Escaping the Giant Wave (11 page)

Refreshed by the food and drink, we continued walking. Maybe Norm and Josie did survive, I thought. Daren too. It's easier to be optimistic when you're not hungry.

When we came to a clump of tall trees, Pansy stood at the base of the trees and yipped, a high excited bark. She ran behind the trees and came back with a piece of white fabric in her mouth, which she dropped at BeeBee's feet.

“She found Josie's handkerchief!” BeeBee said. “Josie let me use it last night, and I noticed the roses on it.”

Pansy stood on her hind legs, put her front paws on the trunk of the largest tree, and yipped again.

BeeBee and I looked up into the branches. I half expected Norm and Josie to be perched on one of the limbs like two big birds, though I knew that was silly. Even if they had climbed a tree to escape the tsunami, they'd have come down by now.

“Norm and Josie must have been here,” BeeBee said.

“Maybe they stood behind these trees, the way we stood behind that big cedar. Maybe the trees protected them.”

“I bet that's what happened,” BeeBee said. She put the handkerchief in her pants pocket. “I'll give this to Josie when I see her.”

I hope you will,
I thought.
Oh, I hope you will.

We hurried on, expecting to come out of the last of the trees and see the wide area of low shrubs that had stretched from the park bench to the beginning of the woods. The woods ended, but now, instead of the open area, there was a sharp drop-off. The wave had washed away the whole west side of the hill.

“The road is gone,” BeeBee said. “So is the bench.”

We walked to within ten feet of the edge. “Don't go any closer,” I said. “It might crumble.”

As we looked at the destruction, Pansy ran off to one side, sniffing the sand. “What has Pansy found?” I asked, and went to find out.

“It's footprints!” I called. “Someone else has been here this morning!”

We squatted beside the footprints and saw that they were two different sizes. “Two people,” BeeBee said.

I watched Pansy closely. If Norm and Josie had made those footprints, I thought Pansy would get all excited. She didn't. She smelled the footprints while we looked at them, but when we walked on, she came with us.

We could see the remains of the two hotels now, and we saw the beach, although the wooden steps that had led from the hotels to the beach were no longer there.

Gentle waves lapped the shore just as they had before the tsunami. It was as if the ocean had forgotten all about yesterday's violence and returned to business as usual.

“I see people!” BeeBee said.

Sure enough. People were walking on the beach.

“They're probably looking for souvenirs of the tsunami,” she said.

“Or they're looking for survivors. Maybe Mom and Dad are down there!”

That possibility gave both of us a spurt of energy, and we looked for a way to get off the hill. With the road washed away, it took us awhile. Most of the way, we simply sat down and slid in the sand, letting Pansy get down as best she could. When we reached the bottom, we headed toward the remains of the Totem Pole Inn.

Anticipation and dread wrestled within me. Would we see Mom and Dad soon—or would we learn that the
Elegant Empress
had disappeared? I didn't know whether to rush forward or hang back.

BeeBee made the decision for me by taking off at a trot, with Pansy loping beside her. I had to run to catch up to them.

Two women saw us approaching and hurried toward us. “Were you up on the hill all night?” one of them asked. When I said yes, she held out a snapshot of a young man and said, “I'm looking for my nephew. Did you see him?”

“No. There was an older couple up there for awhile but we got separated from them. We never saw your nephew. I'm sorry.”

“He worked at the Frontier Lodge,” the woman said, “in the kitchen.”

I wondered if he had made our pizza and the two milkshakes.

“Do you know anything about the
Elegant Empress
?” I asked.

“Who?”

“It's a ship. Our parents were on it when the earthquake hit, and we don't know what happened to them.”

“I haven't heard anything about a ship,” the woman said.

“Nor have I,” said her companion.

“Good luck,” the woman said.

“I hope you find your nephew,” BeeBee said.

We had similar conversations with other people. One was hunting for his son, who was a bellhop at the Totem Pole Inn. Another said her teenage daughter had been at a birthday party on the beach the night before. The third asked if we had seen any of the firefighters.

We disappointed each person with our answers—and they disappointed us with theirs.

“The power is still out in most of the county,” the last man told us. “Phone lines are out too, and the cell phone tower washed away. I haven't heard a news broadcast since I came out here about two this morning, when a Portland station broadcast an all-clear.”

We asked everyone we saw, but nobody knew what had happened to the
Elegant Empress.

BeeBee and I walked slowly around the remains of the Totem Pole Inn. “If Mom and Dad are okay,” I said, “I know they'll come here.”

BeeBee poked at the ashes with a stick. “Bill's gone,” she said.

Helicopters droned overhead, following the coastline.

A woman wearing an armband approached. “Do you need help?” she asked. “I'm with the emergency management service, and we're here to help survivors.”

“We're looking for our parents.”

“We're also looking for Pansy's owners,” BeeBee said.

I told the woman what had happened to us.

“We have a temporary headquarters set up in a tent, only half a mile up the beach,” she said. “Go there, and they'll give you something to eat and help you search the information we have, to see if your parents and your friends have been found.”

“Thanks,” I said.

We headed toward the tent.

“What if Mom and Dad haven't been found?” BeeBee asked.

“Then we'll keep looking for them. The emergency people probably have a computer network where names can be entered. We'll put our names in, so if Mom and Dad are searching for us somewhere else, they'll know we're okay.” I sounded confident, but it was all an act.

“There's still no power,” BeeBee said. “They could use laptops running on batteries to collect data, but without telephone lines they can't send that information elsewhere. How would the modem work?”

“Did Norm and Josie ever say their last name?” I asked.

“I don't think so. If they did, I don't remember it.”

A long line of people stretched out of the tent. “Before we get in line,” I said, “let's walk past everyone who's waiting, in case Mom and Dad are here.”

We walked beside the line of people. My eyes skimmed each face as I hoped desperately that the next one would be familiar.

None were.

When we reached the point where the line of people went inside the tent, there was a table where workers were serving sandwiches and juice.

“I'll look for Mom and Dad inside,” BeeBee said. “You get us some food.”

I took three sandwiches and two cans of juice. Soon BeeBee came back. “There are twelve people waiting inside,” she reported, “plus the twenty-five in line outside, but I don't know any of them.”

We took our place at the end of the line and started to eat. BeeBee was so glad to get decent food that she didn't even bother to pick the lettuce out of her sandwich.

I broke the third sandwich into pieces and gave them to Pansy.

“This is a
real
dog sandwich,” BeeBee said, “Not like the one we made during the tsunami last night.”

Last night. Less than half a day. I could hardly believe that so little time had passed since BeeBee and I had held Pansy between us while we hid behind the cedar tree. The night had seemed endless.

Yesterday morning at about this time, I had been walking on the beach with Mom and Dad. We had read the warning sign and I had made my sea picture. It seemed like ten years ago, like a happy memory from when I was only three or four years old.

A fist jabbed me right between the shoulder blades. “Well, well,” said a familiar voice. “The scaredy-cat made it through the big bad wave.”

Last night I had hoped Daren would survive. Now that he was here, I had mixed feelings.

“I'm glad I went uphill,” I said. “It saved my life.”

“You were scared stiff,” Daren said. “While you were running away, I walked down to the beach and waded in the water.”

“What happened when the big waves came?” BeeBee asked.

“The first one picked me up and dropped me on top of the Totem Pole Inn's elevator tower. I clung to the edge of the roof when the wave receded.”

“We saw the two people on the tower roof,” I said, “but we couldn't tell who they were.”

“It was me and a cook from the hotel. We found a trap door in the roof that went inside the tower to the elevator equipment. We stayed in there all night and climbed down this morning. We heard the second wave, but the concrete tower held.”

“You were lucky,” I said.

“Not lucky, just brave. I wasn't scared for one second.”

Liar,
I thought.
We were all scared.

“You're the one who was afraid,” Daren went on.

“Anyone with sense would be afraid of a tsunami,” I said.

“Are you saying I don't have any sense?”

“I'm saying you were just as frightened as I was.”

Daren raised his hand as if to punch me.

I pushed his hand away and looked him in the eye. “You were plenty scared yesterday,” I said, “when you thought you were going to be burned alive in the hotel.”

“I was never scared!”

“Then why were you yelling for help? Why did you rush past us in the stairway and push my sister down after we saved your life? You'd have been burned alive if I hadn't dragged you down the stairs with us.”

“I didn't yell for help, and you didn't save me. What a joke! If you tell anyone that you saved my life, I'll swear you're making it up.”

“He did too save you,” BeeBee said, “and he has a witness. Don't forget: I was there.”

“Why you little brat,” Daren said. “I ought to . . .”

I took a step toward Daren, keeping BeeBee behind me. “Lay a hand on her, and you'll wish you hadn't,” I said.

Daren's mouth actually dropped open. He looked the way cartoon characters look when they're surprised.

“That goes for next year at school too,” I added. “Keep away from her.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“That's right. I may be shorter than you are, but I'm smart, and if you don't quit bothering us, the whole state of Kansas is going to hear how you pushed an eight-year-old down in order to save yourself.”

Daren gaped at me for a few seconds. Then he shrugged. “Hey, man,” he said. “No need to get all worked into a twist.”

I felt ten feet tall. Daren was backing down!

“You're alive because of me,” I said. “You should be grateful.”

He glared at me, but he didn't deny what I said. I knew we'd never be friends, and I knew my problems with Daren probably weren't over permanently, but I had taken a giant step on the road to solving them. Maybe I'd make my summer goals after all.

“Have you heard from your parents?” I asked. “Do you know what happened to the
Elegant Empress?”

“No. I was on my way to the tent to ask about the ship when I saw you.”

“This is the line for information,” I said. “You can wait with us.”

BeeBee gave me a surprised look. I was surprised too. I never thought I'd invite Daren to spend two seconds with me, but now that I had finally confronted him, he had lost his power over me. He was just another kid looking for his parents, the same as we were.

“Where did you get the sandwich?” Daren asked.

I told him, and he left to get some food.

“Thanks for sticking up for me,” BeeBee said.

“If he ever bothers you again, tell me.” I smiled, remembering the conversation.

“I wonder why he acted ashamed of being scared when the hotel was on fire,” BeeBee said. “I was scared.”

“So was I. Who wouldn't be?”

We had waited in the line half an hour when Pansy gave an excited “Yip!” and took off down the beach. She ran in circles around the man walking toward us, leaping in the air with joy.

“It's Norm!” BeeBee said.

“Norm!” I called, waving my hands over my head.

BeeBee ran to him and threw her arms around him. Together they returned to where I waited in line.

“I'm so glad to see you,” Norm said, wiping tears from his wrinkled cheeks. “And Pansy!” He picked the wriggling dog up and hugged her. “We let her go last night, figuring she'd follow you kids. We wanted her to be safe even if we didn't make it.”

“Where's Josie?” BeeBee asked.

“She's gone,” Norm said, his voice breaking. “When we heard that second big wave coming, I climbed up a tree and pulled Josie up after me. When the wave hit us, I was able to hang on but Josie couldn't. The force of the water was too much for her. She lost her grip and was swept away.”

Norm stroked the dog, unable to talk for a moment. “I thought of going with her,” he said. “We were together forty-seven years, and it would have been easy to release my hold on the tree and let the water take me too. But then I thought about our son and our grandkids. I'd like to see those grandkids grow up. I worried about Pansy too. She needs me to look after her.”

“I'm sorry about Josie,” I said. “I liked her a lot.”