Long Road from Ruin Part 1
Colonel household:
Morning routines are always important. Routine is especially important to anybody military trained. So when seeing the inner workings of the Robbins household, you'd be forgiven for thinking you had walked into a dress rehearsal for a Broadway show, minus the showtunes and sparkle. Colonel Daniel Robbins was a man of many talents, but sparkle was not one of them.
On any given morning at 8am, you can find a pot of freshly made coffee providing an inviting aroma travelling throughout the house. You can find the table set for breakfast for two, with a view over pine forests through the window, and a copy of the New York Times folded in the centre of the table. Classical music provides the soft soundtrack for this daily occasion. The only thing which has changed in this act is the number of places set at the table: two, three, four, three then two. The presence of the children is not forgotten though, their smiling faces in a range of ages lining the walls in the combined kitchen-dining room.
The colonel and his wife, Barbara, sit with their coffee discussing the headlines in the newspaper. Oil prices are up – terrible news. Shares in a company are down – good job we didn't invest in them. A dead soldier – a moment of silence, a pang of pain. It had been years but Tim's death didn't hurt any less. The colonel and Barbara close their eyes simultaneously, letting their pain wash over them. The sound of the phone ringing cut this short.
It takes a moment for it to register that it is the phone that made the interrupting noise, and that the phone needs answering. It is Barbara who goes to answer it. The caller ID shows the number to be her daughter's home phone, so she picks up the phone, "Darling, I didn't expect to hear from you. Aren't you usually at work-". It comes as a shock to Barbara that it isn't her daughter who stops her in the middle of her sentence.
"Barbara, its Callie. There's… There's been an accident. You might want to get here."
Before Barbara had a chance to reply, the call was ended, with the phone put down on her. She had heard her daughter in law worry - that was one of Callie's specialties, but sheer panic? That brought a strong wave of nausea crashing over her. Her hands shook as she tried to dial first the home number, then Callie's mobile. She desperately needed to know what was going on. Was it her daughter, or her granddaughter? Who was she kidding; it wasn't any better either way. The next thing she knew, Daniel was wrapping his arms around her. He was asking what was wrong, why she was shaking, but she wasn't hearing a sound which left his mouth. She just knew she had to breathe.
Barbara broke from her husband's arms and ran, fumbling with the patio door. After a few frustrating moments, she threw the door open and ran out into the garden, tears flowing down her face. She had to breathe. She needed to breathe. Daniel followed her and tried to put his arms around her. She resisted, before melting into him.
"What's wrong?" he asked, pushing her hair off her face and out of the streaming tears.
Barbara took a moment to try and compose herself. Her lungs felt shaky with every breath she took. The composing was not going to work, so she tried answering slowly.
"Daniel… That was… Callie. She said… Accident. We should go… Need to go… To Seattle."
With every word she uttered, the colonel's muscles tensed up more. He was becoming more and more scared. Scared for his daughter. Scared for his granddaughter. He'd lost a son and had to mask some of the emotion to stay professional, he couldn't bear to lose anybody else. His arms loosened around his wife, as he slipped a hand into his pocket to take out his cell phone. He dialled a number and waited. He didn't expect to get a response, so it took a moment to register his daughter in law vomiting her words down the phone and into his ear.
"Callie," the same authority in his voice as he used with his subordinates, "calm down and tell me what is going on." He didn't utter another word, instead just pacing around the garden. Barbara, exhausted from all the thoughts running in her mind and tears running down her face, wandered over to the garden set and sat on a chair. She didn't check to see if it was dry, and immediately felt the unique discomfort of sitting in wet clothes. She was too exhausted to follow her husband with her eyes, never mind changing her clothes. It felt like an eternity until her husband spoke again.
"Ok, I'll get us on the next flight". Barbara's eyes opened as Daniel hung up the phone. That was a terrible habit in her opinion; manners were always top priority for Barbara. Daniel put the phone back into his pocket and met her eyes. He said something about packing a bag, but Barbara felt the world slow down again, as if the weight of her wet clothes weighed the whole world down and not just her. The next thing she knew, Daniel was guiding her out of the chair and into the house. She thought she heard something about having to change her clothes - that would make sense after all – but she wouldn't have bet any money on it. Things were moving fast and slow simultaneously, and Daniel was always the one with the level head.
They went into their bedroom and Daniel set some new clothes out for Barbara. She began to get changed automatically, whilst he grabbed a suitcase and threw a random selection of their clothes into it. He was done before she was, and ended up putting her shoes on her before leaving the room with the suitcase and calling a taxi.
Barbara had just pulled on her coat and joined Daniel by the front door when the taxi pulled up. She realised she hadn't got her bag, and went to run back inside, but he stopped her. He had thought to pick it up, with wallets, phones, phone chargers and passports. He really did have a level head in crises. She took her bag and climbed into the car, whilst he lifted the suitcase into the trunk. He got into the back of the car and grabbed her hand.
"It will be ok honey, I promise."
With those words, Barbara felt like her husband was looking not just into her eyes, but into her heart's deepest wish in this moment. As he explained slowly what had happened – the plane her daughter had been on never arrived at its destination, there's been no contact and nobody has any idea where they are – she felt her heart begin to crumble. The weight of the grief from Tim's death and the weight of this seemed impossible to live with, but Daniel was her glue, and was the only thing that held her together as the taxi began to drive in the direction of the airport.