“She might be, but she could just as well be dead. That house isn’t stable and neither one of us is going in there.” She opened her mouth to argue, but I held up my hand to stop her. Turning my attention to the door, I asked, “Do you have a phone or something in there to call for emergencies?”
“Yes, sir. There’s a radio talkie thing my daddy used during a storm one time. I don’t know how to work it though.”
“Does your brother know how to use it?”
The little girl giggled. “No, he’s just a baby.”
My eyes widened. I turned my head to see that Annabelle’s eyes mirrored mine. “They can’t stay in there by themselves,” Annabelle whispered. I knew that, but the little girl was right to not open the door to strangers.
Annabelle cleared her throat and spoke softly to the door, “Sweetheart, I know your parents told you not to open the door to strangers and they are right about that, but this is a very special situation. Did your Mommy and Daddy ever tell you what to do if there was an emergency and they weren’t with you?”
The little girl answered immediately, “Yes ma’am. Mommy told me if I ever got lost or needed help and she wasn’t there to find a lady that looked like a mommy and ask her to help me.”
Annabelle smiled. “Your mommy is very smart. That’s exactly what I told my son to do. So, since I’m a mommy and you need help, will you open the door so I can help you?”
The girl was silent, apparently thinking over Annabelle’s offer. Surprising us both, the little girl came back with, “How do I know you’re a mommy?”
Annabelle laughed again. “Well, I suppose you don’t, but let me see if I can prove it.” She took in a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “First, I have three children. Their names are Ember, Coal, and Nathan. Ember and Coal are twins. Now, I’m going to tell you some things that only mommies do. When our child is in trouble, we call them by their whole name. We count to three, sometimes five, when our child is about to get into trouble. We won’t let you ruin your dinner with cookies and sweets. We make you clean your room when you don’t want to. We make you feel better when you’re sick and we love you more than anything in the world. Does that sound about right?”
The door to the storm shelter slowly started to open as the little girl struggled to push it open. I quickly grabbed the handle and opened it the rest of the way. The little girl popped her head out and said, “If you know all that, you must really be a mommy.” She was a beautiful child, maybe five or six years old, with wild blonde hair and big brown eyes.
Annabelle smiled. “I am, sweetheart. Now, can you show me where that radio talkie thing is? I bet Phoenix here knows how to work it.”
The girl’s eyes darted to me, full of trepidation. I was a big man and there was no way to hide it. Grown men found my size intimidating; I was likely nothing short of a monster to a frightened young child. I squatted down hoping to seem less intimidating to her. “Why don’t you go get your little brother and bring him out here with Annabelle? Then, I’ll go down and see about the radio. That way you haven’t broken any of your parents’ rules.”
She thought that over for a minute and then nodded her head resolutely. “I’ll be right back.” She returned with arms wrapped tightly around the middle of a squirming baby boy. It looked like she was squeezing the hell out of him and he wasn’t the least bit happy about it.
Annabelle reached out to help her with the baby. “Does he have a diaper bag down there or anything like that?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll go get it,” she said as she eyed me.
“I’ll stay right here,” I promised.
She returned, struggling to carry the big bag up the stairs. I reached my hand out slowly. “I can take the bag for you, dear.”
She exhaled in relief. “Thank you, mister.”
Once Annabelle had the kids settled on a blanket, I entered the storm shelter in search of what I guessed was a CB radio. I found it sitting on a shelf along the back wall. It had been a long time since I had used a CB, but I figured it couldn’t be too difficult to use. I turned the radio on and began scanning through the channels. It didn’t take long to find one filled with voices reporting damage from the tornado. I listened for a few minutes before speaking. I told them about mine and Annabelle’s situation as well as the situation we discovered at the farmhouse. The response I received was not at all what I had hoped for.
I left the storm shelter to find Annabelle trying to soothe the little girl who was sobbing. “What happened?” I asked quietly.
Annabelle grimaced. “She saw the house.” I glanced up and had a very clear view of the destroyed half of the house. I didn’t know what to do. I was a stranger to the little girl and she had seemed somewhat scared of me earlier. I wanted to comfort her, but wasn’t sure that I should. Annabelle interrupted my internal battle with her question, “Did you have any luck with the radio?”
“If you mean, did I get it to work? Yes, I did. Is help on the way? Eventually.”
“Eventually? What exactly does that mean?”
I sighed. “It means that the storm did a lot of damage in the surrounding area. Emergency crews are working their way through it all, but it could take them up to 72 hours to get to us. Since there is no one here with injuries, we aren’t a priority.”
“What about the children?” she asked.
“I explained that and I was told that we should stay with the kids until their parents or help arrived.”
She looked at me with disbelief in her eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Sorry, doll face,” I shrugged. “Looks like we’re staying here for a bit.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
