by Janine McCaw
It was a cold damp night, and the two watchmen from Britannia, Russ Keeping and Marco Mazzotta had gone inside the equipment building to warm up.
“So, I wonder how things are going at the big shindig?” Russ asked, referring to the wedding.
“I suppose it will be quite the party, what with the rescue over and all,” Marco replied.
Russ lit up a cigarette.
A thunderous cracking sound filled the air.
“Did you hear that?” Marco asked.
“Probably thunder,” Russ answered.
The noise came again, this time louder.
“Doesn’t sound like thunder,” Marco said.
“I’ll go check it out,” Russ said, donning his gloves and heading back outside.
He had only taken a few steps when he saw water heading towards him.
“Oh my God, Marco,” Russ yelled. “Let’s get the hell out of here. The damn’s going to go. We’ve got to call down there and warn everyone.” He started to quickly telephone the mine operations.
Hearn answered the phone. His face grew grim.
“I’ll tell them,” he said.
McMichael, William and Aaron stood outside the community hall with their champagne glasses in hand.
“To our futures,” William said, raising his glass. The other two men raised theirs in unison.
“To our futures.”
“It’s a nice night except for the rain. I like it cold. But does the damn rain ever stop?” William asked.
“Yes. In February.” McMichael said. “Although I must admit I find it a bit chilly this evening.”
“Keeps the champagne at optimum temperature.” Aaron added philosophically.
William looked up the mountain.
“What the hell is that?” he asked.
McMichael looked up the mountainside.
“I don’t see anything.”
“The noise,” William said. “Listen.”
The men were silent. A rumbling was coming from the mountain. McMichael instantly thought of the landslide.
Hearn came running up to him.
“We just got a call from the watchmen. The dam has let go.”
“The dam’s given way? We’ve got to get everybody out!”
“What are you talking about?” William asked.
“An entire lake is about to empty itself on our town. I’m going to the mine to sound the alarms.”
“What?” William said.
“I have no idea which way the water is going to go. Get everyone you can up on the rooftop of the hall. It should be safe. We’re going to have a flood like we’ve never seen before. I have about five minutes before it’ll be too late. Move gentlemen. Now!”
McMichael and Hearn ran up to the mine. Aaron and William went back inside the community hall, with William making his way to the microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “this is an emergency. I need everyone to make their way to the rooftop of the building. Don’t ask questions, there’s no time, please, do not go into the street. Just get up to the rooftop.”
Rudy made his way over to Aaron.
“What’s happening?”
“McMichael says the dam has given way. Listen, you can hear the water coming.”
Rudy headed towards the door.
Aaron grabbed him.
“No, don’t go out there.”
“I’m an officer of the law,” Rudy said. “Please, handle everyone in here for me while I find out what’s happening.”
Aaron let go of him.
Rudy stepped outside and to his horror found that Aaron was right. There was a wall of water heading towards the town. The sound was becoming louder, closer.
The mine’s emergency sirens came on at full blast. It brought the people who had not been at the wedding into the street. McMichael ran from the mine with bullhorns in hand, looking for help.
“The dam has burst!” he yelled. “Everyone, get to high ground!”
He saw Rudy.
“Get on the rooftop,” McMichael said. “Get on the rooftop and yell to everyone to do the same.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to knock on as many doors as possible. We have to do something.”
“I’ll do that,” Rudy said. “You go back to the wedding. I can handle it.”
“Rudy,” McMichael began, “you weren’t here in 1915. It was at a wedding, on a night like this when Lucy lost her entire family. I don’t want that to happen to her again. I don’t want that to happen to anyone else ever again. Please, get up there. Get up on the roof. Tonight you’re off duty. Tonight, for the time being, you’re just one of us. I need you alive for later.”
McMichael saw the young doctor standing in the street.
“Where’s Christina?” McMichael screamed.
“What?” Alex yelled.
The sound of the rushing water was now almost deafening.
“Where’s Christina?”
But it was too late for the doctor to answer. The rushing water was now upon him, hurling him forward with all the force of a giant wave, and sending him crashing into a tree, where he held on for dear life, dazed but alive.
The water missed McMichael and as he turned to run out of its path he saw his youngest daughter Lara, alone on the front porch of their home.
“Daddy!” she was screaming, but he could not hear her.
With a rush of adrenaline he had never experienced before, he ran to his home, grabbed his daughter and went to the top of his roof. He turned her eyes to the unfolding tragedy taking place. The flood was upon them. He watched several of the small bungalows being washed out into Howe Sound, the strength of the water being too much for their foundations to hold.
Olivia stood on the rooftop of the community hall and watched as the torrent of water ripped apart what had been her home. She could see her bathtub, floating into the sea. Lucy held her tightly.
“Frank,” she cried. As drunk as he had been, she knew he would not have awoken until it was too late, if at all. “Oh God, no,” she screamed. “Frank!”
Sister Anne made her way over to her.
Olivia’s eyes were glued to the horror. She watched her house flowing piece by piece into Howe Sound. She saw the quilt that Frank had given her, which she had washed and hung out on the line to dry, being carried out to the waters. She wondered where Frank was and kept looking for some sign that he was alive.
Anne turned her gently away from the view.
“Why?” Olivia wailed.
There were some things, Sister Anne admitted, that God did not provide an answer for.
Jimmy Yada noticed a small child in the sound, hanging onto what had probably been the park picnic table, afloat in the water. He ran from the roof.
“Jimmy!” Akiko yelled, “You get back here!”
Jimmy sensed the worst of the flood was over. It had happened in a flash, but now the waters were slowing. Within seconds he was out on the street running towards the ocean. As he swam out into Howe Sound and grabbed the little boy, he passed the floating body of his friend old Mr. Li. He was face down in the water, and Jimmy knew instantly Mr. Li’s time on earth was over. Jimmy brought the boy back to the beach and safety. As he gave the toddler back to his panic-stricken mother, he turned to the waters once more.
“I can’t leave him out there,” Jimmy said to himself, and wadded through the now shallow area where his friend had drifted. By this time, Yan, who had been on top of the roof, spotted Jimmy and his grandfather. His heart sank as he realized his grandfather was dead. He went to the waters to help bring them both back.
It was later estimated that the wall of water had been from three to five feet in depth and over seventy feet in width. Everything in its path had been taken with it into the salt waters of the ocean.
Lara cried into her father’s arms, unable to look into the street.
“It’s over,” McMichael said. “It’s all over now.” He could see Christina waving a
t them from atop the community hall. He said a silent prayer of thanks.
The young doctor, still confused, came down from the tree and started tending to the injured.
He went over to Yan and took his grandfather’s pulse.
“He’s gone,” he confirmed.
Yan broke down and cried. Jimmy looked silently on.
“I need your help,” the doctor said.
“I know what to do,” Jimmy replied.
“Good,” said Alex, still shaken from his ordeal. “Because I don’t.”
The flood had knocked out the power lines, throwing the lower town into darkness, making rescue attempts difficult. People started making their way slowly into the street.
Christina, unable to find her boyfriend the doctor, ran up to her home where McMichael was waiting for her. She ran into his available arm, her sister refusing to leave her father’s side.
“I am never getting married here,” Christina said.
McMichael thought that would be just fine.
Still up on the rooftop of the community hall, Lucy began to cry as she noticed the Northern Mary, her stern having been ripped apart by the force of houses crashing into it.
“Frenchie!” Lucy screamed, fearing the worst. She had not seen him at the wedding.
“God please,” Lucy begged. “Not Frenchie.”
And then she remembered, Maggie had said she was going to take care of Olivia’s little brother.
“Oh please,” she begged, “not the child. Not again.”
Lucy turned around looking for Grace. She found her. Daniel was in her arms, safe and sound. He had been quite well behaved at the wedding and Grace had told Maggie it would be okay if he stayed, but thanked her for her generous offer. And then Frenchie and Maggie had left the reception.
“We’re gettin’ too old fer this,” he had said, and Lucy had laughed in his face.
“Sur la pont, D’Avignon,” she had sung, taunting him.
Jason held his new wife tightly as he looked down the street from the rooftop. The movie theatre stood alone, undamaged. He knew deep inside, that if the movies had been running, at nine o’clock when the flood happened, many lives would have been saved. Saturday night was always their busiest night of the week. But of course it had been closed for the wedding. He couldn’t help thinking that the flood had been selective in its destruction, much like a tornado would have been. While the bar and the general store were now demolished, Olivia’s store, the Beachcomber, remained intact. So had the café.
Then as if Mother Nature had decided her game was over, the rain stopped and an unseasonably warm wind began to blow in from the south. But not before she had taken the lives of thirty-seven people and injured several others.
McMichael sniffed the air. The worst was over.
Chapter Forty-Three
A week later, McMichael, rising early after another sleepless night, saw Olivia sitting on the porch of the Beachcomber as he was heading to the office. He could see she was crying. There had been a lot of crying in the town since the flood. But the steadfast community had picked themselves up once again, and started rebuilding the town site. The mine itself was still operable, so there was work to be done to help people get their minds off the tragedy, but they were a long way from healed. A long way from forgetting.
He brushed some dirt off the step and sat down beside her.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked her.
“I didn’t even get a chance to give him a proper funeral,” she said.
Frank’s body had been claimed by the Pacific ocean. They never found him.
Father O’Donnell had presided over a mass burial at sea, and Sister Anne had indeed helped him.
McMichael could not find the words to try and comfort her.
“I’m sure the Lord understands,” he said.
She nodded.
McMichael could see her nose running. He handed her a handkerchief.
“So what are your plans?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “My family wants me to come back to Seattle with them, but there’s the store.”
“Jason can look after the store for you,” McMichael said. “Hell, I can look after the store for you; I don’t have one anymore.”
Olivia smiled.
“Thank you John. I know you’ve wanted to get your hands on it, but at least this time you asked,” she laughed. “If it were just me, I’d stay. I love it here. But I’ve got the baby on the way.”
“Oh and God forbid you be a single parent bringing up a baby in this place,” McMichael said. “All these people around to fuss over it, to love it. Akiko will have it speaking Japanese before you know it.”
“I know it worked for you John,” she said, patting his hand. “But I don’t think it’s in the cards for me.”
She hung her head in her hands.
“What am I going to do John?” she asked.
“You’re going to go put those darn overalls on. You’re going to wear them during your pregnancy because they were always too big for you anyway. They’ll remind you of Britannia while you’re back in Seattle with your family. Then maybe one day, after the baby is born, you’ll come back to Britannia for a visit and maybe, just maybe, you’ll fall in love all over again.”
“I feel like I’ve aged fifty years since I’ve been here,” she sighed.
“Yes, you feel like that now, I know. But give it some time.”
“It’s been one disaster after another.”
“I suppose that’s one way to look at it. But it’s been one miracle after another as well. Lucy and Sarah each found love. Christina and Lara survived the plague. Jimmy escaped the fire, and Harry and Yan lived through the cave-in. If you add them all up, I’m sure there will be more good times than bad. And in less than a year you’ll have your own little miracle.”
“I don’t know how I’m going to say good-bye to everyone.”
“Then don’t. Say, see you soon. It’s less final. Or better yet stay.”
He looked at her for some time, but he knew in his heart her mind was made up.
Chapter Forty-Four
June 1924.
The mainsail was coming down on the sailboat as it approached the dock marked Northern Maggie Charters, at Britannia Beach.
“Are we there yet Uncle Frenchie?” the little girl asked. Her curly auburn hair was in ringlets and she wore a green sweater and light cotton plaid skirt.
“You’re always in such a rush to get places lassie,” Frenchie said, “you’re worse than your mother is.”
Olivia came out from the cabin.
“It was a wonderful sail Frenchie,” Olivia said. “It’s a beautiful boat.”
“Well, I’ve got your father to thank for that. It was a blessing the Mary goin’ down that night. I was getting too old for it anyway. This charter business, now that’s the life for a retired married man like myself. Nobody wants to go out when the weather is bad. It suits me fine.”
On the night of Sarah and Jason’s wedding, Frenchie had proposed to Maggie. They had snuck off to see the new house down the road that they were buying, which happened to be Ruby’s old house. It had lots of rooms for Frenchie’s charter guests to stay overnight, that’s for sure. And it had been far enough up the road to be safe from the flood. They had been saved that night.
“Nervous?” Maggie asked, coming out behind her.
“A little. It’s been a few years.”
“Nothing’s changed much.”
But it had. Everything was new again.
John McMichael came down the dock to greet the boat. He noticed the little girl.
“Lucy,” he said, picking her up and swinging her around. “You’re just as beautiful as your mother.”
Frenchie pulled Olivia aside.
“Are you sure about dis? I can still take you back.”
“No Frenchie, I’m sure,” she said. “My mother says he’s nice.”
“And polite,” McMichael said
. “She told me so.”
“And good in a crisis,” Olivia added.
“Not to mention handsome,” he said.
“Of course my father says he’s arrogant.”
“Actually, I said that, if my memory serves me right.” McMichael said laughing.
In the three years that Olivia had been living with her family back in Seattle, McMichael had kept finding excuses to travel down to the States. How he convinced Christina and Alex to get married down there, she didn’t know. But he had, and of course the Bowers had been invited.
“My rain check,” he said to her, after the bride and groom had their first dance.
“I’m sorry?”
“You owe me a dance. I asked you to dance at your brother’s wedding and you turned me down. I said I’d take a rain check.”
They danced the night away, laughing and talking about old times, and when the reception was over, McMichael went over to William for a quiet little chat.
“I might as well tell you now,” he said, “I’m going to wait an appropriate amount of time, maybe a week, and then I’m going to ask Olivia out. And if I get my way, which I usually do, I’m going to ask her to marry me. I will raise your granddaughter. I will provide for them both. So get used to the idea, DAD!”
“Oh really, “ William said. “And you think I’m going to let you marry my daughter and put her to work? I think not.”
“Do you really think I’ll have any say in the matter?”
They laughed. Olivia and her mother joined them.
“You know, you two are a lot of fun when you’re away from business,” Olivia said.
“Olivia,” John said, “I’m not quite the tyrant I’m made out to be. I have the welfare of several hundred people on my shoulders. I have to make some rules and I have to enforce them. That doesn’t necessarily mean I have to abide by them myself, particularly when I’m out of town.”
“Did I mention he was smart?” Grace said.
And here she was again, back at Britannia. As the smell of new growth Douglas Fir filled her soul, Olivia glanced around the seaside, her memories reforming.
“That can’t be Jimmy,” Olivia said. She could see him up the road.
