JOURNAL ENTRY: May 1
The clouds from last night hung around all morning while we both nursed a hangover. Early afternoon they opened up, dousing the campfire and saturating everything else. We spent the day talking, playing cribbage, and trying to stay dry in the tent. Dinner was cold Spam sandwiches and two bottles of wine.
~~~
“Allex, wake up!” Jim barked in my ear from a distance. I could feel I was being shaken and all I could see was Tat pushing me around the small cabin. I stumbled on my bruised and swollen feet and I pushed him back. “Allex, wake up!”
I jerked awake sitting up, disoriented.
“You were thrashing about and moaning in pain. Are you hurt or were you having a nightmare?” Jim asked, concern filled his voice in the dark.
I was still breathing hard. “Yes, a nightmare. Tat was beating me again and stepping on my feet. It hurts so much, Jim.” I shuddered.
“He’s gone, Allex. He will never hurt you again,” Jim said, soothing my jangled nerves. “The nightmares may continue for a while though.” He pulled me close and we fell back asleep.
May 2
Sometime around midnight the rain stopped and a warm southern breeze picked up. By daybreak the tent was dry enough to pack. We headed north on this back road until we came to M-28 and once again turned west and toward the rift.
“We’ve made such good time Jim, even with the rain day, what do you say we stop in to see Annie and the kids?”
“That’s a good idea. I know they mean a lot to you. I got kind of fond of them myself,” he said. East of Munising he turned off onto 94 that would lead us to the new road along the rift and away from the first access bridge. The gravel and dirt road that paralleled the rift was muddy and slippery and slowed us down.
“Do you notice anything different about the new river? It doesn’t look as high as it did two weeks ago,” I observed. I had the chance to watch it more intensely than Jim, since he was concentrating on driving and avoiding water filled potholes.
There was a high spot in the road and grass was growing on the shoulder where Jim brought the Hummer to a stop. We both got out to look closer at the river. Jim hooked his fingers into the back of my belt, and I laughed.
“You’re right, it does look lower. With all the rain we had yesterday, one would think the river would be higher. I wonder if they’ve managed to finally slow the flow some.”
“It will be worth checking out after we cross back over,” I said. He let go of my belt when we backed away from the river’s edge.
The first pass we missed the narrow dirt road where Annie and Glenn lived and we had to backtrack. Pulling into the familiar driveway was a shock. The house was a smoldering pile of rubble with only the brick chimney standing. The lovely porch had half a charred railing and the front shrubs were scorched black.
As soon as Jim stopped, I jumped out of the Hummer. “Annie! Glenn!” I turned in a circle. “Jared! Jodie!” I started shaking.
“Annie! Glenn!” Jim bellowed. If they were anywhere around they would hear him. The only sound came from the chickens clucking inside the coop. By some miracle that building was spared and the chickens wanted out.
As we neared the coop, the door opened and a little redhead peeked out. “Allex?” said a tiny voice.
“Jared!” I almost wept with relief. Jodie rushed past him and threw herself at my legs. I bent down and picked her up. Her tiny arms circled my neck in a death grip. Jared looked up at Jim, his lip quivering, and raised his arms. Jim quickly picked up the little boy who started sobbing.
We set them down on the back bumper of the Hummer, facing away from the ruins, and got them some cool water to drink.
“Jared, can you tell us what happened?” I asked gently. It occurred to me that I had never heard Jodie utter a single word.
“Yesterday we were playing upstairs because it was raining. Annie called us down and told us to go hide in the chicken’s house. She was really scared and worried. I thought maybe the bad men came back. After we were in the coop, Annie came carrying the burpy and told me to keep it safe. She was showing me how to use it to make clean water since you left last time.”
“Oh, the Berkey,” I said aloud, not meaning to interrupt him. That she was teaching him young meant she learned that lesson well.
“Yeah. Annie said there was a fire in the wood stove and Glenn was putting it out and she had to go help him. She said we were to stay here until she came for us,” his little lip quivered again. “She never came back.”
I looked up at Jim, pleading with my eyes. He nodded and stood. While I stayed with the twins, he went to look through the still hot rubble. By the time he came back, the twins had wolfed down a half sandwich each and another cup of water.
“I have to talk with the colonel for a minute. You two stay right here, okay?” I stepped away from the Hummer and met Jim halfway to the house.
He put his arms around me and said, “You don’t want to go any further. It’s still hot, but it looks like Glenn died right at the woodstove. Annie was near the back door, and may have been trying to get out.” I leaned my forehead against his chest.
“What are we going to do, Jim? We can’t leave the twins here, they’re just babies!”
“Why don’t we all go to the Goshens’? It will get the kids away from here and maybe Lee and Kora can help us decide what to do.”
*
“We’re going to visit some friends, okay?” I told the twins, trying to smile even though it was hard.
“We have to take the burpy. Annie said I had to keep it safe,” Jared protested. Jim retrieved the water filtration unit from the coop and left the chickens penned up.
Jared sat on the empty radio console and Jodie stayed on my lap. The trip took less a half hour and she had fallen asleep almost immediately.
When Jim drove the Hummer up the drive and close to the log house, Lee and Kora came out immediately, happy to see us return. That changed to concern when they saw the children.
“Who are these little angels?” Kora asked, getting down on one knee while I set a now awake Jodi down.
The little girl eyed Kora, then reached out and stroked her loose blonde hair. “You look like my mommy. Annie said she’s in heaven now. I think Annie’s in heaven now too.”
Kora flashed her eyes up at me
“We need to talk,” I said to the Goshens.
*
Inside the big house, Kora led the children to the living room and gave them a puzzle to play with, while the adults went to the kitchen out of earshot. As quickly as we could, we explained what we had come upon. A tear ran down Kora’s pale cheek.
“They have no one now and I don’t know what to do with them,” I said. “We’re not going straight back to Moose Creek so we can’t take them with us.”
Lee was the first one to speak. “They can stay here. We’ve always wanted children, right, Kora?”
She smiled then, and said, “Looks like we have a pair of them now.” I could see the relief on Jim’s face and I closed my eyes and sighed in gratitude.
“They have nothing, Kora, only what they’re wearing,” I said.
“I’ll make them some clothes!”
“Jared insisted on bringing the Berkey,” Jim said. “Even if you don’t need it, he won’t part with it. It’s the one thing he has of his big sister.”
“Jim, what are we going to do about… Annie and Glenn?” I asked.
“Lee, you have a couple of shovels and maybe a cage for the chickens?” Jim asked. “No sense in letting the birds starve to death.” Lee nodded and they left the kitchen. Soon we saw them pull out in Lee’s pickup truck. When they returned two hours later, Annie’s chickens were turned loose in the yard, much to the pleasure and excitement of the twins. It was a familiar thing for the twins to hold on to.
*
“You will stay the night, won’t you?” Lee asked.
“Thank you, I think we should. We can’t just drop a couple of kids on you and leave,” I said, smiling at the absurdity of my statement.
“Good,” Kora said. She turned to the twins. “Come on you two let’s go see your new bedrooms!” Jodi grabbed Kora’s hand; she had made the transition very quickly, perhaps because Kora had blonde hair like her mother. Jared took my hand and the four of us climbed the wide wooden steps to the upper level of the big log house.
*
We had dinner early so the twins could get a bath and go to bed.
“They sure fell asleep quickly,” Kora noted.
“It’s been a very traumatic couple of days for them,” I said sadly. “They do seem to be resilient, though, which is in your favor – and theirs.” I paused, thinking. “They are really sweet kids and very well behaved. I want to thank you for taking them in.”
“It’s us that should be thanking you!” Lee said. “We’ve said before that we always wanted children, now this house can be a real home for all of us.”
The four of us took our drinks out to the large, wide porch to enjoy the evening breeze. The peepers set up a chorus to compete with our casual chatter as we talked into the night. A few early mosquitoes finally drove us in. We said our goodnights and went to our rooms.
“Okay, now comes the awkward moment,” Jim said, running his fingers through his short gray hair. “Would you prefer I sleep on the floor?”
“It’s a big bed, Jim, I think we can share it like adults.”
“Like adults,” he repeated with a sigh.