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| TekeTeke tightened his grip on the box of candles as Mae added a lifetime supply of blankets on top. He smiled with a teasing grin as the still-lovely grandmother of five went into survival mode. Since he'd been out of the field, she'd had him make no fewer than six trips back and forth to the old cellar. He'd loaded everything from flashlights and canned food to photo albums and bags of knitting needles into that dark room. She saw his smirk, and playfully slapped his arm with her damp tea towel.
"Don't look at me like that, Witteker Marion Frie. You know just as well as I do that you can never be too prepared." He colored slightly at the use of his full name. The quiet girl, looking pale and impossibly lovely, didn't seem to notice from her perch in the living room. She'd barely spoken since he'd walked her back from the barn. Her eyes were wide with fright, and she'd stared with disbelief at the pile of supplies Mae had waiting for him to carry. They hadn't even managed to catch her name or why she was there, though Teke knew Mae would be able to coax it out of her soon enough. He stifled a sympathetic chuckle. He'd never seen anyone so scared in his entire life.
When Mae added what was certainly the fourth or fifth set of sturdy boots to his stack, he let out a low grunt. "Come on, Mae. We put much else in that hole, we're going to have to enjoy the storm from right here. There won't be room enough for even our little guest if you keep this up." Having a knack for saying the wrong thing, Teke glanced quickly at the girl. She was now staring at them, but she seemed little affected by what he'd just suggested. Instead, it was like she was noticing them there for the first time. She shook her head a little, and stood.
"How soon do you imagine we'll need to go down?" She managed, fully doubling anything they'd heard her say before. "I mean, uhm, do you think we have time to drive somewhere ... uhm ... safer?" She mentioned the last bit extremely hesitantly, as if afraid she were slapping them in the face with the suggestion that their cellar was anything but a clandestine fortress.
Mae smiled her famous smile. "Afraid not, hon. Closest basement's fifty miles from here. We definitely don't have that kind of time. Now, if you could just carry this pie that I was saving for Sunday, I think we're ready to move on down. Houston's already down there. We'll be quite the merry party, love. Let's go." With that, she handed the poor girl the baked pastry, patted Teke on the back, and turned to leave.
Teke stood back, waiting for the girl to follow Mae so he could bring up the rear. She looked at him with a mildly humored expression - the first sign he'd seen of a crack in her fear. He waited just a few more seconds with her, then whispered, "Mae pretty much runs things out here. She could probably even talk the storm down - except she's such a sucker for adventures." With that, he got a full smile from the dark-haired girl and she quickened her step to catch up with Mae, who was now holding the screen door open and looking at the two of them like they were slugs.
Teke readjusted his load again and followed behind. At the door, he turned, looked around, sighed, and blew out the last candle.
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| JuniperJuniper chewed absently of the corner of her bottom lip while she traced the coffee ring from the now-cold mug her professor had offered her hours ago. A branch scraping against the window snapped her out of her reverie, and she realized with some embarrassment that the vice president of the university had asked her a question. Judging by the bemused look on his face, Juniper guessed he had asked her quite awhile ago.
"I. Uhm, I'm sorry," Juniper cleared her throat, hoping some of the lingering confusion in her mind could be swallowed as well. "I seem to be in another world. Did you ask me something?" He smiled, which seemed like a good sign. At least she was tucked away in this office, away from all the angry professors in the lab. The preliminary reports had not been good. Juniper's lab was completely destroyed. The neighboring two or three had significant damage, and the whole building still smelled like a child's experiment with play-dough and an easy-bake-oven. She'd already received several threatening glares and more than one angry tirade about how valuable the equipment was.
As guilty as she felt, she didn't regret ruining the equipment nearly as much as she regretted losing her experiment. This was nobel-peace-prize worthy stuff. Even the fact that the experiment had failed didn't really bother her as much as the ruined notebooks and laptop from the necessary intercession of the fire extinguisher. Juniper sighed again, louder than she'd meant to, and realized with a start that the vice president had re-asked her question, and she'd ignored him again.
His patience seemed to run out, but his compassion hadn't yet failed. He stood, rubbing his temple to hide his smile. "I need to handle some PR, here, Juniper. Why don't you hide out in here for awhile. I'll send my secretary in with updates as I get them." She smiled weakly in thanks, truly grateful for his thoughtfulness. She was definitely going to write a letter of glowing praise to the school board when this was all over.
Or, truthfully, she'd probably have Elissa write it. That is, if she ever got ahold of Elissa. Where was that girl? Juniper had sent her the information to tell Houston almost 24 hours ago, and she'd expected some kind of check-in. She dug her cell phone out of her crumpled jeans pockets and noticed with little surprise that the battery was dead. "Figures." The sound of her own voice in the empty room surprised her, and she let out a nervous laugh.
Juniper stood to stretch. The fact that she hadn't slept, eaten or showered for almost 48 hours was finally catching up with her, and she needed to accomplish one or, preferably, all of those things very quickly. The sight of the department head yelling at the vice president out the window delayed Juniper's desire to venture out. She opened the door and smiled at the secretary watching her expectantly. "Could I get some crackers? Looks like I'll be in here awhile."
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| More StoryHouston watched the dusty green Escort weave its way down his driveway. His curiosity battled with his desire to duck out and find Belle to get her and the calf into the barn. Old fashioned hospitality won out, and he shifted from one tired leg to the other, waiting for the newcomer's approach.
He was glad he'd stayed when he saw the face of the young driver. She revealed a perfect mixture of complete terror and utter relief. She was older than he'd first thought, college aged, with dark brown curls pulled loosely into an economic ponytail. Her eyes were as nervous as the busy wipers on her car, futily sweeping at the splattering rain. Houston pulled out the umbrella and stepped from the safety of the porch just as she turned off her car.
"Don't know how long you were planning on staying," he drawled slowly, "but judging by those clouds, I'd say you best pull that car into the garage. We're in for a big one." At this last statement, her eyes quit dancing long enough to widen considerably.
"I, uhm, don't know much about storms, actually." She admitted with what he assumed was a brave smile. He could tell she was well out of her element. Probably thousands of miles out of it.
"Don't worry about that, dear, I know plenty about them. Why don't you pull your car into the garage, and I'll have Teke walk you back with the umbrella. I need to get a very nervous mama cow into the barn. Mae will take care of you at the house, and I'll be there sooner or later to make sure no one's feeding you tales about the storm." She looked like she was going to argue, so he tipped his hat to her quickly and strode off purposefully toward the barn. She shrugged her shoulders slightly and gave in.
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| Returning to the story...Elissa snapped her cell phone open right before it sent her already-stressed boss, Juniper, into a certain panic attack. Pressing one finger against her opposite ear to eliminate the metalic notes slipping through the air, Elissa shook her a head a little to clear some of the stubborn sleep cobwebs from her mind. She swallowed, and answered, "This is 'Lissa."
"Oh, Elissa, great. You're awake." Though she used the word "great," Elissa had a humored feeling that her boss hadn't been expecting an answer. Her usually in-control superior seemed uncharacteristically flustered and sighed for a moment as if she couldn't remember why she'd called.
Elissa decided to help her out. "Yeah, just. I was going to call you later this morning. I didn't think you'd know anything about the test until at least 10. Did something happen?" Elissa heard Juniper sigh again, and this time she decided to wait for an explanation. It had to be bad news; Juniper never lacked words.
"Happen?" Juniper finally managed to respond. "That's one way of putting it. They had to evacuate the entire building. Fortunately, it was at three this morning, so only the most dedicated science geeks were there, but still. They don't think we'll be able to get back in for at least 12 hours..." As Juniper trailed off, Elissa realized that she had no more grasp of what was wrong than when her phone rang.
"But what happened?!" Elissa nearly shrieked. "Is everyone ok? Are you ok?" She had a rush of questions enter her head but they couldn't make the journey out her mouth fast enough. She heard a sad chuckling on the other end.
"Yeah, yeah. Everyone's fine. I mean, we have thousands of dollars of research down the drain -- millions if it affects the other labs, but no one's actually physically hurt. At least not until the professors get ahold of me. Then I'll be toast. But, listen, El. I need a favor. A huge favor. I don't even know if I have the right to ask..."
"Anything. What do you need?" Elissa couldn't imagine what Juniper would be afraid to ask. Over the years, Elissa had done everything from curtailing Juniper's potential suitors to spending entire nights adding chemicals drop by drop. Nothing seemed like it was too big.
"I need you to go out and tell the client we've had a, uh... Tell them we've been delayed. I can't call because there's some trouble with the phones or something out there. I've tried, believe me. Anyway, we should probably talk to them in person anyway, and I can't leave the state. I'm being detained for questioning. I told them I don't have the foggiest idea how this happened, but they need a scapegoat, I guess. Besides, you're much better with the public side of all this than I am. Please go. I'll send you the address and as many details as I can about what happened..."
Elissa looked out her window, past the neighbor's construction and toward the gathering storm clouds. She knew she'd be on the road within the hour to some obscure farm in the middle of nowhere, but she didn't think it would be that big of a deal. A nice drive in the country would probably be just what she needed... | | |
| Something NewHey, this is not another half-story, but don't despair; I'm sure I'll return to those very soon. This I found in my journal last night and I was completely astounded that Id written it. I know that sounds humble and arrogant at the same time, but it's true. Anyway, I felt the need to share it, so here goes:
Feb 5, 2006
Because I was wearing my sun glasses, I saw the rainbow. Just a strip of promise, camouflaged by the darkening clouds. Yet it was there -- like faithfulness dropped in just for me. Because God cares about my broken, misplaced heart and my gentle, whispered doubts. And He threw in a rainbow only I could see to say,
"Yep. Still here. Still listening. Still care."
And that beauty in God -- that assurance that He sees my heart and hears my barely-spoken prayers is like a little gasp of air after a long, frightful submersion. Like coming to the surface just long enough to remember it's there. I don't have to exist under water. I don't have to forget to breathe.
It's beautiful. | | |
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