Big Time Earthquake

"Perfect tanning weather," James declared as he dropped himself into a lounge chair by the famous Palm Woods pool.

"Any weather is perfect tanning weather for James," Kendall commented to his girlfriend, Jo. They sat together in the chair next to James watching him pull his stuff out of his bag—towel, radio, and sunglasses.

"Not cloudy weather," he replied. "Can't tan without the sun. Nighttime weather also no good." The ground shook a little. "Nighttime is fine. Good weather, nighttime!" James quickly ascended. The ground shook again. "Um…"

"Earthquake!" Bitters ran through the pool area screaming.

"It's not an earthquake," Kendall said. "It's probably just some construction nearby."

This time the earth shook harder knocking over a few tables.

"Kendall, I don't think this is 'just some construction nearby.'" Jo said anxiously.

"OK," the ground continued shaking. "I heard that when there's an earthquake you, um, you should stand in a doorway."

"Are you sure about that?" Jo asked timidly.

"I don't know. This is my first earthquake." Kendall pushed his girlfriend toward the lobby doors with James following.

"Mine, too," both James and Jo said.

.O.

"We're going to crash!" Logan said as the elevator he was on with his girlfriend, Camille, started shaking violently.

"It's just an earthquake. As soon as we stop we'll go to a secure place in the lobby." Camille had lived in LA for a few years and had experienced at least a handful of minor earthquakes.

"How do you know this isn't the big one?"

The doors opened to the lobby and Logan darted out of them as quickly as possible. A huge plant fell over causing him to jump back against a wall.

"It's going to be all right." Camille put a hand on Logan's shoulder. What we need to do is get away from any big objects and protect ourselves. Good thing we got off the elevator before the power went out. Not that the power will necessarily go out." She looked at Logan. "We need to drop to the floor and cover ourselves."

"I'm going to die!" Logan exclaimed.

"We're not going to die. I can't believe there is something out there I know more about than you," she added with a slight chuckle.

.O.

"Die! Die! Die!" Carlos shouted at his video game while jumping around the living area. He had already crashed into Katie a few times who had been sitting on the couch checking out a magazine so she moved over to the table.

"Carlos! Stop shaking the apartment!" She shouted.

"I'm not." He had been standing perfectly still when she shouted at him.

They both looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Just remain calm," Katie said standing up and making her way to Carlos which was hard with the building shaking.

Carlos double tapped his helmet and grabbed Katie's hand.

"Um, I think we need to get on the floor and get under something." He looked around the apartment. "The table."

"And when that collapses around us we'll be killed."

"Get down!" Carlos pushed Katie to the floor as breakable items fell off the shelves. "Here!" he handed Katie his helmet.

"What's this?"

"My helmet!"

"I know that, but don't you need to wear it?"

"Don't worry about me. I'd rather you protect yourself."

.O.

Kendall felt someone jostling him. No, he wasn't going to move. Standing in a doorway, that protects you during an earthquake, right?

"Get out of there!" someone shouted. The person shouting pulled Kendall into the building. With James and Jo already inside, Guitar Dude slammed the doors shut and pulled the three toward the check-in desk.

"Your first earthquake, right?" Guitar Dude asked as he ducked behind the desk. "Yeah, it's not a good idea to stand in a doorway, especially one that puts you both indoors and outdoors."

Kendall, James, and Jo followed Guitar Dude and ducked behind the desk as well.

"Is this going to protect us?" Jo asked.

"It's a secure structure so it should stay up and it can absorb the brunt of whatever falls our way. This feels like a mild earthquake, though, so we shouldn't experience anything too bad." As soon as he said that a piece of plaster fell from the ceiling, hitting the side of the desk.

.O.

"Logan!" Camille screamed. He wasn't paying attention and the bulletin board fell off the wall hitting him in the head. "Are you okay?"

"That hurt, but yeah, I'm okay." He rubbed the back of his head. There would be a nasty knot there, but at least that's all it would be.

"This is lasting longer than I thought." The room was shaking. Small pieces of plaster fell around them. "Ow!"

"Camille?" Logan had been in a crouching position but looked up when he heard his girlfriend.

"I got something in my eye."

"OK, don't rub it."

"It hurts, Logan."

Logan sat up and scooted closer to Camille.

"It's probably just some plaster. Rinsing it out with water should do the trick. We should wait until the earthquake subsides."

"It hurts. I don't think I can wait that long."

.O.

"Katie!" Carlos jump on top of her as the items on the entertainment center crash around them.

"Carlos!" Katie exclaimed knowing the debris was hitting him. She tried squirming out from under him, but his grip was too strong. "I can't let you do this."

"It's okay," he grunted, "I can take this."

"No!" Katie felt something hit Carlos's arm.

"I'm—okay—as long as you're safe."

"Carlos, this is stupid! You're hurt."

"But, you're not."

Silence filled the room. Before the earthquake Carlos had been playing a video game. When the earthquake hit he didn't turn off the TV. But, now, it was off as was every other electric thing in the apartment.

"Katie?"

"Right here underneath you, Carlos."

"Oh good. I thought I'd died or lost my hearing."

.O.

"I think it's over." Guitar Dude stood up about a minute after all the shaking stopped. "Not bad."

"Not bad?" Kendall stood up and examined the room. Objects had fallen over, off the wall, and off the ceiling. The lobby was a mess.

"I've seen worse."

"But the power's off," Jo said.

"It'll come back on soon," Guitar Dude countered.

James stood up with his arms crossed.

"Is it always this cold in here?"

"You are the one wearing just your swimming trunks," Kendall commented helping Jo to her feet. "Hey, we survived our first earthquake."

"Now, we really belong here."

.O.

"I think it's over," Camille said. Ever since she got the stuff in her eye she'd been sitting against the wall rather than ducking for cover.

"Really?" Logan looked around surprised. "That wasn't so bad. I mean, I've got this nasty thing on my head and the place looks like The Hollywood Super Party Kings of Hollywood threw a party in here, but other than that the earthquake wasn't so bad."

"Can we just wash this thing out of my eye?"

Logan followed Camille into the women's restroom. Any other time he would have felt awkward and avoid the place, but someone needed to clean Camille's eye out and who better than Dr. Logan?

.O.

"Carlos!" Katie shouted. "Carlos!"

"Oh, I think it's stopped." Carlos sat up releasing his hold on Katie. "Wow," he breathed at all the damage in the apartment. All the breakables in the corner had ended up on the floor, broken.

Katie took Carlos's helmet off and placed it on his head.

"Your arm!"

"It's broken," Carlos said as if this kind of thing happened every day.

"You need stitches!"

"Yeah." Carlos fell backwards, passing out.

.O.

"So, we survived our first earthquake here in Los Angeles." Kendall put his arm around Jo who shared a lounge chair with him.

"Actually, I think that was my fifth," Camille said.

James, Katie, Carlos with a cast on his arm, Logan, and Camille were gathered around Kendall and Jo.

"Funny thing, mom was at the grocery store and said she didn't feel a thing," Kendall added.

"And now is the perfect time to do some tanning." James leaned back in his lounge chair and slid his sunglasses on his face. The ground shook causing him to take his sunglasses off and look around.

"That really is construction," Camille said while everyone laughed.