by Donna Fasano
“Don’t get your heart too involved, Ange. Be careful! Okay? I’ll pray too, I promise. Maybe the power of two will do the trick.”
Just then, a shrill ring made Coralee dive for her nearby cellphone.
***
At that exact moment, downtown, a bedraggled young figure, cradling a wiggling bundle could be seen huddled, crouching near the back door of a partially destroyed building.
Chapter 26
Intently, Ray preached the usual sermon to Angelina, his accent coming through strongly because of the depth of his concern.
“There was a degenerate wanderin’ around here earlier, Angie, one of your strays. They come in dumb waves. Every time I turn around, another one is at the door, looking for handouts. Cara mia, you’ve got to stop donating, especially here at the office. I know it’s only toonies you give for coffee and a muffin ‘cause you’re a softie, but these people are getting too pushy. They strut right into the place, cocky as all get out. Maybe you should back off, huh? Some of these characters, they’re so far gone, they could be dangerous wackos.” In his zeal to get his message across, Ray’s arms were waving with every word, and his final gesture of circling his finger around his ears had her all but breaking up.
“You’ve made your point, Ray. I’ll try, but it’s tricky for me to refuse. I feel so fortunate in my life that it’s hard to say no to a human being who is hungry and wretched. But I’ll try. I promise.”
“Speaking of hungry characters, any sign of your bambina from the other day? Her name, it was actually Tee?”
“I doubt it. She told me it was Tee… short for trouble.”
“Get outta here!” Ray’s grin was infectious.
“Serious! I liked her, amigo, and I’m worried about her. She was really sick—had a terrible cough. I’ve been keeping my eyes open, but so far no luck. Do you think I should have called the police?”
“She’d not thank you for it.”
“That’s what Lee said when he called today. Joe asked him to put the word out on the street, and to keep his eyes and ears open. Since he’s a social worker, an administrator at the center, and a counsellor for street kids, under these circumstances, he was the perfect person to go to for help. Unless she’s in some kind of trouble, he’s promised to keep things to himself. In the meantime, my belief is that she’s simply an unhappy runaway with nowhere to go. And it frightens me to death.”
“All your problems—you need more? Angelina, let it go. She donna wanna be found, especially if the police are looking for her, or if she thinks you’ll call them. Most runaways take off ‘cause they can’t stay in the abusive environment they’re living in. And they sure as heck don’t wanna go back.”
Angelina nodded, sadness etched over her face. “You’re probably right, Ray. The poor girl acted tough, but I got the feeling all she wanted to do was hide.”
The older Italian carpenter patted her cheek, his touch tender. “Lookie here now… I got good news to cheer you up. The crown molding we ordered six weeks ago has arrived and we can pick it up tomorrow. The painters, they are lined up, and my own guys are all ready, willing, and waiting for the go-ahead. Your ladies—they did one hell-of-a job helping with the cleanup, so… we’re all set to start the refinishing, probably sometime in the morning.”
“For the main floor? Can you have it repainted and ready for early next week? I have all the new furniture and computers arriving on Friday and I’d love to start back up next week. What do you think?”
“No problem, bella. I’m sure Johnnie will be a big help since he’ll be back in a few days. We can use the extra hands and we’ll put him to work.”
“Don’t fool with me, Ray. Are you serious?”
“You betcha, cara.”
“Ti voglio bene, Signor.” Using his mother tongue earned her a beaming smile. In turn, she wrapped joyful arms around his neck and kissed his cheeks, both sides.
Happy again, she wandered through the first floor. While she and her workers had been cleaning over the weekend, Ray and his crew had been dry-walling, patching and in some cases repainting the offices. The molding around the windows was almost ready, and the plywood boards would be coming off the broken panes as soon as delivery of the previously ordered stain-glass windows came about. It would be good to see daylight bring the place to life rather than the bare hanging bulbs scattered everywhere.
“Hey! Cut that out,” Ray scolded when he rejoined her. “You wanna get me started? My boys—they say I’m amotionally unstable. Big words they use, showing off for their old man. What do I know? You cry? I’ma gonna cry too.”
His words, along with his arm-waving antics and comic expressions, were too much for her. She giggled. “I don’t know what I would do without you and your boys. How can I ever repay you for looking after me so well, dealing with all the extras, the paperwork with the district, ordering all the supplies, and for getting the work permits and well… for everything?”
“Aha! Wait till you see the bill, señorita.” He cut her off, lowering one bushy eyebrow comically to cover the twinkle. “Now, go visit Coralee and tell her to quit callin’ here alla time. She’s-a drivin me nutzo!” With that final comment, his hand flicked up to his forehead and then further upwards, his favorite mannerism.
Blowing a kiss, she turned and went to pick up her overloaded purse that she’d left hidden behind the stairs where she’d found Tee and the stray. Her stomach clenched as a well of sadness battled with her earlier joy. How could she be happy wondering if that poor, sick child wandered out there on the streets with nowhere to go? Cold, wet nights and rainy days, the island’s normal weather for this time of the year; Angelina hoped that Tee had found a safe place to stay away from the nasty elements. If only she had gone to see Joe.
Just thinking his name brought a strong reaction. Anger surfaced because of the way he seemed to have dumped her. The fact that tears clogged her throat just made her swing her bag so hard; it all but knocked her off her feet.
Chapter 27
Coralee was regaining her old drive and blossoming under Lee’s attentiveness. Seems Angelina had hit the nail on the head when she’d surmised only emergencies would keep him away from the hospital and her friend.
Then there was more good news: Johnnie had returned early in order to help out at the office. One would find him either manually working with Ray--up close and personal with a paintbrush—or at his desk, ready to take on his accounts.
Days had passed since anyone but Lee had seen Joe. The missing jerk had called to inquire about how things were working out, but that had only left Angelina wanting more. Impersonal and brisk, his tone had hurt her feelings. After all they’d gone through together, shouldn’t they have gotten past the insecurity of strangers?
Being as he lived in her thoughts constantly, either getting silently berated for not returning, or hungered after so she could experience the same tingling his presence evoked, Angelina was either up or down.
And she was sick and tired of it. Working like a demon to exorcise him didn’t really help. Throughout her daily routine, she carried him with her—from home to office, from office to hospital, and then back to the office where she stayed to work until the grit in her eyes made focusing impossible.
Unshakable, the man invaded her mind with X-rated fantasies and strange yearnings. Annoyed she berated herself repeatedly. All I am to him is another accident victim. One that ended up rescuing him three times in less than twenty-four hours! No wonder he’d written her off. Damn, but she couldn’t help but wish that he was suffering too.
Chapter 28
Joe yearned for her. He couldn’t sleep, food had no flavor and nothing seemed to be any fun. He even tried to convince himself the only reason his mind invariably turned to Angel was because of the turmoil going on in her life. After all, the poor girl was alone, with no family around to take care of her.
Aware that the aftermath of fear frequently caught up with survivors days after a disaster, he hungered to be
with her, to help her combat the unpleasantness. Throughout the following days and nights, he spent way too much time brooding over her aloneness. Worse—brooding over his loneliness.
She’d become an obsession. Instinctively, he sensed he should stay away from the lovely little witch. Mainly because he ached for her, craved to see and be near her—to have her. A girl, who by no stretch of the imagination could be called a one-night stand, she was a "forever" woman. Not his type at all.
During the times he’d weaken, he’d remind himself about her gambling habit. No way could he deal with an obsession like hers. It scared him silly just to think about what his brother had gone through: the collection agencies hounding him constantly, the humiliation at the checkout when they rejected his credit cards, the turmoil their children suffered, and, most of all, the perpetual lying.
Best to cut off this crazy infatuation right now, keep himself occupied and his mind on something else. And the way the world often worked, the universe granted his wish.
There was an unusually heavy workload in his medical clinic where he only worked mornings. Plus, two emergency call-outs with his Search and Rescue unit.
A typical Sunday family barbecue helped pass one day. His mother sat across from his father at the end of the table closest to the kitchen and began passing bowlfuls of steaming broccoli, carrots and potatoes, while his father carved the huge roast. The odor from the dinner wrought memories of many others just like it.
“I read in the Times Colonist that the earthquake’s damage was centralized in the city, and that a lot of business owners are in financial ruins.”
When she looked his way, Joe knew his mother had specifically directed the question to him. He answered, “Many people don’t choose to pay for earthquake insurance and now they’re suffering. It’s quite a mess along Pandora, Fort and Johnston. On some of the other streets the damage is more sporadic.”
“I have no doubt you were called in to help.” His father passed him the gravy and he poured a good bit over his mound of potatoes and meat before answering. The smells of succulent beef cooked just the way he liked it had his stomach grumbling in joy.
“Uh-huh. Lee and I helped out a businesswoman on Fort Street: Angelina Serrano. Her accounting firm took a major hit. She lost a lot of her third floor and was trapped there for hours. In the end, I had to go in and get her out.”
His brother, Cody, the worst tease of them all, piped up. “Hey, I’ve met that broad. She’s a real looker, South American if I remember correctly. She deals at the same bank where I drop off the deposits.”
Stiffening, Joe nodded. “Yeah, I think she’s from Chile.”
Cody, ignoring the warning signs, kept picking. “Man I’d sure like to have been a fly on the wall when you got to her. You hard-headed lug, I bet you were floored. I’m telling you guys, she’s hot. I’m talking movie-star material.”
“Shut up, Cody. You’re just yammering because Sara’s at work tonight and isn’t here to control your mouth. Angelina’s pretty, sure, but the poor girl suffered horribly. She’s claustrophobic and ended up trapped for hours in the dark. She went through hell before I got to her.”
“Oh, I bet you got to her alright.”
“That’s enough, Cody. And before the rest of you decide to jump in, I have to warn you that I baked some apple pies for dessert that might not be served if this conversation continues.” Vera, Joe’s mother, knew exactly how to control her men. Silence fell over the table as the boys swallowed their remarks and bit their tongues.
But too little too late! Now Joe was pissed. Cody’s incessant teasing about any female he mentioned, goading him, marrying him off, hit a sore spot, and he knew it.
Thank God for Vera… she was one tough mother. Six sons brought up by the smart woman, who with a few well-chosen words, and a scanning scowl, returned manners back to naughty boys; she was his favorite person on the planet. Too bad she couldn’t rein in their irrepressible wives as easily.
Joe’s cellphone vibrated and saved him from having to put up with more of the bullshit. Excusing himself from the table, he went into the den to answer it in privacy. Hysteria in the voice on the other end alerted him. Something bad was going down.
“Joe, thank God! Please come to the house as quickly as you can. It’s me, Peg Hinton. Louie, my five-year-old, started the van and backed it over a cliff. It’s barely hanging there. I can’t get him out. Please bring Lee and the equipment, and for God’s sake, HURRY! ”Her voice rose with each sentence, screaming the last word.
Peg had worked almost exclusively with Lee and Joe when she was with the team. That was before marriage, kids and acres of garden property, surrounding a large ramshackle house, had plunged her into overload. Something had to give. Rightly, it was the volunteering for the Search and Rescue. But she missed working with the guys, and, periodically, they kept in touch.
“Calm down, girl! Stay with the kid and keep him steady. You know what to do. You hear me, Peg?”
Shakily, she answered, “Please hurry, Joe! God, please!"
The terror in her voice had the hairs on his body standing straight up, and his legs running as he called out, “ Sorry, Mom, it’s an emergency. Gotta go.” His family was used to this over the years, and his mom already had a container of dinner ready for him to snatch on his way out. A quick kiss and a wave to the others, and he effectively changed from son and brother to a crisis professional.
He called Lee. “Where are you?”
“I’m at Angelina’s helping her paint. Just her and me left. Johnnie took Coralee home. What’s up?”
“Meet me at the rescue vehicle and make sure it’s ready to ride. I’m at my parents, so you’ll get there first. We have a problem at Peg Hinton’s with her little boy, and it sounds serious. She’s upset, but she’s trained and will help. Call the ambulance and a backup unit to be on stand-by, just in case.”
“You got it, Joe. See you there in five.”
When Joe pulled up to the unit, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Angelina, wearing a volunteer jacket, perched near Lee in the front seat of the truck.
Joe motioned Lee to come and talk to him. “Are you crazy, man? We have an emergency here. Why did you bring Angelina into this?” His voice radiated anger, but his impulse to protect her from any unpleasantness was the main cause.
“She wanted to help out with Peg, keep her calm and give her an arm to cling to. From the way you acted, I figured Peg’s husband must be on the road.”
Looking into Angelina’s determined face, Joe had to agree with Lee. She could be helpful with Peg and the other kids.
Mutinous, her huge eyes dared him to send her home.
“Fine, let’s go.”
Chapter 29
Miraculously, just a few minutes later, Joe, Lee and Angelina arrived at the scene to find Peg’s training had kicked in. Joe realized she’d started setting up for the rescue by clearing the area. Good!
With dire threats of punishment, she’d ordered her other two kids to stay on the veranda. Her husband, Glen, a long-haul trucker, was on the road and not expected back until the next day, so the poor woman was coping alone.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” she moaned. Grass and dirt stained her shirt and pants, while copious tears ran unchecked down her cheeks. “When I went back to get the twins, I only left him alone for a few seconds. The little devil always fights to get into his car seat by himself. So I opened the door to let him inside and forgot I’d left the key in the ignition.”
The wail which finished off her sentence had Angelina moving in, arms ready to embrace. The thankful glances sent her way by Lee and Joe made her realize that they didn’t have the time to deal with the mother’s hysterics and she was needed for this precise reason.
Peg, getting control of herself, scurried alongside the men and prattled on. “Oh, God. I’m so thankful you’re here. I made him promise to stay quiet, but without someone there talking to him, he could get antsy and move around. ” Wit
hout realizing, her hand had clutched Angelina’s and she dragged her along too.
Using the powerful flashlight, Joe and Lee strode to the edge of the cliff, where the crushed fence now lay in pieces, and looked over. It was a deadly, zigzag course going downward, ending in a rocky creek bed.
By what he could see in the darkness, Joe figured the total drop could be close to eighty, maybe even as much as a hundred feet of shrubs and blackberry brush, sporadically interspersed with thin young alders and cedars. The vehicle had come to a stop with its back wheels balanced precariously on a rocky outcrop. The front wheels facing them looked to be airborne.
Jesus! It was bad. The ground could give away at any moment. They had no time to lose.
Whimpering noises from nearby would have broken a heart harder than Joe’s, and had him taking a few seconds to reassure Louie’s guilt-ridden mommy. “Be brave, Peg. He’s a smart little boy and we’ll get him out. I want you to stay with Angelina, and the twins. She’s here to help you. Lee and I have got this covered.”
Joe knew that no matter how trained a person might be, when it was a life and death situation involving their own child, they weren’t reliable. They’d need to rescue Louie without Peg there next to them, getting in their way.
Thankfully, Joe and Lee worked so well together that a strategy session wasn’t necessary. They separated, making their way down to the van. Joe called out to Lee to grab the front grill and put his full weight onto that area. Because his hundred and seventy-five pounds could help stabilize the vehicle, it might just give them the edge they’d need.
