Chapter 10
Tom and Sister Maggie came to see the others off the next morning. They were using two school buses to transport them. And they all knew it would be a long ride to the airport. The food for the travelers had been prepared and put on the buses for them. Tom and a number of other workers from the mess hall had finished putting it together at six o'clock that morning. Everything was ready.
Much to everyone's surprise, there were tearful goodbyes as they left. They had all expected to be thrilled to leave, but instead they suddenly found it hard to part from new friends. There were promises to call and write, or even visit. The people in the Presidio had shared so much grief, fear, and trauma. It was a bond they would share forever.
Tom was talking quietly to Melanie as Jake, Ashley, and the others got on the bus, while Janet told her to hurry up. She didn't even bother to say goodbye to Tom. She waved at two women who had come to see her off. Others wished they were going home too, although many had lost their homes and had nowhere to go. The L.A. contingent were lucky to be leaving the area and going back to normalcy again. It would be a long time before anything in San Francisco was normal.
“Take care, Melanie,” Tom whispered to her, as he held on to her gently and then kissed her again. She had no idea if Jake was watching, but after what he had done, she no longer cared. It was over between them, and should have been long before. She was sure he'd be using drugs again as soon as they got back to L.A. At least he'd been forced to stay off them in the camp, or maybe he'd found some after all. She no longer gave a damn about that either. “I'll call you as soon as I get to Pasadena.”
“Take care of yourself,” she whispered, kissed him lightly on the lips, and hopped onto the bus with the others. Jake shot her an evil look as she walked past him. And Everett was right behind her in line before they boarded. He was saying goodbye to Maggie, and she showed him that she had his chip in her pocket.
“Hang on to that, Maggie,” he told her. “It will bring you luck.”
“I've always been lucky,” she said, smiling at him. “I was lucky when I met you,” she added.
“Not as much as I was. Stay safe and be careful. I'll be in touch,” he promised, kissed her on the cheek, looked into those bottomless blue eyes for a last time, and climbed aboard.
Everett opened the window next to him, and waved at Maggie as they drove away. She and Tom stood and looked after the bus for a long time, and then went back to their respective jobs. Maggie was quiet and sad as she walked into the hospital, wondering if she would ever see Everett again, and knowing that if not, it was the will of God. She felt she had no right to ask for more right now. She had shared a remarkable week with him even if they never met again. She felt his AA chip in her pocket, touched it briefly, and went back to work, throwing herself into it with vigor, so she didn't let herself think of him. She knew she couldn't allow herself to do that. He was going back to his own life, and she to hers.
The ride to the airport turned out to be even longer than everyone had predicted. There were still obstacles in the road, parts of it had been torn up, and looked severely mangled. Overpasses had fallen, they saw buildings that had come down, and the drivers of the two buses took a long and circuitous road to the airport. It was nearly noon when they got there, and they saw damage to several terminals when they arrived. The tower that had been standing only nine days before had completely disappeared. There were only a handful of travelers, and only a few planes had come in, but theirs was waiting. It was scheduled to leave at one o'clock. They looked like a ragtag group as they checked in. Credit cards had been lost, and only a few people still had money on them. For those who needed it, the Red Cross had paid for their trip. Pam had Melanie's credit cards on her, and paid for all of their tickets. She had left a large group of friends behind her in the Presidio after working hard for a week. And as Pam paid for their seats, Janet insisted that she and Melanie be in first class.
“We don't need to do that, Mom,” Melanie said quietly. “I'd rather sit with the others.”
“After what we've just been through? They should be giving us the plane.” Janet had apparently forgotten that the others had been through the same ordeal too. Everett was standing near them, paying for his ticket with the magazine's credit card, which he still had, and glanced at Melanie. She smiled and rolled her eyes, just as Ashley walked over with Jake. She still looked mortified whenever she was around her old friend. Jake looked totally fed up.
“Christ, I can't wait to get back to L.A.,” Jake said, almost snarling, as Everett looked at him with a grin.
“The rest of us are dying to stay here,” Everett quipped, as Melanie laughed, although in his case it was true, and hers too. They both had left people they cared about at the camp.
The airline personnel who were assisting them were exceptionally nice. They were well aware of what these people had been through, and they were all treated like VIPs, not just Melanie and her entourage. The band and roadies were flying home with them. Theoretically, they were still on the benefit's tickets, but those had been lost at the hotel. Pam was going to sort it out with them later. For now, all any of them wanted was to get home. They had had no way of reassuring their families they were okay since the earthquake, except through the Red Cross, which had been very helpful. Now the airline took over for them.
They took their seats on the plane, and as soon as they took off, the pilot made an announcement, welcoming them, and saying that he hoped the past nine days hadn't been too traumatic for them. As soon as he said it, several passengers burst into tears. Everett had taken a few last photos of Melanie and her group. It was a far cry from the way they'd all looked when they arrived. Melanie was wearing yet another pair of combat pants, held up with a rope, with a T-shirt that must have belonged to a man ten times her size. Janet was still wearing some of her own clothes that she had worn backstage at the benefit. Her polyester pants had served her well, although she, like everyone else, had finally helped herself to some sweatshirts from the donation tables. The one she was wearing was several sizes too tight. It wasn't a great look with the polyester pants and high heels, which she had refused to exchange for the flip-flops everyone else was wearing by then. Pam was wearing a full set of army clothes that had been given to her by the National Guard. And the roadies and band looked like convicts in overalls. As Everett said, it made one hell of a great picture. It was one he knew that Scoop would run, possibly on the cover, in sharp contrast to the ones he had taken of her performing at the benefit in the slinky sequin and net dress and platform shoes. As Melanie said, her feet looked like a farmer's, her fancy L.A. pedicure had entirely disappeared in the dirt and gravel of the camp as she ran around in rubber flip-flops. Everett still had his beloved black lizard cowboy boots.
They served champagne, cocktail nuts, and pretzels on the flight, and less than an hour later they landed at LAX, among war whoops and screams, wolf whistles and tears. It had been a shocking nine days for them all. Better for some than for others, but even in the best of conditions they had all been through the mill. And the stories they told were legion, of escape and survival, injury and fear. One man had his leg in a cast and was on crutches, provided by the field hospital, and several people had broken their arms and were in casts too. Melanie recognized among them several people whom Maggie had stitched up. On some days, she had the feeling they'd sewn up half the camp. Just thinking about it made her miss Maggie. She was planning to call her on her cell phone, when she could.
The plane taxied up to the terminal, and there was a wall of press waiting when they emerged. They were the first survivors of the San Francisco earthquake to return to L.A. There were TV cameras there too, and they pounced on Melanie the moment she came through the gate, looking a little dazed. Her mother had told her to comb her hair, just in case, but she hadn't bothered. She truly didn't care. She was happy to be home, although she hadn't thought about it much when she was in the camp. She was too busy there.
The photographers recognized Jake too, and took a few pictures of him, but he walked right by Melanie without saying a word, and headed toward the street. He said to someone standing nearby that if he never saw her again, it would be too soon. Fortunately, none of the members of the press taking pictures of her heard him.
“Melanie! …Melanie!! … Over here … here … How was it? …Were you scared? … Did you get hurt? … Come on, give us a smile …You look great!” Everett couldn't help thinking to himself wryly, at nineteen who didn't? They never even saw Ashley in the crowd. She stepped back and waited with Janet and Pam as she had a thousand times before. The roadies and band took off on their own, after saying goodbye to Melanie and her mother. The guys in the band told her they would see her at rehearsal the following week, and Pam said she'd call them to set it up. Melanie's next recording session was in less than a week.
It took them half an hour to press through the crowd of photographers and reporters. Everett helped run interference for them, and accompanied them to several taxis at the curb. For the first time in several years, there was no waiting limousine. But all Melanie wanted now was to get away from the press hounding her. Everett slammed the door to her cab, waved, and watched them pull away. He couldn't help thinking it had been one hell of a week. Within minutes of Melanie's departure, the rest of the press disappeared. Melanie had taken the first cab with Pam, and Ashley was in the second one with Janet. Jake had long since left on his own. And the roadies and musicians had fended for themselves.
Everett took a long look around him, relieved to be back in spite of himself. L.A. looked as though nothing had ever happened. It was hard to believe that life was normal here. It seemed impossible to fathom that the world had nearly ended in San Francisco, and here it was all business as usual. It was a weird feeling to see it. Everett got in a cab then, and gave the driver the address of his favorite AA meeting. He wanted to go there before he even went home. And the meeting was terrific. In his share, he told them all about the earthquake, the meeting he had organized in the Presidio, and then before he could stop himself, he blurted out that he had fallen in love with a nun. Since cross-talk wasn't allowed at twelve-step meetings, no one made any comment. It was only afterward, when he got up and people came over to ask him about the earthquake, that one of the men he knew there made a comment.
“Talk about unavailable, man. How's that going to work?”
“It's not,” Everett said quietly.
“Will she leave the convent for you?”
“No, she won't. She loves being a nun.”
“So what happens to you then?”
Everett thought about it for a minute before he answered. “I go on with my life. I keep coming to meetings. And I love her forever.”
“Does that work for you?” his fellow AA member asked with a look of concern.
“It'll have to,” Everett said. And with that, he walked quietly out of the meeting, hailed a cab, and went home.