Excerpt from Aransas Evening
In this scene, Shelly, Dave, Allie, and Sam prepare for the unknown as Hurricane Harvey churns across the Gulf of Mexico toward the Texas coast.
The wind blew up clouds of rain mixed with grit off the pavement as Sam rushed toward the Dream Bean and climbed the front steps into the eye of a different type of storm.
“After we board up these windows we need to get off the island,” said Dave, dragging a sheet of plywood in front of the plate glass window.
“No, this is my home,” said Shelly. “You go if you wish, but I’m staying here.”
“But the mayor issued a mandatory evacuation. You’re just going to ignore that?”
“Yes. And I’m going to ignore you too, so you can go jump on the ferry with everyone else if you want, but I’m staying here.”
Dave exhaled loudly. “We could die if we stay, you know.”
Shelly stood firmly, hands on hips. “How do you know so much? Been through some hurricanes in Dallas, have you?”
“No . . . but have you?”
“Not directly, but . . .”
“But what? Allie’s the only one of us who knows anything about this.” Dave shot Allie a glance that said, “Need your help here,” but Allie, who had been drawn outside by the loud talk, wasn’t going to help the way Dave wanted.
“My mother was swept away by Ike because she went out in the storm,” Allie said. “We’ll be okay if we stay inside.”
Dave struggled to hold the sheet of plywood by himself and when he reached for the drill he lost his grip and the wood fell back against him. “A little help would be nice,” he growled at the women, but Sam stepped up to help hold the plywood in place while Dave drilled the screws into the corners and across the sides.
“Where you been? We were looking for you,” Dave asked after pulling a screw from his shirt pocket and pushing it flush into the wall with the drill.
“Fishing . . . so . . . what’s the latest forecast?”
Dave brought Sam up to date as they finished covering the windows at the Dream Bean: Harvey’s path was still uncertain but he was gaining strength so everyone was preparing for the worst. The rain and wind were coming in waves now, and Dave and Sam went next door to the Cassie and covered the windows on the boat, and then moved tables and chairs from the Sea Garden into the pilothouse and inside the Dream Bean. Standing inside the Cassie with the rain blowing hard outside, Sam had a flashback to that night on the boat with Bo and Allie. He recalled the helpless feeling that they wouldn’t survive and yet they did. With his feet on the firm ground this time he didn’t feel lost like he had but he was still anxious knowing there were a thousand ways this could go bad.
Inside the Dream Bean, with everything stowed away, Shelly looked around while unconsciously wiping the counter with a dry cloth. Dave put his hand on Shelly’s and stopped her movement.
“I think we’ve done all we can,” he said. “And I’m sorry if I’m edgy but I just don’t like taking risks when there are other options. If it were up to me I’d have us a hundred miles north of here. But I guess if I’m going to live here with you then I better start learning how this is done.”
The ferry wailed from its landing down the street and everyone looked at each other. Dave shook his head knowing they wouldn’t hear that much longer.
Shelly looked around the room and changed the subject. “Thanks everyone for helping here. I know you all have work to do at your own places so better get going. I’ll be fine here.”
Nobody moved. Shelly made a shooing motion with her hands but nobody would shoo.
“I’ve done all I can do,” said Allie.
“Me too,” said Dave. “I got everything up off the floor this morning and I’ve got shutters so I’m protected . . . sort of.”
“What about you Sam?” Shelly asked.
“The house is okay. I’ve got nothing worth protecting . . . just my vinyl records, and they’re waterproof. I could use a hand at the Pier Association, but then so could a lot of folks down here. Why don’t we spread out and see what we can do.”
“I’ll go with Sam,” said Allie.
“And we’ll check on some of the other shops,” said Shelly. “We’ll keep the door unlocked and meet you back here later.”
When Sam and Allie got to the office they found the windows already boarded up.
“Looks like you’ve taken care of everything,” Allie said.
Sam shook his head. “It wasn’t me.”
“Well you’ve got people watching your back,” she said.
“Yes, and we should do the same,” he said, and for the rest of the afternoon and on into the evening they meandered from business to business, boat to boat, house to house, lending a hand wherever they could. Sometimes that was helping hang plywood, sometimes loading cars and trucks with furniture and boxes of belongings. But a few dozen of the locals had made the same decision as Shelly and were sheltering in place, so Allie and Sam helped tie down or move indoors anything loose that might become airborne or be washed away.
At one house they helped move a cabinet freezer from a carport into a living room. The owner offered to pay them for their help with a couple of T-bones. “You can throw those on the grill and celebrate when this little show is over.”
“Thank you, but I don’t think any of us will be eating steak anytime soon,” said Sam.
“I think this Harvey fellow may change his mind and decide to head on over to Louisiana,” the man said.
“I wish you were right.”
Walking down another street they heard shouting behind them – “Motley . . . Motley come back” – and then a cat ran between their legs and jumped up a wall and into a gaping hole in the roof of a vacant building. With the cat’s owner calling loudly for Motley, Sam helped hoist Allie up into the hole and then stood in the rain with the woman as they heard cat cries and bumping around and then a crash. A side door opened and Allie came out covered in dirt and insulation and holding Motley tightly in her arms. The woman pulled the shivering cat from Allie’s clutch and then raced away to safety somewhere down the street, leaving Sam and Allie standing in the rain.
As they turned back toward the Dream Bean, Allie used the blowing rain and her hands to clear the debris from her hair and clothing. She stopped walking and raised her face as if she was in the shower, and Sam turned away feeling like he was seeing something he shouldn’t.
“Where do you plan to ride out the storm?” Allie asked as they continued walking.
“What are the options?”
“Well, the mayor told everyone to leave but some are staying, so they’ve opened up the civic center.”
“Is that where you’re going?” Sam asked.
“Shelly’s staying at the Bean, so I’ll be there too . . . and so should you. It’s up off the ground.”
As they walked back toward the Dream Bean and passed the bow of the Cassie resting in her earthen dock, Allie stopped and patted her bow. “She’s been through a lot. I hope she’s ready for this.”
“Me too,” Sam said, but he wasn’t thinking about the boat.
Inside the Dream Bean they found Shelly and Dave drying off and looking as drowned and beaten as themselves.
“Did you have as much fun as we did?” Shelly asked, slumped in a chair with a towel on her head at the one table they had not secured away for the storm.
“That depends. Did you chase any animals through an attic?” Allie asked.
Shelly and Dave shook their heads.
“Then we had more fun than you,” said Allie.
Shelly had brought a small TV from home and had it tuned to a channel in Corpus Christi. The forecaster said Harvey was twenty-four hours from landfall and the exact location was still not certain.
“He looks sort of young. You don’t want to check the Weather Channel?” asked Dave.
“That man on the Weather Channel is in Atlanta and he’s watching the storm on TV. The kid in Corpus is living the storm the same as us,” Shelly said.
It was close to one in the morning and the rain was coming in bands, each one stronger than the next. Allie and Dave had already moved sleeping bags, blankets and spare clothing to the Dream Bean to ride out the storm with Shelly. Sam hadn’t been home in two days so during one of the breaks in the rain he decided to go home.
“I’ll be back in the morning,” he said.
“Are you sure?” asked Allie. “This thing could speed up and you’ll be stuck.”
“I trust Shelly’s boyfriend in Corpus,” Sam said and winked at Shelly. He was almost out the door when the clatter of the bells on the glass startled him. He untied them and handed them to Shelly. “I don’t think we’ll need these to tell us Harvey has arrived.”
Shelly took the bells and hugged him. “If we hear it’s coming sooner we’ll come get you.”
Sam nodded and walked out into the dark. The rain was down to a sprinkle but even then it stung as the wind blew it sideways into his face. It was only a few blocks to his house and while usually it would be dark and quiet at this time of night Sam encountered people still working to get their houses in order.
“You got a place to ride out the storm?” asked a neighbor.
“Yes, gonna stay at Shelly’s. They’re thinking it will be better a few feet off the ground. How about you?”
“We’re staying here. We’re staying home. Best of luck. Tell Shelly we’ll be back in as soon as we can.”
Sam nodded and pushed on down the street to the house that looked even less familiar and less inviting in the dark, swirling rain. Inside he took a hot shower to wash off the grit and sweat from the work around town. He fell into bed and thought he would go to sleep right away but the roar of the wind outside stirred his adrenaline, so he reached over to the bedside table and twisted the knob on the phonograph, bringing Mozart’s “Clarinet Concerto” up over the roar of the wind outside. It was an odd pairing – the mellow solace of the clarinet and the shrill whine of wood members pulling against their nails – and for a moment the rocking of the house and the rhythmic whoosh of the wind reminded Sam of a blustery night in his trailer and he longed to be home in that space. But then he heard the breaking of glass and the moan of metal bending somewhere nearby and his fantasy was shattered by the truth: even if the new hotel had not forced the trailers off the beach, the storm would have swept them away forever.