No, this was not all thought out in the scant moments of the drive back to the house nor from the walk from my place back to mom’s. In our scenario talks, Lynn and I had covered a lot of these aspects about linking up. I would be calling on guard and our positions relayed. She mentioned she needed to find a radio specialist to have along. One assumption we had was that she would not be in a base but on the move. I told her I needed some firm ground to land but not a lot of it. We actually covered wingtip clearances, the need for level ground clear of obstructions and such. Thus, my desire for the military transport capabilities.
There are several assumptions I have to work with and, without them being true, they could throw a serious flaw in my planning. The first is that the military is no longer a viable force nor hunkered down in their bases. They are not just going to let me cruise on in and borrow one of their aircraft. I am pretty sure they would frown mightily over that. One other is, whatever transformations these things have gone through, that they do not like the light. This was somewhat and only vaguely verified when I was getting the kids. I am pretty sure that whatever was in there would have had no qualms about coming down and introducing itself if it were not for the light. If this is indeed true, then that will give me time and space to refuel although I will have to plan the legs of the flight in order to land and refuel in the daylight. I won’t be able to fly all of the way over in one day or in one continuous series as we will have to rest some. I mean, I think it is almost 8,000 miles there. That is close to sixteen hours of flying assuming an airspeed of 500 knots. So, I figure two days of flying to get there. During our discussions, we mentioned three or four days to get there so she would have to hold out for at least that long.
“I got a text from Michelle,” Robert says breaking the silence of the room.
“What?” I ask, my mind coming back to the present and look over at Robert. “When?”
“This morning before you arrived,” he responds leaning forward with his head down. All eyes in the room focus on him.
“Where is she?” I ask.
“I don’t know.”
“Didn’t you ask her?”
“I didn’t text her back.”
Confused, I ask him why not. He raises his head and looks over at me. “Because my phone makes noise when I press the buttons regardless of what my phone is set on.”
Michelle and Robert have only recently become an item. His first real girlfriend. He has had several dates before but nothing like this and I can tell he is truly worried about her. “Well, what about trying now?”
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. There are several moments of alternating between texting and reading. Apparently, she is still around or he is texting himself.
“Well?” I inquire. “This day and time is already suspenseful and tense enough without you adding to it. Is she ok? Where is she?”
“She’s at home.”
“Where exactly is home?” My mind floats over the next twenty three questions I want to ask and things I want to know.
“Olympia. By CapitalHigh School. Over by where you used to live.”
“Is anyone else there with her? Her parents? Where are they?” Bringing the number of questions on my mind down to twenty two. Yes, that was only one question.
“I don’t know,” he says turning his attention back to his cell, fingers speedily working their way across the buttons.
“Robert,” I say to get his attention. Yeah, that didn’t work. His mind is focused on the next letters in his text. “Robert!” I say a little louder. He looks over at me in mid text. “Ask her if she can talk and just call her.”
His fingers start hammering out yet again on the keys. I look over at the girls and Mom. Bri has rested her head against my mom’s shoulder with mom’s arm around her. Nicole is sitting with her hands in her lap watching Robert. I can tell Michelle’s response by Robert’s action as he stands up and starts to walk over to the kitchen area punching buttons and bringing his phone to his ear. Some things must just be genetically coded. He likes privacy when talking on the phone just like me. It doesn’t matter who it happens to be, both he and I will walk away to be alone to talk on the phone. Not really sure why, it just is.
He walks over to the back door looking out of the windows. I see his lips moving as he starts speaking into the phone. No words reach my ears but that is not uncommon. My hearing has declined from years of jet engine noise in the Air Force. We wore ear plugs while in the jet, but not on the ramp and, at any one time, there were many aircraft with their engines either starting up or already running. The cumulative effect has been an overall hearing loss. Others refer to it as selective hearing but I beg to differ otherwise.
I walk over to Robert and stop a few feet behind. “What is she saying?” I ask trying to get my number of questions down into at least the single digits.
“She’s alone in the house,” he replies covering the microphone end with his hand.
“Where are her parents?”
“She doesn’t know.”
“Okay. Tell here we’ll be there within the hour to pick her up.”
A flash of relief passes through his eyes as he relays this back to her. I can tell he is about to end the conversation and hang up. “Wait,” I say.
“Tell her to gather up some changes of clothes, some warm stuff like coats and sweatshirts, shoes, a sleeping bag if she has one, and whatever toiletries she thinks she needs. Oh, and tell her we’ll call just prior to getting there.”
He relays this before closing the cell phone and heads toward the back door. I know he thinks we are leaving right then and now to get Michelle.
“Wait one,” I say. “I want to talk about something first.” A quick look of annoyance and frustration crosses his features as he turns to look at me. Another genetic aspect I guess.
Robert walks back to his chair and sits down, leaning over with his elbows on his knees. I sit beside him in a similar fashion. I look over at Nic, Bri and mom, water bottle in my hand, and tell them, “I’m going to get Lynn. Or at least try.”
Through my peripheral, I see Robert raise an eyebrow and look sideways at me. “I’m going with,” he says like there is no other possibility. “Isn’t she in Kuwait though?”
“Yeah, she is. We’ll have to fly over.”
“Dad,” Bri says, the first sounds uttered by her since asking about her mom, “you can’t go without me.”
“Nor me,” Nic chimes in.
I realize they don’t know where their mom is, where the rest of their family is, with the exclusion of my mom, nor their friends. I am the only one left to them. It is at this moment I understand and see that my kids are coming with me.
“Mom?” I ask with the rest of the question left unsaid.
“I think I’m staying here,” she responds understanding the unasked question and not attempting to talk me out of my decision nor reason that the kids should stay as well. She fully understands this is something I have to do and that I want my kids with me.
“I can’t very well leave you here alone.”
“I am not without my own resources and abilities,” she responds back.
“Okay, we’re leaving in the morning and may be gone for up to ten days. I’m not sure we will be able to maintain contact. Robert, let’s go get Michelle.”
Robert heads toward the door again. I start to follow him but turn quickly back to mom and the girls on the couch, “You should probably grab blankets and nails while we’re gone. We should think about covering up the windows at the very least. Maybe bring those pallets up from the shed so we can put some form of barricade up on the windows.”