Home » The Archives » Chapter 9 » Regrouping and Recouperation
| Re: Regrouping and Recouperation [message #127 is a reply to message #126] |
Sun, 22 July 2012 19:00   |
artisticrainey
Messages: 1228
Registered: July 2012
Location: Northern Ireland
Karma:
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Field Commander
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Monday, August 6, 1:45 PM,Kansas (11:45 AM same day, L.A.; Tuesday, August 7, 6:45 AM, Tracy Island)
Marion pulled her van up next to the foundation of the Tracy home. Nothing remained above the ground. Debris covered part of the cellar. Other parts of the house were spread out over the surrounding fields. Virgil could see the tractor, bright yellow, upside down about a quarter mile away.
The family climbed out of the car and walked over to one of the open areas in the cellar. Virgil shined a flashlight down the steps. They were clear. Virgil and John went down them. Grandma and Marion followed. Halfway down, Grandma suddenly sat down, as if her legs had suddenly given out.
"Grandma, are you ok?" John turned and went back up the stairs toward her.
"No, I'm not ok. But I'll recover." She smiled, a little shakily. 'I'd lived in this house for 60 years. It's a shock to find something you've always thought of as so solid just," she shivered, "tossed away like this."
"Hey. The storm cellar is still intact. So if anyone had been here, they would have been ok." Virgil shut the door to the side room. "In fact, most of the basement looks untouched."
"When your grandfather's great-grandparents built this place they couldn't afford to build the house at first. So they built the basement and lived in it for two years before building the house. It was built to last." Grandma smiled, a bit sadly. "They had seven kids at the time. If the basement could stand that I suspect the tornado was easy."
"I see you did your canning again last year, Marion. There are plenty of empty jars to do this year's canning." John was looking at shelves of canning jars, still standing as if nothing had happened.
"Hey Grandma," Virgil called. "Here's a bunch of boxes, including your Christmas decorations. And it looks like some boxes of our old stuff."
John wandered over and opened a box at random. "Here are Alan's old cowboy boots. Remember them? And our old rocking horse," he added, noticing it in the corner.
"All the stuff we packed away when we went off to college," Virgil added, opening another box. "Here's Scott's favorite teddy bear. Should we bring it home for him?"
"I think we can safely leave everything in the basement here for right now. We can have everything that's ours shipped latter. Marion," Grandma turned to her old friend, "how hard would it be to hire some of the high school kids to sort through these things and arrange to ship our things to us? And move anything of yours to wherever or put it in storage?"
"I suspect the high school kids will be busy on the farms. But I'm sure I can find someone."
"How long do you want to stay with your grandson in Wichita?" Virgil asked as her as he helped his grandmother up. Coming out of the basement, it was hard to imagine there had ever been a house here.
"We get along all right. I suspect there will be a housing shortage for a while. Are you going to rebuild?"
"I don't know. It depends on what happens to the farm. I don't know if we will want to come back as often, with the original house gone." Virgil started walking through the wreckage looking for anything recognizable. He picked up a deep drawer, lined in tin with a tin sliding top. "Here's your old breadbox drawer. But I don't see the rest of the kitchen cabinet."
"Over here," called John. The old fashioned kitchen cabinet lay smashed into pieces, only recognizable by its paint.
"Oh dear. That was my great-grandmother's. She got it during the Great Depression." Grandma started to walk toward John, then looked at the footing and decided against it.
"I've found two pairs of underwear and one sock. I don't think there is much point in looking for anything else." Marion held up the sock. "I didn't have anything valuable to lose."
"No pictures or anything?" John looked surprised.
"The important ones, I gave copies to other people. I can have them make me a copy. Most of my keepsakes were still in storage after selling my house." Marion smiled at them all. "I needed to stay in the area after Harold died, but now I think this is God's way of telling me it's time to move on. I don't think I could handle another Kansas winter anyway. Let's take a quick look at the barn, and then head back. I need to check on the cat and kittens."
"Cat? Kittens? When did you get a cat?" Emily looked surprised.
"I didn't. Some fool city people still dump their animals out here, figuring we'd feed them cream, I suppose. Most don't survive. A couple did and momma just had kittens a few weeks ago. She's semi-feral, will let me close but won't let me touch her. There are enough mice around for her to hunt so she does ok. I want to live trap her and get her fixed; I've taken several in before, but she's too clever for that." The group walked toward the barn, Virgil still holding the drawer.
The barn was a different sort of mess. One side had been ripped off but the inside was relatively undamaged. Some of the large machinery had been thrown around and tools were scattered everywhere, but there wasn't the large scale destruction like the house. The office and workshop on the other side of the building didn't look like anything had been disturbed at all.
John walked over to the office. "Everything looks ok here. Is that Grandpa's old leather coat and hat?" He pointed to the wall where a coat and hat were hanging from a hook.
Grandma smiled. "I used to use them whenever I needed to come out here to check on anything. There didn't seem to be any reason to pack them."
"The people working your farm use this as a break area," Marion said, pointing at the coffee maker and refrigerator. "They used the workshop too, for repairs. I'd bring them out lunch and I'd use the jacket in the spring and fall when it got chilly."
"Grandpa would like that. He liked to have things used for what they were meant for." John went over and slipped the jacket on. "Way too big for me."
Virgil put down the drawer, as if he suddenly remembered he was carrying it. "Let me try." John handed him the coat, which fit perfectly.
John grabbed the hat from its hook and put it on Virgil's head. "Perfect. Now all we have to do is figure out why you would need a leather jacket on a tropical island."
"Better than leaving it to rot here," Grandma said as she went to the next door.
As soon as she opened it, they all heard the cries. Marion darted in ahead of them and followed the noise to the workbench. She looked underneath and saw momma cat and her kittens. Momma hissed at her and tried to stand up.
"Hey, momma, what's wrong?" Marion reached out for her. The cat struck with lightning fast claws. Momma tried to stand up, lurched forward, and fell down again.
"It looks like she's been injured." Emily looked under the workbench. "If she's been hurt, her milk would dry up. The kittens are probably hungry." She straightened up. "John, go see if there is any milk or meat in the fridge."
"It wouldn't be any good by now. One of the workers is diabetic. He keeps some canned tuna salad in the cupboard for emergencies. Bring that and a bowl of water." Marion sucked on her hand. Blood was already coming from the scratches.
John quickly returned with the tuna salad and a coffee cup filled with water. He knelt down and pushed both of them toward the cat, who hissed at him, but started eating immediately. She only ate a little, but she drank a lot of water. She collapsed as if eating had been too much for her.
"We need to get her to a veterinarian." Emily looked at Marion. "Who do you use?"
"Dr Dodobara. I'll call and set up an emergency appointment." Marion pulled out her cell phone and dialed.
"John, see if you can find some towels or something. Put them in the bottom of that drawer." Grandma's orders would have done a drill sergeant proud. She looked around and spotted a pair of welding gloves. "Virgil, put these on and grab her."
Virgil looked with amusement at the gloves. "Do you really think I need these? And why me?"
"Yes, you will need them and you because you're wearing a leather jacket, which you will also need."
Virgil shrugged and knelt down by the workbench. He grabbed for the mother cat just as John came back with the drawer and a few towels.
"Come here, momma, I'm not going to hurt... ow!! Listen, you stupid cat, stop fighting. I'm not going to hurt you! Stop it!" The unequal struggle continued until Virgil finally brought the cat out. She was still trying to scratch everything in sight when he put her into the drawer and closed the lid. "Next time, remind me to wear Kevlar."
"Ooh, did the little kitty hurt you?" John was grinning.
"Yes, she did. She got me right through the jacket. Just for that, you can get the kittens."
John knelt down and grabbed for one of the kittens. "See, you should just let the... Ouch! These little suckers have sharp claws! Hey! Stop that! Let go!" He handed the first kitten up to Virgil and sucked on his hand where the kitten had bitten him.
Virgil slid open the top of the drawer and dropped the kitten in. Momma still hissed at him but immediately started licking the kitten.
John handed him the second kitten, a little black and white. It wiggled out of his hand. Grandma grabbed it and calmed it down. "Yes, oh mighty hunter. I know what a brave boy you are. Let's put you in with momma." She handed the kitten to Virgil who had just dropped the third kitten in. John handed him the last kitten and stood up.
"Ok, Grandma that's all of them. Now what?"
"Virgil, please double check. See if any of the kittens crawled off. Now we take them to Marion's vet. Does he have time for us?"
"No, he doesn't. He's mostly a farm animal vet, not small animals. And he's overwhelmed with calls right now. He gave me the number of a friend in Wichita who is expecting us."
Virgil pulled a box out from under the workbench and looked underneath one more time. "No more kittens, Grandma."
"Is there anything else we need to do here?" John looked around at the farm. Some of the trees were still standing, but it didn't seem like home anymore.
"No. I said goodbye a long time ago. There is nothing left for me here." Emily headed straight for the van. She sat in the rear seat and John put the drawer with the cats in it between them.
Post by susanmartha on 10/30/2006
  
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