The Storm

The Bridge Kids

The Tropical Storm

On Earth

She continued to walk down the store isle. Slowly true, but she did keep on going, her skin still prickling. What a funny thing to have happen, she thought. No one would ever believe me. As if I'd be stupid enough to try to tell anyone.

She went through the check-out line, gathered the groceries for the weekend into her basket and headed out the door towards her car. She still wasn't her usual crisp, snappy self. As she walked through the parking lot she felt like she was walking through pea soup.

When she finished loading the trunk, she glanced up towards the East. What she saw made her breath stop.

At The Bridge

Todd, Tinker Toy and Spooky lay on the ground under a large shade tree. This was not their normal spot for relaxing. Usually they were with the large crowd of their friends, frolicking over and around all of the trees and shrubs, chasing butterflies and crickets and in general just having the time of their lives. Or not lives. They were at the Rainbow Bridge, waiting for their humans to join them.

The three of them, known as the Circle, had all been much loved cats on earth. When they came to the Bridge they had been told that they were special and would become Guardians for their humans. They were also told that it would take all three of them, each with its own special talent, to guard and protect their humans on earth.

They had been told this morning that trouble was brewing on earth and that one Guardian's human might be in danger's path. They had tried their best to warn Karen about the major storm that was headed her way. All three of them had joined their forces and tried to waylay her in the grocery store isle where the bottled water was. They were waiting now, by the magical stream, to see if their attempts had done any good.

They saw Karen walk out the doors of the store and go to her car. The vision in the stream faded. The Circle got up and dejectedly began to walk away. They had to really plan now. The Master had told them that they must be ready for anything…or maybe nothing.

On Earth

Karen hurriedly half-ran back into the store. She was wondering if she should tell anyone her feelings about the storm. She had listened to the weather report this morning, but all they said was that tropical storm Andrea was running up the coast and they didn't expect it to make landfall. It was early in the year for major storms, so no one really paid much attention to an itty bitty tropical one. Now a hurricane, that was a different story.

As she was pushing her cart, now full of bottled water, towards the batteries section she was thinking about the clouds she had seen. Storms were a part of life living on the East coast, but the area she lived in was well protected by the Gulf Stream, so the chances of a major one hitting was rare. But the clouds Karen had seen had that peculiar, unearthly shade of green around the edges. From experience, she knew that it meant trouble. Possibly tornadoes. For sure, high winds. That meant power outages and that meant a disruption of nearly everything that made living here pleasant.

She loaded up the additional supplies and headed for home. Home was an apartment complex about ten miles from the beach. Older, it was made of concrete, much sturdier than the ones built today. It's age also made the rent lower and she appreciated that. She had lived there for nearly ten years and enjoyed her little one bedroom home on the ground floor.

She carried in the last load and shut the front door, then hurried to the barometer in the living room. Sure enough, the pressure was falling…and falling fast. She turned to the kitchen and looked at the floor. It was covered with bottles of water, bags of batteries and canned goods. She had to get busy and check out last year's supplies.

She went to the large pantry closet and pulled out the Emergency backpack. She kept it on its own hook…always available and ready to go if necessary. She knew that looking around for stuff in the dark could be dangerous. She had everything she needed right in one place. Karen began to discard last year's stock of Sterno, batteries, canned goods and water. She would use these up in the coming month. That way she would have only fresh supplies in case of evacuation. Not that she expected one today. You can never expect, she thought, only be prepared. She kept working.

At The Bridge

The Circle had been informed by the Master that Karen had received their message. Good work Guardians, he told them. But that doesn't mean it's over. Just watch the stream for your signal. Just in case. The three went back to their place under the tree and waited. Ready for anything.

On Earth

Karen had the news on the TV while she stored supplies and put away groceries. When she finished, she went outside, found an area free from trees, and gazed to the East. The large, dark thunderheads were barreling in faster. She had about 15 minutes before the storm would hit. Nothing was said on the TV, so she turned on the radio also. The all-talk station was only concerned about the last football game, the news programs were rattling on about the economy and the music stations played only music. No weather on any of them. She settled down to watch a show.

She had no sooner sat down in her favorite chair when two of her three Main Coon cats jumped into her lap. They were acting excited, butting her with their heads and chirruping like huge, hairy magpies. She laughed and told them everything would be ok. She was prepared and had enough food and water to last them all for a couple of weeks, but the power was never out that long. Where was the little one, she asked? She got up and went to look. She found the smallest of the three cowering behind the couch.

Karen carried the little one over to the sliding doors to look out. The little one squirmed out of her arms and ran to be with the larger cats. Karen stared out at the darkening sky. Again it had that strange, green tint. The wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped. Karen went to the thermostat and shut off the air conditioning. She came back to the living room, where one entire wall was glass with over-sized glass sliding doors. They were protected by the overhang of the upstairs balcony. Her patio area was fenced with a four foot privacy fence, so there was only a narrow slit that debris could come flying through.

She heard the storm warning signal on the TV. Three beeps, then a scrolling message at the bottom of the screen. Finally, she thought. Tornado warnings until 6pm for her county. That's all it said. Oh well, she said to herself, what am I so worried about anyway? I've lived here all my life and have never had a real problem. Just some power loss for a day or two. She sighed, then sat down to wait it out. Three hours to go until it was all over.

Quickly, the wind picked up. The tree line twenty feet from her patio began to tremble. The skies darkened even further. It felt like evening already, Karen thought, as she sat with three fur-balls in her lap. Not one of the three would get up or move, so she let them stay.

She thought about her neighbors. The ones upstairs and the ones to her right were at work and wouldn't be home until nearly seven. The one to her left was in another state visiting a relative. Well, at least I don't have to worry about them. It will be all over when they come home. Karen's two bosses were going on vacation, so Karen had been given the afternoon off. Fine way to spend it, she thought. Well, I guess the four of us will just sit here and watch the show.

The crawling message continued at the bottom of the TV screen, but she wasn't watching the program, she was watching that show outside. Both her kitchen window and her bedroom window had burglar bars and the bathroom had no windows. The bathroom also had fire walls that would withstand just about anything. If things got bad, she and the cats could always go in there and be safe. Not that she would need to, she thought to herself.

Branches were beginning to fly through the air now. The wind had picked up even more. The crawling message had changed now to severe storm warnings along with the possible tornados. It said that winds were now 35mph with gusts up to 50mph. A true tropical storm had indeed gone inland. And I'm sitting right in the middle of it, she thought, with three trembling cats on her lap.

She pushed the cats off and went to the refrigerator. She packed the fresh water bottles into it, along with anything she could find. The more cold things in there, the longer the stuff she needed to keep cool would stay that way. She went to the linen closet and pulled out pillows and blankets and put them in the bathroom. I needed to rearrange that closet anyway she told the cats as she closed the door and shut them in there. They had a litter box in there, if they needed it and she felt it would be more comforting for them to not see the storm.

The wind was howling now and the rain had started, with force. She watched as it started to rain sideways, the wind was so powerful. She had turned and walked towards the kitchen when she heard a very loud snap and the sounds of glass breaking. Oh No she thought. Can't be. She ran to the living room. Both of the sliders had been broken, aluminum frames also, and a large, wet tree limb was now laying in her couch. The rain was pouring in. The air crackled and smelled and the rain was cold. The limb had overturned the little secretary that was in front of the glass sliders, where the cats liked to sit and look out.

She ran, through the blowing rain, to the little table and dragged it out of the way of the rain. As she pulled it the top opened and an old picture of Tinker Toy slipped out. She quickly put it into her pocket and hauled the table into the dining room, safe from the rain. She left it there and decided to go into the bathroom to keep the cats from being so frightened. She would worry about the rain damage to her furniture later. All of her important papers were in the secretary and that was safe. There was nothing she could do about the furniture for now.

One second after she opened the bathroom door she heard a sound like an airplane landing. She spun around, the open door behind her and looked for the sky through hole in the living room. She couldn't see the sky. Only debris and tree limbs everywhere, but it all had that peculiar greenish tint. The noise grew louder but above it she could hear the wail of all three cats. She jumped back into the bathroom, shut the door and turned to the cats huddled in the blankets piled in the tub. The door, the entire wall, struck her from behind. She was thrown face first into the sink.

At The Bridge

The Circle watch in horror as the events unfolded. Now they knew what they'd have to do. Tinker Toy, with her talents of adventure would have to find a way to dig through the debris to her human.
Spooky would need to lead other humans to Karen and Todd must help Spooky and co-ordinate other animals in the area to assist them. Together they ran through the stream, through time and space and into the storm.

On Earth

Karen tried to lift herself off of the floor, but couldn't. Her head hurt terribly, but so did her legs. There was only the sound of the rain now. The winds had calmed down, or at least as much as she could hear through the wreckage. She turned her head and looked behind her. The entire wall had caved in and most of it was on her legs. The other wall, to her right had also collapsed. Only two walls were standing and those were the two that cornered the tub. Her Main Coons were safe. Blackness crept back up over her eyes and she was out again.

On Earth, Tinker Toy

Where was she? She knew that her special powers would get her to the general area of where she wanted to go, but that was all. The rest was up to her. She looked around. Most of the building was still standing, but the entire left side had two huge, heavy trees crushing it into the ground. The back half of the second floor had pan-caked into the first floor. She couldn't see the ground floor at all. She started to pick her way through the rubble, looking for the patio doors. Or at least for where they used to be.

Inch by inch Toy shoved small debris aside and worked her way into the pile. She was determined. She knew what was at stake. It would take forever this way she thought. I've got to find another way in. She backed out of the small hole she had made and started to pick her way carefully up the pile of rubble.

On Earth, Spooky

Tinker Toy had told Spooky that there was a Fire-Rescue station only two miles from Karen's apartment. Spooky found himself there just in time to jump aboard the rescue truck as it was pulling out. He had no idea if this one was going where he needed it to, but he'd worry about that in a minute. First, he had to make his way into the cab of the large truck. He perched himself on the floor behind the front driver's seat so he could hear what was going on. Yes! They were heading towards Karen's address. Fantastic.

On Earth, Todd

Todd was out in front of the apartments. The parking lot and road leading to it were full of people. The winds had died down and the rain was just a trickle now, but the neighborhood had never seen the likes of this so they wanted to see everything. Todd listened to what they were saying. Thank God no one was home, they said to each other. They sure were lucky. Wait until they come home to find this mess. Two apartments were totally destroyed. The ones next to it had sustained damage, but not as severe.

Todd went to each of the neighborhood's dogs and cats that were also milling around, watching. He spoke to them and let them know that someone was in there. Someone was trapped under the pile of concrete. He knew that she was still living, and so were the cats but he didn't know how long that would last. He had to round the pets up and get them to convince their owners to help.

On Earth, Tinker Toy

She had found it. An opening so small only she could get in, but it was a beginning. She crept into the dark cave and began to slither over piles of plasterboard and concrete. She turned this way and that, automatically mapping her way. She pushed and pulled small items out of the way. If nothing else, she thought, I can open an airway to them. Her coat was matted and torn, but that didn't matter. She was a Guardian, and those earth-like concerns no longer worried her. She continued to dig, push and pull. She got closer and then she hit a blank wall.

On Earth, Spooky

Spooky rode on the back of the seat as the rescue truck pulled into the parking lot in front of the mangled apartment. The firefighters and EMTs were talking to the neighbors. All of the neighbors were telling them that no one was home, but there were three cats that lived in the downstairs apartment. The EMTs kept asking about people, but the neighbors kept saying that the lady that lived there usually didn't get home until after six in the evening.

Spooky picked one young, strong and eager firefighter and dogged his every step, whispering in his ear. The firefighter turned to the other rescuers and said that he thought he'd start digging through the wreckage to see what he could do. "We need heavy equipment to move all of that" they said. "I know, but we can start trying to find a way in now" he replied. "NO, Paul. It's too dangerous. It could collapse again at any moment" said the captain.

Paul didn't hear the captain. He continued to walk around the side of the pile. Spooky kept whispering to him, leading him. Paul thought he was following his instincts and that's what he usually did in this kind of situation. But usually, when his instincts told him to go in, there was a life at stake. This time he had been told that the apartment was empty. He didn't question, he just kept going.

Spooky zoomed in to where Toy was still trying to find a way around that large piece of plasterboard. Spooky joined her and they decided that they could dig their way through it. Paul, the firefighter, was right behind Spooky and was looking into the small, but deep, hole she had made.

On Earth, Todd

Todd had gathered up a pack of four large, strong dogs and herded them towards the opening. They were barking loudly and prancing back and forth, trying to get the attention of the humans in the parking lot. Todd had told them to get their humans to come toward the opening in the pile. They did their best, dragging on pants legs and skirts, barking and gesturing and making enough of a nuisance to attract attention. The neighbors followed the dogs.

Todd asked the dogs to dig their way into the hole and make it larger. Paul, when he saw the dogs make a rush on the hole he was peering into, jumped back and let them go. Paul ran back around to the front of the apartment and confronted the captain. "Captain, there's someone in there" he said. He told the captain about the dogs. The captain got three more of his men and they hauled their equipment around to the back.

"Just because dogs are making noise, doesn't mean that anyone's in there. We know three cats are there, maybe that's what's making them bark and act strangely" said the captain. "Maybe so", said Paul, "but we've got to try" The captain agreed and they began to ready their equipment.

On Earth, Tinker Toy

Toy was almost through the wall. Spooky had left her to go help Todd with the dogs, so she was on her own now. She broke through and faced a large cave-like tunnel. She could see, through the dark, an area of tile flooring. She recognized the bathroom floor. Toy wiggled down the sloping pile of debris and crept under the mangled wall into the bathroom. She saw her human, Karen, lying face down in a small puddle of blood. The three cats were huddled in the tub. Strangely quiet and big eyed.

Toy slipped up to Karen and nuzzled her face, like she used to do. She knew that her whiskers tickled and that was one way she used to wake Karen in the mornings. She hoped it would work this time. It did. Karen opened her eyes. Karen could only see blackness and dim shadows, but she felt soft, warm fur against her face. It wasn't the long, soft fur of her three Main Coons, this was shorter, rougher and much more familiar.

She thought she was dreaming and she didn't want to loose that dream of Toy, so she closed her eyes again and willed away the pain. Tinker Toy stayed with her for a few moments, looking at her. She snuggled up to Karen, for just a second and purred. Knowing now that Karen was alive and where she was located, Toy backed out of the opening and ran back to help lead the dogs.

Karen moaned, loudly and lay there thinking of all that had gone wrong. I'm trapped, she thought. No food or water. She had left the Emergency backpack in the kitchen. Her three cats would have water to drink, out of the toilet. She could see them when they raised their heads up over the rim of the tub. Karen knew they were unharmed, physically. They'll be ok, she thought. She let loose with one loud, strong HELP, then collapsed coughing. Her legs hurt, her head hurt and she was so very thirsty. She started to struggle to try to free her legs from the slab of wall that fell on them. She couldn't. It hurt too much. She settled her head back down on the floor and tried to bring back that wonderful touch she had felt earlier and the sounds of that so familiar purr. Toy's purr. The blackness came back to her instead.

On Earth, Tinker Toy, Todd and Spooky

The Circle pulled back, together, and watched as the firefighters began to dig furiously into the rubble pile. Todd had withdrawn the dogs just before Karen let out her moan and call for help. The firefighters had heard her call. They could see the bathroom floor now and were steadily gaining their way there. The Captain stood to one side and talked to the EMT. "I just don't understand it, he said. That hole wasn't there when we first arrived and nothing had settled that I know of. Why is it we can see all the way in now?" The EMT said that maybe the dogs were digging for the cats. "Maybe", said the Captain, "but I've never seen dogs act like that before…even for cats!"

"Speaking of cats, I guess we'd better call the local shelter" the EMT said. A neighbor, who was standing near said "No need, I live next door and know the three of them well. I'll take care of them until we know what's going on".

At The Bridge

Todd, Tinker Toy and Spooky had been through their debriefing with the Master. He had told them that they had done well and were now free to go back to their normal routine. They had watched the ambulance carry Karen, unconscious, away and had seen the three Main Coons safely in the undamaged apartment of the neighbor.

Toy was the last to leave the stream. Long after the vision had faded she stood there, longing in her heart. She had been allowed to touch her human, just one last time. She didn't want to stay. She wanted to go back to Earth to be with Karen, but she knew she couldn't. Slowly, head down, she walked to join the others. She looked back one more time, then began to run. There were butterflies to catch and lizards to chase. Spooky and Todd were waiting for her. The warm sun was shining. She'd better catch up.

On Earth

Karen woke up just as she was being wheeled from the ambulance into the emergency room. She heard the EMT telling another one about the opening that hadn't been there and the strange doings of the dogs. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the picture of Toy. She smiled, then settled back into her dreams of short, rough, furry purrs.

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