our front porch.
She called out to Mom and she quickly let them in. They were checking for people who might want to go with them, it seemed that Mr. Frank’s family owned a large mountain lodge in West Virginia. They said it was not visible from the highway but was only minutes from it. There were lots of bedrooms and they thought that there was safety in numbers. Mom thought about it only for a moment or two but when she said that we would join them Elaine jumped in the conversation:
“ MOM , what about Daddy? How will he know where we are?”
Mr. Franks looked at Elaine and said “Don’t worry; we will leave him a map and directions and the phone number too! He can join us there.”
I wasn’t sure but I thought that maybe Mr. Franks was just trying to be nice, he knew just like I did that Daddy wasn’t coming home.
Mr. Franks and Mr. Caulfield left to check for anyone else but Mrs. Franks stayed to give Mom suggestions,( no help mind you, but lots of suggestions). She did write out the address and directions to the Frank’s lodge, which was something I suppose. Mom’s van was in the garage and since we had all our supplies in the other bay it didn’t take long to load it. We did have some problems putting the hard shell car top carrier on but we eventually got it. In that, we loaded everything that we thought we wouldn’t need right away. I have no idea how Dad used to do that all by himself. Lucy arranged all the water containers in the far back of the van along with some “on the road” type snacks. At the last moment I thought to load Dad’s fishing gear, I used Velcro straps to attach it to the roof rack next to the carrier.
Mom called to Lucy who appeared with her little Indian bow and arrow set . A bright red artificial feather stuck jauntily in her wavy brown hair.
“Robert Bear and I are ready Mommy” she said, looking as serious as she could.
I turned and looked at Mom. “Weapons,” I whispered.
She nodded and said, “Johnny go get the big knife set from the counter.”
I ran inside and took the whole knife set under my arm then my baseball bag from the pantry where we kept it during little league season. I had two bats in there as well as my glove and a couple of balls. Whose knows? Maybe someday we’d want to play baseball. We all piled into the van and Mom tried the remote but then remembered the power was out, she had Elaine go and release the door and she slid it easily up.
There were three cars waiting for us, the Franks in the lead, the Caulfield’s’ big Jeep next and I couldn’t believe it, the Driscol’s blue land cruiser was just in front of us. And there was Billy, waving madly to me from the back window. I leaned over the seat and honked Mom’s horn for her.
“ Johnny !” she corrected, “Don’t do that!”
But I could tell she was happy to see Billy too. We pulled out of the garage, paused while Elaine pulled the door down and got into the passenger seat next to Mom. We started down the street to follow the others.
We had gone a whole 50 yards before Elaine started in on her cell phone again with no more luck than she had during the previous 24 hours. Twenty five more yards and she was asking if we could go by some friend’s house, Krista’s I think. Ten more yards before the Driscol’s brake lights came on and there was the sound of tires screeching, a huge crash, and the sound of glass raining down like someone had just dropped a tray of fine crystal. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my GOD!” Elaine said in a fit of sudden religion, she was rocking in the seat, her eyes unable to focus on anything or anyone, she just kept up her mantra of “oh my God”.
Ahead of us, I could see that the Franks’ SUV had been totally creamed from the side, a police cruiser, lights on but sirens off, had just nailed them going at least 50 miles per hour before it bounced off and crashed into the front of the Caulfield’s jeep. I could see Mrs. Driscol getting out of her
She called out to Mom and she quickly let them in. They were checking for people who might want to go with them, it seemed that Mr. Frank’s family owned a large mountain lodge in West Virginia. They said it was not visible from the highway but was only minutes from it. There were lots of bedrooms and they thought that there was safety in numbers. Mom thought about it only for a moment or two but when she said that we would join them Elaine jumped in the conversation:
“ MOM , what about Daddy? How will he know where we are?”
Mr. Franks looked at Elaine and said “Don’t worry; we will leave him a map and directions and the phone number too! He can join us there.”
I wasn’t sure but I thought that maybe Mr. Franks was just trying to be nice, he knew just like I did that Daddy wasn’t coming home.
Mr. Franks and Mr. Caulfield left to check for anyone else but Mrs. Franks stayed to give Mom suggestions,( no help mind you, but lots of suggestions). She did write out the address and directions to the Frank’s lodge, which was something I suppose. Mom’s van was in the garage and since we had all our supplies in the other bay it didn’t take long to load it. We did have some problems putting the hard shell car top carrier on but we eventually got it. In that, we loaded everything that we thought we wouldn’t need right away. I have no idea how Dad used to do that all by himself. Lucy arranged all the water containers in the far back of the van along with some “on the road” type snacks. At the last moment I thought to load Dad’s fishing gear, I used Velcro straps to attach it to the roof rack next to the carrier.
Mom called to Lucy who appeared with her little Indian bow and arrow set . A bright red artificial feather stuck jauntily in her wavy brown hair.
“Robert Bear and I are ready Mommy” she said, looking as serious as she could.
I turned and looked at Mom. “Weapons,” I whispered.
She nodded and said, “Johnny go get the big knife set from the counter.”
I ran inside and took the whole knife set under my arm then my baseball bag from the pantry where we kept it during little league season. I had two bats in there as well as my glove and a couple of balls. Whose knows? Maybe someday we’d want to play baseball. We all piled into the van and Mom tried the remote but then remembered the power was out, she had Elaine go and release the door and she slid it easily up.
There were three cars waiting for us, the Franks in the lead, the Caulfield’s’ big Jeep next and I couldn’t believe it, the Driscol’s blue land cruiser was just in front of us. And there was Billy, waving madly to me from the back window. I leaned over the seat and honked Mom’s horn for her.
“ Johnny !” she corrected, “Don’t do that!”
But I could tell she was happy to see Billy too. We pulled out of the garage, paused while Elaine pulled the door down and got into the passenger seat next to Mom. We started down the street to follow the others.
We had gone a whole 50 yards before Elaine started in on her cell phone again with no more luck than she had during the previous 24 hours. Twenty five more yards and she was asking if we could go by some friend’s house, Krista’s I think. Ten more yards before the Driscol’s brake lights came on and there was the sound of tires screeching, a huge crash, and the sound of glass raining down like someone had just dropped a tray of fine crystal. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my GOD!” Elaine said in a fit of sudden religion, she was rocking in the seat, her eyes unable to focus on anything or anyone, she just kept up her mantra of “oh my God”.
Ahead of us, I could see that the Franks’ SUV had been totally creamed from the side, a police cruiser, lights on but sirens off, had just nailed them going at least 50 miles per hour before it bounced off and crashed into the front of the Caulfield’s jeep. I could see Mrs. Driscol getting out of her
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