assumed it was the pills.”
“He had to get here somehow. What’s his last address show?”
“Somewhere up around Akron.”
“Have the coroner forward his report to me when he’s finished. Did you check with the other tenants in the rooms? Did they see anything?” I stepped outside with Eric following.
“For crying out loud, CeeCee, it’s an overdose! Not everyone dies at the hands of a homicidal maniac.” He was unmistakably irritated.
I smiled. “Just appease me and check anyway—please. Let me know what you find out.”
Eric was still pissed off and shaking his head when Ileft. I could only begin to imagine the stream of obscenities directed at me, that was flowing through his mind. What else could he do? I was a sergeant.
By the time I got home, it was late, and I could do little more than pack the girls’ clothes for their stay at Eric’s house. Once they and Lola had baths and were in bed, I found Michael watching the latest weather catastrophe on the news. My mother had gone to bed hours earlier, completely exhausted by the children.
Michael’s face looked grave as he watched the breaking news unfold on the television. I hadn’t listened to my radio on the way home so I was oblivious.
“What happened?” I remained standing, but faced the television, which showed a meteorologist standing waist-deep in water on a street.
“Another tsunami.” His voice was low.
“Where?”
“The Pacific coast. Oregon, Washington, Northern California. It happened about two hours ago but it’s just now breaking in the news stations. They’re saying it went almost two miles inland and is gonna make the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia look like an overflowed creek bed, basically.”
I sighed and sat down. I feared our days were numbered and thought, while the faces of my children and Michael flashed through my head, that I couldn’t take much more. One would think after all of this it would get easier to deal with, but it’s not. My stomach began to flip around before I took a deep breath.
“How many this time?” I asked quietly.
“They’re estimating a half million, at least. It happened so fast the sirens could only give about a minute’s warning. No one could get out.”
What was so frightening about this was there wasn’t adamn thing anyone could do. It wasn’t a war, a bomb, or an attack that could be prevented, but, in my opinion, it was God unleashing his fury everywhere. All we could do was hope and pray we were in a safe zone. I spent twenty years of my life bitching about the fact that I lived in Ohio. Now, I thanked my parents every day for keeping me here.
Michael and I stayed up late, watching the ongoing news coverage. News helicopters showed video of rooftops poking out of the water with bodies floating around them. I remembered how horrified people would have been by such a display ten years earlier, but starting with disasters like Hurricane Katrina, bodies in mass numbers on the television were commonplace nowadays.
We eventually went to bed, but on nights like these, I found it extremely difficult to sleep. I slept maybe three solid hours, and was awake when I heard my mother downstairs in the kitchen. Resigning myself to a long, tiring day, I got out of bed and got ready for work.
My mother, who had been watching the early morning news broadcasts on the tsunami, was making breakfast for the girls. We talked briefly about the disaster before she brought up a topic I had almost forgotten about—the nanny. She said she had found one and asked if I could stop home later that afternoon to interview her.
“What’s her name?”
“Rena Sanchez.”
“Just make sure she speaks English and has her green card.”
“I’m sure that won’t be a problem since there haven’t been any illegals in this country for a while now. The borders are airtight.”
“I’m aware of that. I was just pretending things are the way they used to be.” I choked down my last bit of coffee.
After
“He had to get here somehow. What’s his last address show?”
“Somewhere up around Akron.”
“Have the coroner forward his report to me when he’s finished. Did you check with the other tenants in the rooms? Did they see anything?” I stepped outside with Eric following.
“For crying out loud, CeeCee, it’s an overdose! Not everyone dies at the hands of a homicidal maniac.” He was unmistakably irritated.
I smiled. “Just appease me and check anyway—please. Let me know what you find out.”
Eric was still pissed off and shaking his head when Ileft. I could only begin to imagine the stream of obscenities directed at me, that was flowing through his mind. What else could he do? I was a sergeant.
By the time I got home, it was late, and I could do little more than pack the girls’ clothes for their stay at Eric’s house. Once they and Lola had baths and were in bed, I found Michael watching the latest weather catastrophe on the news. My mother had gone to bed hours earlier, completely exhausted by the children.
Michael’s face looked grave as he watched the breaking news unfold on the television. I hadn’t listened to my radio on the way home so I was oblivious.
“What happened?” I remained standing, but faced the television, which showed a meteorologist standing waist-deep in water on a street.
“Another tsunami.” His voice was low.
“Where?”
“The Pacific coast. Oregon, Washington, Northern California. It happened about two hours ago but it’s just now breaking in the news stations. They’re saying it went almost two miles inland and is gonna make the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia look like an overflowed creek bed, basically.”
I sighed and sat down. I feared our days were numbered and thought, while the faces of my children and Michael flashed through my head, that I couldn’t take much more. One would think after all of this it would get easier to deal with, but it’s not. My stomach began to flip around before I took a deep breath.
“How many this time?” I asked quietly.
“They’re estimating a half million, at least. It happened so fast the sirens could only give about a minute’s warning. No one could get out.”
What was so frightening about this was there wasn’t adamn thing anyone could do. It wasn’t a war, a bomb, or an attack that could be prevented, but, in my opinion, it was God unleashing his fury everywhere. All we could do was hope and pray we were in a safe zone. I spent twenty years of my life bitching about the fact that I lived in Ohio. Now, I thanked my parents every day for keeping me here.
Michael and I stayed up late, watching the ongoing news coverage. News helicopters showed video of rooftops poking out of the water with bodies floating around them. I remembered how horrified people would have been by such a display ten years earlier, but starting with disasters like Hurricane Katrina, bodies in mass numbers on the television were commonplace nowadays.
We eventually went to bed, but on nights like these, I found it extremely difficult to sleep. I slept maybe three solid hours, and was awake when I heard my mother downstairs in the kitchen. Resigning myself to a long, tiring day, I got out of bed and got ready for work.
My mother, who had been watching the early morning news broadcasts on the tsunami, was making breakfast for the girls. We talked briefly about the disaster before she brought up a topic I had almost forgotten about—the nanny. She said she had found one and asked if I could stop home later that afternoon to interview her.
“What’s her name?”
“Rena Sanchez.”
“Just make sure she speaks English and has her green card.”
“I’m sure that won’t be a problem since there haven’t been any illegals in this country for a while now. The borders are airtight.”
“I’m aware of that. I was just pretending things are the way they used to be.” I choked down my last bit of coffee.
After
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