In the Unlikely Event (17 page)

Natalie tuned the television to the Kate Smith show, though it wasn't quite four o'clock, while Miri made a quick phone call to remind Irene she was at Natalie's for the afternoon. Then both girls settled on the floor. Miri popped a grape into her mouth. Natalie rested her head on Miri's lap. “Play with my hair,” she said.

Miri lifted one soft curl, then another.

“What are you thinking?” Natalie asked, looking up at her.

“Guess,” Miri said.

“I'll bet it's about Mason.”

“Not really.”

“I'll bet you think about him every minute of every day.”

“I think of him a lot but I wasn't thinking of him just now.”

“Are you in love with him?”

“I've only known him thirty-eight days, not that I'm counting.”

“My mother says she knew from the minute she first looked into my father's eyes she was going to be with him for the rest of her life. She says it came to her in a flash, like lightning.”

“I haven't had that flash yet,” Miri said, which was a complete lie. Didn't she know it the night they danced together in Natalie's finished basement? And if not then, at the Y, the first time they kissed? Who was she kidding? But what went on between her and Mason was private. That's how she knew it was special. Every other time she'd liked a boy she'd blabbed to all her friends about him. But not this time.

“Are we still best friends?” Natalie asked out of nowhere, winding a piece of gray wool she'd found on the carpet around her finger.

“I can't believe you have to ask,” Miri said.

“It's just that lately you've been so…” Natalie stopped, searching for just the right word. “Remote,” she finally said, looking satisfied.

Miri was stung. “
You
go to New York for dance classes three days a week and you're calling
me
remote?”

Natalie sat up. “I didn't think you even noticed I was gone. You're
always with Mason, or you're babysitting with Suzanne.” Natalie smoothed down her curls. “Even at school you hang out with Robo more than me.”

“I do not.”

“You sit with her every day at lunch, laughing.”

“You're at the same lunch table.”

“But nobody laughs with me.”

Miri looked at Natalie and realized it was true.

Christina

Mr. Durkee, who taught bookkeeping at Battin, asked Christina to assist with his late class. Christina was his star pupil. If she didn't mess up, she'd be graduating first among the girls in the business program.

Today she'd be working late at Dr. O's office. Mrs. Jones and her daughters were coming in for checkups. Daisy scheduled their appointments after hours because Mrs. Osner was afraid if Dr. O's regular patients discovered Dr. O was treating colored people they might be upset, they might even switch to a different dentist. Dr. O, on the other hand, believed Mrs. Jones and her daughters deserved the best dental care. He had Daisy set up a plan for them with a sizable discount because, after all, she worked for the Osners and her girls were polite and doing well at school.

As long as she left school by 3:45 p.m. she'd make it to Dr. O's office in time. While the students were at their desks, taking a test, Christina grabbed her raincoat and umbrella. She was glad she was wearing old shoes in this crazy weather. She heard a plane overhead but when she looked out the window she couldn't see anything the fog was so dense.

Suddenly, the building rumbled. The girls looked up from their test papers, a few of them rushing to the windows in time to see a twin-engine plane thunder out of the fog, heading straight for them. One girl screamed. Another crossed herself and started a Hail Mary. Christina was sure the plane was coming through the window into the classroom.

“Get back from the glass!” Mr. Durkee shouted. “Duck and cover!” But there was almost no time. The engine of the plane went quiet as it barely sailed over the roof of the school. The first explosion caused the windows to rattle, the second, louder explosion shook the building.

“Oh my god—Jack!” Christina cried. “Jack…Jack…” She ran from the classroom with Mr. Durkee calling after her, “Christina—stay inside. Christina!”

She flew down the two flights of stairs, then used the white marble steps from the first floor to the street, steps the students were not allowed to use. Outside, she rounded the corner of South and Williamson streets and raced toward the flames, toward Mrs. O'Malley's house, where Jack rented a room on the second floor.

Miri

Kate Smith hadn't even sung “God Bless America” when the program was interrupted by an announcement, an announcement so horrible it left her and Natalie immobile. A second plane had crashed in Elizabeth, this time near Battin High School. Before they had time to digest what they'd just heard, the sound of a long, low wail came from the kitchen. Without a word the two girls were on their feet, racing down the stairs. They found Mrs. Barnes doubled over, holding on to the kitchen counter. “No…please, God, no!”

Natalie pulled open the door to the finished basement, closed it behind her and disappeared. Miri grabbed a plastic glass from the counter, filled it with water and tried to give it to Mrs. Barnes, but Mrs. Barnes, who had always seemed so in control, so calm, no matter what, knocked it away.

The deep voice on the radio continued. “An American Airlines Convair, en route to Newark Airport from Buffalo, with stops in Rochester and Syracuse, has crashed and exploded…” Now Mrs. Barnes screamed, fell to the floor, banging her fists, pulling at her own hair. Fern squatted beside her. “Barnesy…stop, please stop.” Miri had never heard Fern or anyone else call her
Barnesy
.

Mrs. Barnes didn't let up. She wailed, “Tim…Timmy!”

“Barnesy!” Fern cried. “Barnesy, you're scaring me.”

Miri didn't know what to do so she picked up the phone and dialed Dr. O's office. When Daisy answered, Miri cried it was Mrs. Barnes's son flying that plane and Mrs. Barnes was on the floor and wouldn't get up.

Daisy told her to stay with Mrs. Barnes, not to leave her for a second, and she and Dr. O were on their way. Miri knew from health class when someone was in shock you should keep them warm, so she sent Fern upstairs to get a blanket, then, as an afterthought, a pillow, too.

Fern came back with a pillow and quilt from Natalie's room and Miri draped it over Mrs. Barnes, who had gone quiet and white as a ghost, lying on her back on the floor. Miri slid the pillow under Mrs. Barnes's head. Her eyes were open, staring at the ceiling. Miri wondered if she was in shock or if it was something worse. Fern sat close to Mrs. Barnes, stroking her hand. “Barnesy, I need you to take care of me. Roy Rabbit needs you.” She nuzzled Mrs. Barnes with her toy rabbit. But Mrs. Barnes didn't respond.

Laura

Laura heard the explosions but it was the general fire alarm that filled her with dread. She knew Tim was due in at about that time. The noise of the alarm woke the toddler, Evie, who started screaming. Laura ran to the girls' room, lifted Evie out of her crib and patted her back. “There, there, sweetie, everything's okay.” That started the baby, Heather, crying. When word came over the radio that it was a plane, an American Airlines Convair, Laura knew for sure. She lay down on her bed with the toddler and the baby cradled on either side of her and began to sing,
“Hush, little babies, don't say a word, mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird…”

Steve

At first he and Phil didn't get what the commotion at the American Airlines counter was about. It wasn't until Phil's aunt screamed—a chilling scream you could hear throughout the terminal, a scream that would haunt him the rest of his life—that they understood something had happened to the plane. Phil rushed to his aunt's side with Steve right behind him, but she had already collapsed and two airline employees were trying to get her to her feet. Phil tossed the keys to the blue Ford convertible to Steve. “Drive it back to my house, okay?”

“Sure,” Steve said. “Whatever I can do to help, you know?”

But Steve didn't have any idea how to help. He called his father's office from a phone booth. His father would know what to do. His father would offer to come and get him and Steve would say,
Okay
. But there was no answer at his father's office. He wished he'd never come to the airport. He wished he'd stayed at school, then gone to the Y to shoot baskets.

Nobody asked if he was okay enough to drive, which he wasn't, but somehow he made it back to Elizabeth, to Phil's house, where he pulled the blue convertible into the driveway, turned off the ignition, rested his head against the wheel and gave in to the emotion washing over him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd cried, felt his own tears hot and wet running down his face, his throat tight, his nose snotty. He took in a couple of big gulps, willed himself to stop, then got out of the car and started out for home, kicking at stones, leftover chunks of gray snow, whatever was in his way.
Fuck fuck fuck!

Christina

Hundreds of people were running with Christina, all of them separated from the roaring fire by just a dozen yards. But only she was screaming Jack's name, until she turned the corner and saw it wasn't Jack's house on fire. It was the wooden house down the street and the house next to that, and where there used to be a three-story brick
apartment building was rubble and thick black smoke—the whole area a blazing mess, with flames so blindingly bright red and orange she had to turn away. She covered her ears with her hands, against the screaming sirens.

There was no sign of the plane, or the people on it. She was stuck in a nightmare where something terrible was happening but she was powerless. She willed herself to move but she couldn't. Her feet were too heavy, as if they were encased in wet cement and she couldn't lift them. When she looked down she saw her feet were covered in mud up to her ankles—mud from the rain and the fire hoses.

Jack is safe, she told herself, working for the electric company in Westfield or Cranford or some other nearby city. Jack is safe. Unless, because of the weather, he's not. No, he is. He has to be
.

Christina, who never showed her emotions in public, didn't try to restrain herself this time. She cried out as she saw a woman, her own clothes on fire, frantically pushing a small child rolled up in a rug at a neighbor. The woman tried to rush back into the flaming house, screaming,
My baby, my baby
, but others held her away. People were running from the burning houses. A boy with his jacket on fire was grabbed by a man, who threw off his overcoat and wrapped the boy in it, putting out the flames.

The girls from the modern dance club in their blue leotards were on the scene, with the gym teacher. Groups of other students who had club meetings after school were hugging each other and crying. A few of them called to her, but she didn't answer.

She caught a glimpse of Jack's landlady, and in an instant she was chasing after her. “Mrs. O'Malley…Mrs. O'Malley…” Christina called, until Mrs. O'Malley stopped. “Mrs. O'Malley, I'm Jack McKittrick's friend, Christina. Was he home? Is he okay?”

Mrs. O'Malley gave her a puzzled look. “Jack?”

“Yes, Jack McKittrick. He rents from you.”

“Are you his sister?”

“No, I'm his friend, Christina.”

“I always thought you were his sister.”

What was she talking about?

“He's not home,” Mrs. O'Malley said. “I don't know where he is.”

“At work,” Christina said. “He's at work. Right?”

“I hope so, dear.”

THE WORLD MAY HAVE BEEN
falling apart but at Dr. O's office everything was serene. Christina pulled down the hastily scribbled note taped to the office door apologizing for the emergency that had taken both Daisy and Dr. O away. She got out of her muddy shoes before unlocking the door with the key Daisy had given to her at Christmas. She was safe now. She prayed Jack was safe, too. She scrubbed her feet in the toilet, flushing again and again, wiped herself clean with disposable towels and changed into her white lab coat and shoes. She had no clean socks, no stockings. She'd have to wear her shoes with bare feet. She pinned up her dark hair, washed her face and gargled with Lavoris. Only then did she sit in Daisy's swivel chair, in front of the Remington typewriter and the leather appointment book, calmly calling patients, asking them to call tomorrow to reschedule.

She felt grown-up, helpful, even important, until her sister, Athena, phoned and gave her hell. “Why didn't you call us? We've been worried sick. Really, Christina—grow up! Take responsibility. Did you give a second's thought to Mama, who's going out of her mind with worry?”

“I'm sorry,” Christina said. “I tried to call but I couldn't get through.” This was a lie. She hadn't been thinking about her mother or Athena.

“You should have come here.” Athena was using her holier-than-thou voice. “How far is the shop from your job? I'd say, five minutes, if that. And you should have stopped in at the restaurant to see Baba.”

“You're right,” Christina said. She'd learned the best way to avoid an argument with her sister was to agree. “I wasn't thinking.”

“That's no excuse,” Athena told her.

“In case you're interested,” Christina said, “I saw it happen. The plane came right over Battin. I was outside on Williamson Street a minute after it crashed and exploded.” She was getting worked up, her voice rising with her emotions. “I was there, Athena. I was there
when people ran out of their houses screaming, on fire. Do you know what that was like? Do you even care?”

Before she could slam down the receiver her sister said, “Well, that sounds terrible but I don't see why you're angry at me.”