Winter's Refuge
Chapter Hundred Eighty-One
Eight Weeks Later
HEYES
The tornado came out of nowhere. Once Frank and his brothers had told us about one that struck Three Birds just after they settled here. No one remembered another one…until yesterday.
It was after dinner and late with an almost full moon. The Kid was still down in his blacksmith shop. I was in my barn office, just thinking about walking down to the smithie to tell him he was working too late. Auntie was asleep in the bedroom of her little house. Vince was in his upstairs barn bedroom. Angie's been tired since baby Alexander arrived, so I knew she, Nettie, and the baby were already asleep in our bedroom.
Chrissy, as was usual lately, let the Curry kids all fall asleep in the living room around her until the Kid finished working and returned to kiss each one and carry the little ones to bed. This has become Chrissy's silent revolt against the Kid working long hours. Rocky was shackled to his bed in his little room. The Kid had gotten permission from Colin to add an inside window to the hall. We keep a lamp lit in the hall all night. We probably don't necessarily need it, but I find light comforting when I walk from our bedroom to the kitchen.
First, I was aware of a sudden intense cloudburst. Those happen now and then so I wasn't alarmed. Vince knocked in my office door and told me some of our horses were outside in the big paddock. Should he try to bring them into the stable?
"They'll be fine," I reassured him. "These cloudbursts never last long."
And then we started to hear the noise.
I hadn't heard that sound since I was nine years old. I was in the Heyes/Curry fields with the Kid, my pa, the Kid's pa, and the Kid's brother Brian. Pa pushed us down flat into the wheat and yelled at us not to move. He covered me with his body and my uncle did the same with the Kid. Brian laid between us. Everything was a scary dark. I kept my eyes closed and don't remember much except the thundering noise, strong, heavy rain and hail, and a powerful swirling wind. And then it was over. Our crops were laying flat. The adults took off in opposite directions to our homes. Our house lost our roof, back porch, and the chicken coop. The Curry house was untouched, but their outhouse and smoke house were gone…completely gone. We were all safe, but some of our neighbors lost their lives and suffered far worse property damage. I'll never forget that darkness and the noise.
I looked at Vince and tried not to panic. "Quick, lay down on the floor near the outside wall. It's reinforced and strong." I headed for the door.
"Mr. Heyes, where are you going?" asked Vince.
"To the house. Got to get everyone into the storm cellar." Opening the side barn door, the deafening noise told me it was too late to get to the house. The whirling wind slammed the door in my face, and I couldn't push it back open. Then we felt the roof being ripped off and I fell to the floor. I rolled to the wall and laid against it, covering my head with my arms, worrying about everyone. And then I couldn't even think enough to worry as the darkness and thunderous noise became my only reality.
JED 'KID' CURRY
I stood up from my worktable when the hard rain and hail started. I worked to pull the final two sides of my shop down and get them secured. I knew Heyes would be here soon to remind me of the late hour and that my family was waitin' for me. Chrissy's been jumpy and clingy with her latest pregnancy, so I stopped work on the belt buckle and cleaned up. We didn't plan to have another after Catherine, but it was conceived the night of the party. And like Father Patrick told me, "It's God's Will."
Lookin' out at the sky as lightnin' crossed the sky, I secured my last wall. With the light from the moon, I saw the low dark cloud in the distance…and it was movin' fast toward us. All around me was deathly quiet. I saw a sky like this when I was seven in our fields. My uncle pushed me to the ground and my pa laid over me. "Cover your ears, boys, and close your eyes tight. Brian, lay on the ground and do the same." A quick look told me Uncle Alexander was coverin' my cousin's body with his own.
In the present, in the short time it took me to secure the last side, a noise louder than I'd ever heard crashed over me and knocked me to my knees. My urge was to run to the house and family, but I could only manage to crawl to the back room. I shut the door in back of me. At least in here there were no sharp tools to fall on me. I laid on the floor under the bed with my arms coverin' my head and waited…and prayed. Father Patrick and Preacher have finally convinced me of the power of prayer.
And then it was gone, and I lit a lantern and was on my feet racin' to find my family. Juan ran out of his house with a lantern, givin' me a thumbs up that they were alright. He headed to Auntie's small house, which was missin' most of her front porch.
HEYES
I couldn't push open the side barn door so rushed to the main doors. I headed towards our house and my heart fell and started to thump loudly in my chest. My Heyes' addition to the house was in rubble. Roof torn apart, walls broken into splinters and a huge tree resting across layers of debris. I started throwing everything I could outside to get to our bed where Angie had slept and to our babies' beds. I clung to the hope that she'd had time to somehow get them all to the storm shelter.
JED 'KID' CURRY
The front door of the house was open and hangin' on one hinge and the windows' glass was all broken. I entered the livin' room and saw no one. That's a good thing, I told myself. I hope it meant they were in the storm shelter. Our shelter has two entrances, one outside and an inside trap door in the corner of the livin' room. Furniture had been blown over the hatch, but I easily pushed it off and pulled the latch up. Michael, Martha, Joy, Ruth Ann, Josiah, Didi, and Katie all looked up at me, relieved. Joe barked a warm greetin'. I couldn't see her, but I heard Chrissy exclaim, "Oh Jed, you're safe!" I was ecstatic for a moment, until I realized Heyes, Angie, Nettie, Alexander, and Rocky weren't with them.
I went down on one knee to help Joy climb out when I heard two sounds. Heyes was yellin'," Angie, where are you?" and a baby was cryin'.
"Jed, go help Heyes," Chrissy told me. "We'll get out on our own."
As I went down the hall, it looked undamaged until I reached Rocky's room. The glass on the inner window had shattered and the outside wall and the floor was torn open and what was left of the wall was leanin' inward…and Rocky was gone. I moved toward the sound of the cryin' baby. "Heyes, comin' down what's left of the hall. Where are you?" I yelled.
"Good to hear your voice, Kid. Working from the outside in," he replied in a stressed voice.
In what had been the Heyes' main bedroom, I tried to move toward the cryin', which seemed to be echoin' off what was left of the walls around me. "Angie, Nettie, it's me, Jed. Can you move or say somethin' so I can find you?" I pleaded.
I heard Heyes yell, "Juan's here helping me get through to you."
I lifted a crib, which was broken and on its side, to stand on end so I could get by.
"Angie! Angie!" Heyes called, and he was startin' to sound desperate.
A small movement and a tiny voice from the corner caught my attention. "Unc Jed, I here."
"Nettie, I'm comin', darlin'." I forced calm into my words. "Keep talkin'."
"I hear Zander cry," she said.
"Is Alexander near you, Nettie?" I started shovin' debris aside, stumblin' on the six inches of rain-soaked debris and not carin'.
HEYES
I heard stories of people who had been swept away by tornados and were found broken and dead miles away. "Please, Lord, help me find them," I prayed silently. I haven't prayed much since me and the Kid lost our families.
"Heyes, Nettie and Alexander are over here," I heard the Kid yell.
I looked to heaven before yelling back, "Alive?"
The answer came right back, "Very much." I didn't ask about Angie. He would have said if they found her.
And I thought I saw the rubble move to my left. I dug and moved a tree limb out of my way. The remnants of a crib were stuck in its branches. And then I saw the back of a leg. "Over here. Help me!" I told those working beside me. All I could think of was getting to my wife. I threw everything between us to the side and saw her other leg. I rubbed her legs. "Angie, sweetie, can you hear me?"
She moved and I used my hands to shovel debris off her back then her shoulders. Juan was digging right next to my shoulder. "Heyes, if you can lift that wooden thing, whatever it is, off of her, think I can slide her out from underneath it. Maybe…"
"On three," I told him. "One…two…three," I said. It was heavy, very heavy, and awkward, and I realized I was lifting our decorative antique dresser.
Juan pulled, saying, "Another inch, if you can, and I can slide her out."
With a deep breath, I gave out a yell and lifted the armoire four more inches.
"Got her!" Juan said.
I dropped the dresser and felt the ground shake when the weight of it hit. And turned to cradle Angie in my arms.
"Heyes," she said with effort. "Babies?" she asked.
"The Kid found them. They're okay," I answered, moving the wet hair off her forehead. She was battered and bruised, and her eyes started to close. Then they opened wide. "Rocky? He saved our babies. Did you find him?" she asked, almost breathless before losing consciousness.
JED 'KID' CURRY
I lifted a tree and threw it out where the wall had been. And I saw Nettie. "Unc legs stuck," she said. As I started diggin', tears filled my eyes. The sweet babies were here. Alexander wailed again. "Can someone come over and help me? Come through the house," I yelled.
"I'll help you, Pa," said my son, Michael, standin' next to me.
"Glad you're here," I said. I used one hand to reach in the wet debris of wood, glass and leaves to feel what was pinnin' her legs…and felt someone else, Rocky! I gently felt along Nettie's body and when I came to her legs, I lifted the unmovin' body off of them. "Michael, lift her out, now!"
"Mik'l," Nettie said, as she hugged onto his neck.
"I'll take her, Michael," said Martha, from somewhere behind her twin.
"Good, need your help again, son. Think Alexander's close to the wall," I said, strugglin' to move Rocky. I was happy when he opened one eye and said, "I got the babies here safe," then lost consciousness again.
"Michael, need to turn Rocky over and sit him up, but this beam needs to be lifted off him," I said. "Think Alexander's between him and the wall.
HEYES
I picked Angie up in my arms. Juan cleared the way in front of me so I could carry her outside through the opening that used to be the back wall of our bedroom. Auntie was standing there with a blanket that she laid on the ground. I carefully laid my wife down and held her shoulders and head on my lap.
"Oh dear, I believe her leg is broken," Auntie exclaimed.
Angie opened her hazel eyes and looked at me. "I was trying to get to the babies' cribs, but the wind took the wall down and blew their beds across the room. When I tried to follow them, the wind swirled back on me, but I saw Rocky at the door. He ran right into the worst of the swirling wind and picked Alexander out of his crib just before it hit the wall and broke apart. Then something heavy knocked me down, but before I fell, I saw Rocky holding Nettie, too. Next thing I knew you were holding me." Angie's words were light, breathless.
"The Kid found Nettie and Alexander," I told her. "Your leg is broken. Do you hurt anywhere else?"
I watched as she tried to move her legs. "Ow, my leg!" she yelled.
"Juan, can someone go for the doctor?" Auntie asked. "Heyes, we need to immobilize her leg."
I looked up and Vince was coming around from the back of the house. "Mrs. Curry and her kids are all fine. They got to the storm shelter. Told me the dog started barking crazy just before the rain and hail started. She's with the little ones and Michael and Martha are helping their pa. And Nettie is with Mrs. Curry now, too," he explained. "Oh, and Mrs. Curry's got a nasty cut on her head. Said she was trying to get to Angie, but the hall wall started to collapse and hit her, and she ran back to join her family downstairs."
"Thanks for letting me know. Any word on Rocky?" I asked.
JED 'KID' CURRY
Before I could turn Rocky over, he supported himself on his left elbow then rolled on his left side. "Alexander's here," he said, as the baby came into view. Alexander's cries had become a soft whimper. I saw Rocky's right arm cradled the boy off the floor. I gently picked Heyes' son up and held him to my shoulder before handing him to Michael. He took a few steps back and handed the baby to his sister. I turned my attention to Rocky.
"Can you wiggle out from under the debris, Rocky?" I asked.
I watched him try to drag himself forward with his arms. He made no progress and collapsed, exhausted. "Sorry, Mr. Curry, can't. The shackles are caught on something." He took a breath. "Shackle escape button worked real well. I pushed that hidden button and that rung broke right open. Saved my life when that tornado took down the wall into my room. Just had time to get to the door when I saw my bed picked up into the wind."
I wanted to keep him talking while I dug him out. His nightshirt was torn to shreds. I used my hands to shovel the debris away and uncovered a large branch from a tree.
"Pa, how can I help?" asked Michael, as he knelt by my side.
"When I lift this off him, try and dig out around his legs," I told him, but Michael was starin' at the scars on Rocky's back. But he said nothin' and started diggin'.
With effort, I lifted the heavy branch to my shoulder, then got to my feet glad that my ankles were healed. I moved a few feet and heaved it as far away as I could. When I turned back, I saw the problem. Rocky's shackles were fixed to break in the middle, so he was released from the bed. But they were still fastened to each ankle, but the chains were no longer secured together. Those lengths of chain were now around the pieces of a chair, which was buried in the wood, leaf, and glass debris. I knelt down and ignored the glass shard cutting my knee and untangled the chains.
Standing, I moved back towards his arms. "Rocky, can you reach up to me?" I asked. He did as I asked. "Michael, stand back. Alright Rocky, I'm going to pull and lift you at the same time. Let me know if you're still caught."
Grippin' Rocky under both his arms, I lifted and pulled him out and up. I thought at first he was still stuck, but remembered that the shackles and chains were heavy. Taking a deep breath, I pulled and lifted. Then, I heard the chains rattle, and I pulled him toward me.
HEYES
Auntie's answer for everything is to cook and that's what she was doing. We'd boarded off the end of the hall and the front door and sat around the kitchen table. Auntie has moved into the first downstairs bedroom and me and Angie and our little ones will sleep in the second one tonight. Vince is staying in Juan's spare bedroom.
The problem was what to do with Rocky. His parole says he needs to be shackled to a bed in a room with no outside windows. We found his iron bed in a tree halfway over to Ken and Mary's house…and that provided our solution. They have a small utility room over their hall with no outside windows.
The Kid used our wagon to get that heavy iron bed over to the Josephs' house, which hadn't been touched by the tornado. Then went down to his smithy. Some tools fell off the walls but that was all. He couldn't remake the rung with the release button that night but did fix the shackles so Rocky could be attached to the bed again. Only me, the Kid, Rocky, and Michael know how Rocky got out of his shackles…and we're not telling anyone. It saved Rocky's life and the lives of my kids. And I will be forever grateful for what he did.
Angie suffered the greatest injury. Aiden hasn't been out yet, so there's probably a lot of injuries in Three Birds. So we put a splint on her leg; we know he'll get out here as soon as he can. Rocky is bruised and scratched up over most of his back and legs. Those bruises and scratches protected Nettie and Alexander. And Chrissy has a nasty looking cut on her head. Auntie cleaned her up and bandaged it up but it keeps bleeding a little. "Head wounds bleed a lot. I'm good," Chrissy told us but stayed quietly in the big chair by the fireplace. And she let Martha rebandage it often.
When Vince came in after checking on the horses, the ones inside the stable were alright, although a couple of them had kicked holes in their stall doors in panic from the weather. But Fall's Destiny had lost his life outside. The horses that were outside had taken refuge under a copse of trees and he was the only one injured. It looked like a large branch had cracked and fallen, hitting him in the head. Fall's Destiny was the sire of all our first studs. When Chrissy gave Winter's Refuge to the Ortiz family, they insisted on their payment of one horse a year in return. She meant a yearling or maybe a two-year-old, but on his dying bed, Jose Ortiz insisted the Kid take Fall's Destiny, their prized stud. The Kid had refused at first, but Jose insisted, saying he wanted to do it for Chrissy. Fall's Destiny sired many more foals here at Phoenix and his line is strong and beautiful…and papered. He will be missed.
Just like all those years ago at our farm, we lost our chicken coop in the storm. But some of the chickens survived and Michael and Martha made a game of catching them to entertain Joy and Ruth Ann. Nettie tried to help, but just managed to scare the hens.
Our family was lucky. Roofs and porches and bedrooms and chicken coops can be replaced, but we were all still here to sit at the kitchen table and eat the food Auntie prepared. Three Birds was not as lucky.