Storm Warning Part Two

Storm Warning Part Two

by

Diana Walker

This work of adult fiction, loosely based on characters portrayed by Russell Crowe, includes adult language and experiences; you have been warned. No copyright infringement on the original work is intended.
Copyright Diana Walker 2006.

TERRY
“Thorne here.”

“Mornin’, Sunshine! This is your wake-up call.”

We have to do a better job on training our clients on kidnap avoidance. I’m talking to Dino more now that we’re on separate continents than we ever do in the office and enjoying it less. I see the four-hour phone call schedule continuing for a long time in the future when any of the three of us is working offsite. I’ll turn Diana loose on improving the phone call system.

I grabbed some of the extra bed pillows from the floor and propped myself against the knobby headboard, opening the nightstand drawer to check what codeword I ought to be hearing soon.

“Yeah, yeah. Already had one, Mate. Diana’s out feeding the horses.” I cradled the phone between my ear and shoulder, yawned and stretched, accidentally poking Okie’s back with my fist in the process. He lifted his head enough to give me his ‘Fuck you’ stare before settling back to sleep.

“I’m off to shake an orange off the tree for breakfast. Check your email when you get to the office. Give Dee my condolences.”

I’d heard what I needed. “I’ll do both. Ta.” I reached down to give Holly a pat on her side; she woke enough to see if I needed her for anything before she, too, went back to sleep.

I bounced over Holly and out of bed, eager to see what news Dino had been unwilling to tell me over the phone. Computers and all their attendant security devices boot up slowly when you’re anxious to get news.

By the time Diana got back to the house, I could give her the good news whilst waltzing her around the room. “Dino sends his condolences, and he’s on his way home!”

Her upturned mouth became a full smile. “That negotiation was quick.” Dino had likely been more generous in his offer than normal, but the money didn’t mean a whit.

Diana’s smile became confused. “Why do I need condolences?”

“Fuck if I know. You can ask him as soon as his ugly mug walks in the door.”

Diana’s reaction to Dino’s news seemed positively restrained in comparison to Sooze’s. She leapt up from her desk where she’d been burning copies of everything on the server to send with a bonded courier to our offsite secured storage in case of a direct hit by a F5 tornado and hugged me, then Max, then me again. She’s a small woman with an incredible amount of upper body strength. Max and I settled for an exchange of satisfied smiles for fear of Sooze getting started again; I was concerned my ribs would crack. It’s good to get a successful conclusion tucked away after a difficulty.

Sooze has been our resident weather forecaster since she came on board. On more than one occasion, she’s made sure we were all well away from Downtown before an ice storm arrived. The first time she issued a weather alert, she assured us a full on fire fight with a rebel group was less dangerous than Dallas drivers on ice; after I ignored her warning on the second one, to the Jag’s detriment, when Sooze says ‘Leave,’ I take her at her word.

She was as worried as Diana about today’s possibilities though she wasn’t as glued to the telly as Diana. Sooze went straight to the source; earlier in the week, she’d changed her Net login screens to the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration’s – NOAA’s - website.

Sooze must have been waiting outside the door to hear the chairs scrape indicating the Alhambra Group had heard enough to make their decision. She hurried the three gentlemen along with a friendly, efficient, “I took the liberty of having the car brought around. I’ll be driving you to the airport myself.”

Too right, Sooze would get them to the airport as fast as the wheels on the Jag could turn and on one of the several flights leaving between 1400 and 1459; she is of the firm opinion 1500 is magic hour for thunderstorms. She would meet Sarah and Dolores at home well before her self-imposed curfew even if it cost the Jag a few dents. That left me driving her arrest me red Toyota.

It had been a good meeting no matter how often the nervous, prospective clients looked out the windows at the billowing clouds. They were all from LA and hadn’t seen that many big storms develop. With Diana’s LA heritage, she would have been a good candidate to do the sales pitch – old neighborhood discussions and all. One of them even went to uni at her school’s cross-town rival.

She’s seen the pitch often enough from me she could give the presentation herself. She started fine-tuning my staging, and when I started signing more quality clients than Dino, he volunteered for Diana’s personal sales training/presentation seminar. A little rivalry is good for us. Dino’s agreed we’re the better for Diana’s tune-up and the competition. And as for Max …Max is Max and unlikely to change his style, but as it works very well with the clients in his territory, that’s good enough for me.

As soon as Sooze and the clients had closed the door, Max started breaking down the electronics on her desk, labeling each cord as he went, and storing the components in our interior supply closet.

There was no need to worry about the wiring. When we renovated the offices and increased the security on them before Dino and I moved in, our guys had given a Herculean effort on it. The whole building may collapse except for the wiring and conduit pointing to Thorne, Espan, O’Reilly LLP. My laugh at that phallic symbol brought Max into the conference room.

“Where have you secured?”

“I’ve finished with Dino’s office and my own. Shall I work on yours whilst you finish the Alhambra quote?”

“Thanks for the offer, Maxie, but I’ll finish this up and send it along. It won’t take me long to get things shut down after I hit 'Send.' You go on. There’s no reason for both Reags and Diana to worry.” Max nodded and waved as he left me there.

I laughed at Reags and Diana worrying. If either one of them were concerned about us in a rainstorm, we’d never know about it. They’d been through a kidnapping, a major society wedding, and a potentially life-altering injury without showing undue alarm. They’re definitely the sort of women men like Max and me need in our lives. I didn’t say they were unshakeable; very likely they are. They simply will not add to our concerns by showing their own whilst we are in harm’s way.

I returned to the first draft contract. When I looked up again, a cloud that hadn’t been in the sky before covered the bottom third of the glass wall. I watched it grow before my eyes. It added what looked like cotton balls randomly – one-half way up the right side, one in front of it. When I checked its height again, I couldn’t see the top. That didn’t alarm me until I saw the lightning bolts inside it.

I attached the document to the email, sent it, and trotted out the door.

DIANA
I’d spent the day dancing around the kitchen and cooking all the meat in the freezer while The Weather Channel blared in the background. When I start the morning by dancing with Terry, the mood lasts all day. I danced because Dino was coming home, and Terry’s funk lurking below the surface charm had lifted. During the time Dino’d been gone, I’d managed not to piss Terry off, but there were times I’d spun on a dime to match his mood, and he’d already gotten himself back under control. I ended up looking moody – not the woman he needed.

I cooked because I thought if we were without power for a while from the storm, the meat had a better chance of being edible when electricity was restored. I’d done it before meeting Terry; I hadn’t minded eating plain roasted and grilled meats for a month, but I couldn’t expect him to suffer through boring meals. I’d need to find some scintillating recipes using recooked meats. Maybe I should check with Reags; she probably has recipes because she’s said they went through many, long-term power outages when she was in the Middle East.

By the time the local noon news formally announced the watch, my skin itched from my tension. All three bath tubs were filled with water, and water-filled buckets stood beside the johns waiting for flushing duty if they were needed. I had extra feed and dog food. The emergency water, food, and batteries for humans all checked as current and fresh. The emergency kit was in the closet. I didn’t dare go near the horses; they’d sense my tension, and I’d have a stampede on my hands. Neither Okie nor Holly could settle down for their afternoon naps. All I could do was wait. I hate waiting.

A nasty set of thunderclouds had started with one columnar cloud. The single cloud drew others to it. Now there was a wall of them in the southwest probably beyond Downtown. If Terry had left the office already, he could get home before the worst of it hit there. According to the NWS radar, that set of storms wouldn’t come near the farm. The second line of storms still in west Texas was the one that worried me. They were tracking directly for us.

It was so kind of the local news to give us hourly updates. An hour after I had already done my forecasting, they finally started mentioning we had more on the way. In their defense, they had more immediate problems; the clouds I had watched earlier were causing localized flooding on all the freeways.

I jumped when the phone rang.

“Hullo, Luv.”

I breathed deeply and stilled my center. I needed to act as if this was a normal phone call.

“How’d the meeting go?”

“It went well. I got away from the office later than I had planned, but I’m on my way home now.”

“Oh, good. Has it started raining yet?”

I could hear the rustle and a clunk of a cell phone bumping against a window. I could hear the splats of many, big, heavy raindrops landing. Interspersed was the ping of hail hitting metal.

“It’s raining buckets. I can scarcely see beyond the bonnet. My visibility, or lack thereof, doesn’t matter though. Central is a parking lot.”

“You’ve been working on contracts. Were attorneys involved today?”

He laughed at his inability to shake the jargon. “No attorneys today. Part of Tom’s service to us as our attorney is teaching us to do the boilerplate for his review. He’d be so proud his vocabulary training has stuck.”

“How far north are you?” There’s a very low stretch of 75 that was already flooded; he might have already passed it.

“I think Mockingbird is the next exit.”

“Take the exit. Central is flooded in front of you. Wait it out at Max’s old flat.” I guessed Terry hadn’t listened to the news at all today. “There’ll be a window of clear weather before the next batch arrives.”

“I called to get some alternate routes not lodging recommendations. I’d like to get home sometime today.”

“What color is the sky?” Now that would confuse him. He called for directions, and I’m asking about the sky he’s already told me he can’t see. “I’m not crazy. Do you see any sickly, fluorescent green around you?”

“Many shades of grey, but no green but for the mini van beside me.”

“That’s good. Use your devastating smile on the women drivers and get off the freeway. I’d rather have you safe at Max’s than try to get home. We’re fine. This line of storms won’t come anywhere near us.” He didn’t need to know about the later ones yet.

“Are you ordering me to flirt?”

“Yes.” We were both laughing.

“I’ll charm them into giving me the side streets to take.”

“You’ll look like a drowned rat sticking your head out the window to hear them. Not a good look for you, Boomer.”

“Fuck. You’re feeling amorous, and I’m stuck in traffic. Diana, I’m NOT going to Max’s.” Right. Miranda lives across the hall.

“Give me a tic.” Greenville will be as bad as Central; Preston takes him too far west and is as bad as Greenville. “Hillcrest! Take Hillcrest!”

“Don’t shout, Diana. I don’t want the rest of the drivers to know my plans and crowd the roadway.”

“Take Mockingbird west over to Hillcrest and hang a right. At least you won’t get pulled over in the Jag going through Highland Park.”

“I’m in Sooze’s Camry. I’ll tell you about it when I get home.”

I kept giving him directions in case his cell battery failed. “Stay on Hillcrest until you go under 635. After that when you see a street name you recognize, hang a right, and come back to 75. Try to stay on Hillcrest as long as you can. Central through Plano will be stop and go. Dinner’s going to be soup and sandwiches; I won’t reheat the soup until you get home.”

I heard a thump, and Terry’s frustrated “Fuck!” followed by a shouted, “I dropped the phone. I don’t know if you can still hear me. I can’t fish round for it right now. I’m getting off and taking Hillcrest. Hang up, and I’ll see you when I get home. Thanks for the directions, Lady.” Even shouted, his voice caressed me.

What he said about the Camry didn’t register until he pulled into the garage two hours later.

“I’m so glad you’re safe.” His arms around me made me forget how worried I had been.

“I only hope no one ever finds out I called for directions.”

“I’ll never tell the other boys.”

TERRY
Dinner was a hurried affair with Diana watching the weather over my shoulder. I’ve been through typhoons in the jungle and the occasional one back home on the coast of New South Wales, but then I had sense enough to listen to the natives and my parents who knew how to survive them and did what they told me. My lousy commute had been caused by my inability to follow Diana and Sooze’s combined cautions.

Diana had compromised with my repeated pleas to turn off the TV; she turned off the sound but sat so she could glance at the screen. A little weather reporting goes a long way in my book.

“Now tell me again why Sooze has the Jag.”

“She took the clients to the airport and went home from there. She listened to her own advice.”

“Now I understand why you had to call. The Camry doesn’t have GPS?” I nodded my assent. “And you couldn’t use your ear plug for the phone?”

“I left the office pretty quickly. It’s there. I didn’t think I’d need it.”

My belly was full; my eyes had finally stopped peering through sheets of rain; Diana was snugged into my side stroking my ear, a large torch beside her. I must have dropped off. A lightning strike and accompanying thunderclap nearby brought me back to full alert.

“How long was I asleep?”

“Only about 15 minutes.”

We watched a staggering light show lighting the southwest sky march towards us. The human eye or brain doesn’t register the individual bolts; we only see the sharp, all-encompassing white light that illuminates the sky. The wind picked up, and the branches in the tree line, which separates the front paddock from the back, were rubbing the utility wires. The yellow, orange, and blue sparks dropped towards the grass below. The only thing that kept a brush fire from consuming the paddock was the deluge; the rain extinguished the sparks before they could hit the ground.

With this much close lightning, the computer has normally been shut down for 30 minutes. Diana left my side to boot up the computer. She turned the monitor so I could see it from where I sat. I flinched on our ‘no sound on the telly’ compromise when the weatherman came on the screen. I turned the sound back on.

“… line of storms strengthening. We’re beginning to see rotation here, and persons in southwest Denton County should seek shelter immediately.”

He continued, but Diana started discussing a different cell than the weatherman; she was looking at the NWS radar on-line. I wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself as she is wont to do when analyzing a situation or if she was addressing me.

“The TV weathermen aren’t showing this cell yet,” as she pointed to her own screen. “This one is headed straight for us. Maybe it’ll blow itself out before it gets here. It’s still 20 miles away.” She didn’t allow her computer to go through its shut down routine; she went straight to the power switch to turn it off and unplugged it from the surge protector.

“We have another hour or two of this,” I motioned towards the windowed western wall in the lounge, “before the damaging storm arrives?”

“Yes.” Diana’s voice was tight, not a sign of lightness in it. “I’ve never see it this bad. The local news guys even pre-empted the first 15 minutes of Ellen this afternoon.”

“That cost them lots of revenue.”

“Not only in ad revenues. Can you imagine everyone from the cameramen to the station's General Manager fielding the irate phone calls because viewers were missing their favorite show?” ‘Can you imagine’ is how Diana starts her best riffs, the ones that make me collapse in helpless laughter. She plays all the parts and is appallingly accurate in the thought processes for each part she plays.

We settled in to watch the storm around us, await news about the next one, and discuss the day. After each commercial break, the station would take two minutes for updates, assuring viewers the program would be seen in its entirety. They had learnt their lesson earlier in the day.

Diana watched intently. It was the only time my normally placid Diana was still tonight. She fidgeted no matter how tightly I held her down. I threatened to take her to the bedroom and tie her limbs to the brass bed spindles. She stopped long enough to say, “Kinky,” and returned to squirming on the sofa, this time out of my reach. Holly watched what was going on outside with some trepidation; Okie wandered through the house looking for anything he could destroy.

Diana made no move to re-start the computer for original research. It had been too dangerous before but her ‘need to know’ accurate, real time information overwhelmed her good sense. The power had surged several times causing the lights and telly to flicker, pop, and then come back on.

During the most recent power fluctuation and the resulting darkness, another of the more frequent lightning flashes lasted long enough for us to see outside. Diana’s voice was frozen. “It’s a wall cloud.”

Diana became resolute and a flurry of purposeful motion. “Terry, I need you to listen to me and don’t stop to ask questions …there’s no time. I need your help. I want you to get the dogs in the bedroom closet. Get ALL the water out of the hall closet, and if you want a beer in the next 30 days, grab a slab of it. Get the box of food in the pantry floor. Only if you have enough time, go to the library. I have a safe in the closet. You haven’t seen it yet, or at least I don’t think you have, but if you move a God-awful olive colored tablecloth to the side, you’ll see it.” She scribbled the combination on a sheet of paper from the pad on the coffee table and handed it to me. “Get everything out of there.

“Get settled in the closet. Change into your BDU’s and your boots. I have to let the horses out.”

I started to argue with her, but something in the way she stressed the ‘I’ made me stop. I pulled her to me, but as soon as she was there, she was pushing away from me. My hand on her face was our only physical connection.

“We may have five minutes, tops. After you get the water and food, if you hear a freight train sound, get into the closet with the dogs. Leave everything else. I love you.”

Don’t leave it unsaid, Thorne. “I love you, Diana.” She smiled with all the love in the world on her face before she was gone. I could hear the rustle of her blue slicker and the door to the outside close.

DIANA
I tried to run between the sheets of rain and let the wind blow me to the north side of the barn; it was easier and quicker than fighting it. I ignored what a target I made for the lightning. The horses were restless in their stalls, forgetting their entertainment hay, before I walked into the barn; I could hear Rabbit kicking his wooden stall over the wind, rain, and almost constant thunder as I neared the barn.

I trailed my hand over the curious noses that poked out of their stalls as I walked to the south doors and closed them. Couldn’t have the herd circling the barn once it was turned loose and coming back inside. I grabbed a driving whip from the tack room to encourage the reluctant ones to leave, tucked it in my armpit, and started opening stall doors, leaving Rabbit for last. With their doors open, Gillie ambled out to watch me unbuckle the halters and lead ropes from their wire mesh upper stall fronts and drape the cotton rope around my neck. Gaydrian had all four feet planted; he was not going to move willingly. He wanted the safety of his own stall; he didn’t understand his ‘security’ could kill him if the barn collapsed. Rabbit let me lead him by the mane out the doors, stopped, and turned his butt to the rain, dropping his head to chest level to keep the worst of the wind off his head. He would be no help in getting the rest of the horses away from the barn.

Pretty Woman had been the boss mare, and the small herd didn’t have a strong mare to lead them now that she was back at the breeding station with her colt. Gillie brushed past me, and I saw Honey, the mare I hated, walk into Gaydrian’s stall; I feared the worst. Two big horses in a stall built for one is a disaster in the making. She politely nipped him on the rump to start him moving; he did. Honey has a strong sense of self-preservation. Her genes told her they were safer outside in a storm, and she was safer with a herd. I may have to revise my opinion of her. Her look at me as she trotted into the storm told me she thought I certainly should.

As soon as everyone cleared the doorway, I rolled the doors shut with me inside. I hauled the two banana noses from the storage stall, opened the south doors enough for me to slide out, and headed for the house.

When I turned to look for the horses when the lightning flashed, they had disappeared.

TERRY
I grabbed the dogs’ collars so Diana didn’t have to fight them staying in the house without her. When I heard the bedroom door to the outside close, I let them go. They both ran to the door to watch for her.

Holly gave up quickly and ‘helped’ me move goods from their respective storage areas into the closet. Along with my assigned priorities, I hauled my own wardrobe-sized kitchen box from the extra bedroom, not out of any egotistical, materialistic idea. Diana hadn’t mentioned anything about pots in her quick briefing. She probably has one billy for everything in her emergency kit. With my pre-boxed kitchen, we could pool everyone’s food and cook for the area on a gas grill if we all lost everything.

I kept moving whilst I thought about losing everything. The things could be replaced. Diana couldn’t. I understood why she had only pre-staged the emergency supplies; once we all got into the closet, it would be a snug fit even without the wardrobe box of kitchen supplies she hadn’t requested. I even understood why she went out in the storm to the barn instead of letting me do so. She had more experience dealing with frightened horses; I could easily do the work in the house. I still didn’t like it.

No freight train sound yet, but the wind was blowing harder. The upper branches of the trees in the dog yard were bent almost to the ground. My last task was to get the documents from the safe. I moved the stack of tablecloths aside and found the safe. I dialed the combination, grabbed the contents, stuffed them into a raffia carryall with knitting needles and yarn compressed in the bottom as if they hadn’t been disturbed in years, and got Holly and I back to the bedroom. Okie cast a glance our way before returning to his vigil at the door.

I stripped off and changed into field uniform and boots. Holly curled up on the floor where my boots had stood moments before. The well-used clothing helped put some steel in my spine to face getting Diana’s little bugger into the closet. The uniform was loose enough that if he took a bite at me, he would only get fabric and not me. I scooped Okie up in both arms with little resistance from him – a serious growl and lip curl. He was much too intent on watching for her to confront me. I am a minor inconvenience in his life now; without Diana, he feared his life would end. We did share that notion in common. His head swiveled to keep her last known indoor location in sight as I carried him round the bed and snagged the duvet and Diana’s pillow from the bed.

I dumped him in the back corner of the closet with the duvet on top of him. It would slow him down if he wanted to escape the closet. I’d be damned if I would close the door before Diana was back with us. “She’ll be back any minute, ya little bugger.” When he burrowed out from his covering, he looked like he doubted my words. Holly looked up; she, too, doubted me, and her worried look matched mine until the outside door opened.

Diana’s hair was plastered to her head; gone were the bouncy curls framing her face. She looked like she was wearing a choker of halters round her neck. Under one arm were two fold-up cots and under the other a riding crop. She was soaked under the vinyl raincoat that reached to her knees. Her teeth had started to chatter.

She had never looked more beautiful to me.

DIANA
I could barely move away from the French door that could break any minute from the force of the winds. Terry was getting sopping wet from the bear hug one of us wouldn’t release; I don’t know which one was holding on harder. Holly leapt for joy, and Okie was wending his way through our legs.

“Strip.” Terry wants me naked. I didn’t realize storms heightened his libido.

“Fast or slow?” Either way, I can lure him away from the windows and get us where we’re safer if the windows break.

“Fast.” He didn’t even stay to watch. Talk about hurting a girl’s feelings. I dropped clothes and accessories on the way to the closet.

He reappeared with two big bath towels, kicked the door shut locking all four of us inside, and started rubbing my freezing body vigorously with one. He started functionally and finished cherishing me. He ran his hands over my every part. He was definitely not looking for injuries. I finally started warming up when he opened his cammo jacket and drew me in to share his body heat momentarily.

“I do prefer you like this, but practicality says you need to dress.”

I snuck out the door to the highboy just outside, jumped into non-sexy knickers, and grabbed a pair of socks and a sports bra. The rest of my bad storm clothes were in the closet. Terry looked distinctly unimpressed with my choices – denim riding pants, one of our shared t-shirts, riding socks, and my tall riding boots.

“All kinds of critters will be looking for new homes tomorrow. You may wish you had taller boots for protection. I had a family of snakes move into the front flower bed after one storm.” At his doubting look, I backtracked. “OK, only one snake. I named him Oscar until a baby crawled up on the mowing deck; I changed the big snake’s name to Oscarina.” The storm’s noise was increasing. The crashes of thunder were almost continuous, and the house had started to complain about the wind; it wasn’t quite creaking, but it was close. The electric company had certainly improved its service from when I first moved here; the lights continued to flicker but kept returning.

Terry grabbed the comforter and between both our efforts, we got a makeshift bed and debris cover organized. The closet’s too narrow for the banana noses to fit side by side, and a single cot is too flimsy for both of us; we’d be on the floor in minutes. It’s better to start on the floor. He situated us with our heads deeply under the hanging clothes. We shared the same pillow and settled in to wait it out.

“So …do you think there’ll be a tomorrow?” Terry spoke loudly in my ear.

“Now that I’m back with you, yeah, I do.” My shout to him didn’t convey the emotion; it’s very hard to sound loving when one is nearly shouting. I hoped I at least looked loving as I pulled back to see him. It’s true. As long as we’re together, I can handle anything. I leaned back into his ear; he held me there cheek to cheek, mouth to ear, the perfect way to carry on a conversation with the storm raging. “Our surroundings may look like crap, but we’ll get through whatever it brings.”

“How’d the horses do?”

“Honey appears to have taken over the herd. They’ll be fine if she listens to Rabbit. He’s been around the longest; he knows where the safe places are to shelter from bad weather.”

“The next time you go out to deal with frightened horses, I’m going with you. I didn’t argue with you tonight, but you won’t go out alone again.” Terry had laid down the law. His tone said it was not up for discussion.

He changed the subject before I had a chance to agree with him. “It’s been over eight minutes since you saw the wall cloud.”

“Apparently, it didn’t have a tornado in it; not all of them do. I couldn’t tell if there was a green tinge to it. Coming back from the barn the wind caught the beds and almost took them away from me. It must be blowing 50 or 60 miles per hour steady; I’d hate to guess what the gusts are now. The rain felt like needles even through my layers. I have no idea how deep the squall line is. It can’t go on like this much longer.” I sounded scared even to myself. Scared? Hell, I was terrified.

Terry’s shouted reassurance made me feel better but no less petrified. “As long as we crawl out of here together, we can live anywhere for a while. We’ve got TEO people strung all over the Metroplex; the storm can’t get all of us. Any one of the group would be willing to put us up for a while.”

My throat was getting sore from shouting to be heard; I gave up trying and laid silently in our cocoon listening to the pounding, shrieking, wailing outside for minutes. Terry eventually pulled back and cocked his head; it was still too loud to talk without shouting. I nodded and smiled faintly in agreement. The worst was over.

I can only stay scared for so long. I dropped off to sleep, boots and all, probably in the middle of some inane blabbling to Terry only to waken when the overhead light went out.

“We didn’t lose power, Lady. I turned it off.” Terry scooted to me and stretched out on his back, his hands clasped under his head. I doubled my pillow by putting my head on his bicep. “It’s over. Go back to sleep.”

“Where’d you go? I didn’t feel you leave.” I mumbled sleepily.

Terry giggled. “Look around. This may be exceedingly large for a closet or my self-appointed dog house, but it’s small for living quarters. I was never out of arm’s reach.”

“How’d you entertain yourself? Did you have a giggle at my snoring?”

“I watched the strain go out of your face. I sorted through the safe’s contents. I saw my name on the deed for the first time.” His face had the same combination of shock and gratitude as when he first found out what I had done.

I’d told him about adding his name to the deed at our own celebration after Max and Reags’ wedding. Deeds are not the type of document you cart around like your driver’s license; I had nothing to show him. We’d forgotten about it after that night.

“What interested you most?” Terry stiffened. I was wide awake now. I’d forgotten what was in there.

“Your Pearl Harbour files.”

“You read them.” He would. I had kept the notes I jotted down nightly when I was operational with DoD and stuck them in there. There was little detail; I’d used the first letter for names and places and never referred to operational names. The only identifier I’d used was dates. I’d written frustrations, funny things that happened, fears. I doubted I could even remember any of the names. All the operations were declassified now, just not spoken about in public. Terry wasn’t the public. “What do you want to know?”

“What do you want to tell me?”

“It was another lifetime ago. I’m not that same arrogant, unfeeling woman. Because of you, those men aren’t statistics anymore – calculated mortality risks to be assessed, skills to be slotted. I wouldn’t be as good at that job any more.”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

We had no warning. The house shuddered, and we heard the “Craaaaaaack” of wood splitting and disintegrating. Terry rolled over me, knocking me to my back and covering me with his body. My head hit the carpet as he yanked the pillow from beneath me to protect his head and neck from what surely must be the house collapsing on us.

We waited only moments, and when nothing else happened, we scrambled to our feet, grabbing flashlights. Terry flipped the light switch, and to both our surprise, the overhead fluorescent light flickered on. He pulled the door open and cautiously looked into the bedroom; I peered around his arm. The bedside lamps come on when power returns from an outage even if they have been off when the power goes out. From their dim light we saw the upper reaches of my much beloved, shady cottonwood at the foot of our bed; the thicker part of the trunk had destroyed a five-foot section of the outer wall. The windows were shattered, and I could look up and see the stars through the gash in the roof. The tree leaves fluttered in the peaceful breeze that seems to follow the worst of storms.

The dogs saw the chance to escape their confines and took it. Holly started sniffing the new decoration. Okie made sure he marked the tree again to let any other dogs who came by know this was his territory before he investigated further. He thought he had his priorities right.

“What the fuck?” Terry is eloquent at times.

“The rain must have loosened the roots, and it fell over. The west wind pushing on it helped it fall this way.”

Normal traffic patterns were out of the question; we couldn’t get past the tree without walking on top of it. We crawled over the bed to the French door and turned on the porch light to see the downed tree’s arboreal partner still standing.

Broken branches were everywhere. Some were from other of our trees; some belonged to neighbors’ trees blown into our yard by the winds. The lightweight porch table and chairs had come to rest down by the kitchen; I crawled over the tree trunk blocking my path, walked down the porch, and righted them. The table and chairs had a few dings and gouges but wouldn’t have to be replaced immediately. It was a small repair, but it was the first of hundreds that would have to be done in the following weeks. Righting the table and chairs was a start at bringing order out of chaos, something I could focus on. I stood transfixed by them. I felt nothing.

From the sound of his voice, Terry was by our remaining tree. I couldn’t focus that far away. “Diana, Luv, come off the porch and come here to me, please.” Like a robot, I followed his directions and walked to the sound of his voice.

“Turn on your torch and put it over there by mine. The porch light doesn’t reach that side of the tree.” I was still an automaton. I saw his hand stretched out to me. I grabbed for it.

“Good girl. Stand here in front of me.” He arranged me where he wanted me. I stared at the tree trunk and its peeling, rough bark.

“Put your hands on the trunk, and when I tell you, we’ll push.” He waited for me to move my arms on my own volition. I did.

“Good. If this tree falls over, it’ll be in the yard, not the house. Ready?” I nodded.

I noticed his hands below mine. That was odd. He’s taller than I am; his hands should be above mine. Leverage, he’s going for leverage. His brute strength at the base can loosen any roots that want to give way.

He kissed my cheek. Did he just give me a sloppy kiss or is the wetness tears?

“Right then, now push.” Terry’s shoulders and arms swelled; my thighs pushed on his. We put all our combined weight and power into our hands from our different centers of strength and pushed. I watched the second tree topple in slow motion. Terry snatched me backwards away from the roots emerging from the sodden earth, fell with a ‘thud’ sound on his back, and rolled away from the falling tree. I ended up face down in the mud under him.

“Are you owrright?”

I didn’t dare open my mouth for fear of getting a mouthful of mud to answer him. I poked my butt into his belly in answer, asking him to get off me with the gesture. He slid, face down, beside me.

I lifted my head to speak. “Now that I’m not eating mud, I think I’m fine. How ‘bout you?”

“I rolled over something sharp. Can you check?”

I rolled him to his side so the porch lights shone on his back and pulled up his shirt to examine his back. A small red spot was forming on his lower back. “No punctures, but it looks like you’ll have a bruise.” I lightly kissed the spot where the bruise would form.

“I couldn’t be sure if it was a branch or one of Oscarina’s fangs.” We looked like a couple of drunks helping each other up, retrieving our flashlights, and checking around the house for other damage on the outside. From the number of different roofing tiles on the lawns, several houses along the road besides us will be getting new roofs. We’d argue tomorrow who was in better shape to check our roof more closely – Terry wouldn’t want me up that high; I’d worry about his back and general achiness. We could see other flashlights up and down the road bobbing around as everyone started checking for what damage they could in the limited light. We ended our tour in the dog yard watching Okie walking the downed trees like a lumberjack. I checked his feet for glass cuts; Holly rolled onto her back for Terry to have an easier time of his inspection. Holly had sliced one of her front pads. She held still for him to disinfect and wrap it while I fought with Okie to keep him out of the debris field in the bedroom as I picked up the shards before vacuuming up the smaller pieces.

I almost carped at Terry about getting mud on the carpet and stopped. It was enough that he was mostly uninjured, and we were together. A little mud wouldn’t hurt for the present. With the rebuilding the bedroom needed, new carpeting would be a necessity.

When I built the house and barn, the best thing I ever did was ask the builder if I could have a switch in the house for the barn aisle lights. He not only put one in the bedroom but in the kitchen as well. I flipped on the barn lights to show the horses the way home and saw horse heads weaving around in the stalls. They’d beat me to it. I must not have closed the doors tightly or the wind worked them open. If there is the smallest gap where the doors join, Rabbit can work it open. He must have led the herd back in as soon as the clouds cleared.

We got the dogs back into the closet for safekeeping. They’d only be going out closely supervised until we could see, and Terry and I walked out to the barn, arms around each other as we’ve done many times before. It was a special walk tonight. Terry held me tighter to his side. I couldn’t talk; Terry didn’t. We were safe and together. The dogs were fine. We were on our way to see how the horses fared.

My priorities were to keep a horse riot from breaking out in case one of the horses got into the wrong stall and check for injuries and damage. By the time everyone was in their proper place and Terry threw entertainment hay to keep them occupied until morning, we had completed our initial check for obvious injuries like bones sticking through skin; there was nothing, thank God. Terry watched how I felt Rabbit’s legs for sprains and pushed on frogs looking for tenderness then tried it himself. He did fine except for Gillie and Gaydrian snuffling him for carrots.

“That’s not a carrot, Girl.” He sounded good natured enough.

I looked up to see Terry pushing Gillie’s searching nose away from his crotch.

We slapped the horse equivalent of Polysporin on the minor cuts and scrapes that were probably caused by the unsupervised melee when the horses returned to the barn. The medication has a yellow tint; all the horses now looked like odd colored Appaloosas.

Once back in the house I washed the worst of the mud off at the deep sink in the mud room and walked the ten steps to start a pot of coffee. We still had to check on the closest neighbors. I needed a strong cup for the caffeine. I’d used up my adrenalin reservoir several times today. Terry came in with both cell phones in his hands. I welcomed the way he crowded my coffee making efforts.

“Neither one is getting a signal.” He peered into the basket. “Put in another couple of scoops. I need it stronger.”

“What? No ‘please’ this time?”

“I save my begging for when I need help pushing over trees or jolting beautiful women out of shock.”

I turned to make my apology to his face. “I’m sorry I fell apart.”

“You’d been concerned all week. Your worst fears came real.”

“Not my worst fear. My worst fear was that you’d get hurt by being stubborn and ignoring an overwrought female.”

“You are pleasantly female. For the rest I have no comment. Let’s get you washed up and make some phone calls.” One finger stroked my cheek. “You missed a spot.”

TERRY
The land phone line was still functioning, and we used the answerphone to call. Dino’d been stranded in Miami on his way home; all flights to DFW had been cancelled from 1900 to 2330. He’d be in as soon as he could get a flight.

Max and Reags had gotten some rain; they’d arrive here by daybreak. I knew Max would have chainsaw in hand, and Reags would have …whatever sheila’s carry along with them in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Knowing Reags, that would be comfort food. Some mac and cheese sounded good about now.

Sooze had gotten nothing – no lightning, no wind, no rain – but offered their pullout sleeper sofa if we wanted to get out of here. Diana shook her head, and I declined Sooze’s kind offer; we had too much to do and too many animals to leave. Our phone call to Nancy and Bill woke them. They’d slept through it. Bill will also bring his chainsaw tomorrow to help get the bloody tree out of our bedroom.

Diana and I walked next door to check on Yvette. She and the kids were fine, though shaken. It was the first time I’d felt like she wasn’t about to make a move on me. The large gathering of neighbors at her house put her off stride.

The local news trucks finished filming the damage at 0100. Holly was NOT pleased with strange men with lights tramping about in her yard. Okie saw them as new people to charm and did his lumberjack impersonation for the cameras. We’ll likely see the little bugger on the morning news.

Diana and I walked the front paddock together at first light looking for anything that might injure the horses before letting their restless spirits out of the barn. From the branches we picked up, we shouldn’t need fireplace kindling for the next few winters, and the two trees should hold us for wood once the chainsaws got to work.

After flipping a coin to settle our debate about who would search the back pasture this morning, Diana went back to the house to start breakfast. I continued to check the back for foreign objects. The mindless searching gave me time to think.

Diana’s said the house is almost perfect as is. According to her, David Allgood, the architect/builder she used, did a great job. When I ask her about some ingenious design, it’s her idea, not his. She doesn’t give herself enough credit for the design.

She’s said she’d like to make a few changes but not enough to go through the bother remodeling brings. Last night’s storm forced us into a reconstruction project. We might as well get it all done at once. The construction crew can add in the lights over the bar between the kitchen and lounge. The wet bar in the lounge is on the common wall with the bedroom. In an idle moment of dreaming, Diana said she’d like access to it without having to walk into the lounge. With an office-sized refrigerator squeezed under the sink, we’d rarely have to leave the bedroom. I rather like the idea. Ah, decadence! Thy name is Diana Walker.

By the time I turned and walked back to the house, I had the plans drawn in my head. Now all I had to do was get them down on paper to show the builder.

Diana was sitting at the outdoor table drinking coffee and watching the horses enjoying the clear morning when she spotted me and waved. She disappeared into the house momentarily and returned carrying a second cup. She met me in the paddock with the coffee.

I took a sip. When we get back to the house, I’ll have to mark this date on the calendar; Diana’s coffee is too strong. I noted hers was white with coffee creamer.

“I used the pot from last night like a sour dough starter. Too strong?”

“A little. Leave out the starter next time.” Diana sighed at her inability to make coffee. She’s never been that fond of it; days can go by without her drinking a drop. However, she can’t go a day without tea. We’ve got the context worked out now about the meaning of ‘tea.’ For Diana, that means iced tea, the worst abomination God ever allowed to be created, and she drinks it even on the coldest of days. I shudder at the thought.

“Did something awful happen in back? You flinched.” Diana’s inching her way to put her arm round me.

“I was thinking about tea. You know, tea is really a proper cuppa. How I ever let you talk me into making the base for your evil concoction ….”

“Oh, no, Boomer. We are not having that conversation again. Today is going to be hard enough waiting for the adjuster. We can’t get the damned tree out of the bedroom until he gets here.” She softened a little to see if I can give. “What’s the matter? Get up on the wrong side of the floor?”

We’d been too tired last night to check for glass in the mattress and sheets. We’d slept on our makeshift bed in the closet.

I had to laugh. “You know, I’d always thought the first time I’d sleep in the closet would be alone.”

“We did have more company than I liked. Holly thought I was hurting you.” Diana’s a quick one sometimes. ‘Hurt’ prompted her to tug my shirt out, dart behind me, and peer at my back.

“Okie didn’t want to come near us. That’s what a well-timed foot in his face can do. What are you looking at?”

“Your bruise. It’s much bigger this morning. I don’t think sleeping on the floor did it any favors. I’ll get the bed in the guest room made up right after breakfast. It’ll be ready when you take a break. Promise me you’ll let Max and Bill do the most of the chainsaw work. I don’t want you to get hurt cutting up the tree. Remember, they both got a good night’s sleep. Except for our phone calls.”

We were both tired, but Diana was at least recognising how likely she was to be snippy today and finding ways to accommodate my tetchiness. “I promise not to get hurt today.” It was the biggest compromise I could give her.

“Did the back forty make it through? No branches?”

“Both the cell and wi fi antennas came off the water tower. I left them lying where they fell. The companies need to take photos for their insurance carriers, and they may be able to salvage some parts. We’ll need to keep the horses in the front paddock today. And yes, I locked the gate.”

She opened and then snapped her mouth closed. Her lips became a thin line. I think my plans to add to the bedroom reconstruction just went up in smoke with six short words. I could kiss access to the wet bar from the bedroom and my small beer refrigerator good bye unless I throw something else in to sweeten the pot. At least, it wasn’t my arse or hers I was kissing goodbye.

I’ll offer to let her check the roof.

We were hip deep in workmen and dust.

Access to the bar was in; Diana negotiated some other improvements to be included into my plan. Diana was adding stalls and a wash rack onto the barn. The covering for the arena would go in later; work on the arena floor, the footing Diana had informed me during the negotiation between us, had started. The ground had been leveled; the underground drainage system installed. The sand would be delivered shortly. All that so the horses will have a solid foundation for their feet when we ride there.

We were enclosing the porch just outside the bedroom with glass; the air-conditioning contractor was having a go at getting the area balanced. The tree contractor would plant and monitor two 15-foot cottonwoods to replace our hammock trees.

I calculate my moment of tetchiness will cost me upwards of $75k. The woman drives a hard bargain – at least with me.

NOTES

F5	The Fujita scale measures the intensity of a tornado based on the destruction caused. Because of the spontaneous nature of tornadoes accurate statistical measurements can rarely be taken during the actual event. Scroll down to see the scale at this site. Fujita Scale Information

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