Aftershock

Tim returns once more to the cul de sac where he lives to search the wreckage of his house following a devastating natural disaster.

A thin cloud of dust ascended into the balmy air as Tim kicked a stray table-leg out of his way. He wiped the sweat from his brow. Two hours and no luck- he was beginning to wonder why he had even bothered to come back. He stretched out his back and sweepingly surveyed his surroundings- the remains of what used to be the cul de sac where he lived. This should have been an emotional moment for him, seeing the place he grew up in torn apart beyond repair. In truth, he had lived here for twelve years of his life and never quite taken to the place. To him, it never seemed to be anything more than a bland suburb- vapid and generic and colourless. Ironically, a devastating natural disaster seemed to brighten the place up.... add a bit of character.

According to the news, it had been the strongest tornado ever to have hit the area. They were warned and evacuated before they had a chance to gather anything more than the essentials. The family were staying with distant relatives, people Tim had not heard of until a few weeks ago, and he had been sent back on an empty train on a mission to see what he could salvage of their possessions. His mother was too upset to face the ruins. Several people were in the same position as Tim was- bending down, picking things up, scratching their heads and wondering if they could pass it off to their heartbroken loved ones as something more meaningful than a shattered piece of debris.

Tim was standing hopelessly in the wreckage of his own house. Unscathed valuables were, as he had expected, disappointingly thin on the ground, and although this house had no sentimental influence over Tim himself, he did, nevertheless, want to find at least a few things to lift his family's spirits. So far, he had come across one old family photo in a broken frame and a couple of items from his parents' wedding china. The sun was beating down relentlessly and all he wanted to do was give up, but he knew he couldn't. He sighed and trudged forward to continue searching. There had to be something else.

He squinted across the road and saw his neighbour, Tony, who was halfheartedly sifting through a pile of clothes and trying to see what had survived. Tim waved. Tony returned his wave and made his way across the road. The last couple of weeks seemed to have aged him, but he smiled nonetheless. He was carrying a plastic bag filled with what could only be broken pieces of junk he had rescued to please his wife. Tim thought he looked pathetic, but then again Tony may have been thinking the exact same thing about him. Tony greeted him with a firm and sombre handshake.

" It's good to see you, Tim. " he said, trying to sound as upbeat as he could.

" Good to see you too. I'm guessing you're here for the same reason I'm here. "

He smiled wryly. " Jenny's too upset, she wouldn't- I mean she just didn't feel up to it so..... well, someone has to do it, don't they? So why not you and I? "

They were silent for a moment. Tim looked down and kicked up some dust from the ground. After a few seconds, he said " Found anything good? "

Tony showed him the contents of his plastic bag with a sort of bashful pride. He had certainly hit the jackpot compared to Tim- he had found half of his wedding album, his wife's jewellery box and four of his own jumpers completely intact, if not a little weatherbeaten. Not a bad day's work. Tim felt sad all of a sudden that he hadn't succeeded in finding something he might be able to give his little sister. There was so much rubble and dust floating around that he could barely see three feet in front of him, and the heat wasn't making it any easier.

Tony seemed to sense his despondency and swung the plastic bag over his back.

" This is as much as I'm going to find, I think. Why don't I give you a hand? "

Tim failed to see how it would do much good, but he was feeling lonely stumbling around among the remnants of his family's life and the lives of their friends and neighbours. It would be nice to have the company for a little while. " Thanks, Tony. I appreciate it. "

They began wading through an enormous pile of broken up wardrobes, doors, floorboards and coffee tables, hoping to find a hidden treasure of some sort. Tim and Tony didn't know each other well enough to confide in each other about the extent to which their this tornado had altered their lives, and so all the while they painstakingly manoeuvred their way through the conventional neighbour-to neighbour pleasantries- inquiring about each other's families, commenting on the weather- given the situation they were in, Tim almost found it funny. Almost.

As Tim got to the bottom of the pile, he noticed something. It looked like one of his sister's teddy bears. He knelt down to get a better look. As he brushed some of the dirt off, he recognized it as a little koala bear he had gotten from his parents for his fourth birthday. When his sister was born, he passed it on to her and she had taken it everywhere with her since. Tim took the teddy in his hands and couldn't help remembering the time he had buried it in the back garden and how their father had to dig everything up in order to find it for her. He remembered how relieved his sister was. " Tim, I'm never letting you near it, ever again! " A sharp twinge of pain in his legs brought him back to reality and he stood up.

The sun was finally setting and it would be dark soon. They had no choice but to call it a day. Tony opened two Cokes he had brought with him and they sat down on the curb and sipped them silently. Tim looked around the cul de sac once again. Everything really was destroyed. As the sky began to darken, the scene in front of him only looked bleaker. It was sad. This had never been the most exciting or the most vibrant place in the world, but there had never really been anywhere else.

He looked over at Tony, sipping his Coke and staring straight ahead of him. He couldn't have been any older than twenty seven or twenty eight. This was the first home he had bought with his wife and it, along with everything they had accumulated throughout their lives, everything they held dear, was gone. Finally, he looked down at the bag he had brought- the optimistically spacious bag his mother had handed him this morning which now appeared depressingly empty. He rattled the contents around- the photo, the wedding plates, and the koala. This was all his family had left to show for twelve years living in this vapid, generic and colourless suburb. Even if it was only to save these three things, Tim was glad he had bothered to come back.