Brown Eyes in the Storm

Last night had been simply instinctive reactions to danger, a basic human emotion. This was grief. The loss of self that happens when things we give a piece of ourselves to are destroyed, and this house with all the hours work she had put into it since she got down here, had more of her in it that she liked to admit. Now seeing it damaged, broken like a child's toy, she was wrecked not just physically but emotionally. Mentally. And here she was, with only me for comfort.

Where was her son, god-damn-it!

Pulling my phone from my pocket, I looked at it. No messages. None since before the storm last night. But I still had a signal, if a weak one. The cell towers were possibly damaged, some without power, but at least some of them at least had to still be up. Martin had this number and hadn't called. Then I thought it over and realized that neither had my mother. My father. Wendy's ex. Not one of them. How could they not be worried? Not be concerned over the two of us, given the national news broadcasts that had to be going out of this place, now that the storm had passed.

I tried a quick call out but got nothing. Not even a call signal tone. When I ended that try I noticed the connection bar had vanished.

Leaving her to sleep, I picked up the radio and walked back into the hallway to listen. Turning the wheel dial on the radio though I got nothing but static. Even Radio was dead? Standing here, with sunlight coming in through the dripping ceiling rafters, I began to feel lucky. Lucky to have kept part of a roof. Lucky to not be hunting for loved ones among the rubble, as some of the callers were. Lucky to be alive even.

Seeing movement, I looked up to see the black shadow of Tobias wandering around the house. Startled to see him out of his carrier, I went to go pick him up but he ran back out into dining room to hide in the plants.

"I let him out," said Wendy, from by the garage door. "He needs fed and I can't keep him in that box forever. He's use to wandering the garden freely, but he won't leave the yard." She smiled. "Not for anything. The big baby."

"You sure?" I asked. "There may be stray dogs out."

"Yeah, I'm sure. He won't go anywhere. Hungry?"

I thought it over for a second. "Yeah."

"Well, let's see if the grill made it through in one piece." She walked over and slid her arm into mine. "The least I can do for you is to make sure I keep you well fed. I mean, since you're supposed to be my boyfriend and all. Steaks sound good? If the grill made it I mean."

"My kind of girlfriend." I looked down into her beautiful eyes, smiling when she gave me a wink. My eyes went wide when she rose up on her toes and placed a soft kiss on my lips.

"As I said, least I can do."

** ** ** ** ** ** **

The savory smoke from the grill filled the whole of the garden, covering the damp wet smell of house insulation nicely. While Wendy worked on food, I remembered what Calvin across the street had said, and began to work on getting the trash out the pool. I was already getting to a point of fragrance that said a bath would be nice. The heat of September had not really lessened due to Ivan's passage, in fact the tons of rain had made everything swampy feeling. The humidity was cut-able. That breathing-through-a-towel-feeling appeared every time the breeze died down for any length of time.

A pool net was not really meant to remove eight foot palm fronds. But a garden rake worked perfectly. The small pieces of trash took most of my time to dredge off the top, and there was going to be trash on the bottom till I could swim down and pull it out.

True to what she had said, Tobias simply followed Wendy around in the yard, then darted back inside to make sure the house was still there. He also acted as if the drifting, breeze blown, pieces of pink insulation were beneath his notice as a feline. Something most cats would have been mad to chase after. He ran off to do his house inspection tour again, when I was finished up. I nearly tripped over him, and fell into the now more or less cleaned pool, causing me to cuss. Wendy looked up, and smiled.

"Yeah, he's always been bad about doing that. Jason about broke his neck on those back steps of ours, at the old house, because of him doing that." She smiled at the memory, no doubt wishing her ex had broken something. "Tobias simply can't decide if he's an indoor or outdoor cat. And, he changes his mind rather quickly."

"So I saw." Walking over to her, I placed my hands on her hips and looked over her shoulder at the steaks on the grill. "Looks good."

She turned her head and smiled. Then nuzzled my head with her own. "Thanks. Go see if you can find us something resembling clean plates in my warzone of a kitchen. I'm glad I thought to stick so much water in the freezer, but even now, there is way too much meat in there going to go bad. And we simply won't be able to eat that much before it thaws. I was stupid. I didn't think it would be but maybe a day before they got power back. It might be a month."

I nodded at the truth of that. "Or more. Tomorrow when I go out and about I'll have a talk with some of your neighbors, see if they might need it. No reason to let it go to waste I'm sure there are going to be hungry people here in a few days." I left unsaid that we might be among them. I had decided to keep such thoughts to myself. She had enough to carry.

Wendy nodded. "You know that's not a bad idea. Back when I was a girl, we used to have block parties. Invite everyone on the street, tell everybody to bring something and just get to know your neighbors. That might be a good way to keep food from going bad till the Red Cross and the Government get off their asses." She shook her head. "I hate to sound critical, but it has been half a day and not a single thing but one helicopter flyover to see if the people on this street are okay."

Having listened to the static filled radio, I knew that probably everybody had their hands full. "Lot of places are a lot worse off. All of the coast and hours inland got hit at least this bad."

She sighed. "I know. I do. I just feel cut off from the world here."

"It's only the first day. They are dealing with the critical places first." I let my hands rub her hips. "Beside we're doing okay for now."

She looked back at me like I had grown two heads. "How you figure? We have no power, no roof on the house, no water pressure, and if we had water we have from the faucets it would be probably dangerous to drink. It will be getting dark here in a few hours and there is, from what the neighbors said, frikin' zoo animals running around loose in this area. Lions and tigers and bears, oh frikin' my, John. How are we doing okay?"

"We have steak and a swimming pool." I said jokingly, and then got serious. "A dry place to sleep. With a way to easily block the doors. We have food supplies. Water in the jugs you froze. You've made friends with neighbors around her for the last year, so they will be looking out for you. That's going to be a big thing again for a while. Neighbors helping neighbors, guarding houses for each other. Keeping a watch for strangers lurking around, certainly before it gets dark. The idea of looting abandoned houses has got to be in the minds of some people now."

She nodded a very serious look on her face suddenly. "John, please do something for me. Go to my bedroom and get a metal lock box from the top of my closet. I have to use a stepladder to reach it, but you should be able to reach up and get it down. Bring it here to me, please." She looked me in the eyes, steady, took a deep breath and then said simply. "My father's gun is in it."

I nodded and went to get it.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

The night followed our dinner far too quickly, with a darkness that was oppressive. A silence broken by distant muted sounds. Dogs. Too distant sirens. The sound of music, someone playing a guitar. One by one the sound of chain saws had disappeared with the light.

If only the lack of light had taken the humidity and the mosquitoes with it. The air was thick and as if the passage of the storm had taken all the wind from this area the stillness of the air had a stillness to it that was choking. After dreading the sound of the wind for so long to now be wishing for even a light breeze seemed a crime.

As the shadows grew and the ability to see faded, I reached over and took Wendy's hand in mine. Working together we had cleared a few paths through the house, but it was still a dangerous trek with things to trip over besides a cat.

"Let's head in. It's been a long day." I gave her fingers a squeeze.

"Yeah."

I could hear her exhaustion in even so simple a word. Not turning her fingers loose, I used a few more minutes of our flashlight's battery life to guide us to the back bedroom. One of my tasks today had been to move a mattress and box springs back into that room. It was an element of fortune that Wendy was so fond of scented candles, or we might be spending a lot of time in the dark.

But the smell, and added heat, of those candles could get to be too much at times. A fact, I discovered, that can make the stifling humidity all the worse.

It wasn't until Wendy pulled a thin sleep shirt from a laundry basket that the realization that she and I had not even thought about the fact we would be in bed together. We had simply set the bed up in here and both gone to it without a moment's contemplation. She turned her back to me and pulled her shirt off, then reached behind her and unhooks her bra. It was looking at that smooth expanse of white skin, the little skin-indents the bra straps had made drawing my eyes, that it really sunk in that I would be sleeping in the same bed next to her.

Last night had been such nervous wracking chaos that, who slept where, had not been a factor. Simple human closeness had been wanted, and needed then.

I watched her pull her sleep shirt on then felt myself harden when she dropped the shorts she was wearing out from under it. Of course given the heat even a shirt and panties was probably going to be uncomfortably warm for her. I hadn't in fact thought about what I was going to sleep in. The sweatpants I had borrowed were comfortable to move around the house in, more so than my leather pants but I was used to sleeping in maybe boxers at the most.

And I didn't have boxers at the moment.

"Blow out the candles please. It's hot enough in here." She told me as she crawled into the bed and moved to the far side. "Oh, and please ... sleep in whatever is comfortable to you. Don't mind me." She gave me a smile. "I think we're both too tired to worry about possible gossip."

With a nod I made my way around the room and snuffed the three candles, making sure to cover them so the smoky smell of a dead candle didn't fill the room. Then, in the darkness, I slipped out the pants and slid into bed next to her, naked. I placed my back towards her, and then put my hand on the pistol on the nightstand, beside the bed to double check that I could reach it easily.

"John, I don't mind if you face towards me. Just to let you know. You don't have to sleep on the same side all night." She reached over and placed and hand on my side, moving it up hastily when she felt my naked hip. "Just no spooning, it's too damn hot."

I smiled at the sound of her laughter. I placed my hand on top of her. "I'm a little overextended for that at the moment anyway."

"You're hard?"

"Yeah," I confessed.

"Why?"

I turned over then, looking through the shadows at the silhouetted form next to me. My eyes strained to catch some greater hint of her. Reaching through the darkness I found her shoulder then ran my hand up to where her face should be and brushed her hair back from her eyes. It was already damp and lank with sweat. "Because I am in bed next to a woman I want so badly I can't stand it, because I just saw you topless, even if from the back if was a wonderful sight. And because my body, tired as it is, doesn't listen when I tell it to just go to sleep."

After a second I heard a soft chuckle. "Well. I must say as life events go this one is one I never thought to find myself in. I'm in bed with a naked young man. I'm single and he's got a hard on ... and it's too hot to have sex. And even if it wasn't, I'm too tried for it to sound like fun. Well, I'm flattered that my back can get you hard. Lord, it's a good thing I turned away, if you had seen my boobs you might have had a stroke."

I chuckled. Using my hand in her hair to guide me I moved to face and, with a giggling from her, found her lips. The kiss was a promise of far more than kisses to come. I gasped when I felt her hand curl around my cock. She chuckled.

"Don't tease a tired old lady when you're naked, John. You come with a handle, remember." She gave me a single slow pump up and down the length of my cock that had me moaning. "I can tease you back a lot worse."

My hand left her hair and I pulled her into me and my mouth all but attacked her lips. She gave a sharp intake of breath and her finger's tightened on me. A feeling that was too wonderful to ever want to feel end. In the darkness, for a moment, I felt her start to respond. Then her hand left me and moved to my chest.

"John, please ... no."

I stopped, my mouth inches from hers, breathing in her exhales. "Wendy, I want you so badly it hurts."

"I know. I know and I'm sorry, but I'm just not comfortable with this. The difference in our ages is just too much. I know I've been a bit flirty back with you but that's nerves as much as anything." Her hand moved to push my hair back out my eyes. "I was married longer than you've been alive. I was in college when you were born. You were still in diapers when I had Martin. Hell, I'm a little older than your mother, for lord's sake, John!"

"True. All true, but Wendy there is something else there that you haven't mentioned." I wanted to pull her tight but the heat, already building between us this close, was making me swelter. "Was it not you that encouraged me to go have as much fun as I could? That told me life was too short to be a prude and to grab pleasure where I could find it, as often as I could? Yes?"

"Yes ... yes, I did say that. John, let me think about this for a bit please. I just have the feeling I'm going to do a lot of harm if I give into what I'm feeling and have a fling with you. Oh, I'll admit that the idea of a long sexual relationship with a man as young and well, as put together as you, is tempting as hell. Yeah, I wouldn't mind that at all, but it's the fact of who you are that stops me. Being my son's friend...."

"Wendy, I have always considered you the better friend. Between you and your son ... if I had to choose one to stay friends with, it would be you. I like Martin, don't get me wrong. I would walk an extra mile to help him any day. But I didn't come down here and stay through a hurricane for him. That was you. Now, I will certainly give you all the time you need to get comfortable with how I feel, but how I feel is not going to change any time soon. I want you. I desire you. And in truth, if I have to be honest and own up to it ... I'm already more than a bit in love with you."

"John you told me that but... now lust is one thing, but that's taking it a bit far. Like I said I'm too old...."

Again my lips tasted hers in the dark, only this time it was me that broke our kiss off. With my fingers trailing a last soft, finger tipped-brushed path across her breast I turned over to face away from her. "Goodnight, Wendy. Try to get some sleep."

"Good ... goodnight, John."

** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Letting the big bike balance between my thighs I pulled on my gloves, then turned the key and thumbed the red switch. Setting the lower engine mode I wanted, I absently tucked my gifted bangle cross up into my sleeve. Sweltering already, in my unzipped jacket. When the Hayabusa rumbled awake I smiled at Wendy who was looking at it as if it was a snake. I took the white helmet from her and pulled it over my head.

"I'll be back soon."

"Take care," she said. She reached forwards and closed my visor. "I'm going to see about getting everyone on the street together tonight for dinner."

I nodded and pulled out the garage and down the driveway, Calvin across the street waved a hand. Down the street I swerved more than I drove straight. People had been out and driving through here in cars already, so some stuff had been pulled out the road, but there was still an enormous amount of litter.

You could judge destruction, I soon saw, by how close to the coast the street was, and then there would be places where a tornado had obviously spun off the hurricane and touched down. A narrow path of total destruction, that I saw more and more of in this morning ride to get information. Two day in the "dark" as it were was starting to get on the nerves. The batteries in the radio were dead from hunting through static to try and catch a signal. My cell phone might have been a paperweight, or a six hundred dollar watch, for all I could use it. And if I didn't find some power to recharge it soon I was going to have to shut the Razr off anyway.

It was better than two miles from Wendy's house before I saw a policeman, a motorcycle cop. I pulled over to where he was standing talking to a man with a truck full of children. None of the kids looked in great shape, if clean was to judge health. The officer nodded his head to me to show that he had seen I needed to speak to him. I shut off the bike and waited for him to get finished. He spent a few more minutes given the man with the big family directions. I heard the word hospital. As the truck pulled away the officer walked over to me.

"Are you needing help, son?"

"Information as much as anything. We've seen nothing of emergency services, since the storm. Everything is dead, info wise. Just need to know what's going on?"

The officer nodded, and I got from the look on his face he had been answering this question a lot today.

"Well, don't expect to see a lot of help for a week or so." He titled his blue baseball style cap, with a gold badge emblem, back on his head then wiped at his forehead. "Everything is down all across Escambia county. Cell towers are twisted erector sets. The TV station's got hammer, so they are going to be off the air for days. The only radio station left standing has no power; they're working on that, so there maybe radio broadcasts by tomorrow. Or possibly the day after. As far as emergency services go, they are rushing towards us from every state not hit my Ivan. The local units either got torn to pieces, same as everything else, or they are swamped."

"So we're on our own."

"For several days at least. The Red Cross has set up emergency centers at several local high schools. The schools that kept their roofs anyway. But unless you can't survive without their help try not to use them. There are people out there that really can't survive, that are in really bad shape."

"Water? Power? Phone service? Any idea as to when?" That the officer immediately started to shake his head told me more than I needed to know.

"I wouldn't expect, anything for a couple of weeks. I know you might not know but the whole coast is like this." He pointed to the power cables hanging like draped Mardi Gras beads. "There is no power for the water company's pumps, and half of their buildings are damaged as well."

"Food? We've got enough supplies for a week or so, but after that?" I shrugged.

"Well, I've heard an unconfirmed rumor that a Walmart or two may have opened up, and a you might find a local grocery store that made it through all this, and that will take cash." He looked down at my Bike. "Got a full tank on that Busa? There's no power to run gas pumps either, you know. Yeah? Well, then take my advice. Don't look for anything close by, there is a quarter-million people trying to do the same thing. Supplies will get used up quickly till the relief trucks start rolling in."