Induction

I spent the next ten minutes pinging texts back and forth with Ollie about the hospital—both the patient we lost and the attacks. We both had the same thought about poor Mary Jennings’ fate and wondered if she could have been the one to go postal.

I cuddled up to Jake in bed and smiled at the thought of Mary beating people with her wallet. Jake rolled over and held me for a bit, kissing the top of my head. “It’s a good thing I didn’t see the news before you got home. I don’t know what I would have done. Wondering if something happened to you and not knowing would have torn me apart. I knew you were okay, and it still wrenched my guts into knots. Thank God you’re home safe. I’m sorry you had such a crappy night.” He squeezed me even closer, and I melted into his arms. Exhaustion settled in, and I started fading.

“Why don’t you sleep in a little tomorrow? I’ll go to the gas station early and fill up the car and some containers for the generator. If the power goes off, I don’t want to let all that food in the fridge go to waste.” That was one thing that hadn’t changed since his time in the army. Jake was still an early riser. If the sun was up, so was he.

* * *

A loud crack of thunder woke me from my slumber the next morning. I shot straight up in bed and watched as poor, unsuspecting Daphne bounced in the air like she was on a trampoline. Jake wasn’t in bed so I assumed he had made the trip to the gas station. I lay there for a bit and cuddled with my pooch. “Who’s a mommy’s girl? Who is it?” She got all excited and curled up like a teddy bear under my arms as I assaulted her with kisses. These moments were my favorite as I lay there snuggling my prized possession. I’m sure every psychiatric professional would tell me I supplemented the love I would show for children with puppy love. That didn’t stop me from showering her with hugs and kisses every spare moment. “Come on, let’s go outside and make a pee-pee.”

The house was unusually dark as I walked to the back door, and it took me a minute to realize that Jake had pulled the hurricane shutters closed before he went in search of gas. I asked myself my daily question, “How did I get so lucky?” Jake had left one side of the back sliding door uncovered so we could take Daphne outside, and when I opened the door, a huge gust of wind hit me in the face. Rain was coming down sideways in blankets and the backyard looked like a lake. Oh the joys of hurricane season in Florida. Daphne stood at the door and just looked at me, her eyes saying yeah, I don’t think so. I made another attempt, this time punctuating it with now at the end. Not even that could make her go out in that weather.

“Okay, fine, then hold it,” I told her and shut the door. The next two hours were spent getting dressed and filling the bathtubs with water. The weather had been getting progressively worse, and Daphne continued to be stubborn. I heard the garage door open and Jake slogged through the laundry room looking like a drowned rat.

“I have a feeling we’ll be stuck here for a while. It’s getting pretty bad out there,” he reported while he dried his hair with a dish towel. We puttered around the house for a bit, making sure everything was secure and the generator was good to go. After lunch, we hunkered down on the sofa and played the remote war. I won of course.

From its charging station in the bedroom, my phone began playing the Super Mario Brothers theme song. I sprang from the sofa intent on answering it before it went to voicemail. Leaping across the bed with hands outstretched, I grabbed the phone off the nightstand and hit the connect button.

“Hello,” I exclaimed, out of breath.

“This is an automated message from Jackson State College. Classes and all school activities have been suspended until further notice due to extreme weather conditions. To repeat this message, press one. Otherwise, disconnect.”

I hung up the phone and did a little happy dance. There was a nasty exam scheduled for that afternoon and I was pumped to get out of it, even if it was for just a few extra days. As I did a little twirl, I caught sight of Jake smiling at me in the doorway. His eyes twinkled and he jumped in and joined my dance party.

“I don’t know why we’re dancing, but I like it.” I doubled over laughing as he went old-school and pulled out his best running man.

“Snow day!” I said, following it up with a high five. Maybe rain day was more appropriate, but where’s the fun in that?