EARTHQUAKE - Chapter 16

When I arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Stauer, Mrs. Cartright’s parents, she hugged me. I cried and told her all that had happened. She said,

“I’m glad you are out of that situation. At the same time I am afraid of what might happen if that shelter called the police. If your father were here, he could call the Department of Human Services and straighten things out. I may hear from him tonight.

“I had some marvelous news while I was waiting for you. There is a man in the hospital where your mother is who has amnesia. They didn’t know who he was. They asked your father to see him. He recognized him as my husband Clifford Cartright.

“My parents are due to arrive here tonight. I am going to Monroe to meet Clifford and bring him back here if possible. I am asking you to watch my children until I get back from Monroe. My parents will be here, but they don’t have any patience with children. Will you do that for me, Dana?”

“Of course I will, Mrs. Cartright.”

“I don’t know what to do about clothes for you. I’m afraid to take you to a store, because the shelter may have called the police and there may be an Amber Alert for you. I will get one of my nightgowns. Put it on and then wash and dry all the clothes you have on. I’ll show you where the washer and dryer are located. Take off your socks and wash them also. You can walk around barefoot in the house.”

About then the two children, Jamie and Joy, came running down the stairs. They ran straight to Dana’s arms. After she hugged them, Jamie said,

“Ooh, you stink.”

I laughed and took that as my cue to go upstairs, undress, take a shower, and put on the cotton nightgown Mrs. Cartright had laid out for me while I was in the shower. I went downstairs with my bundle of dirty clothes. Mrs. Cartright showed me where the washer and dryer were. I put the clothes into the washer and turned it on.

Mrs. Cartright was fixing an early supper for the children. She was hoping that they would be in bed by the time her parents arrived. She fixed a plate for me and I was glad. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. After we ate, I went to check on the wash. It was done and I put everything in the dryer. After I turned it on, I told Mrs. Cartright I wanted to lie down for a while.

I lay down on top of the bed spread. Sometimes during the night I was freezing cold. It was pitch dark. I crawled under the blankets and went back to sleep. I must have slept late. The sun was bright through the curtains. When I crawled out from under the covers, there at the foot of the bed my clean clothes were neatly folded.

I went downstairs and encountered Mrs. Stauer, waiting impatiently for me.

“I understood that you were going to take care of Melodie’s children. They are up, running around in their pajamas, probably watching cartoons. I don’t want to have to care for two little children. I have just returned from a trip and I am exhausted.”

I found the children parked in front of the television in the living room watching cartoons.

“Hi Dana,” they chimed together.

“Have you had any breakfast?”

“No.”

“Let’s go get some and then get washed and dressed.”

I turned the television off and led them into the kitchen. I put some corn flakes in three bowls, some milk on them, and we began to eat our breakfast. Afterward, I took them upstairs to their rooms, found some play clothes, washed and dressed them and then we sat on the floor.

I led them in some songs, some hand clapping and finger fun. Then I said, “There must be some story books around here.”

“All our books were buried when the house fell down.”

“Let’s go exploring and see if we can find a story book.”

There were many rooms in the house. Some of them looked like they had been closed for decades. In one dusty bedroom we found some old books. There were Robinson Crusoe, Tom Sawyer, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates and many others that were too old for them, but at the bottom of the pile was Mother Goose Stories. Perfect!

We went back to their room and met Mrs. Stauer.

“What were you doing snooping around my house? Did you think you could find something to steal?”

“No, ma’am. We were looking for some children’s books so I could read them stories. All their books were destroyed in the earthquake.”

“The earthquake, the earthquake. I’m sick of hearing about it.”

“I found a book of Mother Goose Tales. May I borrow it to read to the children?”

“Oh, I suppose so, if it will keep the rug rats amused and away from me.”

She stomped out of the room. The children were upset. Jamie said,

“She’s mean. I don’t like her.”

I said, “Let’s read a couple of these stories.” The children listened attentively to the first couple stories. Then they became restless. I decided to take them outside for a while to play. When we reached the door, Mrs. Stauer appeared out of nowhere.

“Where are you going?”

“I was going to take the children outside to play for a while until it is their lunch time.”

“You didn’t ask my permission. I don’t want them outside. They will get a sunburn. Take them upstairs. I’ll call when lunch is ready.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

If she wants them upstairs, upstairs we’ll go. When we were upstairs just as we were going into the children’s room I noticed the long hall.

“I know what we can do. We can have races in the hallway. Then we’ll play a game of tag. After that we can play hide and seek.”

The sounds of the children squealing, the slapping of their shoes on the wood floor, the bumps when they fell were my revenge on the mean Mrs. Stauer.

At supper she announced that Melodie was driving back tomorrow with her husband Clifford. If my father called she didn’t call me to the phone or tell me any messages he might have left for me.

After I put the children in bed, I went downstairs with my clothes to wash them. When Mrs. Stauer saw me going toward the laundry room she said,

“Where do you think that you are going?”

I was going to wash my clothes. I only have one set of clothes. That is what your daughter told me to do.

“Only one set of clothes. I guess it’s the earthquake again. The washer and dryer don’t belong to Melodie. They are mine and I say who can use them. Take your clothes back upstairs with you.”

The next day at lunch time I told the children that their mother and father were coming home, probably after supper some time.

Mr.& Mrs. Clifford Cartright arrived while the children were in for their naps. Mr. Cartright walked painfully into the house and looked confused. His father-in-law came out to meet him, hugged him and kept saying,

“Clifford, Clifford, it’s really you. You survived.”

Tears were rolling down his face. His wife came out and tried to take charge.

“You will just have to find a nice psychiatric hospital to put him in.”

“He doesn’t need that. I talked for a long time with his doctor and with their mental health specialist. The trauma to the brain wiped out all his memory of who he is, who his family is, where he lived or worked, who his friends were. This is day one for him to know me or his children.

“On the other hand, his knowledge of accounting and bookkeeping are intact. He doesn’t need to be in a hospital. He needs to be home with me and his children.”

Mrs. Stauer said, “I don’t know if I can feel safe with a madman in the same house with me.”

“Very well, mother, we will pack up and go to a motel if that is what you need.”

Mr. Stauer said, “You’ll stay in this house as long as you need to until you can find another house of your own. Millicent can check herself into a psychiatric hospital if she doesn’t feel safe in my house. I worked hard for the money I put into this house. I bought a big house so there would always be plenty of room when our children came to stay with their families – whether for a week’s vacation, or as it is with Melodie, to recover from a disaster.”

Millicent muttered, “The earthquake, the earthquake, the earthquake.”

I was embarrassed and went upstairs.   

Jamie and Joy were in their room playing.

“Are Mommy and Daddy home yet?”

“Yes, they just walked in the door.”

They flew out of their room and ran squealing down the steps.

“Mommy. Daddy.”

In all that confusion, the door bell rang. It was the police.

Mr. Stauer went to the door.

“What is the problem, officers?”

“We have information that a girl, Dana Kusak may be here or that you may have information where she is. She is a runaway and we have instructions to pick her up.

Melodie went to the door.

“Officers, please come in and let me explain to you what happened. Dana was in a shelter at St. Edwards parish school. Her grandfather died, and I was contacted by the hospital. Through the Red Cross I located her father, then Dana, and finally her mother. Dana and her father were reunited at her grandfather’s funeral last Thursday. I found out that her mother was in a hospital in Monroe, Louisiana so on Monday her father left for Monroe, Louisiana to see his wife who is in a hospital there after having part of her leg amputated.

“On Monday they moved out all the earthquake survivors from St. Edwards School and took them to a church camp in Ferndale. Dana had been living together with the family of her best friend, Rosalita at the St. Edwards shelter. At Ferndale they separated these two girls from Rosalita’s mother and put them in a dormitory of older teenage girls. They were picked on and bullied from the beginning and the adults did nothing to protect them. They were elbowed and shoved out of the food lines. Dana had all of her clothes stolen. When she told the adult advisor she just shrugged it off, they did nothing.

“She called me crying on Tuesday. I sent my car for her. When I talked to her father on the phone that night I told him what happened and asked him to send me an a letter giving me permission to let her live with us until he gets back up here. He was going to have it notarized and then send it by fax to me. Let me check the fax machine.”

When she returned she looked puzzled.

           “There were no messages on the fax machine. There are usually half a dozen”

Mrs. Stauer said,“Oh, I tore all the messages off the machine and shredded them.”

An officer said, “I’m sorry Mrs. Cartright, we will have to take her back to Ferndale. That is where she ran away from.”

Dana was upstairs and heard all that was said. She went quietly into her bedroom and picked up her teddy bear and silently went down the hallway to the back stairs, and down to the back door. She went out into the dark, cold night.

           In the back of the house she looked around. She spied the garage. Creeping over to it she tried the door. It was unlocked. Inside the garage were two cars. One of them was locked, but the big one which had come for her and which took them to the funeral, was unlocked. She crawled into the back seat and lay down. Her feet touched something soft. It was a lap robe rolled up on the end of the seat. There was another one rolled up at the other end. Using one for a pillow and the other for a blanket, she was soon asleep hugging her teddy bear.