The Day After

I called Fig as I was pouring coffee into cups for myself and Helen. She didn't answer and that had me worried, so I left a voicemail message telling her to call me.

Then my phone rang and it was Patricia calling.

"Oh my God, Dani, did you see what happened up north?" she said exasperated. "I've never seen anything like this."

"Are you alright?" I asked quickly.

"Yeah, we stayed over here at the Days Inn in North Tampa and this place is fine. A bunch of tree branches all over, but no flooding here. But Oh my God, Bayshore Boulevard is totally flooded and the beaches got it bad. Have you heard from Roshelle? Her house isn't that far away from Bayshore."

"You're the first person I've talked to today," I told her, "Fig isn't answering her phone."

"Ok, we have to stay calm," Patricia said evenly, more like she needed to convince herself than me. "Let's keep calling and checking on everyone. I'll call Lil and Dee and you call Max and Roshelle."

"Ok," I said.

"Can you get out where you are?" she asked.

"I think so," I told her, "We've got a bunch of fallen tree branches too, but Helen and I are safe and after coffee I was going to take her to see if her trailer survived."

"I'm terrified," Patricia confessed. "If our mobile home didn't make it...."

There was a dead pause of fear, then she took a deep breath and continued.

"I don't know," she said, "I'm really not prepared for this."

"I don't think anyone ever really is," I told her trying to say anything comforting.

She sighed and took another deep breath.

"Yeah, ok. I'll make some calls and text you. Then I'll borrow Deb's courage and we'll go look too."

"Be safe," I said, "I'll talk to you later."

Helen had been listening to me on the phone.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"Pat," I replied, "She and Deb are fine. She's more nervous than we are, I think."

I brought Helen a cup of coffee and a small plate of buttered toast.

"At least we have power," I said relieved and turned on the news which was showing that many people were not as fortunate.

"After we have our breakfast we should go see how your trailer is," I added trying to nudge her into active mode.

"What if it's not ok? What am I going to do?" Helen said like there was a lump in her throat.

It was my turn to take a deep breath.

"I don't know. But let's hope we don't have to figure that out."

The news anchors were explaining more about damages, emergency procedures, traffic, roads closed, schools and business that were closed, volunteers that were needed, and bus accommodations. It seemed that even the anchors were in shock as they tried to maintain their typical news reporting composure. As Helen continued to watch and listen to the news, I made more calls. I tried Fig again, and again no answer.

Then I called Roshelle's cell phone and she answered, crying.

"Roshelle?" I said listening to her sobs, "What happened honey? Take a deep breath. Tell me what happened."

"Oh Dani!" she wailed, "Our house was totally flooded. We had to leave in the middle of the night. The roof just cracked and a piece of it broke off and the water just came pouring like a river." She was crying so hard and I felt so bad for her.

"Where are you and William now? Are you safe?" I asked her.

"We're in his truck. We spent hours looking for a hotel but we couldn't find a room. Then he just parked the truck here in Brandon at the church he used to go to when he was a kid." She kept sobbing.

I was able to catch my breath again once I knew they were alright.

"Ok, sweetie. Try to stay calm. I know this is hard. I'm glad you're safe. Try to get yourself together for William's sake ok?"

"My house!" she cried again, "I can't believe this." She kept on crying. I felt helpless. I couldn't find any words to console her at this time.

"I know Roshelle, listen. I've got to check on Max and Fig. So I will call you later ok?" She kept on crying and hung up.

Helen looked at me and realized that Roshelle hadn't faired very well. I gave her a knowing look back and kept dialing on my cell phone.

Max answered on the third ring. "Hello? Hello?"

"Can you hear me?" I said.

"Dani? Is that you?" she said back but it was muffled, "Damn it! This stupid service sucks."

"Max, are you ok?"

"Dani?" she said again, "I can't hear anything." Then the call dropped.

I sighed angrily thinking that whether you had a landline or a cellphone, service issues were going to make communication difficult during this situation.

I tried Fig's phone one more time. It went directly to voicemail and that made me more upset.

Helen could tell I was getting aggitated with worry. She rinsed her coffee cup in the sink and gathered her small travel bag.

"When you're ready, I'm ready to go look," she said.

"Ok," I said, trying to stop the racing thoughts that were speeding through my mind.