Page 21 of Born a Hero

Chapter Twenty-one

The next day, Bryce was relieved to see how fast things happened. Early in the morning, they were roused by the noise of motorboats close by. Sure enough, the National Guard were now coming to help those still stranded.

Most of the folks had taken the first few boats and left them with hugs of gratitude and written exchanges of addresses and phone numbers, happy to be moving on.

Liam and Rose, with their kids, were the last holdouts and had finally gotten through to his parents who would be picking them up at a drop-off point. Everything seemed to happen so fast that midway through the day, Sonja saw that only Bryce, Dena, Justin, and Justin’s furry shadow were left.

“So, my dears, what happens now? The last fellow who picked up Liam and his family gave me a charger for my phone. Once it’s working again, I guess we can call and try to make reservations at a motel in town.”

Bryce laughed disparagingly. “Right, like that’s going to work. I bet every place is booked solid after this storm.”

Sonja grimaced at his teasing. “Of course, you’re right. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

Bryce thought out loud. “My place might be safe. Not sure about the water levels in that neighborhood though. If it’s clear, we could all go there. You’d be more than welcome.”

Dena spoke up. “My apartment is on the third floor of the building but close to the gas station we were at where it flooded, so I’m thinking it’ll be impossible to return there anytime soon. I’m sure our suite will be safe enough, but the first floor probably sustained some damage.”

“One thing’s for certain, we can’t stay here any longer. Our facilities are beginning to make my eyes water, and we’ve run out of food. Next boat that comes along, we’ll grab it and head for the nearest drop-off.”

Justin sat close to his mom, the pup cuddled in his arms. “What about my dog? Can he come too?”

Both Bryce and Sonja beat Dena in answering. “Of course he can.” Bryce went a step further. “We stick together, right?”

Happy now, Justin chimed in with the others. “Wight.”

“Okay, let’s clean up as best we can and gather the stuff we want to take. Once everything has settled down and things return to normal, I’ll come back and help Sonja clear the space.”

“We’ll be happy to help you with that too,” Dena offered. “Won’t we Justin?”

“Yes, please. Then we can visit with puppy at the same time.”

“Right. I forgot you cajoled Sonja into keeping him.”

“Just until we get a new place. Wight?”

“We’ll see, honey.”

Justin’s face dropped. “You pwomised.”

“No. Be fair now. I just promised we’d discuss it. And we will. Right now, we need to take things one day at a time.”

Bryce had listened to their conversation and couldn’t help himself from adding, “My place is just a condo. But for now, we’ll make do. They allow small dogs and mischief here won’t be fully grown for a while.” Bryce grinned at the puppy, growling… trying to wrestle an old sock from Justin’s grip. “I’m sure the city will work fast to put things back to normal… well as much as possible. It takes time to recover from a flood like this one.”

Sonja added, “Seems like I’ll be needing all new furniture and my house dried out and repaired. So even though I offered to keep the puppy, I have no idea how long the repairs will take, honey. Could be months. Everything is a mess right now. Truth to tell, I have no idea where I’ll be staying myself.”

“You never did tell us what Jamie said when you talked to him. It was nice of the rescuers to lend us their phones.”

“Right. I meant to share. He said he and Charlene were on their way. He was beside himself that I had to go through the emergency without him or his dad. I spent most of the time reassuring him I was fine and with friends.”

Bryce saw how affected the woman was and reached out to put an arm around her shoulders. “Of course he was worried, darling. Imagine him thinking you were all alone going through this nightmare. I hope you gave him my home phone number like I suggested.”

She looked up at Bryce, her lip quivering. “I did. It really shook me to hear how upset he was. I hate to worry him. Or to be a nuisance.”

“You could never be a nuisance, my friend. Never. If they’re too blind to see your worth, that’s their loss.”

Dena quickly added, “You’re welcome to come stay with us, Sonja. Anytime and for as long as you want. We’d be happy to have you.”

“Me too,” Bryce added. “In fact, we should all sticky together for now, and like Dena said, take things one day at a time.”

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