This new story will post slower than Ava. I have a lot going on but wanted to do as promised and have another "never before seen" story just for TB2K. After it is completed I will then post it to FP and go on to the next one and so on and so forth. I am also still deciding which other stories on FF and FP to work on and finish. Having a hard time as my attention is split between a bunch of needs and my wants are having to take a back seat. Anyway, here is Chapter 1.
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Chapter 1
A teenage girl tried to appear brave as she looked at her older brother on a gurney in the middle of a chaotic parking lot in front of her school.
“Coulda, shoulda, woulda. It’s all moot now. You’re hurt Dale. Bad enough hurt you got a spot on the bus whether you want one or not. And Lisa ain’t in much better shape. Mentally she’s totally bye-bye. Just get to the staging place or whatever they’re calling it now. Hook up with Mom and Dad and toss Lisa in Aunt Fran and Uncle Day-Day’s lap and make her their problem.”
“But …,” Dale groaned in real pain.
“Shaddup Big Bro. C’mon. Take this pack and go.”
The groan turned into a moan as he said, “Dad is so going to kill me.” His voice was as weak as I’d ever heard it and it broke my heart more than a little.
“Doubt it,” I told him, fairly confident that I was right. “Not after he hears what Looney Lisa pulled this time. Mom may want to kill Aunt Fran but she won’t. Besides, you really think Uncle Hy is going to turn me away? Not with Grammy needing looking after he won’t, and you know it. Plus this will take care of that worry for the whole lot of them.”
“Tell me again Dump,” he demanded for the umpteenth time.
I rolled my eyes at the old nickname – short for Dumpling – and said, “As soon as the buses start pulling out I’m going to run back home. I’ll throw the last of the food in the house into the cab of your truck, load the ammo boxes onto the floor board, throw some stuff over them to hide them, and then head out the back way to Uncle Hy’s place. I’ll take all of the short cuts and cut acrosses; and I won’t stop ‘til I hit Tuckerman Creek.”
“What if Uncle Hy has dropped the bridge?” he prompted for the next leg of the journey.
“I head south to the old Crossing and so long as the water isn’t too deep, I’ll ford the Creek there. Now enough already. I know what I’m doing.”
“You’re frelling sixteen years old Nannette so don’t give me that crap! I should …”
With total fraternal disrespect I interrupted his latest attempt at being a worrywart by saying, “And you’re ancient because you’re nineteen. Big fat whoop. Just keep Mom and Dad from doing anything freaking heroic and crap. And don’t let Uncle Day-Day do it either. Lisa isn’t his fault. No one expected the hospital to just dump the psyche ward like that instead of transporting them out of the area like they were supposed to.”
Half-heartedly Dale defended our cousin by saying, “Rehab, not psyche ward.”
I gave him the unladylike snort the comment deserved and added, “Amounts to the same thing in Lisa’s case.”
“At least this time she wanted to get clean.”
“Maybe,” I said with a shrug, having learned that Lisa’s follow through on her “wants” tended to be pretty weak.
The two big guys that were helping to load the injured onto the bus were heading our way so I kissed Dale bye on the least bruised cheek, made sure Lisa was still sedated and tied on the gurney thing in the bus, then stepped back and out of the way as they grabbed Dale’s stretcher. I headed home as soon as their bus revved up and pulled into line with their military escort.
Most people stayed in the cue lines waiting for their turn to catch some kind of ride. Not me. Dale and I had overheard a couple of Guardsmen murmuring to each other about hoping they were long gone before people realized the next line of buses was all there was, and most of those seats were going to be filled with kids and injured or elderly adults. That’s when I knew what I had to do. Talking Dale into it took a little longer.
Home wasn’t all that far away thanks to the fact they were using the parking lots around the high school stadium. I was more worried about Dale and Lisa than about myself. Foolish maybe, but that’s what I was feeling. I knew that Stan and the other guys in our Crew promised to be on the receiving end waiting for them but that only brought a little relief. That and knowing they’d pretty much taken over Stan’s dad’s office complex. Everyone was safe and secure, or so what I was told.
The only other thing really bothering me is that communication is kinda funky. I sent a text message as soon as Dale’s bus pulled out, but I was almost ready to pull out myself before I got a text back. I immediately sent out a text in our cobbled together code to let them know I was on my way too but haven’t heard back yet. Good thing I stopped long enough to remember to pray for safe travels. I sure needed it.
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Chapter 1
A teenage girl tried to appear brave as she looked at her older brother on a gurney in the middle of a chaotic parking lot in front of her school.
“Coulda, shoulda, woulda. It’s all moot now. You’re hurt Dale. Bad enough hurt you got a spot on the bus whether you want one or not. And Lisa ain’t in much better shape. Mentally she’s totally bye-bye. Just get to the staging place or whatever they’re calling it now. Hook up with Mom and Dad and toss Lisa in Aunt Fran and Uncle Day-Day’s lap and make her their problem.”
“But …,” Dale groaned in real pain.
“Shaddup Big Bro. C’mon. Take this pack and go.”
The groan turned into a moan as he said, “Dad is so going to kill me.” His voice was as weak as I’d ever heard it and it broke my heart more than a little.
“Doubt it,” I told him, fairly confident that I was right. “Not after he hears what Looney Lisa pulled this time. Mom may want to kill Aunt Fran but she won’t. Besides, you really think Uncle Hy is going to turn me away? Not with Grammy needing looking after he won’t, and you know it. Plus this will take care of that worry for the whole lot of them.”
“Tell me again Dump,” he demanded for the umpteenth time.
I rolled my eyes at the old nickname – short for Dumpling – and said, “As soon as the buses start pulling out I’m going to run back home. I’ll throw the last of the food in the house into the cab of your truck, load the ammo boxes onto the floor board, throw some stuff over them to hide them, and then head out the back way to Uncle Hy’s place. I’ll take all of the short cuts and cut acrosses; and I won’t stop ‘til I hit Tuckerman Creek.”
“What if Uncle Hy has dropped the bridge?” he prompted for the next leg of the journey.
“I head south to the old Crossing and so long as the water isn’t too deep, I’ll ford the Creek there. Now enough already. I know what I’m doing.”
“You’re frelling sixteen years old Nannette so don’t give me that crap! I should …”
With total fraternal disrespect I interrupted his latest attempt at being a worrywart by saying, “And you’re ancient because you’re nineteen. Big fat whoop. Just keep Mom and Dad from doing anything freaking heroic and crap. And don’t let Uncle Day-Day do it either. Lisa isn’t his fault. No one expected the hospital to just dump the psyche ward like that instead of transporting them out of the area like they were supposed to.”
Half-heartedly Dale defended our cousin by saying, “Rehab, not psyche ward.”
I gave him the unladylike snort the comment deserved and added, “Amounts to the same thing in Lisa’s case.”
“At least this time she wanted to get clean.”
“Maybe,” I said with a shrug, having learned that Lisa’s follow through on her “wants” tended to be pretty weak.
The two big guys that were helping to load the injured onto the bus were heading our way so I kissed Dale bye on the least bruised cheek, made sure Lisa was still sedated and tied on the gurney thing in the bus, then stepped back and out of the way as they grabbed Dale’s stretcher. I headed home as soon as their bus revved up and pulled into line with their military escort.
Most people stayed in the cue lines waiting for their turn to catch some kind of ride. Not me. Dale and I had overheard a couple of Guardsmen murmuring to each other about hoping they were long gone before people realized the next line of buses was all there was, and most of those seats were going to be filled with kids and injured or elderly adults. That’s when I knew what I had to do. Talking Dale into it took a little longer.
Home wasn’t all that far away thanks to the fact they were using the parking lots around the high school stadium. I was more worried about Dale and Lisa than about myself. Foolish maybe, but that’s what I was feeling. I knew that Stan and the other guys in our Crew promised to be on the receiving end waiting for them but that only brought a little relief. That and knowing they’d pretty much taken over Stan’s dad’s office complex. Everyone was safe and secure, or so what I was told.
The only other thing really bothering me is that communication is kinda funky. I sent a text message as soon as Dale’s bus pulled out, but I was almost ready to pull out myself before I got a text back. I immediately sent out a text in our cobbled together code to let them know I was on my way too but haven’t heard back yet. Good thing I stopped long enough to remember to pray for safe travels. I sure needed it.