FLIGHT OF HOPE
When it came to being an entrepreneur, Jimmy
Jenkins made it look too easy. He was known for starting successful auto repair
shops, selling them, and starting all over again. That in itself is quite an
accomplishment. But he didn’t stop there. He owned and piloted a private plane
in which he made money flying clients across the country. He had even
volunteered his time and money when natural disasters happened such as flying
supplies to Haiti or delivering a tanker of gasoline to hurricane Sandy
victims. Jimmy does not think of himself as a hero. He has acknowledged that he
has been so blessed by the Almighty that he must pay it forward to those in
need.
Although Jimmy and his wife Diane were in a
financial position to retire, Jimmy found it hard to live the quiet life. There
were always more deals to be made and more places to fly. On that note, he
agreed to fly clients to Seattle, Washington. Diane’s mother who lived in
Seattle was having her ninetieth birthday; naturally Diane wanted to fly out
with Jimmy and his client to visit her mother.
It was a beautiful cloudless day when pilot
Jimmy Jenkins flew his plane from Atlanta to Seattle. He landed the plane at a
private airport that bordered the Mount Rainier State Park. To Diane’s delight,
Jimmy had reserved a cabin for the two of them near the park. The snow covered
Mount Rainier was picturesque from their little haven.
The blissful night was interrupted by a series
of earth tremors which became increasingly more violent than the ones preceding
them. Jimmy turned on the radio in the wee hours of the morning. ABC News was
broadcasting a special report saying that reports were coming in from around
the globe of various volcanic activities.
Diane was now awake and came out in her robe. That woman could sleep through anything,
Jimmy thought. She walked into the kitchen to make some coffee. As she filled
the coffee maker with water, she looked out of the kitchen window at Mount Rainier.
Ash and steam were billowing out from the top of the mountain.
“Holy smokes! Jimmy, come see this.” Jimmy was
at her side in two seconds.
“Land sakes! Diane, we need to leave as soon as
possible. Forget the coffee. We’ll have breakfast someplace else far from
here.”
They dressed and packed in record time. The
suitcase was literally thrown in the plane. Jimmy fired up the engine. Soon
they were in flight and gaining altitude. While Jimmy concentrated on the
instrumentation, Diane gazed at the state park below. Her mouth dropped opened
as she saw some of the earth opening up, cabins crumbling apart, and trees
falling across the highway; but the worst part was yet to come. The little
Cessna Skyhawk continued to climb higher in the sky. More earth could be seen
which showed more destruction, similar to where they had just been. The ground
looked like it was experiencing a major earthquake as it shook and buckled
before their eyes. Large fissures opened in the highways and continued across
the valleys and into the mountains. Telephone poles wobbled and collapsed like
toothpicks strewn on a table.
There was a brief and eerie moment of silence
except for the hum of the engine. Suddenly Mount Rainier exploded open as tons
of smoke and ash filled the air. Everything within a ten mile radius was either
disintegrated or carried away on the ground by the blast. The wildlife that was
not disintegrated was killed by the sulfur dioxide gas. The blast zone extended
twenty miles from Mount Rainier, snapping trees in half with a force of twenty-five
megatons of TNT.
They were in flight for ten minutes when the
cloud of volcanic ash enveloped them and ultimately clogged the plane’s engine.
The Cessna sputtered as Jimmy tried to find a place to land. There was no
highway fit to land on. He saw a good sized lake that would have to make due.
He came about in order to make his approach while backing off the throttle.
While the plane skimmed the surface, it hit a bolder which sent it into several
cartwheels before it landed upside down in the water.
Jimmy unfastened his seatbelt and that of
Diane’s. She wasn’t responding. With Diane under one arm, he paddled to the
surface and brought her to the shore. She was still unresponsive. After a
minute of mouth to mouth resuscitation, Diane coughed violently while Jimmy sat
her up. A few of the people who lived in the lake homes ran up to them after
having witnessed the crash landing.
“Is she going to be alright?” inquired a young
twenty-something black woman with long hair.
“I think so. She would’ve let me know by now if
she wasn’t. We just need to get ourselves dry and warm if it’s possible.”
“I’m Bonnie by the way,” the woman said as she
extended her hand in greeting. “My home has survived both the earthquake and
the volcano blast but not without damage. You are welcome to stay with me until
we figure a way to get out of here.”
“Thank you for your hospitality.”
An angry looking man in his thirties was
standing outside of his house observing the newcomers. “You better not be feds
or so help me God…”
“Back off, Jerod. They are just regular folks
in need.”
“Well, I need
for them to stay off my property. I’m sure that looting will be going on big
time after this,” he said with the sweep of his hand. His black and white
pitbull growled at his side.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure they aren’t interested
in your marijuana farm that you’re growing. And keep that hell hound away from
here!” Jerod gave them all a dirty look and retreated back into his house.
Jimmy stood up and headed back into the water
to get supplies from the plane. Bonnie and Diane started to protest. He soon
proved that it was a good idea. He brought an inflatable boat, rope, and flares
with him. These were stored on Bonnie’s fenced property.
Bonnie had been listening to her ham radio of
the worldwide earthquake that had occurred. Many reports of inactive volcanoes
had suddenly become active at the same time. Thousands of people were either
missing or dead. Scientists were already predicting a volcanic winter caused by
the ash in the atmosphere that would lower temperatures and last for two to
four years. They were already saying that a third of the world’s population would
die of famine. Many were now in danger of enormous tsunamis caused by the
quakes. The entire world was under martial law. Food hording would be dealt
with forcibly by police. Looters would be shot on site.
“There is so much chaos,” Bonnie exclaimed as
she placed her hands on her forehead. “How can they enforce martial law on such
a global scale? They couldn’t even handle the aftermath of hurricane Katrina
here in the states! What makes them think this will be any different?” she
asked.
“The fact is, they won’t be able to handle it.
There are more civilians than there are military or police. I hope you have
some sort of gun because we’re going to need it,” replied Jimmy.
“I have some rifles in a gun cabinet. My dad
collected a few. He was employed by the state park many years ago. He taught me
how to shoot at an early age which I’m now thankful for.” Bonnie opened the gun
cabinet to reveal a twenty-two rifle, a shotgun, and a Winchester rifle. Jimmy
looked at Bonnie with a new admiration and respect.
“Let’s hope that we won’t have to use these on
people,” said Jimmy.
The rest of the evening, Bonnie stayed glued to
her ham radio, a hobby handed down by her father. More and more reports were
coming in about whole cities that were destroyed by the quake. The fault line
from Illinois to Memphis had lengthened to the Gulf Coast. The continental U.S.
was now in two separate land masses. The only way to get back to the East coast
was either by plane or by boat. Bonnie continued to turn the dial to pick up
radio transmissions closer to home. She came to find out lahars or volcanic mud
flows were making its way out from Mount Rainer. These were caused by the
eruption, mixing hot ash with the buildup of ice and snow; it is equivalent to
cement running down a cement mixer. The force of the mudslides was strong
enough to move mature trees, cars or even buildings. There were a couple of
news helicopters that were circling the blast area and reporting the progress
of the flow.
“Jimmy, we need to do something before the
mudslide makes its way into Seattle. We need to get my mother out of harm’s
way,” Diane implored her husband.
“I know, honey. Let’s inflate that raft and
take a few supplies. Anyone who wants to come along may do so. We’ll get to a
highway and try to make it into Seattle.”
“I’m coming with you,” Bonnie said. “All of the
wildlife is dead. My food supply is low. I’d be in a pinch if I didn’t come
with you.”
Just as Jimmy inflated the raft on the shore,
he was accosted by Jerod who held a hand gun pointed at Jimmy’s head. “I think
I’ll take that raft off your hands, mister. After all, man’s gotta do what a
man’s gotta do.”
Just then, Jerod felt the cold, hard steel of a
shotgun in between his shoulder blades. “Are you anxious to meet your Maker,
son?” asked Diane. “Just throw that hog leg in the lake like a nice boy.” Jerod
complied.
Once Diane lowered her gun, Jerod’s pitbull
stood growling and baring his teeth just a few yards away.
“Get
‘em, Spike!” ordered Jerod.
The dog
started to attack Diane. A loud boom was heard from the Winchester which blew a
hole through the dog. He somersaulted and stopped in a lifeless heap. Bonnie
stepped out of hiding from beyond her fenced property carrying the Winchester.
Jerod seethed with anger. All he could do was make vain threats.
“I’ll see that you pay for that, Bonnie. I’ve
had it with you. Watch your back.”
“Always have,” she snickered.
Jimmy, Diane and Bonnie gathered their food and
emergency supplies into Hefty bags and placed them in the raft. Two slim tree
branches were taken to guide them down the lake since they had no oars. Once
they made it to the other end of the lake near the highway, they traveled on
foot. They came across a gas station that had recently burned down after the
gas tanks ruptured by the quake. An abandoned semi-truck was parked along the
road with the keys still in the ignition. Jimmy climbed in the driver’s seat
while the Diane sat in the passenger’s seat. Bonnie sat on a crate in the
middle. They could now see at ground level all of the real devastation: dead
game animals, homes demolished, and forests leveled. They could see some trees
moving and going down which meant that they were seeing the mud slide in action.
They needed to speed up and warn people in Seattle. Jimmy accelerated as best
he could while dodging crevices in the road as well as other obstructions.
Jimmy drove right to the closest fire station.
He told the firemen to alert the public of the oncoming mudslides that would be
there in a matter of minutes. The fireman got in their trucks and each took a
section of city to call out warnings using megaphones. Volcanic ash fluttered
on the streets like gray, dirty snow when vehicles drove by.
Jimmy drove the semi-truck to the retirement
home where Diane’s mother, Helen, sat on the porch sipping her sweet tea.
“Mama, we came to get you out of the city
before those mudslides get here from Mount Rainer.”
“Do you mind if I bring some of my friends?”
“Make it quick, Mama. We need to go.”
Helen went into the parlor and gathered some of
the other seniors for a road trip. They dropped their cards on the table and
picked up their canes and walkers. The seniors were helped into the tall
trailer to sit on some crates. The arrangement was not comfortable or
convenient, yet they were excited to be out on an adventure.
Then just as he thought it couldn’t get worse,
Jimmy heard on the static sounding radio that Satsop Nuclear Power Plant to the
Southwest was very damaged by the earthquake. It was leaking radiation closer
to the coast. Minutes later the news anchor stated that the same power plant
had just been washed away by a tsunami.
A
tsunami? gulped Jimmy. That
would only mean that it would come up into the Puget Sound water way and flood
Seattle. And sure enough, the water started to rise over the banks of the
city. As the ocean tried to claim the land it was invading, it swept people and
vehicles up and around buildings. It almost resembled a ride in a water park,
only this one was deadly. Jimmy tried to steer the semi-truck even though it
didn’t do any good. The seniors in the trailer were being shaken up pretty bad,
but at least they were dry for now. They were being swept out to sea with the
strong current of the tsunami. They all stared in horror, afraid of colliding
with pieces of buildings and vehicles of all kinds. An occasional person
crashed up against the windshield and floated away. Debris from the nuclear
power plant could be seen floating nearby.
Hello
radiation, Jimmy thought. A giant wave sent the debris crashing into
the windshield of the semi-truck. God,
please help me!
Suddenly Jimmy was jolted awake during the
Sunday sermon at First Methodist Church in Atlanta. The minister was preaching
from the Book of Revelation. Upon seeing that it was only a dream, Jimmy
quietly exclaimed, “Hallelujah!” This got the attention of several church goers
as they turned to give him a stern look. He reached over with his arm to hug
Diane to himself as he settled in to hear the rest of the sermon.
~ The End~
