Chapter Fourteen
The next few moments were extremely busy as they pulled into the dock. Ely had leaped ashore with a line and using it as a tether point, Karl had swung the 'Skolka' then, without even tying down properly, they all began to off-load essentials. In only a short while Karl had sent Trudy, Keri and Mary-Beth off with George in his wheelchair to head up the path toward safety. Everyone but George was carrying a pack of some sort and George carried his briefcase and his canes. Besides a small pack, Mary-Beth was also carrying a box in which she had put the old cat so that he wouldn't be left alone on the boat. They trudged off uphill in a group. Karl went into the boatshed and found two long coils of rope and then returned to the others who were moving all the baggage off of the dock and into the shelter of the boatshed.
"Let's leave this for now." He said quietly and everyone turned toward him. "I'm not going to feel at all safe until the 'Skolka' is moored back at the buoy and pointed toward the cut. Let's get that done first and we'll take care of this later."
"Yes boss." Ely said quietly.
Karl grinned at her, but ignored the remark.
"David, you're going to help me and Linda can help your Mom. I'm going to take one of these ropes up to that big tree over there. "He pointed to one side of the cliff at a tree well above the water line and perhaps fifty feet away.
"Your Mom is going to take her rope to that tree over there." He pointed to a tree on the other side of the dock and less distance away, but slightly higher up the other bank.
"You and Linda will have to stay here on the stern deck and feed out the rope as we go. Can you do that, if Linda helps out?"
"Sure Unca-Dad." He responded instantly
"Ely, use a bowline to tie off with, okay?"
"Yes Boss." She answered once more.
It might have taken twenty minutes to get the ropes tied and the ends strung out to the 'Skolka'. With both lines strung out like they were, Karl had Linda stand on the stern of the boat as he slowly headed away from the dock. Easing forward, he had her tell him when the ropes had paid out until they were almost at their ends then he brought the boat to a full halt. With Ely and David at the controls, he went back to the stern to join Linda.
"Now what, since they aren't long enough to get us out to the mooring buoy?" She asked.
"Oh no, I never thought they were, this length is perfect." Karl grinned. "Just keep them together and out of my way for now."
He proceeded to pull out the stern anchor then dropped it and it's chain over the stern, stopping its fall when he came to the splice where it was joined to the anchor lead. He took the ropes from her and fastened them to the anchor chain with a clevis then threw the lot overboard and grinned at her as it sank.
"Now, you go forward and tell Ely to move us slowly forward and I'll stay here and pay out the anchor line. I'll call out if I want her to stop but tell her to go slowly and to stop when we're about a hundred feet from the mooring buoy if I haven't called out first."
He stayed where he was and when he felt the boat begin to ease forward he began to slowly pay out the line on the anchor winch. When the boat halted he locked the winch but first he ran a loop over a cinch cleat to tie it in place, then he hurried forward.
"Ease her ahead again, please Ely." He grinned at her "We need to keep the stern line fairly tight for now. Linda, I want you to handle a forward line for me."
Linda followed him forward and he found a long heavy rope in a forward locker, stringing it across the deck and near a cleat.
"Now, I'm going to get the dinghy and I'll row out to the mooring buoy to tie this off. All I want you to do is to pay this line out slowly, then cleat it off once I have the other end fastened."
"I've never even heard of a boat being tied this way." She commented.
"Oh, I'm not done yet." He laughed softly. "This whole operation is just in case we get a huge wave in here, I want the 'Skolka' to have the best chance possible of surviving anything nature can throw at her."
He rushed off to the stern and was soon in the dinghy and back at the bow. Taking the line from her, he rowed to the mooring buoy and used another clevis to tie it off then rowed back to the 'Skolka' and went aboard once more.
"Can I ease up on the throttle now that it's all tied off?" Ely called out as he passed the wheelhouse.
"Not yet." He grinned. "I've still got to drop the bow anchor and tie off the bow line. Give me a few minutes."
He went forward and treated the bow line the same way he had the stern lines, dropping the anchor overboard and tying the line to the splice at the chain using another shackle. After he had tied it and removed the rope from the cleat, he signalled Ely to cut the engines.
As she came out on deck, he grinned up at her.
"Now we drop this anchor part way." He grinned and eased the winch out.
The 'Skolka' slowly eased back until the ropes on both the bow and stern dropped into the water at an angle and Karl cleated off the forward anchor line.
"Now if everyone else would go over the boat from stem to stern and make sure everything is shut off or closed down, emptied or filled, whatever should be done to make sure it's going to be okay for a long rest, I'll set up anti-chafing gear on the bow and stern lines."
"Why don't you do the shut down with David, while Linda and I do the anti-chafing gear?" Ely asked. "I think that would make more sense."
Karl paused a second and then smiled at her.
"You're right. Come on David, let's put the 'Skolka' to sleep."
"Right, Unca-Dad." David answered with a broad grin
Karl let David do a lot of the checking but when it slowed their progress he stepped in and did the job, while explaining his reasons for every action. In fifteen minutes they were back on deck and Karl was carefully locking up the last hatchway, making sure it was tightly sealed. He sighed deeply as he walked with David to the side of the boat where Ely and Linda were standing.
"Well, that's it." He said slowly. "She's in storage mode. Boiler full, tanks full, solar panels all working and everything shut down but the emergency systems. Let's go ashore."
All of them seemed sober as Karl slowly rowed them ashore in the dinghy and several times each of them looked back at the 'Skolka', now resting quietly on the calm water in the drizzling rain. The bow and stern lines dropped into the water and so did the two lines from the shore. Karl actually rowed over the anchoring lines and David pointed them out below them in the clear water.
"Is there any chance the anchors will actually hook?" Ely asked quietly
"No." Karl answered quietly. "I only let out fifty feet or so of anchor line on both the bow and stern and there's only fifty feet of chain on either anchor. The water where she sits is more than a hundred and fifty feet deep so even at low, low tide there'll be at least fifty feet of water under each anchor."
"Well, like I said, I've never seen a boat anchored out that way." Linda said quietly. "I like it, lots of rope to let her move up and down, but no way it can swing or foul the lines, but why use two ropes to the shore on the stern instead of one. Wouldn't that have worked as well?"
"Just one line would have let her swing a lot more on a low tide, especially in a side wind." Karl said quietly as they came to the dock. "Catch that forward end would you, Ely?"
When they came ashore, Karl had Ely and David make up packs for each of them to carry from the pile of what everyone had considered essentials. Meanwhile he and Linda lifted the dinghy out of the water and stored it in the boat shed. Then everyone set to and shifted everything else that was on the dock into the boatshed. It wasn't long before they had that cleaned up as well.
"Well, I guess that's it for now." Karl said quietly. "I suppose we'd better get back to the cabin."
They all had bulky packs tied on their backs as they headed uphill, even David carried his share. They all felt slightly sombre as they climbed and it was several minutes before anyone spoke. It was actually David who broke the silence.
"Mom, is Grandpa's house ruined?" He asked quietly. "Is that why we're going to Unca-Dad's?"
"No, it's not ruined, just messed up." She said quietly. "But you and I are going to live with Karl anyway, and I think he'd like it if you called him Daddy."
"It doesn't feel right." David said quietly, then moved over to walk at Karl's side, taking his hand.
"What do you think?" He said looking up at Karl with a seven-year old's innocent gaze.
"It doesn't matter." Karl said quietly, laughing softly. "It comes more naturally for you to call me Unca-Dad and it sounds more familiar to me too. I don't mind at all."
"Thank you, Unca-Dad." David said quietly. "I think it's going to be fun living with you."
"Will it be all right for Keri and I to live there too?" Linda asked quietly in the silence that followed.
"If you want to." Karl said quietly.
"Well, both of us want to be there with you, besides Keri seems to think her Dad doesn't like us being together." She said quietly.
"I think that's George's problem." Karl said quietly. "I don't think he thinks you and Keri are; quote 'natural' unquote."
"That's not Dad's problem but that's beside the point." Ely answered. "Just how do you feel about it?"
"Well, I don't understand, I mean I couldn't get involved with another man, there just isn't any attraction. Besides, I think it's damn unusual for two woman, let alone three, to be involved in any way. This is going to get complicated."
"It already is, asshole." Ely laughed. "Now the girls are throwing you into the mix. I hope for your sake that there are still oysters along the shore of the bay."
"Me too." Linda giggled softly. "It'd be a shame to ruin Keri and my dreams."
"Now just a second . . ." Karl said quietly.
"Be quiet." Linda ordered. "Don't say one damn word. Not one. Aren't you the one they always quote as saying 'Just let things develop naturally'?"
Karl just shook his head slowly from side to side.
Everyone was quiet for a few moments as they came to the steepest part of the path just before it split at the top of the grade to go to either house. They paused at the shelter to rest, sitting on the bench inside.
It was only a moment or two after they got there when Trudy and Keri appeared, coming around a curve in the path. Keri was pulling a large wheeled wagon that Karl had built years ago and had left in one of his sheds.
"Hi Guys, we thought this might help." Keri called.
"Where's Dad?" Ely asked.
"He and Mary-Beth are oblivious to this world. They're listening to Karl's radios. Both of them are wearing earphones and scanning across the dials with a drink on one hand and a sandwich on the other. " Trudy answered. "George's only bitch is that he has to go upstairs to go to the bathroom."
"Well." Karl laughed as he slipped off his pack and dropped it into the wagon. "I guess we can fix the floor and then move the toilet from my old cabin into the house. The old cabin is only used for storage anyway."
"Oh no." Keri protested. "I was going to ask you if Linda and I couldn't fix it up to live in. That would give us a place of our own."
"Hmm." Karl said in a very hesitant tone. "It's really rough now. No one's lived in it for over a year and I've been using it for storage."
"Come on, Karl, it would be a hell of an idea." Trudy said standing directly in front of him. "If we started soon and cleaned it out, George and I could move in there with Mary-Beth and David for now until we get our place fixed up."
Ely and Linda set out with David, all of them pulling or pushing the huge load on the wagon, leaving Trudy and Keri blocking Karl's way as they did their best to convince him to their opinion.
"I'll think about it." Karl said quietly. "But there's so damn much stuff to move out of there and I don't want it ruined by the weather."
"So, we keep the goats outside for a few days, use their shed for storage, and either build them a new shelter or build a new storage shed." Keri replied quickly. "For now we could just knock up a lean-to roof for them next to the shed."
"Well, that was easier than carrying it." Linda sighed as she stopped pulling the wagon and sat on the front step of the house. "How far is it from here to the dock anyway?"
"Almost a mile, the way we have to circle around." Ely laughed. "But only a quarter of a mile if we could fly."
She pointed off to a stand of trees at the edge of the clearing. "Just over there you can stand on the edge of a cliff and look down at the bay but you can't get down there from here. The cliff is way too steep and you'd end up in the water anyway, well actually in the stream I guess. We've just walked three quarters of the way around a circle."
"Mom." David interrupted. "Can I go inside and find Grandpa? Maybe I can help him."
"Okay David." She smiled at him casually. "Tell him Karl and Keri may have taken Trudy to see what Grandpa's house is like and what needs to be done."
"Okay Mom." He answered, already dashing inside.
"Are they really going to the other house?" Linda asked quietly.
"No." Ely laughed, "However I think they're all grown up kids. What they do is their business. I'm quoting Dad by the way, from the time I told him I was carrying Karl's child."
"So David really is Karl's son?"
"Yep, David was a bargain. All he cost me was a bottle of scotch, some Chinese herbs, and few years of frustration." Ely giggled softly. "Well worth a hundred times what he cost."
"If Karl is David's father, why aren't you two together? Well, until now."
She smiled sadly. "It wasn't until the other night that I realised he loved me as much as I love him. I'm sorry if I've screwed up your life."
"You haven't screwed up my life." Linda frowned. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
"Well, you and Karl were together." Ely almost whispered. "Then I came along and stole him away from you."
"Oh come on woman." Linda smiled softly. "I saw Keri and I fell in love. It's not that I don't care for Karl, it's just that I have to be with Keri. Then once I found out that the feeling was mutual I had an extra man on my hands. Don't get me wrong, I love Karl for what he did for me and I owe him my life. If he wants a fuck, I'm going to do my best to screw his ass off. Not that I mind, I mean, he's a great lover, but I. . . . "
Her voice faded off to silence for a few seconds then she took a deep breath.
"Any way." She continued. "I orchestrated getting you and Karl together so he wouldn't be too hurt when I moved on to Keri."
"So you're giving him away." Ely grinned.
"Oh don't be an ass." Linda smiled. "I'm the one who seduced him and I think even then I was a substitute for you. He loves you."
"He loves you too."
"Unh uh, he likes me. He loves you and I think he loves Keri as well. Any way, she wants his kid and I wouldn't mind having one either, so . . ." She paused, staring at Ely.
"Are you asking my permission to seduce him occasionally?" Ely grinned at her.
"I guess so." Linda whispered as she blushed.
"On one condition." Ely smiled softly.
"Oh, what's that?"
"You sleep with me on the nights that Keri sleeps with Karl." Ely said quietly.
"Just sleep?" Linda asked mischievously.
"Lady, if you get any sleep it will be because I'm exhausted." Ely laughed as she reached out to hug Linda close.
"That's your first mistake." Linda whispered in her ear. "I'm no lady."
"Prove it." Ely challenged.
In thirty seconds Ely was kissed, groped, and aroused. Pressed back onto the porch floor, she suddenly couldn't help herself and began to giggle. Linda lifted her head from suckling an aroused nipple and grinned down at her.
"What's so funny?" She asked quietly.
"We're on the front porch of a house you haven't even seen totally and you're practically raping me." Ely giggled. "I thought it was Keri you had the hots for?"
"Oh, is that all. Let's be honest, I like sex, any kind of sex and you're so, well so exotic." Linda laughed softly and sat up. "I do tend to get carried away though. Would you like to go inside?"
"I think we'd better find a place for all this baggage we've got." Ely laughed softly as she refastened her blouse. "Come on, into the living room with it."
Before they could take it all inside, they had to clean the living room floor. That lead to them wanting to start a meal so the kitchen had to be cleaned up better than it was. Which lead to more clean up upstairs in the bedroom area while supper was cooking but by then they had been joined by Keri and Trudy. Karl was outside, hunting for an old toilet he thought he might have in storage.
It was as they were working that they felt the ground begin to tremble again. It wasn't a massive quake, just a small one, but it was enough for all of them to rush downstairs. Trudy and Keri were ready to get George when David came out of the den, looking excited.
"Grandpa says it shouldn't be too bad. It's a volcano venting near Seattle." He announced.
"What do you mean by venting?" Ely demanded. "Is it erupting or what?"
"It's just blowing out steam and smoke." David smiled, happy to know something that the others didn't. "Grandpa said as long as it doesn't get blocked and the winds carry on blowing from the west, we should be all right."
"I'd better talk to him." Trudy said quietly.
She walked into the den and stood behind him for a few seconds, then she coughed to get his attention.
"Oh, Hi Dear." George said quietly. "Just a moment, I'm listening to something rather important just now."
"Everything's okay for now Mom." Mary-Beth piped up from a seat near her father as she took off her earphones. "Daddy is trying to find out if there's any danger of a volcanic eruption on Vancouver Island. It's west of us and if one of them lets go, we could be buried under ash and pumice. So far only a couple of volcanos further down the chain in Washington State and a couple in California have exploded or erupted and the wind is carrying the smoke and ash away to the east."
"Is there anything we can do?"
"Grandpa doesn't think so." Mary-Beth said quietly. "But he wants to talk to Karl if you could find him."
"I'll get him." Ely said from the doorway where she and everyone else were waiting quietly.
She started for the door and David followed.
"Shouldn't you stay with Grandpa?" She asked. "He might want your help."
"Unh uh, there are only two sets of ear phones and Mary-Beth is still there." David answered. "Besides, I want to be outside right now. I hate earthquakes. They make houses and walls fall down."
The ground had settled down again but you could feel what seemed like a vibration through the soles of you feet.
"I know what you mean." Ely smiled down at David, caressing his smooth head lightly with a stroke of her fingers. "I like the ground to stay put under my feet too."
David grinned up at her, then noticed Karl coming out of the trees, leading an old red and white cow, followed by a half-grown calf.
"Can I go help Unca-Dad?" He asked.
"Sure." She chuckled and watched as he sped off.
"Take it cool." Karl called softly. "This old gal is spooked as it is and the calf is half wild. I don't have a clue where they came from."
David stopped where he was and Ely waited where she was as well. When Karl had gotten close to David, Karl said something quietly to him. David slipped off to one side, then as Ely watched he circled around behind the calf and encouraged it forward. Karl and the cow, now closely followed by the calf, came up to Ely.
Karl gestured toward the ground.
"Is this one of George's volcanos?" He asked quietly.
"Yes, he wants to see you for some reason. It's scared the hell out of me."
"What, that he wants to see me, or the quake itself?"
"The quake, asshole." Ely laughed uneasily. "Dad hasn't scared me for years."
"Why is this worrying you? It's not bad."
"I like the damn ground to be solid under my feet." She declared. "It isn't right for my feet to be jiggled around like this."
"Oh, is that all?" Karl grinned. "Well there isn't anything I can do about that. I don't see what George could want me to do either."
"I think he want's you to go to his house and bring back some books." David said from behind them. "If you go over to Grandpa's house, can I go along?"
"I can't see why not." Karl grinned at him.
"Now, I'm not so sure." Ely said quietly. "It might be dangerous and . . ."
"Hold it woman." Karl said quietly. "Is David really my son?"
"Well yes but . . . "
"Then I should have some say in the way he's raised." Karl grinned. "Shouldn't I?"
"I guess but I should have some say too. I mean I've raised him on my own until now and I don't think I've done a bad job."
Karl wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug.
"You've done a marvellous job." He laughed softly. "I was pulling your chain."
"David, I was wrong. Your mom and I need to talk about your going with me." He said in a louder voice.
"Okay Dad." David replied.
"That does it woman, you've got an argument on your hands." Karl whispered so only Ely could hear. "My son just called me Dad and that ought to get a reward as far as I'm concerned."
"Okay, I agree. However, if you do go and he goes along, both of you be bloody careful. "Ely answered, almost as quietly.
They put the cow and calf into a pen near one of the outbuildings and then went inside. Karl went immediately to his den, then George shooed everyone else out of the room. Once they were alone George turned on a loudspeaker so that the radio blared into the room then faced Karl with a frown on his face.
"Karl, we may have a hell of a problem." He said quietly.
"What's that George?" He asked, turning the radio down.
"I turned that up so the women couldn't hear." George frowned.
"George, is that why you have me in here all alone? If so I might as well leave." Karl growled. "They're in this as deep as we are and without them, we'd never have gotten back here."
"I do not wish to frighten them." George replied adamantly.
"George, if you're worried that the volcanos on the Vancouver Island might erupt, they already know. David told Ely and me, by now they will have told everyone else."
"It's not just that, I'm worried that this island might be part of a volcano."
"George, this island is an upthrust. It's got limestone, shale, and sandstone as well as granite and gneiss. The mixture is common in upthrusts. If it were a volcano there wouldn't be any sandstone and certainly no shale or limestone. The heat of an eruption would change them." Karl opened the door into the hallway. "Face it George, these women and kids are just as tough as we are."
"Everyone come here." He called.
Ely and David were the first to appear followed almost instantly by Linda, Mary-Beth and Keri.
"Trudy has gone to see if she can get some milk from your cow, Karl. Do you want to send someone to get her?" Ely asked.
"Hell yes." Karl responded. "That damn cow is dry to start with, the calf is weaned. And there's no way I want the cow disturbed right now. She should calf again in a week or two and she's upset as it is."
"Oh, David, run quick, before Trudy-Mom gets hurt." Ely ordered.
"I'll go too." Mary-Beth announced, racing after David as he ran for the door.
"Wait up!" She called as she raced after him.
"There you see George." Karl said quietly. "Our womenfolk are inventive and independent, not some sort of kewpie-dolls that we need to protect."
"That is as it may be." George answered. "And I am not about to argue with you. However, I still feel that there is a good possibility that this island is in some way volcanic in nature. I willingly admit that I would never have survived if it had not been for my wife and my daughters but the indisputable fact is that there are dormant volcanos on Vancouver Island and they are within destructive range of our present position. If they should come out of dormancy and erupt as those on the mainland all seem to be doing."
"Which volcanos on the mainland are erupting." Ely asked quietly.
"Mt. St. Helens is in full eruption and has a burgeoning lava dome, Mt. Rainier is venting as is Mt. Baker. As well as that two volcanos in Oregon, one in California, four in Alaska and one in northern British Columbia are presently active in various states. If the present trend continues there is no reason that the dormant volcanos on the near mainland and on Vancouver Island itself should not erupt." George paused to look at the faces surrounding him.
"If the ones on the island erupt then because of the predominant winds at this season being from the west, we will almost certainly be inundated by at the very least a heavy fall of volcanic ash, perhaps pumice and possibly lava bombs which have been known to carry for many miles. As well as that, there are poisonous gasses, pyroclastic clouds, and various other natural phenomenon associated with volcanos with which we may have to contend."
"The key word there George, is may." Karl smiled quietly. "None of this is definite, is it?"
"No, but I lived on the edge of the effects of Mt. St. Helens when it blew last time. I had a home destroyed by the mudflow's. I travelled through mile after mile of ash falls. I saw whole forests blown down, not just small areas but trees were flattened for miles. I have a great fear and respect for the power of a volcano."
"Just a minute George." Linda interrupted. "I got to ride a tsunami in boat and I got to see what it did to a town that it hit. I lived there alone for a week. There's a hell of a lot more danger of a tsunami wiping us out than there is of a volcano doing the job. I'd be a hell of a lot more worried about a bigger tsunami than a damn volcano."
"Well, since we're mentioning danger." Trudy said quietly as she came in from outside. "As a nurse, my fear is more from this super flu than from the dangers that are presented by earthquakes and tsunamis or even volcanos. With Volcanos blowing as well as everything else, people are going to be moving to get away from them and they're going to be desperate. They're going to be running if they're sick or not and that's our biggest danger. What do you think Karl?"
Karl smiled slowly, realising that everyone was extremely overwrought as well as frightened. He sat down on the edge of the bed in the room and looked up at everyone calmly.
"Well, I've been thinking about our luck." He glanced from face to face. "We all lucked out when you talk about the tsunami. I was on a boat in deep water, Linda was on a boat and got hit by it but rode it out, the rest of you were sheltered because it came from the opposite way to the lay of the land where you were living, it even left you a working boat. So it was just luck that we all survived that."
"Then I just happened to be in the right place to rescue Linda and we just happened to get away from the quasi-military. Then the radio just happened to clear up so we could just happen to hear you and come to your rescue. We just happened to see the trap those pirates had set and so on and so forth." His eyes roved from face to face.
He leaned back, silent now, waiting for someone else to speak, but everyone was very quiet.
Finally he spoke again; "I think we're just lucky, just - plain - lucky! Somebody here in this group has a horseshoe stuffed up their ass. Maybe it's me and maybe it's one of you because we're all benefiting from being together. I don't really know who the lucky one is and I don't really care Now, I don't think we should stop worrying altogether either. I think we should just carry on and do the best we can with what we've got."
It was as if Karl had dropped a bomb shell. When no one had spoken after a moment, Karl sighed heavily.
"George, I've just been thinking, how much of your information did you get from a reliable source, I mean someone who wouldn't pass on a rumour as a truth?"
"I would imagine that most of it is reliable, however almost all of it did come to me from independent sources."
"In other words, ham operators who were passing on what they had heard from someone else?"
"Well, not all of it. An emergency radio station in Seattle was broadcasting about the earthquake and the congruent volcanic eruptions in California. As well, they mentioned Mt. St. Helens was erupting and Mt. Rainier was venting."
"Mt. Baker?"
"That was mentioned on short wave, as you said a ham operator." He frowned and looked at Mary-Beth. "Mary-Beth, do you remember if he said it was venting, or if he said it was venting more than before?"
"He said there were always vents there, Daddy. He said he thought that they'd be working hard now."
"And the reports about Vancouver Island?"
"Well, there's a geologist in Victoria that I was conversing with who said that since Vancouver Island was on what he referred to as a secondary plate, that . . . Let me be sure if I have this correct, he said that the Vancouver Island plate is being compressed from the west and up against the mainland plate. There is a measurable amount of upward deflection in the center of the plate and. . . ."
"Daddy, volcanoes! Not general seismic info." Ely interrupted in annoyance.
"I was getting to that Ely, be patient." George scowled. "His interpretation of the data was that he doubted anything would erupt on the Island at the present time but that he wouldn't bet one way or the other."
"Well George, normally I wouldn't bet on it either but we don't have much choice. We're going to have to decide if we believe they're going to blow or not." Karl said quietly. "We have to decide which is the least dangerous course of action. The first choice we have to make is; do we stay here or do we leave?"
"Now, if we stay here and there is a damn volcano erupting close by, we stand in the way of possible danger from falling ash, lava bombs and all the rest. If we decide to leave there are several things to consider. First; we have to wait for a high tide and there won't be one that will let us clear that rock-fall in the gorge until tomorrow around eight o'clock in the morning. Second; if there hasn't been another rock-fall in the gorge, and if we catch a high enough tide, and if we do get out to sea, we still stand the chance of being intercepted by the navy because the government says we aren't supposed to move. Third; if we get caught in shallow water by a tsunami like Linda was, I'd say anything less than five hundred feet of water, we could all be in for one hell of a wild, short ride and maybe a damn violent one. Fourth; there is a flu out there, a bad one, its killing people. If people are running around it's going to spread and we stand a hell of a lot more chance of catching it out there on the run than isolated in here. Fifth; if we do get out on the water, if we do get past the navy gun boats, if we don't get sick, where would we go? The 'Skolka' only carries a couple of weeks of fuel and that's not running flat out like we'd have to do."
"I most certainly understand Karl." George said sharply, interrupting Karl before he could carry on. "What I was starting to say is that we need to make a least a small concession to the fact that the volcanoes to the west of us may erupt. Neither of our houses is built to withstand the weight of an ash fall on the roof and neither of our houses is built to offer any protection from lava bombs. I was hoping that you would have a suggestion of a safe place for us to flee to if such an eventuality were to befall us."
"Oh." Karl looked at him and grinned. "I don't know why but I assumed you wanted to run."
"Not once you had convinced me that the island was not volcanic." George smiled. "You are sure of that, aren't you?"
"That I'm positive about. I've found a lot of sedimentary rocks here George but very little igneous rock and if this island were volcanic in origin it would be the opposite proportions. Okay?"
"But do you or do you not have a plan for us to be safe in the case of a major ash fall?"
Karl grinned. "Not until now George, but I just had a thought, you know the sandstone layers on Lookout Hill?"
"Well yes, they are rather prominent after all."
"Well, there are one or two caves in those that are a fair size, If we had to, couldn't we shelter in those?"
"Would they be deep enough do you suppose? Also one of the major problems with volcanic ash is it's pervasiveness. Much of it passes through most filters easily simply because of the fineness of the individual grains of dust."
"Well, that puts paid to any simple way of filtering the air, doesn't it? However I just thought, did your friend, the geologist say that Vancouver Island was on a secondary plate?"
"Well, yes, he was quite specific of that. Does it have a bearing on our situation?"
"It sure does because you were so sure this island was volcanic, I did some reading a year or more ago. Many volcanoes form over what they call hot spots, places where the heat of the core of the earth carries closer to the surface. The other time they form seems to be when there's a major fold and one tectonic plate is being driven under another, but that takes quite a distance from the edge of the plates before the downward heading plate gets hot enough to melt. Vancouver Island isn't all that wide and it isn't folded all that much. I think it's sort of floating on top of the plates that are coming in from the west. On top of that George, I don't even know for sure that Mount Washington is volcanic. Are you sure it is?"
"Well, no, but I assumed from the photo of its shape that. . . ."
"George, I doubt like HELL that it is and for now I'm going to go with the assumption that it isn't. I'll tell you what, just to satisfy you, do you have any books on geology and vulcanology in your library? I know I have a government pamphlet or two but I doubt they'd be much help. If you want, the next trip over to your place we'll see if we can find anything. Okay? Actually, David and I were about to go over there this evening, right after we've had a bite of something to eat."
"I'm unsure if I actually have much information on geology," George said slowly, "Perhaps I should check my radio sources more fully?"
"I'd say so Dad." Ely snapped. "I thought I'd read somewhere that Vancouver Island was totally clear of any volcanic threat but then I can't be sure. At any rate, Karl and David need something to eat and I'll go with them to check your damn library. So you make a list of what you absolutely have to have for a few days while we eat. And remember, I am not bringing your whole damn library over here."
"Well, what I really need is to be there, so that I . . ." George began to say.
"George, just shut up right now." Trudy interrupted him. "Until the house is repaired we are staying here and that's final."
With that, almost everyone filed out leaving George and Mary-Beth behind.
In the kitchen, Karl flopped down at the table and sighed deeply. "I hope sincerely that George is wrong. I think we can handle an ash-fall from Mt Baker or almost any of the volcanoes in the Cascades because we're upwind of them most of the time but good God, if we had one upwind of us? We have enough problems as it is and now we have another mystery, where the hell did that cow and calf that I found come from?"
"Could they have swum ashore?" Linda asked.
"You don't know the island very well, Hun." Keri said. "The only place they could get ashore and get up here is right near the wharf. Everything else is steep cliffs. They'd have had to swim in through the gorge."
"Now you've got me wondering if there was a landslide from the big earthquake and it left a beach access somewhere else." Karl sighed. "Just what we'd need, a breakdown in our natural barriers."
"Karl, don't borrow trouble." Ely interrupted him. "The way we approached the island we travelled almost three quarters of the way around it. I wasn't watching the shore all the time but I know I didn't see any major land-slips, except that one in the gorge. Did anyone else notice any?"
She looked around at the others who all shook their heads.
"It all looked awful steep to me." Linda almost whispered. "Actually, I was wondering if you guys were all nuts. It looked so gloomy and forbidding from the water that I was starting to wonder what I was getting into."
"Well wherever they came from, we need to do some things right now. . . ." Karl started to say.
"Yes, we can discuss those over supper." Trudy interrupted, setting a plate of soup and a sandwich in front of him. "But for now, you eat. Would you like a coffee?"
"Of course he would." Keri laughed. "Karl, turn down a cup of coffee, that would be like his dog passing up a bone. Hey, has anyone even seen that brute, by the way?"
"No, and I'm wondering about that too." Karl sighed. "Look, we have a whole lot of things that absolutely have to be done before we can relax. We've got about three hours or more before dark. I think we should split up and do several of them."
"Sounds good to me." Ely smiled, glancing around at the others who were nodding in agreement.
"Okay, David and I are going over to George's house to check a bit more around there and to get a few things that everyone needs. I was hoping to have time to check and see that the earthquake didn't damage the dam up at the lake and while I was there I was going to check the water filtering system The thing is that with George's request for books and things, I don't think we'll have time for that today."
"Karl, why don't I take Keri with me and go to the house?" Trudy smiled. "We can take your wheelbarrow as well as get ours at the other end and each wheel back a load, All we really need are a few books, some blankets and such for now. You and Ely can do more important things with David and Linda as helpers. For now George is busy on the radio. . . ."
Suddenly Karl snapped his head around to look at her and then leaped to his feet and ran toward his office.
"George, shut off that damn transmitter." He shouted as he barged into the room.
"What? But why?" George protested as he sat with the mic. at his mouth.
"Because we aren't supposed to be here." Karl snapped as he threw the switch on the transmitter, then pulled its supply plug.
"But how am I supposed to get information if I can't ask questions?" George asked huffily.
"For once in your life George, just fucking listen." Karl said shortly, busily disconnecting the transmitter from the antenna. "If there is someone triangulating your signal, you may have just gotten us into deep shit. Right now, until we can make it look like we have been here all along, we don't want anyone to know we are here. If they know we're here, they may come visiting and if they do, we probably have things that they need. The earthquakes and the tsunami have damaged a hell of a lot of the infrastructure. We've been lucky to have almost everything undamaged but if we have something they want and if they've got the power to force us to give it up, we may lose this equipment forever. We may lose the 'Skolka'. If it's a government agency, we might even end up in jail."
"But why would they . . .?"
"George, who the hell knows?" Karl interrupted. "Have you ever understood the actions of the government? Right now I'll bet they're expropriating anything they need. That means that the little piss-ants who sit behind desks and don't know exactly what they need, are going to be telling the people who are tough enough to be out and around to grab anything that might be useful. Linda and I already ran into that mentality. They were going to take the 'Skolka' and leave us with a few days' supplies and a tent. We barely got away then. Here we can't run. We have to hide." He glared at George. "When you hide, you don't sit in your hiding place shouting at others and that's what you're doing when you're transmitting George. You were advertising to all of those dimwits that we're here and we're doing just fine. We're not only able to stay alive but we have the time to waste that we can worry about the future."
"Now, I'm taking this transmitter and I'm disabling it, then I'm hiding it from you just in case you forget. As well, I'm taking the big CB rig and I'm disabling the transmitting end of that. I'm leaving you your walkie talkie for now but it's only for use in emergencies because I'm going to be carrying the other one. You're going to sit here with Mary-Beth and monitor incoming calls on the radios."
"Don't you trust me?" George almost whispered.
"Not at the moment George." Karl snapped back. "Not when you're acting without thinking and endangering everyone I love as well as everything we've all worked to build up over the years."
With that, he picked up the two radios he had mentioned, setting them off to one side on a table. "Later on I'm going to go get some tools and I'm going to remove the rf transmitting crystals out of those radios so no one will be tempted to use them. Now, shut off the walkie talkie. We're only going to use that between us and since we're both here they can be turned off. When we turn them on we'll leave them on standby unless we're actually talking. We don't know when we can buy any more batteries so we'd better conserve those too."
Turning his back, he pressed past Trudy at the door to the room then walked through the house and outside to the front porch. Trudy went in to talk to George, who was looking like he had just been slapped and Ely followed Karl out onto the porch taking his sandwich and coffee with her.
"Wow." Linda almost whispered, looking at Keri. "That's the angriest that I've ever seen Karl."
"Me too." Keri agreed. "He never gets angry, but you've got to admit he's under a lot of pressure and Daddy deserved that in a way. The thing is, Karl is probably angrier with himself than with Daddy. He's probably blaming himself for not saying or doing anything earlier."
"Well, I disagree with Karl on this one. If we were always here we'd be using the radios some times." Linda said slowly. "And after thinking about it, I disagree with how the 'Skolka' is moored too. If we were here all the time we wouldn't know about the devastation from the tsunami. At least not enough to do what we did. Besides if she were moored at the dock with all those big trees around her, she wouldn't be so visible if the military does fly over and we could make it look like she hadn't moved in a long time."
Keri looked at her strangely, then smiled slowly. "You know, we've gotten to thinking Karl is infallible. Why don't you go talk to him."
"You agree with me?" Linda said in surprise.
"I'm not sure." Keri laughed softly. "I don't know enough to make up my mind but it's an argument that needs to be discussed. Come on."