The Nuclear Catastrophe (a fiction novel of survival) (10 page)

Young faces peered at each other from under the desks, perplexed by Althea. Then realizing that she had forgotten them, they slowly climbed into their seats and sat quietly before her—motionless—their young faces pale. Failing to understand the incident, but aware of its uniqueness, and sensing the graveness of the occasion, they waited patiently until their teacher returned the day to normal. But she couldn
’
t, and she wouldn
’
t, for as far as she was concerned, the children had ceased to exist.
 

Thirty minutes after the cloud of dust was spotted in the northwest, the citizens of San Mirado continued to discuss its cause and consequences. The public announcement issued from the van cruising the neighborhood was indistinctly heard by most of the listeners, and those who received the message clearly were confused as to precisely what action, if any, they should be taking.

At first the message was believed by many to be a terrible hoax. Others, who were willing to accept the report verbatim, were disinclined to follow the advice to vacate their homes and businesses in a headlong rush to safety. After all, how would they ever become re-united with spouses, who were away on their jobs, or with other relatives? And what would happen to a house or business that had been left by the owners? Past experience had proven that a weekend was sufficient opportunity for burglars to denude a place of its contents. No, the people of this town weren
’
t about to forsake their worldly possessions in a mad flight toward some obscure safety. In the average mind, if this emergency wasn
’
t war then there couldn
’
t be very much danger. Certainly nothing to get too upset about this early in the morning.

Safety at this point meant different things to different people, but very few believed it meant driving as far south as you could go with no destination.

Ever since Flo walked off mumbling about getting her boy Rickey from school, Paula had been considering the same idea. She was lifting the garage door by hand, in preparation for driving to the school when she saw her daughter running down the sidewalk.

“
Mother! Mother!
”
screamed the child.

Paula waited until the child drew near.
“
Kim, what are you doing here? Have they let you out of school?
”

The child
’
s blond hair was a mess of tangles, an observation which momentarily irritated the mother.
“
What
’
s happened to you? You look like you didn
’
t even comb that mop this morning,
”
admonished Paula, her own hair neatly coiffed.

“
There was a duck-and-cover drill at school and we had to crawl under our desks,
”
answered the girl in short gasps.
“
Mother, did you hear about it? The poison? Miss Carr was acting so funny in class, Mother.
”

“
Slow down, Kimberly!
”

“
But Miss Carr was really weird! After the sirens stopped she told us that some terrible thing had let a lot of poison into the air and we
’
re breathing it now.
”
Her lips started quivering as she spoke.
“
Mother, is it true?
”

“
Kim, have you seen your brother? Do you know if he was let out?
”
asked Paula worriedly.

“
Is it, Mother? Is it true?
”
The girl was starting to cry with big, colorless tears rolling down her cheeks.

Paula grabbed the child by her thin shoulders and roughly shook her.
“
I don
’
t know what
’
s going on! As soon as Jerry gets home we
’
re all going to sit right in that house until your daddy comes in. He
’
ll know what
’
s happening. Now, did you see Jerry anywhere around the grounds?
”

Paula heard her son yelling as he came bounding across the street. A sophisticated ninth grader, he was enthusiastic over the unexpected freedom.

“
Hey, Ma, our teacher said he didn
’
t know when we
’
d be having school again. Great, huh, Kim?
”
Seeing his sister
’
s red eyes and hearing her sniffles suddenly sapped some of the boy
’
s fervor.

“
Hush, Jerry. I don
’
t want to hear another word from you until Frank gets home from work,
”
Paula commanded.

Now that her brood was together, she herded them inside the house. Pushing the two children toward a sofa she ordered them down as she sat across from them. The mother rarely lost patience with her children. In fact she usually took great delight in hearing her handsome, young son sound off. But not today. It was one of those days when everything seemed to be going wrong. Paula let her thoughts wander—maybe she should have stayed in bed that morning. Nothing had gone right, not since she had scorched Frank
’
s shirt collar ironing it before breakfast and he had been late leaving for work. Sighing, she looked over at the shattered window, and tried to think where they
’
d get the money to replace it. Slumped down, she brooded that the day had overtaken her.

Within the quarter hour the door burst open with a giant heave and Frank Waring stood in the middle of the room. His sudden appearance was a shock to the wife and children.

“
Frank! Did you hear anything about...?
”

“
Paula, we
’
ve got to get away from here!
”
He was agitated and in great haste.
“
Come on!
”

“
Wait....Frank. What in the world is going on, anyway? Did they let you off from work or...?
”

“
Calmar has shut down, Paula. According to one of the execs we
’
re free to leave the plant. Right now we
’
ve got to worry about saving our hides and getting the hell out of here!
”

Frank Waring had known Cecil Yeager only remotely since the first day of his employment at the chemical plant, but since Yeager had said this was dangerous business, then it was. No matter how others might spurn the chemist
’
s admonitions, Frank respected his intelligence.

He was about to speak again when Flo burst in the door behind him. She was obviously upset and her husband Harry was trailing concernedly behind. Immediately she started to speak.
“
Oh, Paula, Frank....we can
’
t find Rickey!
”

Harry tried putting his arm around his wife but she brushed him off. He frowned, his brow wrinkling as she turned to the Warings.

“
I knew it was a mistake to have given Rickey the motorbike. I argued and argued with Harry. He
’
s too young to handle a machine at his age, and now he hasn
’
t come home from school!
”

Harry stepped up softly behind her.
“
I tell you, Sugar, there
’
s nothing to worry about. He
’
ll be home soon.
”

Flo shrugged helplessly, looking at Paula.
“
Your children were home long ago. Weren
’
t they all let out together? The school couldn
’
t tell me anything.
”

Jerry pulled himself up from the sofa where he was sitting with his sister.
“
I saw Rickey and Lesley White on his bike, Mrs. Winton.
”

Flo turned to the boy.
“
Do you know where they were going, Jerry?
”

“
Yes ma
’
am. Rickey said they were going all the way up to White Water to see what had happened.
”

Frank gasped.
“
White Water. Jerry, why didn
’
t you say something about this sooner?
”

“
Well, gee...I don
’
t know.
”

“
Oh Jesus,
”
moaned Flo.
“
Harry, we
’
ve got to go up there and get him.
”

Frank reached out toward his friends.
“
Now wait....you can
’
t go up there! That whole area is hot with radiation!
”

Harry peered around Flo to speak to Frank.
“
I don
’
t think it
’
s that bad. Sure, maybe there
’
s some radiation but not all that much.
”

Frank stepped up closer to Harry and spoke softly.
“
Listen. It
’
s suicide for you to go north. Hell, man, it
’
s suicide for us to be right here.
”

Harry shook his head.
“
Aw now, Frank, it could be worse.
”
Grabbing Flo and shoving her toward the door, he said over his shoulder,
“
Don
’
t worry so much about all this bullshit. We
’
ll get in the car and go find Rickey. Everybody
’
s in an uproar over this thing but I tell you it
’
s just not that serious.
”

Paula watched her neighbors leave and then turned, confused, to Frank.

“
Get some stuff together and let
’
s go!
”
he said to his wife.

“
Where, Frank? We can
’
t just get in the car and start driving. Where are we going?
”
asked Paula.

“
East—to Arizona,
”
he answered.

Paula didn
’
t oppose Frank
’
s decisions, at least not often. But this seemed senseless to her.
“
What about the house? It
’
ll be stripped of every solitary thing we own,
”
she protested.

“
Look, woman, we may not ever come back to this house. We may never see it again. And if we don
’
t, it won
’
t make a damned bit of difference to us if everything is stolen.
”

“
Frank, we
’
ve spent years making just the home we always wanted. Now you
’
re ready to throw it all aside and run screaming because of some rumor.
”

“
It
’
s not a rumor, Paula! Less than one hour ago a nuclear reactor went up in dust—and it
’
s not but a few miles from us. If we hang around here, we
’
re going to be dead ducks!
”

Paula hesitated over the statement then looked at the children who had become alarmed at their father
’
s words. Kim
’
s face was stained with a fresh onslaught of tears. She moved over to comfort the girl.

“
Frank, are you sure it
’
s dangerous? I don
’
t see how this could happen. Harry doesn
’
t think it
’
s serious.
”

“
So what! I
’
m not going to stand here arguing with you any longer, Paula. I
’
m leaving and the kids are going with me. If you want to stay to protect your possessions, then that
’
s your choice. But it
’
s a damned foolish one, I
’
ll tell you that!
”

“
We don
’
t even have any cash in the house,
”
she replied sullenly.
“
How far do you think we
’
ll go without money?
”