The phone lines were down.
You thought you wouldn't be able to reach the outside world but thankfully the church had an emergency battery operated radio that the other survivors had been using to make contact with the outside world.
When it was your turn to use the radio - you dialed into the only frequency you knew.
Your law partner Ernest.
He had an emergency radio in his rv and surely if he knew there was a hurricane coming he would have fled town in it.
He had to be safe.
He didn't answer, but after trying for over an hour - begging anyone to please respond - you finally got a response!
It was his wife - Agnes!
She sounded half asleep.
"- Agnes thank God!" You cried before asking where Ernest was.
She said he was sleeping so you asked her to please wake him up.
She did - and he answered a few moments later.
He was shocked that you were still alive!
He said he went by your house after the worst of the flooding had passed but your house was completely gone.
A neighbor - who was stuck on the roof of their house saw you, Billie and Nora get washed away.
He had managed to rescue Nora from the water and she was fine - but he wasnt able to get to you or Billie as you had both floated off in different directions.
You were overjoyed that your daughter was okay and staying with your neighbor's family in an Anaheim shelter, but unfortunately Ernest had no idea what became of Billie.
He said he tried calling around to local hospitals but couldnt get any conclusive information......although there was a hospital up north in Palmdale that had three unidentified comatose patients.
Two females and one male - all three pulled from the water.
You weren't able to contact the hospital from the radio but Ernest said he would come get you when the flooding passed by and take you to the shelter Nora was at.
It took 3 days for the water to recede enough for Ernest to get his rv through to the church.
You stayed in constant contact with him throughout those 3 days and even slept by the radio and ate your meager cracker and wine rations as you patently waited for his arrival.
The nun was only able to save two more lives - bringing the survivor rate at the church to 5 after the old man died.
A rescue bus was coming in 7 days but you left early with Ernest's family after thanking the nuns and pastor for their hospitality while you were there.
Ernest had six children and his wife crammed into a two bedroom rv.
A 1 year old daughter named Ida, a 4 year old son named Tom, an 8 year old son named Leo, 12 year old twin daughters named Bea and Trish and a 16 year old son named Ernie jr.
He had Ernie his junior year of Highschool and married Agnes right after home coming that year.
They all called you their uncle.
It was only an hour's drive to the Anaheim shelter and the children spent the entire drive asking you all sorts of questions about how you survived the hurricane and you just attributed your survival to God, which made Ernest and his religious family happy to hear.
They even said a prayer for you praying that you would find their "Aunt Billie" safe and sound.
Your neighbor, his wife and their two young children had taken great care of Nora while you were separated.
She had a clean bill of health from the shelter doctor and was so excited when she saw your familiar face that she squealed and laughed!
You hugged your daughter against your chest as you thanked your neighbor for rescuing her from the water.
You didn't even care that she was wearing a raggedy stained dress that was much too big for her.
Your neighbor said anyone with a heart would have done the same and he's sorry he wasn't able to rescue your wife, but he saw her floating southbound after getting turned around by a bike floating in the water.
He said she was face up when he saw her....and maybe she was rescued by one of the boats in south central that had been seen picking survivors out the water.
South central and Palmdale were in opposite directions.
You didn't want Earnest and his family wasting their gas driving all over the place looking for Billie so you decided to use the shelter phone to see if you could contact the other rescue shelters in the area to see if you could find her.
Of course none of the other shelters could give you any information over the phone about your missing wife and just kept telling you to call the police and file a missing persons report.
You didn't have time for that!
You called all the hospitals up north, down south and to the east and west looking for Billie.
No one could help you.
You asked your neighbor to tell you everything he knew about the rescue boats but he said all he knew was that they were coded by city.
They were compiling a list of survivors but it wouldn't be in the newspaper until the weekend.
You didn't have time to wait around for the Sunday paper!
You had to find your wife now!
Nora needs her mother!
Your neighbor had been feeding Nora formula in her absence and you knew that shit wasn't good for a baby!
You prayed that your wife and her nutrious breast milk weren't dead.
Surely God hadn't brought you back just so you could live without her...
Ernest offered to take you wherever you needed to go.
He said it was the least that he could do seeing as how you're his best friend.
He had never called you his best friend before...and it warmed your heart.
You thanked him for being so generous toward you and Nora in your time of need.
He said he was going to be staying at his parents house over in Riverside for a while and you and Nora are more than welcome to come stay with him and his family.
You didn't want to be a burden but you also knew you couldn't do this on your own...
You knew you were going to need all the extra help you could get, so you gratefully accepted the offer.
You were actually walking out of the shelter, holding a cooing Nora in your arms, when you saw your guardian angel again...
The poofy haired boy you hadn't seen since the train!
He was walking into the shelter just as you were leaving.
You locked eyes.
"- Lathan?!" You gasped in disbelief.
His face lit up in a smile when he saw you holding your daughter.
"Nora! You found her! Billie's gonna be so relieved!" He said.
"Billie?! You've seen my wife? She's still alive?!" You cried as your heart leapt in hope.
"Yeah she's staying at my house! Come on! I'll take you to her! She's gonna be so happy you're both ok!" Lathan exclaimed.
Ernest said he would come too.
It was a good thing you were leaving the shelter just then, because a securty guard hurried over to the door screaming,"-HEY! I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE BEFORE I TURN YOU IN FOR A NEW CAR! YOU'RE NOT RAPING ANYONE IN MY SHELTER!"
You were horribly confused until you saw the paper in his hand he was waving around.
It was a wanted poster with Lathan's mugshot on it.
It said he was an armed and dangerous serial rapist and there was a $500 bounty out for his arrest.
