“This is Captain London. It may seem hard to believe, but that was the tsunami. The danger has passed-”
The crowd erupted into cheers, so that the rest of the captain’s message could not be heard. It was only the audible click of the intercom shutting off that forced that realization and quieted the crowd. Then they looked dumbly around wondering what they’d missed.
“That was it,” Gerry said. “I can’t believe it. All that fear of the tsunami, and we were completely safe.”
“You were right,” Corrina said to Travis.
“I’m sorry,” Gerry said. “You were right.”
“Can we take a nap, Momma?” Darren asked. “I’m tired.”
He had been kept excited all day, and with the passing of this fear of the tidal wave, he suddenly was very tired and his eyes drooped.
“Me too, sweetie. Let’s lie down.”
Gerry removed his jacket and lay it over his wife and her son in her arms. The two closed their eyes.
A new voice came over the crowd, a woman’s voice.
“-all those in unaffected areas to donate canned goods, blankets and especially cash to your local Red Cross office.”
The twelve-foot wood columns supporting the open walkways of the decks above fringed the Atrium like a Roman courtyard. Televisions bolted to several of them around the Atrium had come on, showing a news anchor at his desk, his eyes down at the papers in his hands. It was an unknown face, from a local station news-desk far from the East coast. The familiar network studios were missing from the broadcast.
Corrina and Darren sat back up.
“The reports we’re getting are devastating. We’re- I’m sorry, there are just so many reports coming in, it’s very hard to keep on top of this, but we’re doing the best we can. We’ve been told that the first warnings of the disaster came from over a dozen earthquake monitoring stations. One on Antarctica recorded this as a 9.6 on the Richter scale, which would make this the largest earthquake ever recorded. We still do not understand if the earthquake along the mid-Atlantic ridge caused the calving of the ice shelf, or if that event triggered the earthquake. We have reports of major tsunami waves all along the coast of South America this morning. We hope to have footage of that for you shortly.”
The news anchor looked distracted for a moment.
“Now this: we are getting eyewitness reports that the Staten Island Ferry has been hijacked during its evacuation efforts. There have been shots fired; it's unclear if anyone has been hurt. It's unclear where the ferry is being taken, or why. And we’ve just gotten the latest report from the meteorological center in Colorado...”
The anchor gave the next news all but stunned, satellite images big and colorful on the wall behind him. The Florida Keys were gone, as was much of the southern panhandle. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Jacksonville all were severely flooded. Disney World was flooded. It continued along the Gulf coast, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Fort Myers and Tallahassee.
The Florida panhandle filled the screen, but it was not the Florida anyone would have recognized.
In the crowd, noise began to rise. A few cried loudly, others hushed to hear more.
“We have just received a bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security, there is an update on refugee centers, we’ll be putting that on the screen in just a moment. We’re now being told that there are twelve American deaths so far, from a bus crash in Virginia. That’s twelve tsunami deaths so far… this is obviously outdated, we know those numbers will be much higher. At the top of the hour we’ll be reviewing what we know from South America and that will give us some idea of what to expect in the coming hours.
“The devastation, particularly in Brazil with its enormous coastal population, has been unprecedented. We are looking at satellite images of South America and it is incredible, you can see Tierra del Fuego is gone and miles of shoreline have just disappeared. We have reports now from New York – helicopter reports are saying that the highways are moving again, traffic is at a snail’s pace in the tunnels, but it is moving. It seems the peak of traffic is over, and we believe that most of the city has been evacuated, incredible in the short time we’ve had. The Tappan Zee is still stopped, there is a major accident on the 87 they are trying to clear, they only have half an hour to get that bridge clear, and traffic is blocked well back into Yonkers.”
“How are they going to get off the bridge?” Darren said.
“I don’t know, honey,” Travis said. “Please be quiet for a moment.”
“I’m sorry,” the newscaster continued, “this is very difficult, these horrible reports keep coming in.”
Darren tugged at his father, “No, but Daddy, how are they going to get off the bridge?”
“I don’t know, honey.”
His arm went around the boy’s shoulder and he gave it a squeeze as the news went on.
“We believe the tsunami is just minutes away from Washington, D.C. and we can only imagine the damage this will cause our great monuments. Let’s take a look at Twitter reaction to this, obviously this is the topic. We have dozens of celebrities stuck in evacuation, tweeting their situation and thoughts.”
Those who connected the images and words with themselves or their families cried. Those who kept their minds closed to those connections just tried to hold the information in, to make sense of it.
The news went on for forty minutes, mostly looping through the same summaries of events over and over and then the screens went black and Captain London’s voice came over the speakers.
“I’d like to first thank you for your patience. I have gotten reports from the staff, and we experienced no damage from the emergency docking or the tsunami. We have received notice from the Coast Guard that the tsunami has not yet hit New York, and it may be hours or longer before they can gather information on where they would like us to come in. I will update you as information comes in but for now, we will remain at sea. We are again opening the ship to our guests. For our booked passengers, restaurant service has again begun. Feel free to leave your cabins. For our evacuees, we have a wonderful staff who will do their best to take care of you. We encourage you to go above on deck and relax. There is a medical center on board, please ask any of our staff for directions if you need aid. Our facilities are at your disposal, and I guarantee the air on deck will help you recover some strength. We ask only that you do not use the interior restaurants, as we do not have the capacity. Dinner will again be brought to the Atrium and Theater between eight and nine this evening.”
The captain looked out over the ocean, one and eternal, filling all he could see. Here, events and people on land always seemed distant, as if a story he’d been told about someone else. He’d sailed many types of vessels, and even on a cruise ship, the feeling out on the ocean didn’t change. Whatever happened, this thing never changed. London knew he could ever only understand its surface.
9
Many in the crowd followed the captain’s advice. They were spreading back up onto the stairways and lining up around the see-through elevators when the last cell phones still getting signals went out. The realization spread through the bulk of the crowd within just seconds, but in pockets they did not understand and reacted to the exclamations by asking strangers, “What happened?”
Some spoke their worst fears aloud, while others shrugged it off as expected given what they’d seen on the screen. Before any mood could prevail, the captain’s voice was back.
“As many of you probably know, we’ve lost cell phones. I just want to let you all know that we still have a satellite link with the folks back home. The cell networks are down. Well, it doesn’t take much to do that in the best of times. The ship is still able to receive information and instructions, and to communicate our position. So please, once again, enjoy the Festival.”