Chapter 21
Sunday, June 08, 2003
1320 EST
Kresge Medical Center
Falls Church, Virginia
When Mac got back to the waiting room, she caught Clay popping some pills and downing them with coffee. He passed her the other cup that was sitting next to him, "I figured you could use that."
"Yeah, and maybe some of the pain pills too?" she tried to make a joke.
"Sarah, how long have you been here?"
"Four hours, thirteen minutes and forty-eight seconds."
He smiled gently at her. "The four hours would have been enough info. Have you eaten at all?"
"Not since last night. I went for a run first thing this morning, and the message from here was waiting when I got back. I came right over."
"Then, why don't you go down to the cafeteria and get some food? I will stay here and come and get you if there is any change."
"Any change? You promise?"
"Yes, Sarah, I promise."
"All right then, I won't be long," she told him.
He watched her walk away, and his thoughts once again turned to Katherine Kelso. Clay wasn't often a praying man, but he prayed now that she was okay. At least if the plane had to go down, she had AJ with her. Clay knew of no other man who was more capable of coming through something like that than AJ Chegwidden.
Back on the Beach.
Brenda was doing more flirting with Rick than she was looking for shelter for the group. They held hands as they walked down the beach. She thought that if it weren't for the dang plane crash, this would be kind of fun! Rick was trying to look for a cave or something, but the rain was keeping Brenda's T-shirt wet, and since she was not wearing a bra it was very hard to keep his mind on finding shelter.
On the other side, of what AJ now believed to be a small island, he and Toni were having better luck. About twenty minutes out of camp, the beach ended and rocky cliffs began. It only took another five minutes of searching before they found a cave large enough for the whole group. AJ knew it would be crowded, but beggars couldn't be choosers, and they all needed to get out of the rain.
AJ indicated to Toni that they needed to head back to the others. She nodded and they turned to go back.
Rick had managed to keep track of the time, so both scouting parties arrived back at the group within minutes of each other. AJ instructed everyone to carry as much as they could from the raft, and asked for a volunteer to bring the raft along as well. One of the boys wanted to know why AJ was not going to help them carry things.
"Because I have something else to carry," he informed the boy, and walked over to Ann, the girl with the broken leg. AJ lifted her into his arms and led the way down the beach towards the cave he and Toni had found. Everyone quickly gathered up supplies as they had been instructed to, and followed him.
To be continued…..