distance, but it took several seconds before we heard the thunder. It was still raining, though, and it was hard not to slide as we pushed things off. Matt kept yelling at us to be careful, to Syl mostly because she took the greatest risks, but it didn’t matter. Whatever happened happened. We had to get Lisa and the baby out of the cellar before the cellar roof collapsed. Which we all knew could happen at any time.
It was Syl who spotted Jon first. From her vantage point on the mound of rubble she could see the road and Jon running up it toward us.
“It’s Jon!” she cried. “He’s all right.”
Mom climbed down the ladder so fast she almost fell into Dad’s arms. None of us could stop her as she made her way through the fallen tree branches toward him.
“Do you see Alex?” I asked Syl. “Is Julie there?”
“Just Jon,” Syl said.
I climbed down the ladder, but Syl stayed where she was and continued to work. Matt and Dad stopped, though, and we followed Mom’s path. We watched as she held on to Jon the way she’d held me earlier. Her children had survived.
“Julie,” Jon said. “She’s hurt. Mom, she’s hurt real bad.”
“It’s all right, son,” Dad said. “Show us where she is. We’ll bring her back.”
“How bad?” Matt asked. “Is she bleeding?”
“I don’t know,” Jon said. “I don’t think so. But she can’t move her arms or her legs. And she said she can’t feel anything.”
Dad and Mom exchanged looks. Only Matt continued to focus on Jon.
“What exactly happened?” he asked. “How was she hurt? Take a deep breath, Jon, and tell us everything you know.”
“We saw a twister coming this way,” Jon said. “We tried to take cover, but there wasn’t time, so we held on to a tree. I thought I had her covered, but the wind picked her up, and she must have landed wrong because she’s lying there and she can’t move. I didn’t want to leave her, but I couldn’t carry her up the road all by myself, and our bikes are gone.” He looked around. “Everything is gone,” he said, and he began to cry.
Mom took him in her arms. “It’s all right,” she said. “Your father and Matt will get Julie. Our house is still in one piece. We’ll take care of her.”
“What about Alex?” I asked Jon. “Did you see him?”
Jon shook his head. “It was just Julie and me,” he said.
“Come on, son,” Dad said. “Matt, go into the house and get some blankets. We’ll use them as a stretcher.”
Matt ran to our house, and moments later he came out with the blankets.
“Laura, you, Miranda, and Syl keep working,” Dad said. “Jon, show us where Julie is. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Be careful,” Mom said.
We watched them make their way down the road. “Mom,” I said. “Should they move Julie? What if she has a spinal injury?”
“It sounds like she does,” Mom said. “But there are no doctors, no hospitals anymore. Not here. All we can do is make Julie comfortable.”
“No, Mom,” I said. “No.”
“You have to be strong, Miranda,” Mom said. “I’m going to work by the window, where your father was. You stay on the ground. Can you do that? Can you work on the rubble down here?”
I nodded, but I could hardly hear what she was saying. Julie was badly hurt and Alex was still missing. Charlie was in the cellar, dead for all we knew. Lisa and Gabriel were trapped, and we had no equipment, nothing but our hands and our will, to get them out.
Syl had told me not to think. I did as she’d said.
It took a few minutes before Syl spotted Jon. I stopped working and raced toward him. Dad and Matt had improvised a stretcher and were carefully carrying Julie.
I didn’t dare ask, but I looked straight at Matt, who shook his head almost imperceptibly.
For a horrible instant I thought he meant Julie had died. But then I heard Dad say, “Hold on, sweetie. We’re almost there.”
“Alex?” Julie asked.
I’d gotten close enough so she could see and hear me. “He’s not back yet,” I said. “He’ll be home soon.”
“I can’t move,” Julie said. “I tried to. I really tried, but I can’t. And I feel strange, like my body isn’t attached to me anymore. I’ve never felt like this, not ever.”
“It’s okay,” Dad said, bending over to stroke her forehead. “Your back is hurt, that’s all. You’ll be up and around in no time.”
She looked so small, so young. I kissed her on her cheek. “Alex will be so proud of you,” I said. “You’re being very brave.”
“He’ll be mad,” she said. “He gets mad at me when I do things he doesn’t like.”
“He loves you more than anything,” I said.
“We’d better get her inside,” Dad said. “Where’s Laura?”
“Working by the window,” I said.
“Get her and send her in,” Dad said. “She can watch after Julie while the rest of us work.”
I walked rapidly toward Mom, and for the first time I can ever remember, I cherished the sensation of movement. Hours ago I’d been trapped in the closet, and now I was outside and I could walk and run. Julie had lost that, most likely forever.
Mom seemed reluctant to go indoors. I guess after all those months, she was cherishing the sensation of sky and air and freedom. Dad took her place at the cellar window, and he insisted Jon work by his side. Matt worked on the ground, and I went back to the top of the mound and resumed throwing things down.
It got dark eventually, and Dad sent Jon to the house to get lanterns and flashlights. Hours later they broke through to the cellar window. It had blown out during the storm, but it was too small for Lisa to crawl through.
Still, Dad was able to talk to her, and when she held Gabriel up, he could hold him. Jon was sent back to our house to get food for Lisa.
Dad returned a while later to tell us what he knew.
“Charlie was pushing against the cellar door,” he said. “Trying to open it, but of course he couldn’t. Lisa isn’t sure what happened, because it was so dark, but she thinks he had a heart attack. She heard him make a funny noise, and then he fell down the cellar stairs. She went to him, but she couldn’t find a pulse. He probably died instantly.”
I thought, Charlie’s dead because of me. I told him to go to the cellar. He tried to open the door to rescue me.
I knew that was crazy. If I caused Charlie’s death, then I saved Lisa’s and Gabriel’s lives. If Charlie tried to get out for me, he was also trying for himself and for them. But I still felt the guilt, like the tornado was somehow my fault, and Julie was hurt because of me, and Alex missing.
“We’re not telling Lisa about Julie or Alex,” Dad said, much more softly. “I told Jon not to say anything. I told her Julie’s back in the house and Alex has gone to look for help.”
“How long can we keep that up, Dad?” Matt asked.
Dad grabbed him by the arm. “As long as we damn well have to,” he said. “Now get back to work.”
And we did. I’d be working there still, except Dad decided we should work in shifts, and I was sent back to the house to eat and get some rest and stay with Julie. Mom left as soon as I got here.
Julie’s sleeping, but I can’t. I’m too scared.
I wish more than anything that it was last night.
Chapter 18
