mind. Gradually the sound of Zack's voice, measured, melodic and warm, became an anchor to her in the waves of grief she felt crashing over her. She tuned in to his voice and closed her eyes. In minutes she was fast asleep.
Highway 55, heading North from Jackson, Mississippi
Andy's cell phone was plugged into the battery charger which was plugged into the lighter receptacle. His mind reeled as he steered a course behind Lisanne's Mustang, and he thought that he needed new words.
"Right, Waldo? There have to be words beyond 'amazement', 'total shock', 'utter disbelief'...except that I can't say I don't believe any of this because it was the cat who thought of having us exchange cell phone numbers so we could talk on the road while driving, and it was the cat, again, who typed in the word 'battery' on the laptop...maybe he picked up some kind of electromagnetic thingy that told him the battery was running low...." Andy's voice trailed off.
Waldo stretched out in the back, dozing on and off, only half-listening to Andy ramble on trying to sort out his emotions. It didn't seem like such a big deal to Waldo. Of course, he'd had more time to get used to the whole Merlin thing than Andy, and he knew already about communication between animals. Still, it seemed like Andy was really fighting the whole idea. Of course, he was human and humans did have the idea that they were top dog, so to speak, as far as intelligence went. But there were all kinds of intelligence out there in the world if you only knew where to look and how to look. Merlin had told him they were on their way to see more people and at least one more dog, which sounded good to him. This really had been the most remarkable day of Waldo's life. Thinking about it now, he decided that Andy could handle driving without him for a while, so he settled in for nap.
Meanwhile, in Lisanne's car an argument was taking place.
"First of all, you didn't let me get my idea out about stopping somewhere to buy CB radios. Those would probably be better than dealing with cell phones," Lisanne said in an irritated tone.
Merlin just looked at her.
"Secondly, before I could tell him about it, you just jump in and start typing! You scared him half to death doing it that way! There's a right way and wrong way to announce this kind of news, and I think you should have let me handle it."
Merlin growled low in this throat.
"Oh don't you growl-meow at me! Thirdly, you haven't told me where we are going. Sure, you head us north toward Memphis, but I know that's not our final destination. And you won't say why or where or when or what the hell is going on! You could have at least taken the time to tell us that back there!"
Merlin reached out a paw and sunk his claws into her thigh.
"Ouch! You monster, that hurts! What the...oh...sorry...you need the computer to answer all this, don't you? Um, sorry. Here you go," she said, driving with one hand and flipping open the laptop with the other.
As Lisanne concentrated on her driving for a few minutes, she heard the keys of the computer slowly clicking. When they stopped she glanced back and forth from the road to the computer screen as she read.
CB LATER - NO TIME
HURR EFFECTS WILL HIT JKSON
FASTEST WAY
MEMPHIS - CROSS MISS RIVER
GET OVER BEFORE IT FLOODS
Lavender eyes opened wider as they focused on Merlin briefly, and he heard her say succinctly, "Oh shit!"
Salmon Creek, Idaho
"When the dreams started, I thought my wife Gladys was going crazy. She woke me up, shaking like a leaf, yelling, 'The water, Fred, the water!' It took a while for me to understand what she meant. See, we'd been having plumbing problems for a while and I
thought she was worried that the pipes were still not fixed and was dreaming about that, so I told her not to worry and go back to sleep. But she kept holding onto my arm babbling about lots of wind and finally said it was a dream about a hurricane. I still didn't think anything of it--who would have, back then? A person has a bad dream, so what? And that was before Miss Maria started reporting about the dreams too. But my wife, Gladys, well, she just couldn't stop thinking about it--burned my toast the next morning and fried my egg till it was hard as a rock 'cause she was so distracted by that damn dream. Like I say, I thought she was bonkers for a while there. When it happened, though, the hurricane, well, that was a different story. It was eerie, I tell you, damn eerie, like one of those Twilight Zone shows on TV or something. Gladys was pretty shook up, too, wondering if she'd turned into one of those psychics since she went through the change of life. Well, let me tell you, if it wasn't for Gladys pestering me all mornin' about that dream we'd prob'ly be dead right now, and that's for sure, make no mistake. Finally, she just put her foot down and started packing all our clothes into suitcases and made me call the airport for tickets. Said no matter what I wanted, we were going to visit her sister Louise here in Idaho and that was that! If you know my Gladys, you know there's no talking to her once she gets in one of her moods, so I took some money out of savings and got us on a plane out of there. And damn if she wasn't right. Like I said, it was eerie, downright eerie."
Highway 55, heading North to Memphis, Tennessee
"What are you doing?" Lisanne asked Merlin.
Merlin didn't reply, just kept typing.
"You know I hate that when you don't answer."
Click, click went the keys.
"There has got to be a better way to communicate with you!" she shouted.
Merlin tapped her arm with his paw and pointed to the screen. She saw some kind of list, and then in big letters:
THERE IS A BETTER WAY.
"What? What? What do you mean there's a better way? I got you the best computer they had. What more do you want? What better way?" Lisanne's frustration meter was reaching its limit.