In 90 seconds

Anything can be resolved in 90 seconds....

 Charles shot up in bed to chimes and a loud automated female voice wailing in his ear �"

“Earthquake detected! Expect strong shaking in 90 seconds.”

 

            He zoomed in on the desktop computer in front of him, on the other side of the bedroom. The monitor displayed a map of California, with a red circle flashing from a location just south of Los Angeles. The projected epicenter.  His own location, in the San Fernando Valley, flashed white, courtesy of the now mandatory Earthquake Detection Warning System, now enforced throughout the California, Oregon, and Washington regions. To his horror, the earthquake intensity level bar flashed red �" meaning, a magnitude of 7.0 or greater. Oh goodness, 7.0 or greater? That meant �"

           

“Expect strong shaking in 85 seconds.”

 

Charles practically leapt out of bed.

“Lights on!” he screamed and the room flooded with light, thanks to home’s voice-automated system. Where was Corinne, and why wasn’t she in bed?! Well, considering their decision to divorce, that would �"

“Dad? What’s going on?” squeaked Charles’ 12-year-old son, who was dressed in a Spiderman t-shirt and black shorts. He stood in the doorway.

“Jordan, get your sister to the Safe Area, now!” Charles commanded.

Jordan nodded and turned to grab the hand of his 8-year-old sister, India. But where was Corinne?

 

“Expect strong shaking in 80 seconds,” the voice warned.

 

Now Charles grabbed his smart phone ran out of the bedroom, pushing Jordan and India toward the Safe Area.

“But Dad �" “

“Go now! I’ll find her!”

He sneaked one last look at his children before dashing to each of the rooms in search of Corinne. The Safe Area was downstairs, in a hallway, which was systematically built to withstand a severe earthquake. While it wouldn’t diminish the shaking, the frame had been retrofitted, so that even if the second story of their four-bedroom home collapsed they would still be safe.  But where was Corinne? He now flung open the bathroom, found nothing there.  Now he dashed down the stairs, commanding the home to shut off the gas. He ran past the Safe Area �" he saw Jordan and India huddled �" and through the kitchen, where he could hear the chimes of the warning system emanating from other homes, almost in echo-like fashion.

 

“Expect strong shaking in 75 seconds.”

 

He shuddered with fear. God help us. Do we have emergency kits? Yes, they’re in the Safe Area, in a small cubbyhole built into the hallway wall.  Corinne may have left, Lord.  We got into it pretty bad last night.

Last night.

Charles ran out of the kitchen. Where was she?

“I want a divorce!” she had hissed.

“So do I!” he’d shot back. “Don’t want to live with some controlling woman anyway!”

“I’m controlling?! You’re the one who had an affair with her!”

“It was one time! One time! What was I suppose to do, I wasn’t getting any attention from you!”

Oh goodness, how could they say those things? No, she wasn’t in the kitchen, not the living room, not the foyer �"

 

            “Expect strong shaking in 70 seconds.”

 

His heart pumped faster as he flung open the patio door and ran outside. The chimes from the other homes’ warning system wailed, and despite the dawning sun rising in the east, it was still somewhat dark.  OK, yes, he had an affair with his assistant from work �" one time �" some three months ago. He’d regretted it ever since, but he reasoned that Corinne could be so controlling. He’d been so angry, even when she burst into tears in pain, even when they both turned to see Jordan and India standing on the stairs, hearing the argument the whole time. Why did their kids have to see that? Where was Corinne? Why couldn’t he find her? They’d told each other they were through last night, but now he felt himself at the edge of hyperventilating if he didn’t find her. Why was this happening? Where had they gone wrong?

 

“Expect strong shaking in 65 seconds,” the voice reminded sternly from his smart phone �" his app was programmed to be in sync with the home computer and its warning system. He looked down to the screen to see the epicenter ominously flashing, always flashing.

God, help me find her, he prayed in a split second.

And then he spotted her, sitting on the diving board of their backyard swimming pool. Despite the impending doom, Charles walked up to her slowly, even as the automated voice on his smart phone announced that they had one remaining minute before the shaking.

Corinne had her head bowed down, her brownish-black relaxed hair spilling over her slender shoulders. A family album lay in her lap, and in the fading dark Charles saw it was stained with tears �" her tears.

He tapped her on the shoulder. “Corinne �" “ he began.

It seemed everything slowed down, the seconds had become hours. She looked at him. His mind flooded with memories of Corinne, their beginnings, her smiling face as she held their children as babies, the nights he watched her tell India and Jordan about God and read stories to them, the backyard barbecues with the kids playing in the pool, the nights she wore sleeveless dresses on their dates out, her slender frame in the moonlight. It had been a terrible mistake, that other woman.  Suddenly he was staring at the one person he didn’t want to loose.

“Please, let’s go,” he said. “Let’s not end it here.”

She looked at him, wiping a tear away. She paused before she asked slowly. ‘You mean it?”

Charles nodded.  “It’s not safe out here.”

She nodded and grabbed his hand, pulling herself up.  “OK,” she said.  “Are the kids -"

“They’re in the Safe Area already.”

“OK.”

They ran back into the home, thankful that the state of California had installed such a system, even if it meant more money paid out in taxes.  There had been enough of these, and other natural and man-made disasters, so such warning systems were necessary. By the time they rushed back into the house, the automated voice had announced that the shaking would begin in 25 seconds.

Charles and Corinne took cover in the Safe Area, next to India and Jordan.   India held her Tiana princess  doll, sitting close to her big brother. The family of four now huddled together in the hallway, Charles’ smart phone in the center.

 

“Expect strong shaking in 20 seconds.”

 

“Mama, are we going to be OK?” India asked Corinne.

Corinne -- beautiful Corinne -- looked into her daughter‘s eyes. “Yes, with God’s help we’ll be OK.  Don’t be afraid.”

“We will be fine,” Charles added. “We’re a family, no matter what, that won’t change.” He meant it.  Regardless of the horrors ahead of them due to this impending earthquake, he would do what he could to keep his family together.

 

“Strong shaking in 10 seconds, nine, eight, seven…”

 

Charles took Corinne’s hand in his left, his son’s hand in his right; the whole family held hands and they prayed.

 

“Four…. three…. two…”

 

Charles knew that it would be OK; he knew it would be OK, that the worst was over, even as the severe shaking began.

 

 

 

*Author’s note �" there is a similar early earthquake warning system in existence, the most advanced system being used in Japan.  Called the EEW, it can detect the primary waves of a strong earthquake, giving residents who live a distance from the epicenter 90 seconds to prepare. Despite the tragic toll of Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the system was still consdiered effective. 

Author's Note

Please let me know what you think of the story. Rick, I know you'll find plenty of errors...lol