The cracks in the highways into Seaview prevented traffic from coming in and out. Some of the ferries to Baytown had been pushed onto the land, tearing into the marinas, by the fierce tidal wave which came with the earthquake. Downtown Seaview was underwater.
The police reported deaths in the areas near the fault line. Over 1,000 people were missing just in Seaview alone. But, all this news was word of mouth, as all the media coverage stopped because of severe damage to the grid.
Carole had gone to the shops the day after Christmas and put most of her stuff in Anabelle's car. She suffered much less than her neighbor shopkeepers. But, the boutique had been ruined, as it had stood on edge of the marina shopping area, the cutest and most popular area for tourists.
Nothing remained of those shops. The ocean had come in like giant hands, grabbed them and took them back out to sea, as if to say "These are now mine." David and Anabelle's apartment was on the far east side, which experienced the earthquake, but not the tidal wave.
Carole was safe, for the moment. In her area, the problem was the horrible damage to the streets. Suddenly, the day after, which was December 27th, looters appeared out of nowhere. The governor declared martial law. But, all up and down the coast in Oregon, Washington and even Canada, the damage could hardly be appropriated. This was the largest natural disaster since Katrina as far as deaths were concerned. And the area affected was larger than the disaster area in the Gulf.
David and Anabelle were away, on their honeymoon, as David insisted on taking Anabelle out of the town before the day of visitation, as they called it. Cell phone towers were down, so Carole had no way of knowing how they were, but she assumed OK. The couple had gone east to Coeur d'Alene and were due back on December 31st. Father Andrew was sequestered somewhere unknown with the Bishop, as planned. The assessors could not come into any of the churches, as the roads were mostly closed, even in the countryside, as were airports and bus depots. It was as if, thought Carole, that nature had revolted to the violence planned by men and women and had become a thing of vengeance. But, she knew that was not true.
James had miraculously decided to visit Carole and take her out the day of the earthquake, the 26th. But, it happened before they left the apartment. Being a warehouse, made of steel and concrete to withstand earthquakes, the building had swayed and incurred some damage, but survived almost intact. There was no electricity or water, however. Carole was thankful that Anabelle had been one of those survivor types. The hall closet was chock-a block with packets of food, large bottles of water, odd ways of cooking things without gas or electricity, and a generator. Tomas had disappeared before the first shock, but emerged after the worst was over. He was following Carole around everywhere, crying loudly. She gave him some cat treats.
The two heard sirens. "Well, some streets must be open. That is an ambulance." Carole nodded. She was eating some type of berry breakfast dinner with granola and drinking juice.
"The president has made this an official disaster area." James said. "And, I think it is time for a move. This disaster will not put off the original plans for shutting down the churches, and the damage done, moves against diocesan properties will be made. I know that."
"Good grief, James, will they go ahead with all this when so many people are already suffering. I mean, churches which are are providing shelter and food, I am sure."
"You do not understand the bureaucratic mind," James answered. Carole nodded again. "You can say that, again. Should I just take Tomas and move now. I have lost one shop and the other, well, to be honest, it would take too much money and time to fix it up again, and my heart is not in it. It looks like nature helped me make a big decision."
James reached over for coffee Carole had mysteriously made with some of Anabelle's military canteen type apparatus. He was enjoying the incongruity of the pink tree and the military camp like take over of the living room. Tomas was begging for more treats.
"I have a temporary solution. Andrew and I have kept the condo in Florida my parents left us. I have used it once or twice. You can stay there until we see how these new plans against the Church take shape. If you can move, that is, and you can have one cat there."
"Hmm," Carole replied. "I do not think I am in a position to refuse anything. Insurance claims on the shop will take months. I have most of my stuff here. But, moving things is impossible. What did people do in Katrina?"
James took another health breakfast bar. "I do not know for sure. I think people just did what they could do at the time." A cell phone rang. Both James and Carole looked for theirs. James had turned his off a day ago. It was Carole's ringtone.
"Anabelle, how are you and where are you?" Carole, relieved, sat down. "OK, just stay there, then. I am fine and James is here. We are camping out."
James laughed. They were camping out. "Bye, sure, do not worry. We are talking about how to get out of here. No problem."
"They are going to stay where they are and will come back only to move again. David has a job offer."
James became interested, "Where?"
"You won't believe this. Arlington."
James smiled. Life was becoming a bit too predictable.
To be continued....
