Lucky

[Grand58742]

CHAPTER 5 CONTINUED

“Okay, you want the truth?” asked Hal.

“We’ve never kept any secrets from each other,” said Bart.

“Truth is I had him checked out before he came out here. We get a few folks in to the resort that could be valuable when it comes down to it and he fit the profile as a potential recruit. I do that quite a bit actually with some folks that catch my eye. Anyway, he is financially successful, good head on his shoulders, conservative, investigated a dozen times by the SEC but never found anything in his past they could bust him for. ‘Lucky’ was the term they used on him. He’s married with a stable relationship. Her family is wealthy as well and preppers from the sounds of it. And he seems genuinely interested in getting prepared. So I gave him a little taste of how easy life can be during an emergency,” said Hal.

“Gut feeling?” asked Bart.

“My gut tells me he would fit in just fine. We could use a contact out that way since the next closest one is in Texas. We all travel some and it would be nice to have a place to lay our heads if we had to,” said Hal.

“I hope you’re right,” said Bart.

“What does your gut tell you?” asked Hal.

“You know me, I’m the kind of guy it takes years to gain trust with,” said Bart.

“Why don’t you spend a little time with him today?” asked Hal.

“Won’t do any good. I trust you enough to take a look at him and I can go with your gut feeling for now. But in the meantime be careful about the information you are spreading around. Like some of that hardware you have in the basement,” said Bart.

“Yeah, hindsight is 20/20. Maybe I shouldn’t have showed him the Barrett,” said Hal with a laugh as he closed the trunk.

“Could be worse, Steven could have showed him the bunker in Georgia,” chuckled Bart.

“He would have thought we were all certifiable then,” laughed Hal.

The two went back to the house where breakfast was being put out on the table. It was a simple affair, but at the same time, it was hot food and the situation appeared to be a fairly normal for the given situation.

“Sorry to say but we only have one shower and the water heater takes a little longer to get the water heated when it’s on battery power,” said Hal.

“Just the fact you have hot water is impressive,” said Beth.

“Just because there was a disaster doesn’t mean we have to live like the 12th Century,” said Bart.

“Wise to prepare for something like this,” said Beth which Jim immediately took note of.

Once they were finished eating and completing the small talk, Hal claimed the shower first. Jim walked out on the back patio with Beth after refilling his coffee mug and took in the morning.

“How did I ever find such a lucky man? You have nice friends all over the place,” said Beth.

“I don’t know. Although I’m not complaining about the Charles’ taking us under their wing during all this,” said Jim.

“No, can’t say that I would either. But why all the sudden?” asked Beth.

“Don’t know. Maybe they are just nice older folks,” said Jim.

“I think there might be more to it. I mean, people just don’t do this out of the kindness of their heart,” said Beth.

“I know, but until we figure it out, we might as well go with it,” said Jim. They continued to sit and listen to the sound of the surf nearby as well as the sea lions barking on the beach. Eventually they were joined by Hal coming from the shower and looking refreshed.

“Shower is open for whoever wants it,” he said.

“You mind?” asked Jim to Beth.

“Go for it,” she said. “Your wife have anything planned for the day today?”

“Nothing I am aware of. Maybe a quick trip into Carmel to see what is open and the price gouging that is starting,” said Hal.

“It gets bad when things like this happen?” asked Beth.

“Typically,” said Hal. “People start thinking five dollars for a gallon of gasoline and go up from there.”

“That’s horrible,” said Beth.

“Yes, disaster brings out the best and worst in people,” said Hal.

“So why us? Why did you and Linda decide to adopt us during all this?” asked Beth.

“Call it a moment of weakness I guess. Honestly, we see a little of ourselves in you, only younger. I mean, you are a nice young couple away from home during a major disaster and a little scared. We just wanted to make sure you two made it out okay,” said Hal.

“There were plenty of other folks at that resort as well,” said Beth.

“True, but you two are special. You are down to earth and we liked that. Not like the typically snooty types we have to deal with from there,” said Hal.

“And no other reason?” asked Beth.

“Besides your husband forgiving my skins debt?” laughed Hal.

“I think we can call that one paid in full,” laughed Beth.

“I’m not playing golf for money with him again,” laughed Hal.

“He’s a hustler when it comes to that. He loves the game of golf,” said Beth. “Look at that!”

The same sea lion had returned and was perched at the outer edge of the property, intently looking at the two on the deck area. Hal sighed and went inside, returning with a fish wrapped in paper. “I hope she doesn’t mind it cold.”

He walked out in the yard where she was sitting with her mouth open. He tossed the fish at her and she caught it expertly out of the air. Shaking the paper at her, she seemed to understand he didn’t have anything else and hopped back to the beach.

“Yeah, I beat you kick dogs as well,” laughed Beth.

“A little generosity never hurts I guess,” said Hal. They returned to the house and Beth immediately took on washing the dishes, shooing Linda away from the kitchen.

“Honey, you don’t have to do that! You’re our guest here!” exclaimed Linda.

“I insist. You took us in when you didn’t have to,” said Beth.

“I know, but you’re still our guest,” said Linda.

“It’s not like I haven’t had dishpan hands before,” said Beth with a smile. “I do most of our cooking and clean afterwards.”

“You don’t have Jim do it?” asked Hal with a laugh.

“No, I want them clean afterwards,” deadpanned Beth as Jim came back in. He decided not to shave since the water was a precious commodity.

“Jim, your wife says you make her slave in the kitchen all day,” said Linda with a twinkle.

“She chases me out of the kitchen! I try to do the dishes, but she threatens me with a butcher knife!” exclaimed Jim.

“You’ve got a keeper there Jim,” laughed Bart. “You two ready?”

“Yeah, I’ll drive,” said Hal as he grabbed his keys and kissed his wife goodbye. Bart went to his vehicle and pulled his emergency bag out and transferred it to the other vehicle. After Jim and Beth said their goodbyes followed by a kiss, Jim turned to Linda.

“Linda, one more thing?” asked Jim.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Under no circumstances is my wife allowed to adopt a sea lion while I’m gone,” laughed Jim.

“Would I do something like that?” asked Beth very innocently.

“As soon as my back was turned, you would be trying to lure one into the car,” said Jim with a roll of his eyes and a smile.

“He knows me too well,” laughed Beth and gave him another kiss.

The three got into Hal’s Expedition and started heading towards the resort. The town of Carmel-by-the-Sea was still fairly quiet, but there were groups of people here and there watching as they passed through. Intersections were a tricky matter as the traffic lights still weren’t working and there was a little less traffic to be had this morning as opposed to other mornings.

“You think we’ll get paid a visit today?” asked Bart.

“Probably so. If Fort Ord doesn’t pan out for some reason, you can flat guarantee they will be after the course property,” said Hal.

“And do we play along?” asked Bart.

“Only if we have to. Better to play along rather than get told we have no choice in the matter,” said Hal.

“And if they want to move in some undesirables?” asked Bart.

“We might have a problem then,” said Hal.

“Mind if I ask?” asked Jim.

“FEMA will probably be by today taking a look at the property. Plenty of other places they could go, but in a situation like this, every bit of property will be needed for relief efforts. What’s left of Fort Ord to the north of us provides some locations, but there is still the unexploded ordnance factor there along with the lead poisoning. Anyway, FEMA might be looking to relocate some of the residents from the Bay area in refugee camps. And sometimes the less desirable aspects of society follow along with them. Remember Houston after Hurricane Katrina?” asked Bart.

“Yes,” said Jim.

“Crime skyrocketed after the refugees from the storm moved in. Mostly the refugees were not a problem, but some just couldn’t leave their past behind them,” said Hal.

“And you think they will come to the resort?” asked Jim.

“Like I said yesterday, we have the infrastructure to handle that sort of thing. Power, water and above all space for refugee camps. With the kitchens they have a way of preparing mass quantities of food, sanitation might be a concern, but they have ways of dealing with that,” said Hal.

“You get compensated?” asked Jim.

“Probably not as much as they will destroy. The course or courses would have to go under serious renovation after the camps are broken and that will cost a lot of money,” said Bart.

“You two are fairly certain this is going to happen. How come?” asked Jim.

“Because the esteemed Congresswoman from San Francisco seems to think our courses are a waste of space. You see, we didn’t contribute to her campaign since honestly she had nothing to offer us. She isn’t our representative so we didn’t feel the need to contribute when she asked. However, that slimy one that does represent this district apparently owed her a favor and bought off on the idea of using the grounds in an emergency. So he double crossed us on our election contributions. We’ve seen the FEMA plans to use the courses and know it’s only a matter of time before they stop by,” said Hal.

“It doesn’t sound right,” said Jim. “You said last night you didn’t think it would happen.”

“I didn’t want to worry you or the other ten guests listening to what I had to say,” said Hal.

“Okay, I’ll give you that. But what about the other guests now?” asked Jim.

“I would guess about half of them packed up and left this morning,” said Bart.

“It still isn’t right, the government taking private property like that,” said Jim.

“That’s the way this government works. Contribute and you are rewarded. Don’t contribute and you are rewarded with a FEMA camp in your backyard,” said Bart.

“Welcome to California politics,” laughed Hal.

They pulled into the resort and made contact with the night manager who was still hanging around waiting for them to arrive. Jim just tagged along although feeling like a fish out of water. For the most part, he stayed in the background.

“Morning,” said the manager.

“Morning Mike,” said Hal. “Any news?”

“About half the guests left this morning heading for wherever they call home. Some of the staff didn’t show as they are tending to their families, but we are getting by okay for now. Telephone service is kind of back up for the moment and we are still without power, but the generators are holding. Water is still off, but we have plenty for the moment,” said the manager.

“Telephone lines are back up?” asked Bart.

“Sort of. The hard lines are at about twenty-five percent and the cell towers at about the same. We’ve been trying to arrange for flights out for the remaining guests, but every airport between here and Salt Lake City is jammed,” said the manager.

“And the net?” asked Hal.

“Still no connectivity,” said the manager.

“The folks enjoy breakfast?” asked Bart.

“You would have thought we were feeding them the leftover scraps from a pig sty. Never heard such complaining,” laughed the manager. “Oh yeah, the sheriff wanted you to call when you got in. Or stop by if the lines are down.”

“He say what it was about?” asked Hal.

“No, just that your dreams are about to come true. He said it with a frown, so I have no idea what he meant,” said the manager.

“Your family doing okay?” asked Bart.

“Sure are. Thanks for the advice you gave us Mister Charles,” said the manager.

“You go on and get some sleep. We’ll see you tonight,” said Hal.

“You thinking the sheriff is going to give us bad news?” asked Bart.

“Yeah, probably so. Say let’s mosey on over to his office. Might be easier that way,” said Hal as they started retuning to the vehicle. Just as they got in, Hal’s cell phone rang.

“Hello…yeah, we were heading over to see you…okay…okay…yeah, we’ll meet you at the main building…right…the night manager said you didn’t look happy…okay, see you in a few,” said Hal ending the brief conversation.

“He on his way over?” asked Bart.

“Yeah, be here in about fifteen minutes,” said Hal. “Let’s head on over to the patio area and listen to the complaints.”

And complain the people did. While most accepted the fact the earthquake was out of the control of the resort, some figured the course management was entirely to blame as obviously they planned on keeping the guests longer than necessary to charge outrageous fees. Jim wondered how Bart and Hal took the verbal abuse for as long as they did before snapping. But they were polite and professional the entire time and attempted to sooth the guests. But some just weren’t being put off.

“And you know the eggs were runny this morning! And the bacon was cold and limp! And plain bread instead of toast? I cannot for the life of me understand how a so called world class resort could be like this! I never get treated this way in Hartford! To think I left my home to come here to this, this, this place is outrageous!” exclaimed the same person Hal had a confrontation with the night before. Although this time they were dealing with Bart.

“Sir, you have to understand. Without power, we just cannot provide the quality service we normally do,” said Bart patiently.

“Well, that’s something you should have thought about before now isn’t it? You should go right now down to the hardware store and buy more generators or something! And to think all my friends recommended this place!” he said.

“You know, we could give you your own darn eggs and let you cook them yourself,” said Bart, starting to lose his temper.

“I might as well! I mean, obviously I might do a better job than the so called chefs around here,” said the man with a smug look, thinking he won the battle as Bart stormed over to the nearest waiter.

“You know what the kitchen is planning for lunch today?” he asked.

“I think they are planning on the rest of the chicken out of the cooler. They asked to start the charcoal around eleven,” said the waiter.

[Grand58742]

CHAPTER 5 CONTINUED

Bart stormed into the kitchen followed by Jim. He opened the large walk in door for the refrigerator and started looking around the shelves. He found what he was looking for and stormed back out to the patio where the individual was getting ready to berate another member of the staff.

[Grand58742]

CHAPTER 6


Sunday 6:18 PM, Pebble Beach, California


Jim stood and watched as the military crew finished up with the hospital. He was quite amazed at the short amount of time it actually took to get things in motion and get the hospital up and running. The day had gone by fairly quickly and on Hal’s advice, he had packed up his and Beth’s things and stowed them away in the rear of the Expedition. Until they were able to leave, Hal promised them “a roof over your heads.”

The helicopter pad was being set up at this moment, but the first patients were arriving by helicopter and landing in the parking area. Ambulances were taking them from the choppers down to the tents already set up for reception or by the rolling gurneys. Some were standard stretchers that were carried the hundred fifty yards between the landing pad and the makeshift hospital. Jim had already been able to call out to his mother (as his father had passed away some years before) and his sister to let them know he was okay and doing just fine. They both were worried since they knew he was out in California and made sure Beth was okay as well. He had attempted to call her, but the phone lines were still out of whack and not fully up to speed.

But the water was back on after the utilities had repaired the breaks in the lines. But the power was still off and in no hope of coming back on soon. Hal and Bart were off attempting to get transportation to some of the remaining guests south to one of the open airports, but weren’t having much luck. Jim decided to wander down to the hospital and see what was going on. He knew he didn’t really belong there, but a natural curiosity made him go.

As he got closer, he saw people running this way and that, carrying supplies or blood soaked bandages away from the tents. He was amazed there was some order to the chaos in front of him and figured there was some rhyme or reason to the goings on. But he did see the doctors diligently working on the patients and the medics and others attending in as well. He stood outside the tent and watched the triage area for about five minutes when he decided to go. Just as he was turning, a voice stopped him.

“You! Come here!” said a voice with authority.

“Me?” asked Jim.

“Yes, you! I need some help over here!” yelled the medic as he and another brought in a stretcher from the landing zone.

“What? I’m not a doctor or a medic!” protested Jim and the one ran off to grab another patient.

“I know! I just need some help holding this gal for a minute,” said the medic.

Jim jogged over to the stretcher and saw the patient was in bad shape. Multiple wounds were seen on her body and the medic was barely keeping up. “I want you to hold this bandage right here!”

“Just hold it?” asked Jim.

“Yeah, I need to get an IV started,” said the medic. “There’re gloves in my pouch.”

Jim looked at the small medical pouch on the man’s waist and grabbed at the zipper. Opening it up, he saw the blue Nitrile gloves and grabbed two. He tried putting them on quickly, but found it wasn’t that easy to do. He blew inside of them to get the fingers separated and put them on.

“Okay, hold right here and don’t let up the pressure!” ordered the medic as he shifted his position so Jim could take his place. As soon as he lifted his fingers, Jim saw the dark red blood start to come out once again and quickly held down on the dressing. The medic smoothly grabbed an IV bag from the side of the stretcher and started hooking up the kit. It took longer than expected, but he was able to get the bag punctured and the drip line ready to go. He attempted to find several veins in the patient and finally found the best on one the back of her hand. He got the needle positioned right where he wanted it and waited for the flash to let him know he had the catheter in. The flash came out into the small tube and he slipped the catheter in before screwing in the tubing and opening the IV up full.

“Okay, you mind sticking with me for a minute until we can get another dressing for that wound?” asked the medic.

“I don’t know that much about first aid,” said Jim.

“Nothing to it. Just stand there and hold that dressing,” said the medic and he hooked the bag to the hanger and got behind the cart to push it inside. They bumped a little bit, but Jim managed to hang on while they came inside. “Okay, you think you can hold on for another minute or so?”

“Yeah, I’ll be okay,” said Jim a little nervous about being left along.

“Doctor! We’ve got an open fracture, left humerus, left radius and closed fracture on the right tibia. Basilic vein is sliced open as well,” yelled the medic at the tired looking doctor.

“Vitals?” asked the doctor as he ran over from a burn patient. Although second degree, they could wait since it seemed this patient was in more need of attention right then.

The medic ran off the vital stats on the patient. The doctor came over and looked her over. “Okay, move your hands.”

Jim did as instructed and the blood started flowing once again. He didn’t manage to get any blood on his clothes, but the gloves he wore were now red from holding down the dressing.

“What happened anyway?” asked the doctor as he continued to look.

“Gas line blew. Some idiot tried to light up their stove without checking the lines first. Took out nearly half a neighborhood,” said the medic.

The doctor took a quick look at the wound before applying two hemostats to the vein. It was only nicked, but it could and would grow larger if not treated in a timely fashion.

“Okay, prep her and get her in to the operating room. Move her in to next in line for the cardio-vascular surgeon. Patient is Delayed status for the moment, but tell the nurse to keep an eye on that Basilic,” said the doctor as he annotated the chart, marked it with the appropriate color and moved on to the next patient.

Jim was kind of at a loss right then as he had no idea what else to do. He started to take the gloves off, but was stopped right before he grabbed the first one.

“Come on buddy, more coming,” said the medic.

“How many?” asked Jim.

“Don’t know. There’s a casualty bus coming in along with regular choppers, but I don’t know how many or who,” said the medic.

“How did you end up here?” asked Jim since he was a civilian and not a military medic.

“Rode the chopper in. Next one in, I’ll swap with that medic,” said the medic.

“I’m not in the medical field,” said Jim once again.

“Buddy, we need all the help we can get about right now,” said the medic as another chopper was heard coming in from Oakland.

“I’ll carry the stretchers, will that help?” asked Jim.

“Anything will help,” said the medic as a UH-60 came in loaded down with six more patients.

Jim tagged along and grabbed the end of one of the stretchers, helping to unload it. Four medics were waiting to take the place of the ones on board. The one Jim carried down looked to have gunshot wounds to his abdomen. They got to the bottom of the hill and onto the tent area when a rolling stretcher became available. He helped load the man on before going back up the hill to see if there were any more. There were none and the helicopter started taking off once again. Jim went back to the area to see if he could help at all.

“I need another set of hands over here!” yelled a military corpsman from the Navy.

“What can I do?” asked Jim as he rushed over.

“Get inside that CLS bag and get me two hemostats!” yelled the medic.

“The what?” asked Jim.

“That green bag right there. Two arterial hemostats! The femoral is tearing!” said the corpsman.

“I don’t know what those are!” yelled Jim.

“The clamp looking things! Like a pair of scissors with pliers on the end!” yelled the corpsman.

Jim ripped open the bag and found what he thought was what the medic was looking for. But he was unsure of what the exact size should be. He grabbed all six in the bag and turned to the corpsman. “Which ones?”

“The two big ones!” he said.

Jim dropped the other four back into the bag and started to hand over the instrument to the corpsman.

“Listen, I can’t take my hands off here, you’re going to have to do it!” said the corpsman.

“I’m not a medic,” said Jim.

“I don’t care, if I let go, this guy is a dead man,” said the corpsman.

“What do I need to do?” asked Jim.

“Okay, the first set it easy. You are going to put that above my fingers. Clamp it down,” said the corpsman.

“Like where? All I can see is blood!” exclaimed Jim.

“Hold on! Suction!” yelled the corpsman. Another medic ran over with a portable suction device and started clearing away the blood. “Okay, see the artery? Clamp it just below my fingers!”

“Right here?” asked Jim as he looked inside the man’s pelvic area.

“A little higher, right there! Clamp it off; not too tight though,” said the corpsman. “Now the lower side.”

Jim put in the forceps once again and moved it until the corpsman told him to stop. He again engaged the lock on the device and got the artery shut off. “Nice work. You mind staying with him for a moment. If that artery starts bleeding again, you give a yell,” said the corpsman.

“How will I know if it’s bleeding?” asked Jim.

“Oh trust me, you’ll know,” said the corpsman as he ran over to grab a doctor. A nurse came by and started an IV while taking his vitals to put on the chart at the base of the stretcher. A doctor came by while the corpsman was away.

“What’s wrong with him?” asked the doctor.

“I don’t know exactly,” said Jim.

“What do you mean you don’t know? Vitals?” demanded the doctor.

“Sir, I was just helping carry the stretchers down here from the helicopters,” said Jim.

“Well someone clamped that artery, was it you?” asked the doctor.

“Yes, the corpsman helped me do it,” said Jim.

“He let you clamp a patients femoral artery by yourself?!” demanded the doctor.

“Doctor! He was assisting! I couldn’t let go or the artery would tear more! I talked him through it!” said the corpsman as he rushed back up.

“Best be careful pulling a stunt like that. You mess up out here and it’s lights out for that particular patient,” admonished the doctor.

“Understand sir, but had I moved my fingers it would have been lights out as well. He’s got three gunshots wounds to the pelvis and abdomen. Rifle caliber from the looks of it and tore him up pretty good. Femoral was nicked, but was okay for the moment. It started tearing once we got him here. Vitals are thready but the femoral has got to be repaired before anything else,” said the corpsman.

“Okay, get him in stat. Immediate status,” said the doctor as he marked the chart and moved on to another patient. He checked the chart and announced “minimal” after looking over the patient quickly. Moving on to another with a massive head injury, he announced “expectant.”

Jim wandered around trying to help out where he could, carrying more stretchers and assisting the medics if they needed it. But he still felt helpless since he didn’t speak the lingo, had no idea of medical help outside of calling 9-1-1 and saw no matter what the doctors did, some of the patients were still going to be “expectant.”

“Hey guy, I need your help over here,” said another medic after Jim got done grabbing several IV bags for another.

“What do you need?” asked Jim.

“I want you to sit with that lady right there. She’s ‘expectant’ but still conscious. Just talk to her, keep her calm until…” said the Air Force IDMT. “Listen, she has massive internal injuries and her heart is going to fail any minute. Her chest was crushed in a vehicle accident and she is lucky to have lived this long. The least you can do is talk to her before she goes.”

“Why don’t you help her?!” demanded Jim.

“There’re just some things we can’t help some of these folks with. Had we gotten to her twelve hours ago, maybe, but as it is…” he said with his voice trailing off. “Will you help us?”

“Listen, I’m only here to help out grabbing supplies and carrying stretchers. I can’t do that,” said Jim.

“Bud, you are the only one around that can,” said the IDMT as he moved on to another patient without hearing any more argument from Jim. He looked at the woman, a pretty blond in her mid 20s. He moved to her and stood by the gurney.

“Hi, I’m Jim,” he said after trying to put down the fear welling inside him. He removed the gloves as they would not provide any kind of tactile sensation for him or the woman. Plus they were still covered in blood and she didn’t appear to be bleeding.

“I’m Beth,” she said weakly. She was highly drugged up to take the pain away from her crushed chest. He took her hand in his and held on, not knowing if it was proper or not.

“A pretty name. My wife is named Elizabeth,” he said with a smile.

“Is she a Beth or an Elizabeth? Because Beth’s are more fun,” said the woman weakly with a smile.

“She’s a Beth,” said Jim with a smile.

“Bet she’s a lot of fun to be around,” said the woman.

“Loads of fun,” said Jim.

“She know you’re out here fooling around with another woman?” smiled the woman and tried to laugh. A coughing spell ensued and Jim got worried for a moment.

“No, I’m not sure she would approve either. You’re a very pretty lady,” said Jim.

“I probably need to touch up my makeup about now,” said the woman with another smile. She had a sharp wit like his wife.

“Trust me, I think you have plenty of powder already,” said Jim with a laugh. Her face still had a collection of dust on it from where she was trapped.

“A little eye liner and I’ll be ready for the town,” she said with a smile.

“So what’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” asked Jim.

“I was driving on the freeway when the earthquake hit. The overpass I was on collapsed and I was trapped under the rubble. They just got me out a couple of hours ago and brought me here,” said the woman.

“You just take it easy now,” said Jim, not knowing what to say.

“I’m going to die, aren’t I?” asked the woman.

Jim looked her in the eyes, but had a hard time bringing himself to tell the truth. However, he knew if he was in that situation, he would want to know the truth. “Yes, they can’t help you.”

“Thank you for telling me the truth,” said the woman.

“Is there someone I can take a message to?” asked Jim, fighting back tears.

“No, I was supposed to get married next weekend, but he was in the car with me,” said the woman. Jim immediately knew he probably hadn’t made it and quickly changed the subject.

“Parents or friends?” asked Jim.

“No, just do me a favor. Love your wife for the rest of your life. Protect her, take care of her and love her,” she said, squeezing his hand slightly and releasing.

“I always will. She has my heart in her hip pocket,” said Jim with a smile and looked at the woman. Her eyes were open, but void of life. Another medic came by and took her vitals. He shook his head and closed her eyes before starting to pull the sheet over her head.

“Jim! Where have you been?” asked Bart as he and Hal came from behind him.

Jim backed away slowly from the gurney, still staring at the woman as the medic finished pulling the sheet over her head.

“Oh sweet Jesus! Jim, are you okay?” asked Hal upon seeing where Jim was backing away from.

Jim looked at the two men, utter strangers at that moment in time. He could see their mouths moving, but couldn’t hear anything except the pounding of his heart in his ears. He felt numb and utterly void of feelings at that moment in time. Hal came up and took him by the arm and shook him.

“Jim! Jim, are you going to be okay?!” he said.

Jim suddenly snapped back into reality and felt queasy right then. And he knew he would be unable to keep anything in his stomach for much longer. He ran past the two and into the edge of the woods where he threw up several times; dry heaving even when his stomach protested sending anything else out. Hal and Bart were at a loss as they had never seen death up close and person like Jim just had. But they knew they needed to do something. Hal took a water bottle from the small pack on his back and handed it over Jim’s shoulder. He took it and washed his mouth out of the remains of the foul taste in his mouth.

“Come on Jim, let’s get you back to Beth,” said Hal as he gently placed his hand on Jim’s shoulder.

“Beth…” said Jim without emotion. “Her name was Beth too.”

“I understand. Let’s get you back to your wife,” said Hal calmly as he retrieved his keys. “Go and get the car.”

Bart took the keys and headed into the parking lot. Jim stood up and started to move that way as well. Hal was following, but was stopped by a doctor. “You that guy’s friend?”

“Yes,” said Hal simply.

“He helped save a lot of lives out here tonight. He needs anything, you let us know,” said the doctor.

“We need to get him back to his wife right now. He was with her when she passed,” said Hal and nodding towards the woman on the gurney.

“I know and it was a selfless act he did for her, sitting with her and just keeping her company when she was dying. I think he knew she was about to die, but he went on over there anyway. I saw him talking with her and she died knowing someone cared enough about her to be with her in the final moments. That means a lot to some people,” said the doctor.

“I’ll let him know another time. Right now he needs to go home to his wife,” said Hal.

“Give him our thanks when you get the chance,” said the doctor and scurried away to assist another patient.

Hal jogged to catch up with Jim, who was walking aimlessly in the general direction of the parking lot. He joined up at his side and guided him in the right direction towards the vehicle as Bart was pulling up. Hal opened the back door and Jim slid in, still not saying a word. The trip back to the beach houses was spent in silence save the AM radio station Hal tuned into giving out the latest news on the earthquake.

They arrived at the beach house and Jim slowly opened the door, unsure of what to say to Beth or anyone else at that moment. Jim saw her come to the door with a smile on her face, but he was still sorting out his emotions right then after what had transpired that evening.

“Jim, baby! I was getting worried about you,” she said with a smile and expecting a kiss.

“I…I need to get showed and changed,” he said bypassing her completely.

“Jim, what’s wrong?” she asked and then saw the blood spattered on his clothing. “Jim!”

“I need to wash up Beth,” said Jim without emotion once again.

“Jim! What happened?!” she demanded, following him though the house. But he managed to get into the bathroom and lock the door behind him before she got a chance to get inside. “Jim! Jim, open this door at once! Jim!”

She continued banging on the door until she saw Hal coming around the corner. “What did you do to my husband?!”

“Beth, calm down. It’s not his blood,” said Hal.

“Calm down? Calm down?! You dare tell me to calm down when my husband comes in here covered in blood and won’t speak to me?!” she growled.

“Beth, he had something happen to him…” started Hal. But he stopped and wondered if it was something Jim should discuss with her.

“What? What did he have happen?” she demanded.

“Beth, please come and sit down. I’ll explain everything. Please,” said Hal.

She looked at the door once again and could hear the shower running. She had no idea if he remembered he had no clothing and didn’t know about the bags in the back of the vehicle. Bart was actually bringing them in for the couple, but Beth hadn’t noticed. She consented to the invitation and walked into the living room area and sat at the edge of a chair, still worried about the behavior her husband was displaying. In all the years she had known him, she never knew him to be like this and it frightened her.

“Beth…” started Hal and wondered once again if he should go through with the tale. But he knew she might have a way of snapping him out of the current situation and decided it was best he explain what happened that evening. “Beth, Jim wandered off sometime this evening. Bart and I were fairly busy with some things at the resort and didn’t notice him until he was gone. Apparently he had gone over to the field hospital they set up over on the course and was helping out with the patients.”

“A doctor said he was doing a bang up job and helped save a bunch of people’s lives today. I don’t know what all for a fact he was doing, but he impressed the staff out there,” said Hal.

“But Jim doesn’t even know first aid!” she protested and interrupted him.

“I’m just passing along what I was told. But when we finally caught up to him, we found him at a gurney with another patient. She was dead when we got there. Jim was with her when she died and I think he saw her die. I spoke to the doctor afterwards and he told me Jim sat with her while she was dying and kept her company. She died right in front of him while he was still talking to her. He knew she was going to die, yet he sat there anyway,” said Hal.

“Oh my God,” whispered Beth. “I…I didn’t know.”

“He needs you right now. I honestly don’t know him well enough to know what to do at this moment, but I figure you do. We brought him back because you will know what to do,” said Hal.

“I…I…I’m not sure if even I know what to do,” said Beth quietly.

“He needs something solid in his life right now. I can’t even begin to understand what just happened to him, but I felt you would be the key to helping him out,” said Hal.

“I can’t get into the bathroom. He locked the door,” said Beth.

“I have the key,” said Hal as he pulled his keychain out and found the appropriate key. He handed it over to her and she rose and went through the house to the bathroom. No water was heard running and she lightly knocked at the door.

“Jim? Jim, it’s me. I’m coming in,” she said and worried slightly as her husband hadn’t responded. After opening the door, she saw him sitting in the bottom of the tub, fully naked and holding his knees. He was rocking back and forth slightly and his eyes were distant. “Jim?”

He barely acknowledged her presence by slowing his rocking. But his eyes remained unfocused.

“Jim? Hal told me what happened. Are you going to be okay?” she asked quietly as she shut the door behind her.

He still didn’t say anything, but he stopped rocking back and forth. She sat on the edge of the bathtub area and put her hand on his back very gently. He didn’t jump from the touch, but his shoulders were tense and she could see his hands were clamped against his knees.

“James, I’m going to sit here as long as you want me to. I’m not going to leave you. I never have and I never will. I’m going to sit by your side until you feel like talking about what happened. Or if you don’t want to talk about what happened, I can accept that too. But I’m not leaving. I’m here for you. I’m here for you to talk to or hold or do whatever you need. I love you with all my heart James Adam Williams and I’m not leaving you alone right now,” she said with tears streaming down her face. She had never seen her husband like this and it scared her. But at the same time, she was sad because she saw he was hurting inside and could do little to help.

“She…” he croaked, starting to say something and stopped. Beth ran her hand across his shoulders and pulled him in closer to her and hugged him in close. She knew she could hold him and hopefully set him at ease.

“She was going to get married next weekend,” said Jim without emotion. “But she’s gone now.”

“You did a brave thing baby,” said Beth as more tears came down her face. Not from pity, but from seeing her husband in the state he was in. She was frightened as he was always the solid rock in her foundation, but was as brittle as glass at this moment.

“She was probably full of hopes and dreams. And she won’t ever be able to see them come true,” he said and finally faced her. “I swear to you Elizabeth, I swear to God I will never let anything ever happen to you. I will protect you until the day I die.”

“Jim, it’s okay,” said Beth.

“No, it’s not okay. I want you to be safe and I swear I will make sure you are safe forever. I swear it to you. I won’t ever let anything like that happen to you,” said Jim, taking his wife’s hand.

“Jim…I just want to hold you right now. Please, let’s talk about this tomorrow,” she said, crying a bit more.

“Beth…” he started to say and realized he was probably scaring his wife right then. He stopped and looked deep into her eyes and saw everything he needed to see right there. He decided to start that conversation another day. “Elizabeth, I love you,” he said with tears streaming down his face as well.

“Oh God Jim, I love you too! With all my heart, I love you. More than heaven and earth,” she said and pulled his head into her chest and started balling her eyes out.

[Grand58742]

CHAPTER 7


Monday 5:32 AM, Carmel Highlands, California


Beth awoke the next morning, still clutching Jim as tightly as she could and looking up. They had sat in the bathroom for the longest time just holding each other and shedding emotions the night before. Bart had moved their bags into the spare bedroom and she eventually moved Jim back to the bedroom by pulling on him gently and getting him to move the way she wanted to. Jim had eventually fallen to sleep after they laid down in bed, continuing to hold each other for the longest time.

She looked up and found he was already awake, although pretending to be asleep. While his eyes weren’t open, she could see him already awake and his mind running in a thousand different directions. “You never could hide the fact you are awake,” she whispered.

“How could you tell?” he said with half a smile with his eyes closed.

“We’ve been married a minute now and I can tell,” she said and gave him a wake up kiss. “You sleep okay?”

“About as good as could be expected,” he said with his eyes still closed, replaying the events from the previous night.

“Jim, about last night…” she started and her voice trailed off.

“I’m not sure if I’m ready,” he said finally opening his eyes.

“I know and I can accept that. I was going to tell you that whenever you are ready, I’m here to listen to whatever you want to tell me. Just remember that,” she said and pulled him in close.

“How did I get so lucky to have a wonderful woman like you in my life?” he asked as he held her.

“Stars in perfect alignment or something,” she said with a smile and pulled him in closer. “I think I was lucky too.”

“You? You could have had your choice of anyone, but picked me,” he said.

“No. You won my heart fair and square,” she said.

“I love you, Beth,” he said with another half a smile.

“And I love you too Jim. And that’s pretty convenient,” she chuckled.

“You do have a good way of remembering the little quotes,” he said with a smile.

“Keeps you on your toes,” she smiled back, happy to hear him joking even a little again. It would be a long recovery and she knew it might even require a little professional help, but he would get through it with her help. “Agenda for today?”

“Well, breakfast for starters and I think we’ve about worn out our welcome here in California. Today we try to figure out a way of getting back to Denver,” he said.

“With or without the baby sea lion I plan on kidnapping?” she chuckled.

“Without of course,” he chuckled in return. “Let me guess, you tried to steal one yesterday?”

“Linda took me down to the wharf where we bought some fresh seafood. She wouldn’t let me buy a basket full to feed them,” laughed Beth.

“You are absolutely horrible, you know that?” asked Jim.

“Yeah, but you like it,” said Beth with a smile and hugged in close to her husband.

“From time to time I guess I can put up with it,” said Jim with a chuckle.

“You wouldn’t wish me on anyone else,” she chuckled.

“True, so I guess I’ll keep you around for the moment,” he smiled and drew her in closer.

“So, how are we going to get back to Denver?” she asked.

“Well, one of two things. We can head to Los Angeles and try to get a flight or we could drive back. We have the rental and all,” said Jim.

“That’s a pretty long drive,” said Beth.

“I’m sure we’ll manage. We’re already on an extended vacation after all,” said Jim. “Speaking of which, I should call Jackson.”

“Aren’t we still on vacation? Can’t you give it a rest for one day?” asked Beth.

“I suppose I could, but you know him. He’ll call me in a panic in about two more hours,” said Jim.

“I’ll never forget that time on our honeymoon when he called. You remember? When we were in the hot tub?” she asked.

“Yeah, I remember,” he said with a laugh.

“I think I’ll fix breakfast this morning if it’s okay with you,” said Beth as she rolled out of the bed. Grabbing a convenient band, she pulled her long hair up into a pony tail until she had the opportunity to do something else with it.

“You think Linda and Hal would mind you fixing breakfast?” he asked.

“We’re guests, but I feel like we owe something to our hosts,” said Beth.

“Yeah, we really do,” said Jim, rolling out of the bed and finding clothing.

“Plus, if I can get everything arranged, I can sneak down to the beach and feed the babies,” she said with a laugh.

“You did buy fish yesterday, didn’t you?” he asked with a chuckle.

“No, actually I didn’t. But it’s not like I didn’t try,” she laughed.

Jim started going through his bags and found clothing for the day. As was usually the case, he always packed in an extra set of clothing for cases when he got held over another day, just like now. Sometimes it’s far better to be prepared for emergencies and cases you didn’t expect to turn up. Again, something I should have thought about some years ago.

As he was grabbing a shirt, his work cell phone fell out of the bag in a clunk on the floor. Like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, he looked up to see a disapproval from Beth.

“Is that your work cell?” she asked.

“Yes, I always bring it in case the other dies,” he said.

“Go ahead and call Jackson. You won’t rest until you do and would sneak around trying to do it anyway,” said Beth with a sigh.

“No, I promised you I wouldn’t,” he said.

“Just go ahead and do it. I know you always bring your work cell, but ignore that fact. You’ve got a business to run and need to make that call,” she said with half a smile.

“You don’t mind?” he asked.

“Of course I mind, but you need to do what you need to do,” she said. “But here’s what I think you should do. Ask Jackson his opinion. You always say you think it’s time he started making more decisions on his own. Maybe it’s time he decided what to do.”

“Yeah, I did say that didn’t I?” asked Jim.

“Sometimes you have to push the baby birds out of the nest to see if they can fly,” said Beth.

“You’re too smart a gal for a dumb guy like me,” he said with a laugh.

“Nah, you had enough common sense to marry me,” she laughed. “Go ahead and make the call. If I know Jackson, he’s probably been chewing on his desk waiting for you to call.”

“I’m glad you are an understanding wife,” he said.

“Sometimes duty can be a burden,” she laughed and opened the door quietly. He finished dressing and went out to the back deck where he would make the call. The “alarm system” was quiet this morning, but would probably be up and at it in an hour or so. He peeked around the bushes and saw the beach full of them, sleeping here and there and in groups. He wondered how they were comfortable sleeping on top of each other and decided he would be ruined if he were to try to sleep like that. Turning on the phone, he waited to see if they had service this far out. It took a minute, but the phone finally showed service in the area he happened to be in. He went to the second number on his contacts list and called Jackson. The phone rang a few times before Jackson answered. “Jim!”

“Hey, that’s my line,” laughed Jim.

“Good to hear from you! How are things going?” asked Jackson.

“As good as they can be. We’ve made some friends out here and have been staying with them since the quake. We haven’t exactly been roughing it I will tell you,” laughed Jim.

“I tried calling yesterday, but it went straight to voicemail,” said Jackson.

Jim checked the phone and sure enough, he had eleven missed calls, probably all from Jackson. “Yeah, phones just came back up sometime last night. Cell service was pretty sporadic.”

“You and Beth doing okay though? No bumps and bruises, nothing like that?” asked Jackson.

“Yes, we are doing fine,” said Jim.

“Okay, pleasantries out of the way. You have marching orders I suppose?” asked Jackson.

“Sort of…what do you think we should move on?” asked Jim.

Jackson was quiet for a moment because he thought Jim would have the immediate answers. But he had been thinking about it the weekend prior to the markets opening and knew some ‘can’t miss deals’ would be coming along that would be best for the both of them. He had carefully planned everything out to take advantage of the first fifteen minutes of the markets opening but had also made some deals that weekend planning on Jim calling in sooner rather than later. But it was a surprise to be asked his opinion.

“Umm, I think we should move on the guys who deal in the disaster preparedness stuff. You know, like the survival items. It always seems to go up after something like this,” said Jackson.

“Okay, good choice. What else?” asked Jim.

“Construction companies? They will be doing a booming business when it comes time to rebuild,” said Jackson.

“Not a bad choice, but we might want to hold off for a little on that. It’s still a little early, but if we have anything left over from the initial buys, you could put some in,” said Jim, coaching his prot

[Grand58742]

CHAPTER 7 CONTINUED

[FM18]

Just WOW! Great story and characters. You have a great talent and it is like being there! Thanks and keep the chapters coming please!

[Hawkeye]

Very good so far.

[Grand58742]

CHAPTER 8


Monday 5:55 PM, Carmel Highlands, California


“I think the laundry is dry enough to pull off the line now,” said Linda as she felt at some of the clothing on the makeshift clothesline.

“I can’t thank you enough for putting it out while we were gone,” said Beth as she also felt the other items and came to the same conclusion.

“No problems. I figured with you all out doing your thing, I might as well make myself useful,” said Linda. “Besides, you can go back to Colorado now with the smell of the sea.”

“Even with the earthquake and what happened to Jim, we’ve still had a nice trip. Not really relaxing, but certainly different from the typical day to day grindstone Jim’s involved in,” said Beth as she pulled the clothing down to be folded.

Jim and Hal were busy putting the route into the GPS is the vehicle and preparing the stocks they had bought that day. It was slightly odd going to a fabric store to buy bottled water, but the locals had a stash in the back they parted with. Slightly elevated prices were the rule of the day, but not as much as Jim and Beth would have imagined with the profiteering they had seen recently. Water, simple foods that needed little preparation, a flashlight with spare batteries, jumper cables, a new atlas, a blanket and several more items were located on their shopping trip that day. Each and every person Jim and Beth had met were standoffish at first, but warmed up after being introduced by Hal. He apparently carried some weight in the local community and had a wide range of friends.

“Lot of stuff for a simple two day trip,” said Jim.

“Better to have and not need than need and not have,” said Hal.

“Another little lesson?” asked Jim.

“Just common sense. We have a bunch of stuff around here that many would see as useless in normal times, but has far better uses during an emergency,” said Hal.

“So how did you get into it? The preparedness lifestyle I mean,” asked Jim.

“Some years ago I was doing a trip through Africa during one of the projects my company was hired on for. It was in an area that had been in a civil war until recently. Anyway, I saw how people were trying to survive down there and had little to no infrastructure. It kind of got the bug in my head but it really didn’t take until I went into the Balkans in the 90s. I saw how life could turn on a dime and how it took its toll on the unprepared. After that trip, I started prepping big time.”

“Plus with us retiring out here in California, there is the earthquake threat along with the whole civil unrest thing. So in the mid to late 90s, I started prepping hard. Linda objected to begin with, but after seeing how easy we could have it when the tables are turned, she softened up,” said Hal.

“I still keep coming back to how I’m supposed to explain it to Beth,” said Jim.

“She seems like a smart gal. You’ve lived through this and you have blizzards out in Colorado. They ever knock the power out?” asked Hal.

“Not for the most part, but from time to time,” said Jim.

“Denver hasn’t really seen any civil unrest either, so that card is out of play. Probably the blizzard aspect, but you also have to look at long term situations as well,” said Hal.

“Long term?” asked Jim.

“Like what would happen if the grid was to suddenly collapse? We prep for the long shot stuff as well. Ever take a look at the decline of the world’s great societies?” asked Hal.

“Honestly, not really,” said Jim.

“Take a look at the fall of the Roman Empire and it will give you some indication. But think in terms of modern times. Look at what happened after Hurricane Katrina or the Rodney King verdict or even up in San Fran after this latest mess. Now imagine that on a nation or even worldwide scale,” said Hal.

Jim thought quietly about what Hal had just said and had his own fears confirmed as he had originally thought the night the great revelation had occurred to him. He knew his whole life had been, well, not wasted, but he certainly had blinders on the entire time. But hopefully he had caught it in time and could rectify that little problem. Plus with what happened lately, he knew he had the opportunity to break Beth in to the idea of preparedness. And with what happened the previous night, he certainly had the desire to make sure she was safe for certain. He knew in the back of his mind there was nothing that could have stopped the death of the woman as it seemed to be fate, but he still wanted to make sure none of the normal things happened to Beth.

“It’s going to take some time to get up to speed, but I’m determined to get my life on track,” said Jim.

“Well, if you start your prepping like you play your game of golf, you will be okay,” said Hal.

“But I have a question. I can understand the need to prepare for the short term stuff, but the long term things, does it always end in what we are seeing now?” asked Jim.

“Mostly. I mean, one thing leads to another and the whole house of cards comes down. Just imagine if the U.S. Government suddenly announced it was broke and said no more welfare. What would happen?” asked Hal.

“Probably rioting and major unrest in the cities,” said Jim.

“Now how’s it typically dealt with?” asked Hal.

“Call in the National Guard I suppose,” said Jim.

“Now a bunch of those Guardsmen can’t make it in for some reason or another. Some don’t come in by choice, but others can’t because of other commitments,” said Hal.

“And they bring in the Army I suppose,” said Jim.

“But by then, the rioting turns out of the cities and into the local communities. I can bet you the cities with a population of over one hundred thousand would be at risk of rioting, looting and general mayhem. They run out of things to loot, plunder, rape, rob and steal so they move into the suburbs and out even further. The Army has a hard time tracking down the bands since their own numbers are tied up in rescue efforts and in trying to restore order to the cities. But by then, their numbers are starting to diminish. They go home to momma with their rifle and a carload of goodies and head for the hills. Once that starts, it spreads. They could even join in the looting and whatnot before bugging out themselves,” said Hal.

“And without anyone to restore order, the remainder of the nation goes under,” said Jim, thinking the process through to the logical conclusion.

“And when we go, the rest of the world goes. Don’t listen to those fools who have decided we aren’t the major power anymore. The rest of the world depends on us for markets and for money. If we go, we bring China’s economy right down the tube, Europe’s to a lesser extent and the rest of the Asian markets right behind. I can flat guarantee you the economic downfall of the world’s markets can and will be started right here in the United States,” said Hal.

“True, our markets are pretty much what the rest of the world uses,” said Jim.

“But how long would it take to drag everyone else with us?” asked Hal.

“Some places operate way closer to the edge than we do. China might be okay for the short term, but anything more than a fiscal quarter and they are finished,” said Jim.

“But how long does it take for markets to recover from a crash?” asked Hal.

“Years,” said Jim.

“How long does it take to fall?” asked Hal.

“Sometimes hours,” said Jim. “What exactly are you getting at?”

“Best to be prepared for a long term survival mode that happens quickly rather than a gradual decline. The aftermath of the initial fall is fairly easy to deal with if you have good preparations. But the aftermath? Again, think of the Roman Empire. They fell and every other power in Europe and even some out of Asia started taking a piece out of them. Insurgencies, folks with axes to grind and even outright invasions happened. Oh sure, it took several hundred years to completely decline, but during that time, they were unable to keep order restored except in a few parts of their Empire. Now think of the United States,” said Hal.

“You think someone would invade us?” asked Jim.

“I think the possibility of that is remote, but insurgency and civil war along political, racial and religious lines? Absolutely,” said Hal. “Hence, why I own so many guns.”

“For helping out?” asked Jim.

“Only if they become a threat. Otherwise, it’s purely defensive in nature,” said Hal.

“I’ve got a lot to think about,” said Jim.

“It is overwhelming at first, but you will get into it,” said Hal.

“You have any more lessons to teach me along the way?” asked Jim.

“Oh, I could talk for hours, just ask Linda,” chuckled Hal. “But for the moment, I think dinner is on the agenda.”

“Yeah, I can go for that,” said Jim.

“But I did forget one thing,” said Hal.

They turned and went into the house and back into the basement. He got into one of the other gun safes and spun the dial once again, opening the safe.

“I can’t give you a gun. Sorry, but that would be illegal and something you need to have as your own choice. But here are some defensive items for you,” said Hal as he handed over a can of pepper spray and a stun device. “They are both perfectly legal and can be carried in a vehicle with no problems.”

“Hal, it’s okay, we should be fine,” said Jim.

“Trust me, the refugees are starting to spread out and not all of them are friendly types. Most are, but there are a few that won’t have a problem cutting your throat to get at your shoes,” said Hal.

“Beth will probably freak out if she knew I was carrying these,” said Jim.

“Best she learn how to use them as well. I mean, she needs some protection as well, right?” asked Hal.

“Yes, of course,” said Jim, seeing the idea wasn’t a bad one.

“And here is the remainder of the skins I owe you,” said Hal as he handed over a wad of cash.

“No, absolutely not! You’ve done far more than you needed to this time,” said Jim.

“Jim, trust me on this. Lots of places are not going to be taking your platinum card. Cash is still king,” said Hal.

“It’s more than I won. Plus room and board here,” said Jim.

“Consider it a loan then,” said Hal, pushing the notes at Jim.

“I can’t object can I?” he asked with a laugh.

“You can, but I’ll sneak it into your car,” said Hal with a smile.

“Okay, when we get to Colorado, I’ll wire the remainder back,” said Jim.

“If you do, you do. If you don’t? Well, I’ll take it as a lesson in humility for you teaching me to watch my mouth on the golf course,” said Hal with a laugh.

“What’s for dinner anyway?” asked Jim as they came up the steps after closing the safe.

“If it’s all the same to you two, I’m thinking barbeque again,” said Hal.

“Sounds okay for me as well,” said Jim. “Charcoal or gas?”

“Charcoal! What? You think we are uncivilized out here?” asked Hal with a laugh. “Although I do own a gas grill as well for the convenience.”

“It does make a difference in taste,” said Jim.

“I’ll leave my e-mail address and you can contact me at any time with your prep questions. I’ll do my best to be objective, but we all have our personal preferences,” said Hal.

“Most of us do,” said Jim with a laugh.

“It’s good to see you bouncing back from last night,” said Hal.

“It’s in the back of my mind, but I want to make sure Beth gets home safe before letting that beast out of the cage,” said Jim.

“Better to let it out than keep it bottled up. I know a few docs that can help if you need it,” said Hal.

“I know a few out in Colorado as well. I’ll be okay,” said Jim.

Dinner was going to be a simple affair of chicken and potatoes done over their grill on the back patio. Linda was in currently rehydrating some of the freeze dried vegetables from another pack and getting some bread ready for the meal. It all seemed like nothing was happening an hour north of them. Beth wondered how many of them were faring and was happy Jim had been paired up with the course manager that day on the course and events had turned out the way they wanted. She still had a lingering thought in the back of her mind that Hal wanted something, but she still couldn’t figure out what it was. But no matter what, she was very grateful for what had happened.

Even with what happened to Jim the previous evening, the trip had been really nice and even relaxing. The extra day off had done them both good and Jim even looked somewhat relaxed. Beth gravitated over to his side while dinner was being prepared and took his hand in hers. He turned and smiled at her and was rewarded with a kiss with her grabbing his neck. Normally he carried his stress in his neck, but today was different. He seemed far more relaxed than usual, but still had that look in his eyes. She had seen it once before right after they got married. The look of contentment, of knowing what he was getting into, a look of satisfaction the world was going the way he wanted. Beth had no idea why he was relaxed especially in light of everything that had happened, but she was happy her husband was back in form once again.

Eventually, everything was ready and the foursome grabbed seating at the patio table. Everything was done just right and Beth commented as much.

“This is the only place Hal is allowed to cook,” said Linda with a laugh.

“Jim’s not bad on the grill either but I won’t even let him near the kitchen,” said Beth.

“Honey, I don’t think Hal even knows what else is in the kitchen. I believe he thinks it’s the room where the refrigerator is stored,” said Linda with a laugh.

“If you all ever get out to Colorado, you are more than welcome to stop in,” said Beth.

“And you two are welcome out here anytime,” said Linda.

“Even for Jim to play Hal in skins again?” said Beth with a twinkle in her eye.

“Yes, even though my husband probably won’t keep his yap shut,” smiled Linda.

“I know better than to play the boy wonder again for money,” said Hal with a laugh.

“I guess old dogs can learn new tricks,” said Linda with a laugh.

“Just who are you calling old?” asked Hal.

“You think we should make an exit and go see the babies while these two discuss civil affairs?” asked Beth.

“Any excuse to go feed the sea lions right?” asked Jim with a laugh.

“Don’t look in the suitcase,” she laughed.

“My wife loves animals you see. We would have a complete zoo at our house if she had her way,” said Jim.

“You have any pets?” asked Linda.

“We had a dog, but he had to be put down. Old age,” said Beth.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Kind of like losing a family member,” said Hal.

“Yeah, it was hard,” said Beth sadly.

“Where’s Bart?” asked Jim, wanting to change the subject and keep the new puppy idea hidden.

“He’s running the course today. He and Michelle went in first thing this morning,” said Hal.

“Figured he would have been by,” said Jim.

“I think they are planning on staying the night down there and making sure the rest of the folks get out,” said Hal. The rest of dinner passed in small talk about different things, nothing of which was pertinent to the current situation. Eventually, everything was finished up and Beth stood with an announcement.

“We’ll get the dishes,” she said and touched Jim on the shoulder as a sign to assist her.

“Nonsense dear, let me get that,” said Linda.

“Absolutely not! You two have helped us more than you needed to,” said Beth.

“You need to pack up your things and get ready to leave,” said Linda.

“Which we can do after the dishes are done,” said Beth.

“Best to let us just get them done. My wife is a pushy old broad,” said Jim with a laugh.

“Just watch who you are calling old there bud,” said Beth with a slap to the back of his head.

“Okay, it’ll give me time to get the patio ready. Last night is the bonfire night,” said Hal.

“Bonfire?” asked Beth.

“Okay, not a bonfire, but a small fire in the fireplace over there,” said Hal. “Nothing more relaxing than sitting around a fire sipping at a beer.”

“I’ll give you that,” said Jim. “We’ll get the dishes started.”

“Shouldn’t be that many to do which is the good thing about cooking on the grill,” said Hal.

Jim collected the dishes from the patio while Beth went in and started the dishwater. Again, it all seemed so normal to her with everything that had happened, but she would wait until they were back in Colorado to discuss it with Jim. As predicted, the dishes didn’t take that long to get complete and she left Jim to finish drying them while she started packing. The items were all dry as Linda had indicated and had the scent of the sea as she had told them. It would be good memories of the trip if there were any to have. Jim joined her after several minutes and took to folding some of the items.

“We really got lucky this trip,” he said.

“You always do somehow,” said Beth with a smile.

“Is that why you married me? Because I’m a lucky guy?” he asked with a grin.

“Nope, because you were loaded,” she said with a straight face.

“Then why not that good looking actor dude that was chasing after you?” he asked.

“Cause I only pick the dumb rich ones,” she said while folding a pair of shorts. He tossed a shirt at her head and managed to wrap her head up in it. Darting around the room, he pushed her onto the bed playfully and started tickling her sides. She yelped and started trying to beg him to stop, laughing and snorting at the same time. He continued his relentless assault on her while she continued laughing and squirming around trying to make him stop. Several giggling “no’s!” were heard in there somewhere until a polite knock was heard on the bedroom door.

“Everything okay in here?” asked Hal as he peeked in.

“Yes, my wife was being fairly naughty and needed to be taught a lesson. Sorry,” said Jim as he accepted the intervention and her surrender. But little did he know she wasn’t giving up quite so easy as she jabbed at him in the ribs with her knuckles and caused him to flinch.

“Owww!” he exclaimed, but otherwise ignored her.

“Ummm, Linda and I can give you the house for a bit if you like,” said Hal.

“No, this will go one for at least three days. Poking and prodding and trying to one up each other,” said Jim with a laugh as Beth continued her sneak attack from the side with a grin on her face. He tried to ignore her, but she was persistent as a fly continuing to poke at him.

“Like a couple of teenage monkeys,” said Hal with a shake of his head. “Give us about fifteen minutes and we will be ready to go.”

“Okay, we’ll be out there,” said Jim and grunted at another poke. “Will you knock it off?”

“Awww, sore loser,” she said playfully.

“I wasn’t the one on the bed getting owned,” he said with a laugh.

“I was waiting for the opportune time to strike,” she said and attempted to poke once again. He managed to catch her hand and pulled her up, tickling as he did so. She yelped one again and started laughing. But he relented and pulled her in closer.

“Yeah, I got a little lucky as well,” she said with a smile as they were face to face.

“Any other time, this might have turned interesting,” he said with a mischievous grin.

“I know,” she said and gave him a kiss for his troubles. “Can you finish packing?”

“Of course,” he said and started tossing items into the suitcase. She went to the bathroom and finished up before meeting Hal in the hallway.

“Sorry about that little display,” she said.

“Oh, don’t worry. Good therapy for him,” said Hal.

“Yeah, but we aren’t used to doing that in someone else’s house,” she said.

“We can relate, right honey?” asked Hal as Linda walked by.

“Probably not. But it depends on what we’re talking about,” she said.

“Getting silly in someone else’s house,” said Hal.

“Leave those two be,” said Linda as she walked away, smiling at the thought of the younger couple and the times she and Hal had shared together in much the same situations.

Jim finished packing and found Beth putting the dishes away in the kitchen. He helped her out and went out to the back deck where a nice fire was going in the outdoor fireplace and chairs were already placed around the pit.

“I don’t recall seeing an outdoor fireplace in a warm place like this before,” said Jim.

“Found it at a yard sale believe it or not. I have to import the wood most of the time, but it gets downright cozy in the evenings with a beer,” said Hal.

“I’ll have to check into that when we get back to Colorado. It does make a nice ambiance item,” said Jim.

“You want a beer?” asked Hal.

“Sure, just one or two though,” said Jim.

“Depends on the brand,” said Beth.

“Hoegaarden, it’s Belgian,” said Hal.

“I’ll give it a try,” said Beth as Hal poured out the two into the specific cups. They both tried it and commented favorably.

“Kind of pricey, but not all bad,” said Hal as he returned to his seat and the conversation continued and drifted from this to that. From politics to gold, to religion and economics, and over to places they had been and stories to tell. Just everything under the sun as the conversation drifted to this and that. But one thing that happened that neither Beth or Jim noticed was they were being interviewed by Hal. He had a careful list of questions to be answered and most of them were being answered to his satisfaction. He could continue to probe in the directions he wanted, but the two were providing the right answers so far and he didn’t really need to go much further. They both seemed like the kinds of people that would fit into his MAG.

At close to 10:00, Jim and Beth decided to call it a night and get some sleep for their long journey the next day.

“It has been a wonderful evening,” said Beth as they stood to leave.

“Peaceful out here. I’m about ready to fall asleep in the chair here,” said Jim as he yawned.

“Wouldn’t be the first time someone fell asleep on my patio,” laughed Hal. “What time in the morning are you two heading out?”

“As early as possible. It would be nice to be on the road by 6:30 or so,” said Jim.

“We’ll get up at 5:00 then and make some breakfast before you leave,” said Linda.

“You don’t have to do that, we can find something along the way,” said Beth.

“Remember there aren’t that many places open right now,” said Linda.

“Yeah, forgot that,” said Beth.

“It’s not much trouble for us. It’s nice to have met such nice younger people during this emergency,” said Linda.

“As it was really awesome to meet you folks as well,” said Jim.

“Bah, we would have been sitting around here staring at each other if you two hadn’t been here. You kept us company and we appreciate that,” said Hal.

“More like you kept the two of us from going out of our minds and getting charged with grand theft auto,” said Jim.

“What?” asked Beth.

“Oh, you didn’t know? You and I were about to be reported as stealing the car from the rental agency since we didn’t turn it back in to where we rented it from,” said Jim.

“And I hope they understood where we happen to be at and the fact the vehicle can’t exactly be turned back in,” said Beth.

“Yeah, Hal’s friend helped us out,” said Jim. “We’re no longer outlaws.”

“Too bad, I used to like the bad boy type,” laughed Beth.

“Until the morning,” said Jim and took Beth by the hand. They got into the bedroom and got dressed for bed, the cool evening breeze coming through the window making the bedroom very pleasant. It required only a sheet on top to be entirely comfortable as Beth cuddled up to Jim.

“Even with what happened, this has been a great trip,” she said.

“Yeah, it’s been an eye opener for certain,” said Jim.

“I’m sorry you had something bad happen to you,” said Beth.

“Not your fault baby. I got put in a situation where I wasn’t prepared. It won’t happen again,” said Jim.

“Just remember I’m here to talk about it if you want,” said Beth as she pulled herself in closer to him as if being this close would protect him from his thoughts somehow.

“I’ll be okay for now. I know I can always talk to you,” said Jim as he kissed her forehead.

“And tell me your deep dark secrets,” she whispered.

“Everything except those involving the sneak tickle attack I plan on when I get the opportunity,” he chuckled.

“I’ll fight back,” she warned.

“I just might like that,” he chuckled. “You’ve always been a feisty one.”

“Yeah, just like my Daddy. Mom always told me I was just like him,” she said.

“Did you call him?” asked Jim.

“Yes, yesterday. He was worried sick and was preparing a search party for me,” she said.

“He probably still wanted to send one anyway,” said Jim.

“Yes, I managed to head him off though. He was curious about our hosts though and he’s probably checking them out,” said Beth.

“Why?” asked Jim.

“Later,” she said, holding back her feelings right then as she wasn’t comfortable talking in the very house the people she was curious about happened to be.

“Night baby,” he said with another kiss.

Beth let out a sigh and got as comfortable as she could, watching as Jim faded out. He was out like a light within two minutes as she watched him breathing deeply. She didn’t last too much longer and was out herself, going to sleep still worried about his mental state.

[Grand58742]

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with this like I should. But I've been busy with another story adn it has eaten my time up. Might be the last chapter for a while

[eeyore]

Excellent story can't wait for more (well i guess i have too), but hopefully not to long.

[610Alpha]

Very well written and excellent imagery. It is a shame that we have to wait, unless the other story is better than this one and you are planning on sharing it with us also.....

[Grand58742]

Very well written and excellent imagery. It is a shame that we have to wait, unless the other story is better than this one and you are planning on sharing it with us also.....

I can't say it's better or worse, just different. And of course I plan on sharing it. No sense in writing it and keeping it to myself.

[Grand58742]

CHAPTER 9


Tuesday 6:42 AM, Carmel Highlands, California

[Grand58742]

CHAPTER 10


Thursday 7:02 AM, Denver, Colorado


Jim woke up late, feeling more than comfortable in his bed, and relative safety, once again. But his mind was still a freight train of thoughts as his situation had not really improved. He quietly slipped out of the bed and tried not to wake Beth as he grabbed a pair of running shorts and slipped them on. The remainder of their trip had been uneventful and they had gotten in the last night and headed straight for bed. The trip had somewhat drained them and they unpacked, showered and headed straight for bed. But this morning began his new life as he had been planning his entire trip home. He wandered into the kitchen and got a pot of coffee going, one of the few vices he had in life.

He logged on the computer and found Jackson had been doing extremely well in his absence. While it was not unusual for people to make money off disasters, this one was certainly larger than most and the larger the disaster, the larger the profits with recovery and reconstruction. But his profits were secondary that morning as he checked on several of the web sites he had bookmarked before going on vacation. As expected, there was an abnormal amount of chatter along with more than a few new members. The most asked question was “what can I do to prevent this from happening?”

As if that isn’t the big question on my mind as well. I have to figure this out quick. I know some of these folks are behind the power curve while others have been doing it their entire lives. Can I make up for lost ground quick enough, he thought as he browsed the different threads about this and that. One of the first things he would do was make a list. He pulled the yellow legal notepad from the drawer and decided to transcribe the data over to a composition book where he could keep the ideas without having to worry about them falling off the yellow pad. Along the way he found several ideas which seemed like a good idea at the time, but as his experience went, found they weren’t so good. But he also found several more items he missed the first time and found added them onto his listing. He continued until he heard the coffee pot finish up and went in to grab a quick cup.

Once in the kitchen, he looked into the backyard and saw the pool calm in the early morning. While some would have seen it as a creature comfort, he saw it as a potential source of water storage. But since he wasn’t sure how pool water could be purified, he would add that to his list of things to find out. So many things to do, so little time it felt like.

“Morning you,” said Beth from behind him.

“Hey lady,” he said and turned to see her. “I didn’t want to wake you this morning.”

“You didn’t,” she smiled and got her morning kiss. “Breakfast?”

“Absolutely,” said Jim as he opened the fridge. “Looks like Judith was out shopping for us.”

“She said she was going to pick some things up since we were on our way home,” said Beth. “She obviously got what we asked for.”

The refrigerator was somewhat filled with things the maid had gotten from the grocery store. And the grounds were very well kept up as well as Mike had been bust keeping it up the whole time. There was no evidence of the weekend birthday party they had thrown and the entire lawn looked to be freshly mowed.

“Aren’t you glad we found some folks who care?” asked Jim as he sipped on the coffee.

“Yeah, Mike and Judith are awesome. What are your plans for the day?” asked Beth.

“I thought we were planning on taking the rest of the week off. Sort of a mini vacation?” he asked.

“Yes, we did agree to that,” she said as she cracked the eggs and put them in a bowl.

“Isn’t today your normal day to go to the home?” he asked.

“Yes, you still want to come along?” she asked.

“Yeah, I think I will. At least to save you from those dirty old men,” he laughed.

“Who’s going to save me from you?” she asked with a grin.

A knock at the door was heard right then and afterwards the door was heard opening.

“Hello?” asked Judith from the doorway.

“We’re in the kitchen,” called Beth as she continued to work on breakfast.

“Guess you get saved by Mike and Judith,” laughed Jim.

“Nice to see you folks once again,” said Judith as she entered and got a hug from Beth. “We were worried sick about you two being out in California.”

“We got through it okay,” said Beth. “We met some really nice folks who took care of us.”

“Well, who wouldn’t want to? You two are good people,” said Judith with a smile. “All the same though, we’re glad you’re back.”

“Nice to be back home,” said Jim.

“When did you all get in?” asked Mike.

“Last night…which reminds me. I’ve got to take the rental back to the airport today,” said Jim.

“I was wondering who had that big old thing in the driveway,” said Mike.

“Yeah, I left mine over at the airport in long term when I flew out,” said Jim. “You two eat breakfast yet?”

“Sure did before we came over,” said Mike.

“Want a cup of coffee then?” asked Jim.

“Don’t mind if I do,” said Mike as he grabbed a cup from the cupboard. They both felt comfortable enough around the Williams’ to act like they were at home.

“You two have much to do today?” asked Beth as she threw some low fat bacon into the pan.

“Not a whole lot. We’ve been working double trying to get everything ready for you two to get home,” said Judith.

“You didn’t have to do that,” objected Beth.

“Well, sure we did,” said Judith. “Just a few things to finish up though.”

“Well, why don’t you two take tomorrow off then? Looks like you deserve it,” said Jim.

“We couldn’t do that. We’ve got too much stuff to get done around here,” objected Mike.

“With pay of course. Call it a free day,” said Beth.

“Well, there isn’t that much to be done I suppose,” laughed Judith.

“Seriously, we owe it to you,” said Jim.

“You pay us well enough for what little we do, but if you are insisting,” said Judith.

“You two are wonderful and work too hard,” said Beth.

“And besides, what you talked to me about the other day? The two year thing? I might be able to shave some time off that for you,” said Jim.

“How’s that?” asked Mike.

“Well, we’ve been doing better than we thought in the markets lately. My prot

[Grand58742]

CHAPTER 10 CONTINUED