John thought, “Well, this was great. Dad is over reacting again.” John continued down the front hallway of Wallace High School as he looked at the note that was just delivered to him in Science class.
It read, “To John Tutle. From Jesse Tutle. Uncle Jake has died after being sick for the past 3 days. I will pick you up in a little while” But the word “sick” was scratched out and the words “under the weather” were written over them. The weirdest thing about the message is that John didn’t have an uncle Jake. Jake was the name of his first dog when he was a small child. The message was a secret message that only he knew the meaning of, but it was also his ticket out of school for the day.
You see everyone knew about the storm. Make that - everyone knew about the storms. They were coming, but the school was choosing to not allow the students out for the day. The forecast said that the storms would not hit until tonight, but evidentially Dad had other ideas.
The words in the message had secret meanings. “Jake” was the safety word. John knew that this name in a message meant that it came from his parents. Having a death in the family gives him an immediate excuse to leave school. A death in the family is always an excused absence. “Under the weather” means that this was a weather alert and that something really bad was coming. He put in “3 days” which means something is happening in 3 hours. When he left these messages he always over reported everything. Weeks were days and days were hours. Could it be that the storms had sped up and would now hit in 3 hours instead of the 7 that everyone was predicting. His Dad would be here soon enough and then at least he would be out of school for the day.
The 4x4 diesel F-250 crew cab smoothly went through the growing puddles heading down Highway 27. Jesse would be at his son’s high school in a few minutes and then he would feel a lot better.
They were coming quicker now. The two fronts, one from the hurricane and the other a warm front from the Gulf, had merged. They would start feeling the impacts of it within the next three hours. After the storms merge it sent the hurricane on a brand new course which would bring it just to the West of Wallace, AL.
Wallace was situated on the Chattahoochee River and had a tendency to flood during bad rains and this one was going to be a bad one. Jesse had grown up near here and while it was not the best place he could live, it was home. His family had passed down the family 400 acre farm for multiple generations. While times like this made this part of Alabama not particularly likable, the farm was home.
Already the rains came. They strummed on the roof as the truck neared the school.
Jesse’s Link chirped at him. He pickup the cellular device and keyed the two way, “This is Jesse go ahead.”
A voice came back over the speaker that he had not heard in two years, “Hey brother, you guys ok?”
“Yes Robert. We are ok. Yall?”
“Well, that is why I am calling. Look, can me and the girls stay at the farm for a while? Just till this storm blows over?”
For a moment Jesse’s temper flared and his thoughts changed to that of Christmas from 2 years ago. It was then his snobbish brother had referred to him as a hick and said that he was glad he got the bank branch job at the beach so he would not have to come back. His brother’s family skipped the next Christmas with the family and had not even called.
Forgiveness crept over him. “Robert is it just the 4 of you?”
“Yeah, Jesse. Look we will try not to be a bother. It is just that they have issued an evacuation order for the condos and we can’t find any hotels. We just left, still 2 hours away and we don’t have anywhere to go right now.”
“Do you have enough gas?”
“Yeah we just got some. We had to go to 4 different gas stations, but we got a half of a tank. We should get there easily.”
“Come up the back way that Dad taught us and call me when you reach the Alabama line.”
Robert cleared his throat, “Thanks Jesse. I appreciate this.”
Jesse’s truck pulled in the school’s main driveway as he said, “No problem. Just get here in one piece. And remember, don’t stop anywhere, just get here.”
“Eve line 1. Eve line 1,” came the intercom.
The 42 year old brunette flashed her eyes at the Army pilot and smiled. “Excuse me lieutenant, but I need to get that phone call. I will be right back and we will finish up your reps.”
The pilot rubbed his knee and winced. “Yes, ma’am. You take your time.”
Eve Tutle exited the physical therapy room and walked down the hall to the phone at the corner. Her athletic ex-gymnast shape was still detectable even for a 42 year old. Except during the 8 years that she took off while raising John, She had worked as a physical therapy nurse since college. Now she only worked part time for the doctor’s office.
She picked up the phone and punched up line 1. “Hello this is Eve.”
“Hey hon’. Just checking in.” came a serious male voice.
Eve and Jesse met at Auburn University where they both went to college. They first noticed each other when the role was called the first day in chemistry class. Eve Thompson was on a gymnastic scholarship working toward her nursing career and Jesse was there majoring in the agriculture studies.
The two didn’t really hit it off until they truly started talking after bumping into each other on some hunting land located in Lee County. She was with her boyfriend at the time and Jesse was coming out of the woods after hunting with some friends. She and her boyfriend were trying to drag an eight point buck out of the woods. Jesse offered to lend a hand and found out she was the shooter. It was all down hill from there. Well, that and the fact she had the bluest eyes he had ever seen.
She smiled a little grin, “Hey. I’m finishing my last patient. I gotta stop by Mom’s store, but 45 minutes, tops.”
“Be careful. You are cutting it to close. It is already raining,” he warned.
“Got it. Love you Jesse,” she said.
“Love you,” he said before hanging up.
“Is Mom ok?” John asked ask the truck bumped over the old railroad tracks where the trains used to run.
“Yea son. She will be fine. She is picking Grandma up, then heading to the farm.” Jesse said with a forced smile. “Uncle Robert, Catlin and the girls are coming up too. I need you to help them too when they get here.”
“Yes, sir.”
“It will be about an hour and 15 minutes before he gets here. He said he was about 2 hours out when I got off of the phone with him 45 minutes ago. We have stuff to do.”
“Yes sir.”
The Ford truck finally pulled into the driveway. Jesse stopped and got out of the truck. He reached into the tool box and retrieve two small camouflaged packs. One he placed around his waste. John knew that camouflaged pack contained several items that were useful in situations like these. His Dad called it his day pack.
He then unlocked and opened the gate, drove the truck through and left the gate open for the others who would be coming soon. He continued driving down the driveway walled on both sides with pine trees being grown for their lumber.
“Don’t forget that we will be cutting down the two trees. Here…….and here.” Jesse said as he pointed to two of the pines. “I did a walk through of the chicken houses this morning. They are all fine. The peanut and cotton fields may flood, but because they are on higher ground there is a good chance that they will be ok. Most of the cows and all of the horses are in the barn, but we still need to throw some feed in there for ‘em and then we will be set.” Jesse said as he went down his mental list.
“I’ll get to that,” John suggested.
Jesse reaches in his pocket and pulls out a small piece of paper. He hands the piece of paper to John as he continues, “No I’ll get that. First thing you do is put on your pack. Then you get the other things I got listed down to the basement and look over all our stored supplies. See if anything is leaking or damaged, get the documents box out of my office and go get any of your stuff that you want. Get everything down to the basement. Then put out the 4 extra cots that we have.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And John….”
“Yes, sir?”
Jesse looked to the skies, “do it quickly.”
Jesse dropped the last big bag of Oates feed on to the floor when his Lync chirped. He quickly flipped the holster release and pressed the Push To Talk, “Hello this is Jesse.”
“Hey Jesse, it’s Robert,” said his brother over the sound of girls giggling in the background.
“Robert, where are you?” Jesse said as he looked to his watch.
“We are almost to the Florida line. We haven’t been able to go as fast as we thought.”
Jesse’s eyes squinted, “What?! The hurricane is nearing the coast. You are still at least 30 minutes away.”
“I know, I know; but Catlin needed to stop at a restroom and the girls wanted some snacks….”
“Robert, be a man. You have a category 5 hurricane following you. If you do not get your family here soon, you are going to risk their lives. Which do you want: them alive or comfortable?”
Jesse overheard a female voice, “Is he mad because we stopped? It is raining, but not that hard.”
“Catlin, we shouldn’t have wasted the time.”
“But I don’t think that it is gonna be so…”
“Catlin shut up!” Then a calm pause. “We’ll be there soon.” The call ended.
Eve turned her Ford Bronco toward the Corner Store. It was just two miles from the farm which was a good thing because the rain was starting to come down steady now. She would be able to pick up her Mother-In-Law and be at the farm in just five more minutes easily.
It was called the “Corner Store”…. literally. Something Jesse’s father had come up with. His Father had wanted to bring some kind of retail to the area. South County Rd 29 ran through the county from Wallace. It was not a major road in the county. There were several state highways that drew most of the traffic through the county. However, it was a major road for the people that lived in this area of the county.
A piece of land, at the main 4 way stop in this area, came up for sell. The only building on the land was an old barn. About 38 years ago Jesse’s father turned it into a type of market for selling the family’s produce. After a few years it became more of an open air market especially busy on the weekends. Finally the barn was rebuilt into a cement block building, housing a fully functioning convenience store appropriately named the “Corner Store”.
The Bronco pulled into the parking lot to the site of something that was definitely out of place in this neck of the woods. At the front of the store was a silver colored brand new BMW 760Li Sedan. Eve grabbed the day pack from under the seat and through it on her shoulder while heading into the store. Eve’s day pack was not like her husband’s. It was basically stored in a large purse to not let others know it was something special. She hated that it was so big (she would never have a real purse this big), but it had everything she needed in it.
As she approached the door she heard the loud male voice, “What do you mean you don’t have any gas?”
An older deeper voice answered, “Look sa… Misses Tutle told you that we don’t sell no gas here.”
Eve waited at the door for a second, standing just to the right of the doorway.
“Listen, black man, I got lost on these stupid hick back roads. I need a map and some gas cause I only have a bit left, my fuel light just turned on. If I don’t get some, you might loose some merchandise due to damage,” the gruff voice came back.
Eve reached into her purse/day pack located the mace she kept in there and bounced through the door pretending to shake the rain water out of here hair. “Well, Misses Tutle are you ready to go? Oh, hello and who might you be? Do you need help?” She wedged herself between the gruff fellow and the two elderly people.
“Shut up red neck,” he grabbed Eve’s wrist trying to twist her out of the way. She simply grabbed his wrist with her other hand and hyperflexed his wrist putting pressure on it with her thumb on the back of his hand. He immediately released her hand and she immediately stuck the mace in his face.
She widened those beautifully blue eyes. “Sir you are in my Mother-in-law’s store (it is not a gas station), this black gentleman is the owner of THE largest cattle ranch in this county (and is also known to carry a small revolver in his front pants pocket)”
It was then that the fellow looked to the older man noticing only then that he had his right hand in his front right pocket.
She continued, “and I am someone who does not enjoy hearing someone being rude to either one of them (and the person you just grabbed against my will).”
Eve’s voice changed more matter of fact, “I am going to let go of you in a minute. I then suggest to you that you get in that car of yours head West from here. You will travel 5 and a half miles down that road where you will come up to a gas station on the right that is still open and has gas (I know this because I just came past there) and it is located at the main 4 lane highway going North through this county. Also you WILL be able to get that far because (if your gas warning light just came on as you claim) you will still have remaining fuel left in the tank and unless your car gets worse than 10 miles per gallon you should be able to make it. Is that a deal?”
The gruff man now whined, “Yes that will be fine.”
“This is it here,” Robert said to no one in particular. The rain was pouring down now. The current year Ford Excursion pulled into the driveway through the opened gate just enough to get in the gate and stopped. The girls in the back seat quieted their chatter.
Mary and Elizabeth were only 10 and 7 years old, several years younger than John. They had been molded to emulate their mother’s values and goals. Raised not to worry about stupid stuff like a lot of extra rain and wind.
“Why did you stop driving down the driveway? What are you doing?” Catlin asked staring at her husband.
“Waiting.” Robert said this in a way that pushed home the point that further inquiry on the matter would not be welcomed.
After waiting a good minute and looking in the rearview mirror they both noticed that the double length steel cattle gate began to close. The figure closing the gate was fully clothed in camo from his poncho to his boots and appeared to be carrying an assault rifle. Robert thought to himself after being surprised by the figure, “I am getting rusty.”
A tap on his window brought him back to the moment. He turned to another camo clad figure as he heard Jesse’s voice, “Robert, go down to the main house. Eve will meet you there.”
Robert nodded and pushed the accelerator. The Excursion drove up the driveway flanked by pines on each side the rain continued to pour. He watched in the rear view mirror as the first figure stepped into the drive with a chainsaw and began cutting down one of the trees near the gate.
Catlin sat wide eyed, “Was that a gun?”
After a few minutes they all sat in the basement although basement did not some it up. The farm house was a rather large house. It was a 5 bedroom, 2.5 bath house with a kitchen, living room, office/den and a formal dining room. All of this was sitting on top of the basement.
The basement itself started off as a large cellar back in the old days. A lot of money was spent over the years rebuilding all of the foundation. Now the large open area of the basement was replaced with non-load bearing double bricked walls with cement poured around steel rebar between the bricks layers. The two steel doors were the only entry point to the 5 rooms (one large room flanked by 2 smaller rooms on both sides) which that were connected by crawl spaces between the rooms. The crawl spaces could be closed of by other smaller steel doors.
The family sat in the middle room. It was the biggest of the rooms boasting a dimension of 25’ x 35’. The weather radio was playing updates in the background. John sat at the laptop connected to the internet. John was monitoring the local TV station on the additional LCD monitor and on the main laptop screen monitored the NOAA.gov and weather.com web sites. “It is missing us to the West by about 45 miles.”
Mary and Elizabeth giggled at each other while sitting on the fold out cot. They had done this every time John said anything out of ordinary for a boy of 15. John rolled his eyes.
Catlin sighed, “Well that is good.”
“Catlin!” Robert barked.
Eve calmly said, “No Catlin. That is bad. While the peak of the wind is missing us, we are still close enough to the hurricane that we will get the brunt of it. Also with us being on the West side there is a good chance that we will get tornados which can spawn off of the hurricane.”
John cleared his throat, “We just lost cable connection. I was watching the local TV station and it is now fuzz. Switching to web cams.”
Robert looked at Jesse raising one eyebrow inquisitively, “Improvements?”
Jesse smiled, “John’s idea. He is becoming quite the computer geek.”
There were 4 outside weather proof web cams located around the house showing points of entry and other interesting spots around the property. They allowed the family to see outside the house without exposing themselves.
John watched the cameras and turned on the normal TV, set to the frequency of the local station. The storm was howling outside.
“When will we loose the lights,” came a small girl’s voice starting up dialogue again? Elizabeth, the smaller girl, looked to her father with almost tears in her eyes.
“Elizabeth hush,” Catlin warned.
Jesse walked over to his niece answering, “We won’t Elizabeth. This house is special. It can make its own power so the lights can stay on a long time even in bad weather. And I have something for you.” Jesse reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic stick about 6 inches long. He bent the stick, it made a snapping noise and then the stick began to glow a soft yellow light. “And Mary here is one for you. These are called glow sticks and they will give you light for several hours.”
“They look like little light sabers,” said Mary.
Jesse giggled, “yeah I guess they do. You use these when you need light. Ok?”
The girls nodded. Catlin looked Jesse with thankful eyes.
While the storm raged outside the family was safe in their home. Jesse was in the storage room containing the batteries for the solar system, some storage lockers and some of the food. He looked over the power levels.
While the wind mill generator was removed from the system earlier in the day, but the solar panels were still in place. However, because of the cloud cover the solar cells’ capacity to make power was diminished. Jesse had just announced to everyone that the power usage needed to be diminished as well. John complained and even volunteer to peddle on the bicycle generator that they finally got working in the summer, but in the end he disconnected the agreed upon electric devices which included most of his beloved gadgets.
Jesse heard a shuffling noise and looked across the bank of batteries. “It’s me,” came Robert’s voice.
“Just checking the batteries,” said Jesse.
“Listen, Jesse. I wanted to thank you again for helping us. I am sorry about Catlin too.”
“Catlin does not understand all of this. She needs to, if she is gonna function here.”
“I know. I know. She is actually talking to Eve right now about how she can help. I guess the way that you talked to the girls sort of flipped a switch.”
Jesse nodded, “How about you?”
“Look I know me and you have had our differences, but I will do whatever it takes to protect my family.”
“See, that is just it Robert. You won’t do whatever it takes. Because what it takes is planning and preparation. ‘Whatever it takes’ is NOT just one action. Remember what Dad said ‘It is many actions securing that you have the knowledge, skills and means to protect and supply for your family even in the midst of the darkness.’ You need to get off of your butt and start thinking and preparing for stuff like the storm happening 4 feet above our heads.”
“You are right. What can I do to help?”
Jesse reached into one of the foot lockers and pulled out a small back pack. “Do you remember how to use this stuff?”
Robert smiled and took his old pack as Jesse continued, “The eye is already past us. I want to wait another hour then we need to do a late night patrol. We need to look at the animals in the barn, examine the house for major structural damage and give a quick look around the property. We will let John use his cameras for a little while to help.”
Robert grabbed his own camo out of the pack, “Let me know when.”
Several tornados WERE found throughout the county. One ripped straight through Wallace. Many buildings were damaged, but they were not sure to the extent of the damages. Luckly, most from Wallace knew about the flooding that had occurred in previous years and had evacuated the town. The small police force did what they could to make everyone leave.
Most of the winds had calmed, but the rain was still hard. 2 of John’s cameras were still working when he fired them back up. There were downed trees and debris all over the yards. Jesse and his brother did a patrol of the objectives silently more out of habit than necessity.
The animals were fine except for a small portion of the roof of the barn being torn off and a small bit of rain coming through the roof. The house had taken a hit or two. A few pieces of the tin metal roof was ripped off and a limb was sticking out of the side of the house. It was a pine tree limb no doubt snapped off of the nearby pine trees and flung into the house.
They were just about to turn to walk back up the driveway after checking the front of the property when they caught the flicker of light not shown by their own red filtered flashlights. A vehicle was coming up the road. Both brothers found a tree to hide behind. After a few moments the truck stopped at the gate.
“See I told you they were gone,” said one male voice. He continued by reading the sign on the front of the gate. “Evacuated to Troy, AL. Alarm activated. 334-555-2930.”
“I just don’t know about this.”
Robert reached for the Glock carried in the small of his back, drew it and slowly cocked the gun making sure to hold the slide to reduce the noise of the cock.
“Man it is the perfect cover. No one is gonna bother us in this weather.” The man got out of the truck with a pair of bolt cutters in his hand and started toward the fence.
Robert looked at his brother’s figure behind the tree about 15 feet away. Jesse held his rifle in one hand and made a fist with his other which meant to “hold”. It was all coming back to Robert.
When he and Jesse played hide and go seek in the woods as a team no one could beat them. Their Great Aunt had been deaf and used to teach them sign language when they were little. They could just about communicate anything they needed to without saying a word.
“I know, but Mr. Tutle is a good man and what about the alarm. See there is the alarm company’s sign.”
The man pointed toward the blue and white octagon sign beside the main gate that read, “This home protected by: National Response Security”
Of course there was no real company called National Response Security. This didn’t matter though. Normally when thieves look for a quick hit, they will notice the sign and pass right on by. Why, because it is easier to find another house that is not protected by an alarm than to waste time trying to defeat an alarm system that could have the cops show up in a few minutes.
“Idiot the phone lines are out all over the place.”
Jesse then pointed at himself, then to his eyes and then held up three fingers. “I” “see” “3”. Robert looked at the truck again and there in the back seat was the other. Three against two, the odds were worse than Robert knew.
“Hey look there are trees down across the driveway and there are trees all over the front of the property. We can’t get in there and I ain’t standing in this rain while you cut the tree up neither.”
“Oh shoot man!” The man banged the bolt cutters on the gate. “Come on let’s go then. May be there is some easy stuff to hit in Wallace.” The truck backed up and spun its tires heading down the road.
The two brothers faded into the darkness.
“hmmm…bacon,” John said half asleep still in his assigned cot smelling the bacon being cooked in the “kitchen” area. They had moved his cot into the main room so he could monitor the camera at the front gate till sometime around 3AM when he was relieved by his mother. After Jesse and Robert came in from the late night patrol, everyone was briefed on the events. Then shifts were made to monitor the cameras and radio the rest of the night so SOME could get some sleep. That was easier said than done.
John stumbled into the “kitchen”, “Hey Mom. You cooking bacon?”
“Hi Johnny,” said Edna, John’s grandmother. “Your Mother just went to sleep. That was some night last night.”
Catlin added, “She looked a bit tired. I told her I could do this. I even cooked grits.”
John smiled, “Thank you.”
Catlin continued, “Your grandmother said not to cook very much, that everyone needs to eat two pieces of fruit and at least one glass of milk.” She leaned closer, “I don’t really know why, but that is what she said.”
Edna rebutted obviously overhearing the remark, “It is to make everyone eat the perishable foods first. Milk will last about a week or more if kept cold and fruit a couple of days, but grits will last a good year as long as they are not cooked.”
The bacon was not evenly done, but there wasn’t too much to mess up with the instant grits that Eve stocked the place with. You just put them in a boiler with some water, bring to a boil for 5 – 10 minutes, throw a bit of butter in it and bingo, instant grits. Of course a bit of salt and pepper worked wonders too.
Catlin turned back to the food, “Guess I got a lot to learn about stuff like this. I get scared every time I think about what is happening. I can’t help at all can I?”
Edna swallowed and thought for a second, “Robert’s dad (God rest his soul) always said never be scared of the weather, every cloud has a silver lining …. And you are helping. You are giving Eve a chance to sleep by helping me cook.”
“Yeah, thanks Aunt Catlin.” John smiled and his Aunt turned away slightly.
John took the bowl of grits gratefully, picked up two apples, a cup of milk and four strips of bacon. He walked back to his cot, prayed and dug in.
The radio brought with it the familiar sounds of “Brian in the morning” on WTVY one of the larger radio stations in the South East of Alabama. “…as stated earlier the flooding is continuing to increase in the town of Wallace. Waters from the North are continuing to flow into the valley town. There is little known as to the condition of the town. Authorities are down there this morning trying to figure out all of this mess and as soon as we have anymore information we will let you know. Reports are that this flood will be similar to the flooding that happened some 18 years ago in that town when a similar hurricane blew through the area. In other weather related news …..” Robert lost interest in the broadcast and turned on the CB radio.
“Break 09 for any police. This is Mista Lucus out on m’ farm. This is an emergency. Is anyone there?”
Jesse spoke, “OK after gathering all of the information we can here is the game plan. Robert and Mom are going into town to check on the store. Eve and I are going to see Mister Lucus and see what we can do about his wife’s arm. John, Catlin, Mary and Elizabeth will all stay here. John, while we are gone, keep trying to raise the Sherriff’s office on the CB or cell phone.”
“Everyone, continue to check in with home at least once an hour,” Jesse said as Eve passed out the small two way FRS radios. Everyone sort of broke up and started to get their packs ready.
“John come here,” Jesse said more seriously. John followed his Dad to the main sleeping room. “John we are about to be gone for a while. I want you to take care of things while we are gone. Check on the animals in the barn. Look after your Aunt and the girls. If you get into trouble, get to the shelter and lock the door.” John nodded. “Take your Bullpup 22LR out of your locker again. Keep it ready.”
“Yes sir,” says the young man.
The group gathered together. Edna said a prayer, then they went to their tasks. Jesse and Eve went to the garage and brought out the two four wheelers. Mr. Lucus only lived 4 miles away, but they checked the gas anyway. They topped off the two tanks and put their two backpacks on the back racks.
Robert and his mother hopped into Jesse’s truck and Robert switched the gears into 4 wheel drive after backing out of the garage.
They knew that they would have to take the “back way” out. The back way was basically leaving the property by cutting through the cattle field, following the road by the old railroad tracks and then back up a lightly traveled old dirt rode which marked the edge of their property. I cut through the woods and could be easily blocked if needed just like the front drive. However, the road was so tight and bumpy no one traveled the road.
The 4 wheelers lead the way with the Ford slowly following. When they reached the end they waved to each other and told each other to be careful.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” asked Edna.
“But Mom it isn’t blocking the entire road,” Robert said while looking the medium sized pecan tree lying across the road.
“Oh so what if one of our neighbors accidentally don’t see it on this corner in the road and wind up running into it?”
“If we can drive around it, they can to. Besides the road crew will clear it soon.”
“Fine, I’ll do it myself,” said the spry elderly grandmother as she reached for the door handle.
“Ok! Ok! I move it.”
Robert found the tow rope in the back of the truck bed. He tied one end around the upper end of the tree and the other to the front bumper of the truck. Robert got back in and put the truck in reverse. He swung the tree back into the ditch and cleared the road.
After several minutes of putting up the gear, the truck was back on the road and moving. That is until seeing the next large tree limb lying in the road. Edna said nothing. Robert put the truck in park, rolled his eyes and reached for the door handle.
After a few more stops the road was cleared. The truck finally reached the Corner Store.
Edna sighed, “It’s still here.”
John walked out of the house and looked around. It was nothing like he had ever seen. John had imagined a few trees down and everything wet from the rains. However, what he saw was just pure chaos in comparison. Some trees were down, but that was not all. Trash, limbs and other junk was strewn all over the yard. There was even the hood of a car lying in the front yard. Who knows where that came from?
Catlin, Mary and Elizabeth came out with him to take a look around. It was good to get out of the basement. They had only been in there one day, but the girls were getting stir crazy and annoying John to no end.
John walked to the barn. He looked up at the small portion of the roof that was now open to the sky. The horses were wet. Elizabeth and Mary walked through the barn to see all of the animals. John sat his BullPup down and picked up two large towels from the chest of blankets, towels and brushes. He started to work on the mare directly below the opening. Elizabeth even started helping, “What is his name?” She was a good horse and appreciated the attention.
John smiled, “HER name is Lady. This is Mom’s horse and it is a girl.” John and Elizabeth worked quietly while drying Lady. They finished drying her off and through the towels over the fence to dry.
Elizabeth walked out the other side of the barn and giggled, “Look mom, chickens”. The chickens were all huddled up together on the right side of the cage. John stepped out and watched curiously at their actions. He had never seen the chickens gather on one side of the cage and continue to cluck. Mary came running out the door to see the sight as her mother followed to the edge of the door, “Wow! What a pretty dog John.”
The growl came from the left. John turned then froze. “We don’t have a dog.” Catlin ran back into the barn. It was a pit bull and it was hurt. It was bleeding from its back leg, but it was dark blood. Old blood. John was the closest. He began reaching into his day pack where he kept his knife and slowly backing away. The dog moved closer to John and the girls. John knew that a hurt animal would be more aggressive. It would attack. John stood his ground. Hopefully it wouldn’t move too fast with a wounded leg.
“Pop! Pop! Leave! Pop! Pop! My! Pop! Pop! Kids! Pop! Pop! Alone! Pop! Pop! Click! Click! Click!” The dog began to yelping in pain and ran into the woods.
The girls ran to their Mother. Catlin stood there for a moment watching where the dog ran away holding the rifle to her shoulder. She ignored the girls till she knew the danger was gone. She looked at John then tossed the rifle to him. “Reload this thing.” She hugged her girls, “It’s ok girls. It’s gone. Mom made it go away. Come on let’s go inside.”
John, in several smooth motions, flipped out the 10 round factory magazine from the rifle, reached in his day pack for the 20 round clip and placed it into the gun. While he performed this rehearsed movement, he could not stop shaking his head in disbelief.
Jesse and Eve got to Flournoy Moore Road. They had to weave around several trees blocking the road so far and even at one place the power lines were laid down across the road. There they had to cut through a muddy field to go around them. Jesse noted how far down the road it was from the closest address and would have to remember to notify the power company when he was able. It was not like it would be fixed immediately, but at least the sooner it got on the list to be fixed the sooner it might actually BE fixed. They can’t fix it, if they don’t know about it.
They stopped just a few seconds and looked down each road noting the damage that they could see. More trees, more debris, more water crossing the road and down Flournoy Moore Road was a mobile home sitting in the middle of the road. Eve gasped, “Look Jesse.” The mobile home sat there across the entire road just as if someone had purposely laid the asphalt right up to the home’s front door. It looked like it was done on purpose alright, except for the fact that the mobile home was upside down.
Jesse punched the accelerator and Eve followed behind until they reached the mobile home. Jesse walked up to the door. “Is anyone in here?” No answer. “Hello?” No answer.
Jesse walked back to the 4 wheeler and hopped on. “I didn’t hear anything. And the likelihood of someone being alive in there is very low. Let’s hope they went somewhere else. Let’s see if we can cut through the woods there.” Jesse led the 4 wheeler into the woods and back out on the road behind the wreckage to find even more trees across the road. The trees were twisted where they broke from their trunks the evidence of a tornado had crossed here. They weaved their way around the trees and finally cleared the obstacles. They were now right down the road from Mr. Lucas’ ranch.
Arriving at the ranch they stopped at the front gate and beeped the horn on the 4 wheelers. An older 4 wheel drive truck pulled up to the gate and Demaris Lucus, son of Mr. Lucas, popped out of the truck and unlocked the gate. “Thank yall for coming Misses Tutle. Mom isn’t doing too well. The bleeding has stopped, but she is in bad shape. She is at the main house. Drive on up.”
Eve flipped her visor up on her full faced helmet and said, “We are happy to help Demaris.” She cranked the 4 wheeler again and gunned it up the long driveway up to the main house.
Someone pulled up to the store. They were in a jeep. There were two of them. Two men. Robert reached to the small of his back. Edna popped him in the butt with the mop, “Stop that. That is Ken McCaslin and Charles Sawyer. They are good people.”
The men came in the store. “Hello Mrs. Tutle. I am surprised you are open.”
“Hey Ken and Charles. Well, I had to come see about the place.”
“Well, Wallace is under water again. We thought that we would drive around a bit and see if we could help out. But we have been dodging trees and power lines all the way here from our house. No one has power to cook with.”
“Well, why don’t yall get to it and I will fire up the grill and generator. I will have yall something to eat when you get back.”
“Ma’am?”
“Well, you want to help. So get to it. Get my son’s chainsaw, gas, axe and tow rope out of the truck out in front and start heading for the 4 lane. Every tree you see in the road. Move it out of the road. You ain’t got to cut it up all the way, just get it out of the road. If you get to the Pastor Hall’s house (that’s the small house with blue shutters and a swing out front), see if he is home and tell him I will be on channel 38 of his CB or come see me. Stay away from those power lines. Come back in an hour and I will have you some grits, eggs, bacon and milk ready for you. Also if you work till noon, I will feed you lunch. If you work till supper, you get that too. I will also throw in all the water you need while working. Make it to the 4 lane and you two can have two boxes of shells each for those fancy hunting rifles yall use.”
The men looked at each other, blinked and said, “Ok. That sounds like a plan.” They turned and walked out the door.
“Robert go fire up the generator in back. It isn’t big enough to run the entire store so we will have to combine the food into a few freezers and turn off some of the lights. The grill runs off propane so we should be able to cook for weeks. I will start a pot roast for lunch and supper. That is easy to make and should stick to your ribs good.”
Robert smiled, “and the pastor?”
“Well no doubt people will be asking him for help and I know he keeps a collection of food for the poor folk in the area. Between the church providing and us cooking maybe we can help out everyone who needs it.”
Mrs. Lucas had been struck with a slab of
glass when the windows broke. The glass had penetrated her forearm. The
glass fell out and the wound had bled profusely.
The patient was lying in her bed with a towel wrapped around her arm. Mrs. Lucas’ arm and legs were elevated per Eve’s instructions. The arm was elevated to slow blood to that arm hopefully slowing the bleeding. Her legs were elevated to help to keep her from going to shock.
Jesse talked with Mr. Lucas and Demaris about the damage they had seen so far and possibly getting someone together to start cleaning up at least the roads. He was trying to call back home to update them when Eve walked into the bedroom.
Eve walked to the patient’s side, “Mrs. Lucas this is Eve Tutle from down the road. Can you wake up for me?” She did not wake up. Eve placed her bag on the floor and put on her protective gloves. She repeated the greeting a little louder. Still nothing. Eve noted mentally, “Does not respond to verbal stimuli.”
Eve shook her shoulder and repeated her greeting. Mrs. Lucas’ eyes opened, “Oh hello Eve.”
Eve thought, “she responded to touch stimuli. That is good.”
“Hey there Mrs. Lucas. Let me get your vital signs. Then, I need to look at that arm.”
“Oh, ok sweetie.” Eve placed her middle finger on her radial pulse located just above her wrist on the patient’s thumb side. She used her middle and ring finger because the index finger has a larger artery in it and you can be fooled into thinking you are feeling the patient’s pulse when you are feeling your own.
She counted the pulse beats and watched her second hand on her wrist watch. She counted 27 beats in 15 seconds. She mentally multiplied 28 times 4 which equaled 108 beats per minute. Eve wrote that down. A normal adult’s heat rate was 60 to 100 beats per minute. 108 might be a small sign of shock coming from the heart having to beat faster to move more blood around the body.
She kept holding her wrist but looked at her chest as it rise and fell with each breath. Eve knew that the funny thing about counting someone’s breath was you couldn’t let them know it. The minute that you said, “I am going to count your breaths” they would immediately start controlling their breaths consciously. In order to ensure that they did not do that, just pretend that you are still counting their pulse. She counted silently those for 15 seconds coming to a number of 6. She multiplied again with 4 getting 24 breaths per minute. 12 – 20 breaths per minute is the normal for an adult. Once again this was a small sign of shock.
She then reached over and felt the quality of the pulse of the arm that was cut. It too had a good pulse. That meant that the blood flow was good past the point of the injury and was circulating in her arm good.
Eve then took out the automatic blood pressure cuff. It was a HoMedics BPA-1001 Deluxe model that ran off of batteries. It could be used anywhere and all it took was a one-touch operation. There were better brands, but due to her connections at the hospital, she was able to get it inexpensively.
She placed the cuff over her uninjured arm and wrapped the cuff securely. She pressed the start/stop button and the machine began to pump air into the cuff. In a few seconds the readout read 92/68. Shock is technically defined as any blood pressure below a systolic (the bigger number) under 90.
She then took her temperature using a BD Instant Ear Thermometer. It was slightly elevated at 99.2. “Mrs. Lucas are you allergic to any medications,” asked Eve?
“No dear. I have never been allergic to anything I have ever taken,” she said a bit weakly.
“Have you taken Amoxicillin?”
“Yes, for a cold last year.”
“I want to give you some ibuprofen for the pain and some amoxicillin ok?” Eve knew that this was against the law (you were not supposed to give your prescription drugs to anyone else); but the sooner the treatment could begin, the less she would have to endure. If Eve had to get in trouble with that later, then she would.
Mrs. Lucas nodded, “If you think that I need it, ok.”
She doubled the doss of the ibuprofen to 800mg which was the prescription strength and then gave her 500 mg of amoxicillin. She would give her the same dose in 6 hours.
The last thing to do was to quickly look at the wound so she could truly see how bad it was. Normally you would not want to do this, but Mrs. Lucas was stable and conscious which was a good sign. Often times removing a bandage was bad. When you removed a bandage the clotting that had begun would be torn away with the bandage, thus opening up the wound again. Eve thought about it. Then on second thought, she elected not to look at it.
She did want to get a better wrap on it though. She pulled out of her pack a large wound dressing and a 2” roll of gauze. There was a high probability of infection. Her raised temperature might be a sign of infection setting in already, but better infection than anymore blood loss especially since they did not know how they were going get her out of here. The dressing and gauze were sterile, but the towel and whatever else was used has probably already infected the wound.
She pulled off the towel and slowly un-wrapped it trying to be as careful as she could. When it neared the end, she noticed that there was a blood soaked handkerchief directly on top of the cut. She stopped there and put the dressing directly on to the handkerchief. She then used the gauze to create a light pressure dressing. She did not want to put too much pressure on the wound since it had quit bleeding and did not need to stop the good circulation that she currently had. Eve just wanted the dressing snug to the wound.
Eve held Mrs. Lucas’ unwounded hand and said, “You are doing fine Mrs. Lucas. You sit back and sleep ok?”
Everyone had checked in and told their stories to each other. Jesse scolded John for leaving his gun during the dog incident, but since it sounded like Catlin hit the dog it would probably not be back. He told them to stay near the house. Robert had the store partially running and several more people had showed up at the store both to buy things and eat. The preacher had showed up with a good bit of food. Some people from the church had showed up to help cook and others to try to clear the roads.
Jesse tried to go the long way around to the Corner Store, but Maple Bridge was out. Well, the bridge was still there in the middle of the swollen river. The problem was that the water had been so much that it poured over the road and ate right through it. The road before you got to the bridge was gone.
Jesse then started working with the Demaris and Mr. Lucas on the debris leading back to their place. Mr. Lucas had a back hoe on loan before the hurricane hit and he started moving the trees. Jesse started using his 4 wheeler to move some of the smaller trees. Sometime shortly after lunch Mrs. Lucas was packed up in the truck and they had made their way all the way to the store.
Now with all of the volunteers helping the main road was cleared that afternoon all the way to the four lane and Mr. Lucas took his wife to the hospital. Supper was made and everyone ate then headed home. There was still a lot to do to rebuild their little community but together they would face it tomorrow.
The family returned home to find Catlin was perched as look out on the front porch rocker with John’s rifle next to her. The two girls were sitting on the driveway in front of the porch each with their own day pack made from two old utility pouches from Jesse’s older gear. Mary was looking at a compass and map of the area. Elizabeth was trying, with John’s help, to start a small fire with a flint, knife and cotton ball.
John stopped the lesson and looked at his Father, “Aunt Catlin said that she would pay you for those. I am sorry, but it was the only way that I could get them to shut up.”
THE END
__________________
The patient was lying in her bed with a towel wrapped around her arm. Mrs. Lucas’ arm and legs were elevated per Eve’s instructions. The arm was elevated to slow blood to that arm hopefully slowing the bleeding. Her legs were elevated to help to keep her from going to shock.
Jesse talked with Mr. Lucas and Demaris about the damage they had seen so far and possibly getting someone together to start cleaning up at least the roads. He was trying to call back home to update them when Eve walked into the bedroom.
Eve walked to the patient’s side, “Mrs. Lucas this is Eve Tutle from down the road. Can you wake up for me?” She did not wake up. Eve placed her bag on the floor and put on her protective gloves. She repeated the greeting a little louder. Still nothing. Eve noted mentally, “Does not respond to verbal stimuli.”
Eve shook her shoulder and repeated her greeting. Mrs. Lucas’ eyes opened, “Oh hello Eve.”
Eve thought, “she responded to touch stimuli. That is good.”
“Hey there Mrs. Lucas. Let me get your vital signs. Then, I need to look at that arm.”
“Oh, ok sweetie.” Eve placed her middle finger on her radial pulse located just above her wrist on the patient’s thumb side. She used her middle and ring finger because the index finger has a larger artery in it and you can be fooled into thinking you are feeling the patient’s pulse when you are feeling your own.
She counted the pulse beats and watched her second hand on her wrist watch. She counted 27 beats in 15 seconds. She mentally multiplied 28 times 4 which equaled 108 beats per minute. Eve wrote that down. A normal adult’s heat rate was 60 to 100 beats per minute. 108 might be a small sign of shock coming from the heart having to beat faster to move more blood around the body.
She kept holding her wrist but looked at her chest as it rise and fell with each breath. Eve knew that the funny thing about counting someone’s breath was you couldn’t let them know it. The minute that you said, “I am going to count your breaths” they would immediately start controlling their breaths consciously. In order to ensure that they did not do that, just pretend that you are still counting their pulse. She counted silently those for 15 seconds coming to a number of 6. She multiplied again with 4 getting 24 breaths per minute. 12 – 20 breaths per minute is the normal for an adult. Once again this was a small sign of shock.
She then reached over and felt the quality of the pulse of the arm that was cut. It too had a good pulse. That meant that the blood flow was good past the point of the injury and was circulating in her arm good.
Eve then took out the automatic blood pressure cuff. It was a HoMedics BPA-1001 Deluxe model that ran off of batteries. It could be used anywhere and all it took was a one-touch operation. There were better brands, but due to her connections at the hospital, she was able to get it inexpensively.
She placed the cuff over her uninjured arm and wrapped the cuff securely. She pressed the start/stop button and the machine began to pump air into the cuff. In a few seconds the readout read 92/68. Shock is technically defined as any blood pressure below a systolic (the bigger number) under 90.
She then took her temperature using a BD Instant Ear Thermometer. It was slightly elevated at 99.2. “Mrs. Lucas are you allergic to any medications,” asked Eve?
“No dear. I have never been allergic to anything I have ever taken,” she said a bit weakly.
“Have you taken Amoxicillin?”
“Yes, for a cold last year.”
“I want to give you some ibuprofen for the pain and some amoxicillin ok?” Eve knew that this was against the law (you were not supposed to give your prescription drugs to anyone else); but the sooner the treatment could begin, the less she would have to endure. If Eve had to get in trouble with that later, then she would.
Mrs. Lucas nodded, “If you think that I need it, ok.”
She doubled the doss of the ibuprofen to 800mg which was the prescription strength and then gave her 500 mg of amoxicillin. She would give her the same dose in 6 hours.
The last thing to do was to quickly look at the wound so she could truly see how bad it was. Normally you would not want to do this, but Mrs. Lucas was stable and conscious which was a good sign. Often times removing a bandage was bad. When you removed a bandage the clotting that had begun would be torn away with the bandage, thus opening up the wound again. Eve thought about it. Then on second thought, she elected not to look at it.
She did want to get a better wrap on it though. She pulled out of her pack a large wound dressing and a 2” roll of gauze. There was a high probability of infection. Her raised temperature might be a sign of infection setting in already, but better infection than anymore blood loss especially since they did not know how they were going get her out of here. The dressing and gauze were sterile, but the towel and whatever else was used has probably already infected the wound.
She pulled off the towel and slowly un-wrapped it trying to be as careful as she could. When it neared the end, she noticed that there was a blood soaked handkerchief directly on top of the cut. She stopped there and put the dressing directly on to the handkerchief. She then used the gauze to create a light pressure dressing. She did not want to put too much pressure on the wound since it had quit bleeding and did not need to stop the good circulation that she currently had. Eve just wanted the dressing snug to the wound.
Eve held Mrs. Lucas’ unwounded hand and said, “You are doing fine Mrs. Lucas. You sit back and sleep ok?”
Everyone had checked in and told their stories to each other. Jesse scolded John for leaving his gun during the dog incident, but since it sounded like Catlin hit the dog it would probably not be back. He told them to stay near the house. Robert had the store partially running and several more people had showed up at the store both to buy things and eat. The preacher had showed up with a good bit of food. Some people from the church had showed up to help cook and others to try to clear the roads.
Jesse tried to go the long way around to the Corner Store, but Maple Bridge was out. Well, the bridge was still there in the middle of the swollen river. The problem was that the water had been so much that it poured over the road and ate right through it. The road before you got to the bridge was gone.
Jesse then started working with the Demaris and Mr. Lucas on the debris leading back to their place. Mr. Lucas had a back hoe on loan before the hurricane hit and he started moving the trees. Jesse started using his 4 wheeler to move some of the smaller trees. Sometime shortly after lunch Mrs. Lucas was packed up in the truck and they had made their way all the way to the store.
Now with all of the volunteers helping the main road was cleared that afternoon all the way to the four lane and Mr. Lucas took his wife to the hospital. Supper was made and everyone ate then headed home. There was still a lot to do to rebuild their little community but together they would face it tomorrow.
The family returned home to find Catlin was perched as look out on the front porch rocker with John’s rifle next to her. The two girls were sitting on the driveway in front of the porch each with their own day pack made from two old utility pouches from Jesse’s older gear. Mary was looking at a compass and map of the area. Elizabeth was trying, with John’s help, to start a small fire with a flint, knife and cotton ball.
John stopped the lesson and looked at his Father, “Aunt Catlin said that she would pay you for those. I am sorry, but it was the only way that I could get them to shut up.”
THE END
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