Rewritten Chapter 51

Chapter 51

The bottle of Jim Beam glistened in the light. He stared at it, feeling its pull, the powerful tug to his alternate reality where his past no longer haunted him. The phone broke his trance and he quickly answered.

“Russell?” A woman’s voice said.
“Who is this?”
“Ellen Delaney”
“Ellen Delaney.” He tried to recall where he had met her, the voice was very familiar. “Oh. Brad’s party. You go to Furhman College.”
“That’s it. I was wondering if you would still remember me.”
“Of course.” He said.
“Well why didn’t you call me?”
“Call you. Oh, I’ve been busy.”
“It sounds like you guys are going to get hit pretty hard by the hurricane. Are you going to evacuate?”
“Nah. I’m probably going to hang out at he hospital to see if I can help somehow.”
Awkward silence filled the air and Russell wondered why she called.
“Well, if you would like to come up here, you can hang out with me.”
Russell felt his heart flutter at this suggestion, it had been a long time since someone had expressed genuine interest in him. He felt his hands moisten as he thought what he should say.
“That would be nice. But where would I stay?”
“I have a guy friend whose room mate is gone for the weekend. If you don’t mind sleeping in the dorm ...”

In a matter of hours, Russell headed northwest on Hwy 526 toward I 26, a route he decided would have less congestion. He looked down to see his gas light blinking and pulled off on the Goose Creek exit to fill up before sitting in the parking lot formerly known as I-26. As he motored to the nearest gas station, he saw a young girl waving her hands wildly.

“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure, I just heard someone crying for help. There’s a little girl on the train tracks.”
“Where?”
“On the other side of the tracks by the station.”
Russell ran up to the station and about 100 yards north around the tracks and saw a little girl about 8 -10 years old. He could hear her crying which had degenerated into low-pitch moan.
“Hey sweetie, we’re here to help.” Russell called out and Danielle clung to his hand as he knelt down next to her. “What’s your name?”
“My leg hurts really bad.”
“It’s not a compound fracture.” He said to himself. “We’re going to get you to the hospital but it is going to hurt a little for us to move you. You will have to be a brave girl for me. Can you do that?”
“Yes.” She said as her shoulders heaved with sobs. “Please don’t hurt me.”
He looked at the girl who had flagged him down, “What’s your name?”
“Amanda”
“Amanda, I’m going to pull the car closer, stay here with ... what’s your name sweetheart?”
“Danielle.”
“Stay here with Danielle.”

On his way back to the girls, Russell grabbed a stick that was nearby. He ran over to Danielle with his belt in hand and tied it around her thigh, then he wrapped his jacket around her shin, securing the stick in place. He carried Danielle to the car, each step carefully taken to avoid adding to her pain, and gently placed her in the back seat. Soon, they all headed south into the angry storm.

He dialed the number to the administrators desk in the emergency room, “Jan, this is Russell Stevens, with Pediatrics. I’m bringing in a girl who I think has a fracture.”
“What is your estimated time of arrival?”
“Maybe ten minutes?”
“Well don’t bother hurrying, the whole city’s in our waiting area.”
“What’s going on?”
“Dr. White says it’s anxiety, mainly bumps and bruises from the debris flying ‘round.”
“I guess thats to be expected.”
Russell was startled by the sound of hail hitting the car roof. It sounded like a machine gun from inside the car. The conditions seemed to be worsening by the minute.
“Look.” Amanda pointed ahead. “It’s a tornado.”
“Jan, I gotta go.” He closed his phone looking out the window in disbelief. It must have just touched down ahead of us. It was less than 200 yards away and he knew they had very little time.
“Hold on girls”. He jammed the gearshift into reverse and drove back towards the train station. Its pace seemed menacing, getting closer with every second they stayed in the car. Russell knew he would not be able to drive the whole distance.

“Girls, we’re going to have to get out of the car.” He yelled trying to speak over the noisy winds. “Amanda I want you to go to that ditch by the train tracks over there. We’ll meet up with you in a minute.”

He stopped the car and yelled, “Go Amanda.” She hesitated but then took off running. He scooped Danielle into his arms and ran toward the ditch. The winds were stronger than earlier which made it difficult to move. Amanda’s eighty pound frame was no match for the tornadic winds and Russell grabbed her as he passed her heading to the ditch. Danielle clung to Russell and he knew with every step she would feel a lightening bolt run through her leg. As they approached the ditch, they all quickly jumped into it. The coldness and the fact that it was filled with water didn’t matter as they caught a glimpse of the tornado on the horizon. It was only 30 yards away now. The golf-ball sized hail continued to fall, as they huddled in the ditch.
Russell began to pray “God if you’re out there, we could use some help.”

The sounds of the tornado were frightening, Russell knew from growing up in Oklahoma that tornadoes supposedly sounded like trains. It was much worse than he had imagined as a kid. He could hear debris flying around hitting other objects and the winds seemed to hiss in a sadistic harmonic tone. He peaked up to see where it was, fifteen yards away and coming straightway down the street. The wind lifted them up off the ground and Russell put all his weight on the girls. He had no structure to grab. The spot he chose in haste seemed like a bad idea now. He could hear Danielle praying, something he’d been doing nonstop since the sighting of the tornado.

The awful sound amplified and he knew it was right over them, the sound of crunching metal hinted to the state of his car. Listening intently, he heard something land near them – he peeked through his arms and saw one of his car wheels rolling away. He hoped the car wouldn’t land on them, so he looked up to see where it was and then the lights went out.

“Russell” Danielle and Amanda called. “Russell. Wake up!” they said in unison.
Russell awoke disoriented. It was peaceful now. No strong winds, hail or even rain. In fact, it seemed to be quite a beautiful day.
“What happened?”
“You were hit by a wooden sign.” Amanda said.
“It knocked you out.” Danielle followed.

His hands glided over his forehead where he felt a lemon-sized knot over his right brow. He had a throbbing headache to match the knot. He looked around and saw complete devastation. Homes splintered into piles, cars flipped upside down and the train station depot lay dislodged from its concrete foundation onto the train tracks. He was glad they weren’t able to make it to the depot as he had originally wanted. The most distressing thing to Russell was his missing car. Nothing left but a wheel.

“Girls are you ok?” They both nodded. Russell remembered that Danielle likely had a fractured leg and she needed medical attention. He pulled his cell phone out and noticed the battery was dead. “Figures.” He said. “Amanda. Where do you live?”
“Just a block away.”
They looked at the houses to their left, many of which were leveled to their basest elements, he wondered if her family had survived the tornado.
“Can you see if you can call 911 for Danielle?”
“Sure.”

Amanda took off winding her way through the littered maze. He figured it would take her a little while to get there. “Danielle, where does your family live?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know where your house is?”
“I’m visiting my grandparents and I got lost.” She looked down embarrassed at her admission.
“It’s ok. We’ll find your grandparents. They’re probably worried about you.”
She began crying again and Russell felt bad for compounding the little girls sense of guilt. “No, no, no.” He cooed. “Don’t worry. Your grandparents will understand. It was a simple mistake. These things happen.” He looked at her small innocent face.
“I remember one time.” He was smiling as he continued, “I got stuck in a tree and my parents had to call the Fire Department out to help me down.”
“Really?” She said.
“Yeah. I got to ride the truck back to the station and they let me slide down the pole too.”
“How old were you?”
“I was about as old as you - I think I was eight.”
“Yeah. That’s how old I am.”
“They even had a dalmation.”
“I love dogs.” She said. “Really, I like all animals. I want to be a vet one day.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I want to take care of sick animals and help animals that are hurt.” She looked at her leg feeling the pain throb. “Kind of like you helping me.”

Amanda was running toward them with an anxious look on her face. She kicked up puddles of water around them as she approached.
“I called them.”
“Thanks Amanda. Was your family ok?”
“Yeah. They were in the tub with a mattress on top.” She started giggling. “You should have seen my brother. He was scared.” She started laughing hard.
Russell knew she was too young to understand the magnitude of what just happened and laughter was as good a defense mechanism as any. A few minutes later, a high, oscillating pitch of an ambulance siren preceded its appearance over the horizon and Russell felt relieved.

“Danielle. I want you to continue to be brave for the doctors when they work on your leg.”
“Aren’t you coming with me?” Her eyes pouted.
“I need to stay and help out here. Someone might need me.” Tears began to well up in her eyes again. “But I promise I will be there before you know it. I will visit you in the hospital.”
“Pinkie promise?”
“Oh yeah. Pinkie promise. Isn’t that the biggest promise of all?”
“I think so.”

The EMS crew quickly loaded her onto a gurney and into the ambulance. Russell talked to the technicians telling him that he planned to comb through the area to see if anyone needed medical attention. They knew this was going to be a challenging day. Several tornado’s had touched down and Hurricane Sydney bearing down on the city.

****

Joe emptied his wallet onto the desk. He wondered how far his partnership would push him before it would start to crack. He knew he was near that threshold now.

“Sandy. This is all I’ve got.” He counted out fifty-five dollars.
“Joe. I wouldn’t even ask but they trashed my account and my credit cards.”
He stared sympathetically and shrugged, “I can’t do anything more than this. The Brown household is on a tight budget.”
“The bank said they can fix the problem but they need forty-eight hours to get a new card to me but I don’t have that kind of time.” She wrapped her knuckles on her desk thinking of how she could conjure up the money she would need for the trip.
“That’s it!” She said. Her hands went to her 1/2 ct. diamond earrings that Dan purchased on their 10th wedding anniversary. They cost him 500 dollars, which was a sizable amount for him to spend, especially given his frugality. She soon found herself haggling with a fat man with an oversized, bulbous nose at the A1 Pawn shop, two blocks down from the station.

“Not a penny over 150 dollars.”
“You gotta be kidding me.” Sandra snarled.
“175 and that’s my top offer.”
“I should take you in for robbery.” She said. “Two hundred or I walk.”
The man simply gestured with a wave and Sandra turned to the door. She pushed it open slowly walking through the threshold when she heard the sound of surrender that made her smile widely.
“Ok, Ok. Two hundred.” The man said.

Two hours later, Sandra had 352 dollars to her name, thanks to a collection taken in the office, and she was pulling out of the lot in her Ford Taurus destined for the state of South Carolina on a collision course with Hurricane Sydney.