Emergency

“That sucks,” Pete mumbled, sour expression on his face.

“I think if we’re stuck here, we’ll need to pick bunk mates, I’ll take one for the team and choose Anna,” Eddie said, nodding his head slowly, offer of self-sacrifice sincere.

Karli shook her head, “No,” she said rather emphatically. “We passed a plantation not too far bad, it had some lights on, we should try and make our way there before this storm gets any worse,” she suggested.

“Or we could wait with the bus,” Eddie said, looking toward the back where Anna sat with her mother.

“Have any of you been following the news, there is a hurricane swirling around in the Gulf of Mexico, and you want to wait here with the bus?” Karli asked, lips pulled down into a frown.

“Sure, why not?” Eddie replied.

“Oh, I don’t know, stuff blowing around in the air at over a hundred miles an hour while you’re holed up in a bus coated with thin skinned aluminum and lots of windows, just seems, a little on the risky side is all,” she informed.

Eddie frowned, looking up and down the length of the bus.

Aedin nodded, the burning sensation from the graveyard hooch still lingering in his innards. “I say we do what Karli says, makes sense,” he said, belching quietly into his hand.

“This is horseshit,” bellyached Pete.

Within ten minutes the whole party from the bus, including Jeb Stewart, the bus driver were hoofing it back down the road toward the place where Karli had said she had seen the light.

“Maybe they’ll have a phone there we can use to get someone out here to fix the bus,” offered Jeb optimistically, bringing a hand to cover his mouth as he burped.

“Maybe,” Karli answered, feeling a lot like a cowpoke driving a herd across open country.

“We should have grabbed some snacks from the bus,” Charlie lamented.

Daphne looped her arm through Aedin’s as they walk.

Eddie tried to walk near Anna, but Amanda interposed herself between the two.

Rain continued to patter down around them.

“I wonder if there are alligators out there?” asked Celeste, cozying up next to Pete.

Pete frowned.

The house was indeed spacious, large covered veranda on both the main floor and a covered balcony on the upper floor, a dozen white columns along the front of the house.

Taking the hard packed gravel road to the house, Eddie skipped ahead, bounding up the half dozen steps. Mopping the water from his hair and snapping it back behind his head, he curled his left hand into a fist, rapping hard on the door. “I hear you knocking,” he sang, flashing a big grin to the party as they assembled behind him on the veranda.

A light came into view, getting brighter through the sheer curtains covering the large oval windows in the white wooden doors. The curtain shuffled to the side, a woman’s face looked out.

Karli stepped forward as the sounds of the lock being disengaged preceded the door opening.

A woman attired in a dressing gown stood there, long dark hair hanging back over her shoulders, hard to guess her age, mid-thirties maybe a little older, glowing gas lamp in her hand.

“Hi,” said Karli, using her best sweet voice, “My name is Karli. We have had some mechanical difficulties with our bus down the road a bit and were wondering if maybe you might have a phone we could use to summon help before the storm gets too bad.”

She shook her head, “No phone and with the storm coming in, you won’t be able to get help none either,” she said, her words sounding accented French.

“Hmm,” Karli noised, frowning.

The woman seemed to regard each of the people on the veranda, pausing a little longer on each of the men. A slow smile spread across her face. “Where are my manners?” she said, “You all should get on inside instead standing out here in the rain like drowned chickens.” She moved back inside the large foyer in the plantation house.

“This is an incredible house,” Celeste said, stepping through the door looking around as she entered.

The woman smiled and nodded, “Thank you child, been in the family for years,” she replied, pride in her voice.

“No power?” Eddie asked, pointing at the lamp in her hands, detecting the scent of old dried flowers off the woman as he walked in.

The woman shook her head. “Just went out not five minutes back now,” she replied. “The storm, she is getting her business in order before she comes knocking.”

“I’m sorry ma’am, I didn’t get your name?” Karli said politely.

“Angeline de la Barthe,” she said, nodding her head as polite introduction as others walked into the elegant plantation.

Karli went around the room identifying each of the people to the woman.

Angeline nodded. “I’ll get fetch some towels now, so you can dry off and we can get proper situated, but I’ll need an extra set of hands,” she said.

“I’ll go,” said Aedin, disentangling his arm from Daphne’s.

Angeline smiled and nodded, “Come along then,” she said moving across the foyer toward the short hall opposite the doors, “For the devil brings a chill on account of the wet.”

Stopping at a door, she nodded, “In there,” she said.

Aedin opened the door to a linen closet, pointing at a stack of white colored towels with a fancy bit of colored embroidery.

The woman nodded and smiled, “You might just as well bring the whole pile, probably going need them seeing as you boys got hair as long as the girls,” she said with a chuckle.

“You all by yourself out here?” Aedin asked, leaning into the closet, reaching for the towels.

She reached out and grabbed his wrist, a small sound in her throat. “You got your nails painted?” she asked, looking at his fingers. He was startled by the strength of her grip.

He grinned, “We’re in a band,” he replied.

“Tsk-tsk,” she breathed, shaking her head from side to side, “Seems unbecoming for a young gentleman,” she added, releasing his arm.

Aedin frowned, “You wouldn’t happen to have something to chase the chill from our bones? You know, before the devil shows up?” he asked.

She shook her head.

Aedin frowned. “You didn’t answer my question about being out here alone,” he said.

She nodded, “Just little old me,” she said, looking at him slyly.

Aedin nodded as she closed the door. Returning to the foyer, he distributed towels to the others. Everyone began drying off before Aedin himself bent at the waist and dried his hair.

“We really appreciate your taking us in,” thanked Karli, smiling at Angeline.

“It is only proper hospitality,” the woman replied.

“There‘s a graveyard up the road, that’s where the bus broke down,” Eddie said, wiping the towel across his face. “Looked pretty old.”

She arched an eyebrow and nodded, “Been there a long time that’s for sure,” she said.

Pete glowered at Eddie, catching the hint, he changed the subject.

“You all by yourself?” Eddie asked.

“Not no more, now I got all of you here,” she said with a smile.