Welcoming the attention to some extent so the argument between his mother and sister could end, Samuel shuffled around in his seat slightly and cleared his throat. “I’m not completely sure,” he replied. “I think you might have it pretty bad out there. I think it’s between eighty and ninety per cent of all Hawaii’s food is imported by plane or by boat. Nothing is flying out of JFK and I doubt it will be for a while. These effects won’t be instantaneous, but how many shipments of supplies do you think the islands get each week? Pretty soon I reckon you’ll have to change the way you’re living out there, become more self-sufficient.”
“You mean like live off the land and stuff? Just eat fish and coconuts?”
Samuel laughed. “Sort of. I don’t know how quickly these changes will all happen – I’m in the same boat as everyone else really, just because I work for Trident doesn’t mean I have any further information. I think the best advice I can give you is to just play it safe. We don’t know how long this will last and everyone needs to be playing the long game,” Samuel looked at his parents for a second and then back at the laptop screen. “If all the money really is gone, this could take months or years to come back from.”
The video call between the three of them and Jessie ended soon after Samuel’s bombshell. There wasn’t much else to say. They were all still only clutching at straws when it came to both the truth of what had happened and how it was going to change their lives in the coming days, weeks, or indeed, as Samuel had suggested, months or years.
The unpleasant sensation of not knowing hung over the Westchester household like a dark storm cloud, just waiting to break and make their lives even more difficult. The question now seemed to be not if it would break, but when.
Chapter 11
“I’m sorry about your mother earlier,” Charles remarked to his son half an hour or so after the call when Addison went upstairs to look for a new shirt for Samuel. “I don’t know how to manage her and Jessica these days. I feel like every time they talk they just end up arguing. It’s awful.”
“Don’t worry about it, dad. I know it can’t be easy. They’re both as stubborn as each other at times.”
“You can say that again,” Charles laughed, enjoying the company of his son despite the circumstances. “I just wish they’d put everything behind them so we can move on. I’d love nothing more than to head out to Hawaii for a long vacation and spend some time with her. It kills me not being able to see her sons grow up or watch her learning how to be a mother.”
“Have you told her all this? I know you say you miss her and all that, but have you really told her how much?”
“Well no,” Charles faltered, “not exactly.”
“Then do it, dad,” Samuel prompted his father. “Before it’s too late. I’m not saying we might never see Jessie again, but it could be a seriously long time before air travel is up and running again. You don’t want to lose your daughter. At a time like this, our family needs to stick together.”
“You’re right,” Charles sighed. “Oh, you’re so right, my boy.” Sitting back in his chair, he ran a hand through his thin and graying hair. “I can’t believe all of this has happened. It’s strange; it feels like everything is still functioning like normal, but then I know how much things are falling apart behind the scenes. What was it like in the city? Were you at Trident when it happened?”
“Not exactly,” Samuel replied. He told his father about everything that had happened to him. From the moment he left the office for his lunch to trying to get back inside and then later, struggling to escape. He nervously talked through the moment when he found a man standing in the window of the building, threatening to jump and then broke eye contact with his father when he had to admit that he hadn’t been able to save him. That Hauser had died.
“You can’t blame yourself for that,” Charles comforted his son. “When a man is in a position like that, there is almost nothing that can be done to change the person’s mind. You did everything that you could and I’m sure you were a welcome message of solace at the end of that man’s life. You did a good thing, son.”
“Thanks dad,” Samuel smiled at his father, grateful for the words of support despite still wishing he could’ve done more. “It’s just hard to get my head around, you know? That guy worked in the same building as me for God knows how many years and I never even knew his name. Why was I the one with him in those final moments? It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“Life rarely does, Samuel. We’ve just got to learn to roll with the punches and keep our heads above water. Something tells me there’s going to be a lot of swimming against the current over the next few days.”
“I bet,” Samuel sighed. “I hope Jessie is going to be okay. What did that stat say, Hawaii has over eighty per cent of its goods imported from the US?”
Charles nodded. After speaking to his daughter, they hadn’t been able to resist doing a bit of research online. The figures that were reported were quite frightening, not only in the sense that the majority of food in Hawaii was imported, but also in terms of power too. Apparently, they were the highest petroleum using state in the US, but almost all of it was
