Brooke paced the kitchen floor. Her hair was matted to her forehead. The phone felt like it was melting to her ear.
Emily was slouched in one of the kitchen chairs, her head resting on her arm, still clutching the suitcase on the floor next to her with one hand.
“There has to be something, anything that's available,” Brooke said.
“No, ma'am, I'm sorry. The FAA has grounded all commercial and private planes. No one is allowed to take off until the ban is lifted,” the operator said.
“Where are you located?” Brooke asked.
“My office is located in Oregon, ma'am.”
“Well, transfer me to someone in the San Diego area. I need to speak with someone that's actually here and has a brain in their head!”
After a few moments of silence, the operator spoke very calmly.
“Ma'am, I understand your frustration. If you'd like, I can transfer you to my supervisor to help you with your concerns, but I must reiterate that no one can book you a flight right now.”
Brooke hung up the phone and tossed it onto the kitchen counter. It skidded to the sink, where it teetered on the edge. She pressed her palms hard into the counter's edge.
“Mommy, I'm thirsty,” Emily said.
“I know, baby. You can have some water in a little bit, I promise.”
If she didn't do something soon, she wouldn't be able to make good on that promise. Brooke had mentally planned out the water rations from what she had in storage the moment she heard about the river.
All three of them needed at least a gallon of water a day in normal conditions. With the heat they lived in, it would be more.
Brooke had the twenty gallons in the shed. When she made it home she tried filling up the tubs, but the government had beaten her to the punch, cutting off the water flow to the house. She managed to squeeze a few extra gallons of what remained in the pipes, but as far as she was concerned there wouldn’t be any more water coming through the faucets in the house again.
She wanted them to drink a glass every three hours. There was still another hour until the next round.
John came out of his room and went to the fridge. He stood there sifting through what was inside, then shut the door.
“Where's the water?” he asked.
“I stored everything we had in our spare portable tanks,” Brooke answered.
The glasses on top of the fridge rattled when John shut the door.
“Mom, you're freaking out over nothing. The president just told us help is on the way. You need to relax.”
“Go to your room.”
“But I didn't do anything.”
“Now, Jonathan!”
“You're crazy.”
Brooke joined Emily at the table.
“I don't think you're crazy, Mom,” Emily said.
Brooke ran her fingers through her daughter’s hair. She gathered it together and tied it in a ponytail.
“There, now your neck won't be as hot,” Brooke said.
Emily let out a relieved sigh and giggled. She pulled her father's dog tags off and handed them to her mother.
“Here, you need them more than I do right now,” Emily said.
“Thanks, baby.”
Emily scooted off her chair and walked to her room. Brooke could hear her daughter pull out some of her toys from the closet and start talking aloud, coming up with adventures for her dolls to go on.
Brooke rolled Jason's dog tags between her fingers. She listened to the rhythmic sound of the two pieces of metal rubbing against each other. They were hot, just like everything else in the house.
If her husband were still alive, there would be no doubt the marines would find a way to fly him wherever he needed to go for a mission. The military was never grounded during an emergency. They were the only ones still flying.
That's it.
Brooke remembered hearing a while back that one of Jason's old team members was stationed at the naval base in San Diego.
Brooke leaped the stairs two at a time, sprinting for her room. She tore open a box from the closet that stored some of Jason's personal items. She found his old phone and plugged it in.
The screen was cracked, but she prayed it still worked. When the home screen finally came up, she hit contacts. She scrolled through the numbers until she came across the name that said “Scratch.”
She hit “call,” praying he still had the same number.