Caroline shook her head as she glared at Jesse. Honestly, his
hospital was shaking like the Jello castle she had done just last week.
When buildings not made of food did that, it seemed that it was only sensible to vacate them post haste. Now if only she could somehow beat that notion into Jesse's head.
"Really, the shaking is just structural settling," Jesse said in what he hoped was a convincing tone as he looked around the lobby nervously for anyone who might be taking note of Caroline's repeated suggestions that the hospital should be cleared of people immediately. This would never do if the news got out about Kingdom Hospital's tiny little seismological disturbances.
Just then there were a series of loud pops from the parking lot,
the noises causing Nurse Von Trier, who had finally woke from her faint, to promptly collapse again.
"Jesse James!" A woman of about Sally's age with dark hair pulled into a bun and royal blue robes billowing came stalking into the hospital.
"I have just left my school and 3000 students to the dubious care of Professor Flakey! Would you like to explain to me where my Defense professor is and why your hospital seems to be shaking uncontrollably?"
"Aunt Eleanor, how nice to see you," Jesse said with a nervous look around the lobby. "I don't think you've ever visited Kingdom Hospital before, have you? Why don't I give you a little tour of our fine establishment?"
"I don't want to take a tour of your fine establishment." Eleanor glanced around the room critically. Nurse fainted on the floor, security guard hiding behind his desk looking shell shocked. Not good signs.
Suddenly the ground gave another lurch. "As a matter of fact, I would like to leave your fine establishment before it collapses on my head." She turned to Caroline. "What is going on here? Blinky was a bit panicked when she returned."
"I'm not sure but there's some sort of energy field down in the basement and part of the ceiling is collapsed down there." Caroline said with a worried shake of her head. Those tremors seemed to be getting worse.
"The ceiling just looked like it collapsed!" Jesse said hastily.
"It's just some routine repair work that Johnny's doing though. "
"I taught Johnny. He certainly did no work in my class and I highly doubt you've inspired him to accomplish anything since." Suddenly a large panel from the ceiling fell, barely missing Otto's head and sending Blondi flying for the relative safety of the parking lot as another tremor rocked the building.
"Eleanor, the letter G nearly hit a paramedic out here!" a woman with short blonde hair and emerald green robes called as she poked her head in the door.
"Jesse, the letters of this hospital are trying to kill people!"
Eleanor grabbed his shirt collar and drug him over to Otto's desk and picked up the intercom microphone, shoving it into his hands. "Get these people to start evacuating now!"
"What do you expect me to tell them?" Jesse stared down at the microphone as panic washed suddenly over him. If people thought that Kingdom Hospital was unsound...
"Tell them that it's a fire safety drill or something," Caroline said with a shake of her head. "Eleanor, you better take a look at what's going on in the basement. I have a bad feeling Michael and the girls are down there."
"What is going on?" Louis Traff demanded as he hurried across the parking lot to Jesse, who was standing next to the catering van watching patients beginning to slowly trickle out the doors.
"The city of Lewiston is holding a fire safety drill for all public buildings." That sounded slightly believable, didn't it? And wouldn't it look good on him if he was committed to the safety of the patients? The building suddenly shuddered once more and the letter C came crashing down.
Well, that is it would if the patients weren't crushed in an earthquake.
"You are aware that we're the only public building open at this hour, right?" Louis said as he glanced around scanning the slowly growing crowd for his son.
"Well, in that case, we've won, haven't we? We can now proudly say we have the best record when it comes to fire safety out of all public buildings in Lewiston!" Jesse said. You know, that sounded a bit believable. He even believed it slightly. With a vague nod at Louis, he wandered off to find someone else to announce their new achievement in hospital safety to.
"Michael!" Eleanor called as she stood in the stair doorway,
surveying the energy field blocking any further movement. The basement,
things always seemed to happen in the basement. The mill fire, the fire at the first Kingdom.... And of course if something strange had started down there once more, she was sure that Michael would be in the thick of it hoping to finally find his missing sister. She reached out, touching the field tentively with a finger, jerking her hand back a moment later as the skin started to blister.
"You better go upstairs and see if you can figure out what started this thing." A woman drifted down the stairs, her dark hair arranged in ringlets and the Victorian style pink dress she was wearing setting off her cocoa skin perfectly. Although she seemed perfectly normal if a bit strangely dressed at first, on a closer look, one would notice that you could see right through the woman. She moved to the field and stared into it, concern filling her eyes.
"And Eleanor, tell your nephew to hurry on getting those people out of here. I was in San Francisco on sabbatical back in 1906. If this hospital goes, it's sure to trigger a fire and with the tunnels running under the street and the gas mains, it could spread like wildfire before we could do a thing. Hundreds could die."
When buildings not made of food did that, it seemed that it was only sensible to vacate them post haste. Now if only she could somehow beat that notion into Jesse's head.
"Really, the shaking is just structural settling," Jesse said in what he hoped was a convincing tone as he looked around the lobby nervously for anyone who might be taking note of Caroline's repeated suggestions that the hospital should be cleared of people immediately. This would never do if the news got out about Kingdom Hospital's tiny little seismological disturbances.
Just then there were a series of loud pops from the parking lot,
the noises causing Nurse Von Trier, who had finally woke from her faint, to promptly collapse again.
"Jesse James!" A woman of about Sally's age with dark hair pulled into a bun and royal blue robes billowing came stalking into the hospital.
"I have just left my school and 3000 students to the dubious care of Professor Flakey! Would you like to explain to me where my Defense professor is and why your hospital seems to be shaking uncontrollably?"
"Aunt Eleanor, how nice to see you," Jesse said with a nervous look around the lobby. "I don't think you've ever visited Kingdom Hospital before, have you? Why don't I give you a little tour of our fine establishment?"
"I don't want to take a tour of your fine establishment." Eleanor glanced around the room critically. Nurse fainted on the floor, security guard hiding behind his desk looking shell shocked. Not good signs.
Suddenly the ground gave another lurch. "As a matter of fact, I would like to leave your fine establishment before it collapses on my head." She turned to Caroline. "What is going on here? Blinky was a bit panicked when she returned."
"I'm not sure but there's some sort of energy field down in the basement and part of the ceiling is collapsed down there." Caroline said with a worried shake of her head. Those tremors seemed to be getting worse.
"The ceiling just looked like it collapsed!" Jesse said hastily.
"It's just some routine repair work that Johnny's doing though. "
"I taught Johnny. He certainly did no work in my class and I highly doubt you've inspired him to accomplish anything since." Suddenly a large panel from the ceiling fell, barely missing Otto's head and sending Blondi flying for the relative safety of the parking lot as another tremor rocked the building.
"Eleanor, the letter G nearly hit a paramedic out here!" a woman with short blonde hair and emerald green robes called as she poked her head in the door.
"Jesse, the letters of this hospital are trying to kill people!"
Eleanor grabbed his shirt collar and drug him over to Otto's desk and picked up the intercom microphone, shoving it into his hands. "Get these people to start evacuating now!"
"What do you expect me to tell them?" Jesse stared down at the microphone as panic washed suddenly over him. If people thought that Kingdom Hospital was unsound...
"Tell them that it's a fire safety drill or something," Caroline said with a shake of her head. "Eleanor, you better take a look at what's going on in the basement. I have a bad feeling Michael and the girls are down there."
"What is going on?" Louis Traff demanded as he hurried across the parking lot to Jesse, who was standing next to the catering van watching patients beginning to slowly trickle out the doors.
"The city of Lewiston is holding a fire safety drill for all public buildings." That sounded slightly believable, didn't it? And wouldn't it look good on him if he was committed to the safety of the patients? The building suddenly shuddered once more and the letter C came crashing down.
Well, that is it would if the patients weren't crushed in an earthquake.
"You are aware that we're the only public building open at this hour, right?" Louis said as he glanced around scanning the slowly growing crowd for his son.
"Well, in that case, we've won, haven't we? We can now proudly say we have the best record when it comes to fire safety out of all public buildings in Lewiston!" Jesse said. You know, that sounded a bit believable. He even believed it slightly. With a vague nod at Louis, he wandered off to find someone else to announce their new achievement in hospital safety to.
"Michael!" Eleanor called as she stood in the stair doorway,
surveying the energy field blocking any further movement. The basement,
things always seemed to happen in the basement. The mill fire, the fire at the first Kingdom.... And of course if something strange had started down there once more, she was sure that Michael would be in the thick of it hoping to finally find his missing sister. She reached out, touching the field tentively with a finger, jerking her hand back a moment later as the skin started to blister.
"You better go upstairs and see if you can figure out what started this thing." A woman drifted down the stairs, her dark hair arranged in ringlets and the Victorian style pink dress she was wearing setting off her cocoa skin perfectly. Although she seemed perfectly normal if a bit strangely dressed at first, on a closer look, one would notice that you could see right through the woman. She moved to the field and stared into it, concern filling her eyes.
"And Eleanor, tell your nephew to hurry on getting those people out of here. I was in San Francisco on sabbatical back in 1906. If this hospital goes, it's sure to trigger a fire and with the tunnels running under the street and the gas mains, it could spread like wildfire before we could do a thing. Hundreds could die."