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CAVE RANCH, SPARROW VALLEY:
Robert Cave hears the thumping of small feet running across the wooden back porch. The kitchen screen door slams shut, and his niece, Kristy Cave, runs into the living room.
“I felt an earthquake, grandpa!” Kristy says with the excited enthusiasm of a ten-year-old girl.
Robert smiles at her tousled blonde hair and the smudge of dirt on her face. “It was just a minor tremor, sweetie. Nothing to worry about.”
Kristy flops onto the light brown couch and frowns at the dirt under her fingernails. “That didn’t feel like a tremor and the horses are acting weird, too. We should call Uncle Alex. He knows all about this stuff. Why doesn’t he come around anymore? Is it because you hate him?”
Robert’s smile slips away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Kristy gets up, walks over to his brown recliner, and puts her arms around his neck. She loves the way he smells and the feel of the stubble on his cheek, but when his salt and pepper hair tickles her nose, she lets go to look into his dark blue eyes. “I love you, grandpa. That counts for something, right?”
Robert gives her a hug. “It sure does. I love you, too.”
Robert frowns when he hears the roar of a motorcycle coming up the driveway. His eighteen-year-old grandson, Derek, is in turmoil over the loss of his parents, and being torn from his friends in the city to live with his grandfather on a ranch only makes it worse. He is having difficulty balancing guidance and discipline with sympathy when dealing with Derek’s belligerent attitude.
“Derek’s home!” Kristy yells as she runs across the living room and through the kitchen, letting the screen door slam shut behind her. She leaps over the two porch steps onto the ground and runs to Derek as he stops the motorcycle in front of the large covered porch. She adores her big brother, but he’s changed since their parents died. He seems angry with grandpa all the time and she doesn’t understand why.
“Did you feel that, Derek?” she yells over the noise of the motorcycle.
Derek shuts the engine off and smiles at his little sister while he removes his helmet. “Feel what?”
“I don’t know for sure. Grandpa said it was a tremor, but I think it was an earthquake.”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Didn’t you feel the ground move?”
“No, I was trying to figure out where all the back roads go.”
Kristy smirks at him. “Who were you with?”
“I was alone. I always ride alone. Except with you, anyway.”
“I saw the way Jessica Parker looked at you in the mall.”
He smiles at her. “You see too much for your own good.”
“I told grandpa we should call Uncle Alex. He knows about this stuff.”
Derek frowns as he hangs his helmet on the handlebars and sets the kickstand. He’s having a hard time deciding how he feels about his uncle. He hasn’t seen him since the funeral in Arizona, and that was under stressful conditions. Now Robert refuses to talk to Alex, but won’t tell him why. He swings his leg off the motorcycle, walks with Kristy up the two creaking steps, and into the shade of the back porch. They sit down on a well-worn wooden porch swing hanging from rusty chains, and Derek gives them a push. “What did grandpa say?”
“It just made him sad. He still blames Uncle Alex for Mom and Dad getting killed.”
“I know. The cops said it was an accident, so I’m not sure what to believe. Robert won’t even talk to me about it.”
“If we call Uncle Alex and ask him about the earthquake, he might come out and visit and we could ask him ourselves.”
He looks over at Kristy and grins. “Why are you getting so excited about an earthquake? In fact, how do you know what an earthquake feels like? We didn’t have any in Arizona.”
“I just know what they’re supposed to be like. The ground shakes and everything falls down. Only this one fell up.”
Derek laughs and leans back in the swing. “How can something fall up?”
“The ground pushed me up, like when I’m in an elevator.”
Derek stops smiling and sits up. If Kristy is right, something is wrong. “When did it happen?”
“I felt it just before you got here.”
“Did you explain that to Robert?”
“He said it’s just a tremor.”
Derek stands and grabs Kristy’s hand. “I think we’d better explain it to him. If you’re right, we should call Alex right away.” He follows Christie through the screen door and lets it slam behind him.
Robert frowns and pushes himself out of the recliner. He’s tired of the kids constantly letting the screen door slam shut. Just because they lived in the city is no excuse for not obeying his rules. He turns toward the kitchen and stares at his grandkids. “What did I tell you about that screen door?”
Derek and Kristy stop and look at each other, realizing they forgot about the door in their excitement. “Sorry,” they say simultaneously.
“Kristy just told me about the earthquake. Listen, Robert. I really think we should call Alex. Something isn’t right about what she told me. You must’ve felt it, too?”
Robert waves off the idea and turns back to the TV. “It was just a tremor. I’m not calling Alex about it.” He plops down into the recliner. “He’s a busy man and we should leave him alone.”
Derek moves around the recliner to look at him. “You may not want to talk to him, but I do. This is very important and you shouldn’t let your hatred make you blind about the danger.”
“Fine!” Robert growls. “You talk to him. His number is in the address book on the kitchen counter.”
Derek turns and enters the kitchen, grabs the address book and cordless phone off the counter, then stomps out onto the back porch.
Kristy runs across the kitchen, barely grabbing the edge of the screen door before it slams shut. She lets out a soft sigh of relief and walks outside. Derek is sitting in the porch swing, looking through the address book, so she stands in front of him and leans back against the wooden handrail. She can tell by his scowl and his bunched together eyebrows he’s mad at grandpa. They don’t get along as they did before the accident.
Derek hands the address book to Kristy. “The old man’s a dinosaur. No cellphone and no computer. Read the number for me so I can dial.”
Kristy looks at the page for C’s and sees the names of their parents in her grandmother’s writing. They said grandma had some bad cancer when she passed away two years ago. Now things are different here on the ranch without her. “Here it is. Ask him to come out here.”
Derek punches in the numbers and puts the phone against his ear. “He’s in Montana, Kristy. He can’t just stop everything he’s doing and come out here. I just hope he knows about this.”
Derek lets the phone ring several times and is asked to leave a message. “Alex, this is Derek. The ground is doing some weird things out here, so could you call me? I don’t have a cellphone so call me here at Robert’s house.”
He presses the end button and looks at Kristy. “I don’t know what the time difference is, so maybe he’s still teaching.”
“He’ll come out to see us. You’ll see.”
Derek stands and hands the phone to Kristy. “Don’t get your hopes up.” He walks down the steps and grabs his helmet from the handlebars. “I’m going for a ride. There’s nothing to do here.”
Kristy sits on the porch swing and watches Derek drive away. “He’ll come and see us,” she whispers. “I know he will.”