Ninety Degrees Out

Chapter 5

"Do you want to eat now?" Chay asked as he used his toes to ease his boots off.

"Are you hungry, baby?" Alicia asked her daughter.

"Not really, we had pancakes for breakfast, and I'm still full," Arimina answered.

"There's your answer. I'm not hungry yet either, what about you?"

"I'll grab some jerky and a bottle of water. I'll follow you over to your place. We need to check it out after the earthquake. I'm not even sure the road is drivable."

"All right, you have a point. Come Ari, get your coat and we'll go home."

"Is it going to be okay, mommy?"

"I don't know. After an earthquake anything could have happened."

Alicia hugged her little girl tight.

"It's going to be okay. We're going to go see what happened, and Chay is coming with us." She added.

"I'm going to clean up Jazz, so he doesn't leave mud all over my truck, and we'll head out. Do you have a radio in your Jeep?"

"Sure, I've got a stereo," Alicia said.

"Not that kind, a two way?" Chay asked.

"No, I've got a couple of handhelds for when I'm in the field, nothing in the Jeep."

"I'll help you mount a magnetic antenna, and you can use the cigarette lighter for power. I'm not sure the cell towers are going to stay up. We may end up back on old fashioned radios."

"I've got the stuff to do it in a box in the garage. I didn't think I was going to need it."

"We'll worry about it later."

Chayton took the big wet towel into the great room and began wiping down Jazz's paws and belly. Once he had the worst of the mud off, he threw the towel into the mud room where he had his laundry.

"Come on boy," he called his dog to him.

Checking the back doors, he locked them, and made sure the sliding door to the deck was secured. Then went to check the front door air lock. Satisfied that everything was locked up, he came back to the hallway behind his kitchen.

"Let's go," he let himself into the garage, waving Alicia and Arimina through the door ahead of him.

Pushing the switch for the garage door opener, he went down the short flight of steps after he grabbed the keys hanging on a hook, right beside the handrail.

"Go on ahead, I'll be right behind you," he told Alicia and watched as she loaded Arimina into her booster in the back seat.

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"Look out, Mommy," Arimina shouted.

Alicia hit the brakes. The bear was a blonde grizzly, and she was almost across the road, but her cubs were tiny, smaller than any she had ever seen. On top of the early appearance of their mother, there were four of them. They were barely able to walk, falling onto their chests and wriggling almost as much as they were able to get their feet.

"It's okay, baby. I missed them."

Alicia rolled her window down as Chay pulled up beside her in his truck.

"She's definitely out of her den," Chay called through his open window.

"You saw her?" Alicia knew she sounded peeved.