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 Chapter Two



   Watching the chopper disappear into the distance, I mentally kicked
myself.  I could've asked for a couple of changes of clothes for Nikki. 
Five-five and one-twenty and six-two and two hundred, she could practically
swim in anything I wore, and all she had was the clothes on her back.

   We walked back to the house.  I mentioned the problem to her.  "We can
wash these like you did yesterday, an' I can wear your pj's."

   "I suppose.  We'll see what we can do." We went inside and ate
sandwiches for lunch, then she helped me put together a spaghetti sauce for
supper and left it simmering while we walked up the road.  I carried the
shotgun.  Nikki was amazed by the mounds of debris and vegetation piled on
the road.  I wasn't.  I'd seen it before.  Elsewhere.

   We walked back to the collapsed apartments.  She pointed out her room in
the mess, and I came away with the same conclusion that we'd reached
earlier, there was no way either of us would risk going into the place. 
The place was fodder for a bulldozer.  Tiring of the humidity, we returned
to the air conditioned haven of the house and made sure all the electronics
were off.  Nikki watched as I shut the generator down to check it out, then
restarted it.

   We went inside and she chose a CD of Mozart.  We sat in the floor and
played a game of cards until suppertime, then boiled up a pot of spaghetti
to go with the simmering sauce.  I grated fresh cheese to top it and Nikki
declared it to be the best ever.  "I can make this," she announced.  After
dinner we cleared the dishes together and returned to the living room.  She
chose another movie for us to watch.  I was getting ready to start it when
she announced, "I wanna take a shower first.  Then you can take yours, and
we'll have that out of the way."

   "Okay," I said.  "Good idea.  Let me get you something to wear."

   "Those pj bottoms and your t-shirt?"

   "If that works for you.  I'll start a load of wash when we finish."

   "'Kay," she said.  I handed her the fresh clothes and she bounced into
the bathroom.  And heaven help me, I noted that she had an attractive form.

   Fifteen minutes later she was sitting on my bed drying her hair and I
was in the shower.  I got out, shaved, and dabbed a bit of cologne on.  She
was still running the dryer when I walked out, kneeling in the middle of my
bed, the t-shirt having slid down on one shoulder.

   "Dan," she said, "I need a safety pin for these pj's.  When I stand up
they fall down.  See?" And she stood up and caught them sliding down,
stopping the waistband before it reached her pubic mound.  I caught my
breath.  "Oops!  Didn't mean to... you know..."

   "That's okay, babe.  Lemme see if I have a safety pin." I found one and
helped her pin the waistband tighter.  And that put me in close proximity
to what I determined to be a nicely shaped teen ass.  And when she stood in
front of me, I made a similar assessment of t-shirt clad tits.

   My best move was to gather up the clothes and head to the laundry room.
And on top of the stack was a pair of light blue panties.  I should have
just tossed the pile into the washer, but that's not what I did.  I lifted
those panties to my nose and sniffed deeply.  And closed my eyes.  Enough!
I mentally slapped myself.  Into the washer they went.

   I walked back into the living room.  She was lounging on the sofa, eyes
twinkling, her arm languorously tossed on the back of the sofa and that
t-shirt did little to hide the shape of those titties.  My own pj's tented
out.  I hunched over to hide it and retreated to my recliner.  And Nikki
was watching me closely.  And a wry smile spread on her red lips.

   She started the movie, the original Indiana Jones flick.  We'd both seen
it before, and laughed at both appropriate and inappropriate times.  She
started talking about archaeology and I'm no expert, but it sound to me
like she knew a bit.

   I commented on that idea.

   "Lots of Discovery Channel an' History Channel.  And the library when I
can get a ride there." Her brow knit for a second.  "I had books checked
out.  D'ya think they're gonna charge me for them?

   "Not likely.  That's giving me a thought, though.  In the morning we
need to take my camera and go get pictures of your apartment.  And if
anybody says anything, that's your evidence."

   "That's a good idea.  What kind of camera do you have?"

   "A pretty good one.  Hang on, I'll show you!" I got up and retrieved the
camera bag from the closet.  I pulled a digital SLR out of the case and
pointed it at her.  "Smile", I said.  She smiled and the flash went off.

   "That's a fancy one," she said.

   I sat down next to her on the sofa.  "Yeah, I use it in my work
sometimes." I punched the controls and handed it to her.  "Here's you!"

   "I don't look good in pictures," she said.

   "Oh, bullshit!" I said.  "That's what most women say.  Come into my
office.  You can't see the picture very good on this little screen."

   We went into the office and I fired up my desktop computer.  While it
was booting, I pulled out the cable to connect the camera to a USB port.

   "She looked around the office.  "What's all these papers?"

   "That's from my last project.  I need to go through each drawing and
make sure it's correct and all the changes are logged.  It's all billable
hours."

   "You mean you get paid for working at home?"

   "Yep.  I worked four hours yesterday while you were sleeping.  Two
hundred and eighty dollars."

   She caught her breath.  "That's seventy bucks an hour!"

   "That was quick.  You're good at math."

   "I made B's and C's last year.  I don't like to do homework."

   The computer finished booting.  I pulled her photo up on the big
monitor. "There!" I said.  "That's not a bad-looking picture at all."

   "It's just me."

   "And that makes it unique.  And forgive me for saying so, but you're
actually kinda cute!  And this is a good picture.  Look.  You can see every
strand of hair on your bangs.  And you have a little bit of a smile."

   "You think I'm cute?  In the picture, I mean?"

   "Yep!  Very pleasant to look at."

   She looked bit flustered and changed the subject.  "That's a BIG
monitor."

   "Yeah," I said.  "Those drawings are eleven by seventeen inches and I
work on `em on screen, full size.  Makes life better for me."

   "Show me."

   I pulled up some recent files and showed her the red additions and green
deletions.

   "You READ these things?  All I see is a bunch of lines."

   "D'you read Chinese?"

   "Nooo."

   "Same thing.  This is a language.  People who are familiar with the
language can read it.  I can look at every symbol on this page and get a
mental image of a real piece of equipment and how it works in the system."
I patted an inch-thick stack on the corner of the desk.  "This is what it
took to do the electrical power for ONE small production unit at the plant
I was working for."

   "Wow!  That's what engineers do?" She folded her arms and leaned over my
shoulder.

   "That's a painful part of it.  It's not nearly as fun as getting called
when things don't work right and I get to go in and fix them."

   "Can I take YOUR picture?"

   "Sure," I said, handing her the camera.  "Just point it and click."

   "Turn around.  I want to get you with your computer and that desk behind
you."

   I turned and she shot.  "Do a couple.  Film's cheap for that thing."

   "Uh, right..."

   Then she wanted to look at the pictures she took.  "I did pretty good,
huh?"

   "You could be the official photographer of old goats everywhere."

   "You're not that old, Dan." She looked at the camera.  "This thing has a
timer.  If you had a tripod, we could BOTH be in the picture."

   "I've got a tripod in the closet.  Why do you want a picture of both of
us?"

   "So I have a record of who rescued me." She smiled.

   I set the tripod up and showed her how to set up the timer.  We took
several shots and reviewed them on the big monitor.  "I like this one
best." It had me standing close behind her, with her offset just a little
to the right.  Her head was tilted slightly and she was smiling.

   "I'm downloading these to the hard drive," I said.

   "Okay," came the response.  "I'll go put the laundry in the dryer." In
two minutes, she was back hovering over my shoulder.  "D'ya have any work
pictures?"

   "Work pictures?"

   "Yeah, you know, where you work?  What you do?"

   "I have a bunch, but I don't think you're interested in that stuff. 
Most of it's kinda technical.  Obscure.  Interesting to me because it's
what I work on, but..."

   "Try me.  I LIKE that stuff.  Besides, what else do we have to do?"

   "Well, pull that chair over here." And she sat close.  Very close.  I
showed pictures, explaining what each was, and she asked questions.  Like
she was interested.

   Finally I said, "Babe, it's getting late.  Let's shut it down for the
night."

   She laughed.  "Okay, Dan.  I'll go make my bed."

   While she was arranging her nest on the sofa, I came in with the clothes
folded and gave her a stack.

   "Thanks, Dan!" she smiled.  "G'nite!"

   "G'nite, Nikki," I said, walking out of the room.  I closed my bedroom
door and did my pre-bed routine, then stretched out.  I thought about the
contents of the other room as I drifted off to sleep.

   And for the second morning I awoke to the smell of bacon.  I dressed and
walked into the kitchen to find Nikki at the stove again.  She smiled over
her shoulder.  "I found potatoes.  I hope you like hash browns."

   "You amaze me.  Where'd you learn to cook?"

   "Before she died, I used to spend a lot of time with my grandma, Mom's
mom.  And she knew how to cook.  And I learned a few things.  That was the
happiest time of my life, so far." She smiled.  "Although yesterday was
pretty cool, too."

   "Yesterday?"

   "Yeah.  I mean, other than the whole "my home is a debris pile in south
Louisiana" thing, we met people, we took a walk, we played games, we
watched a movie, listened to really good music, and I got to learn a little
bit about engineering stuff.  I think that was a pretty good day."

   "I'm glad you liked it, Nikki.  I could see you taking this a lot
worse..."

   "Nope.  Makin' the best of the situation." She lifted the hash browns
off the cast iron griddle and built us each a plate, poured two cups of
coffee, and sat down with me to share breakfast.

   "Two mornings in a row... I could get used to this."

   Nikki grinned.  "Me too.  Isn't it funny?  I mean, here we have a
stinkin' hurricane, an' in the middle of it life is this good."

   "Yes, little girl, it is indeed good." Plates cleaned, we sat savoring
the coffee, then got up together and cleared the table.

   She said, "I looked in the freezer.  You have some packages that say
round steak.  I can do steak and gravy if you want... for supper?  And
sandwiches for lunch again?"

   "That makes sense," I said.  "But don't think you have to keep house to
pay your way."

   "Oh, I don't," she countered.  "It's nice to be appreciated.  When I did
stuff like this for Mom, she never acknowledged it, but if I didn't, she
raised hell about me layin' around while she did all the work.  And unless
I cleaned up, the house was a mess."

   "I appreciate it, Nikki.  It's wonderful." Finishing our coffee, we got
up and tidied the kitchen.  She went to the freezer and took out a package
of round steak and put it on the counter to thaw.  She looked at Tommi's
food bowl.  "Where do you keep the cat food?" She asked.

   I retrieved it from the laundry room and filled his bowl.  "On the
shelves next to the dryer," I said.  "Once a week he gets a can of the wet
stuff.  Or if there's a special occasion.  I gave him one the morning after
the hurricane.  It's his reward for saving me."

   She giggled.  "Yep!  He's a big hero," petting his back as he walked by
us to his food bowl.

   I turned on my cellphone again.  Still no signal.  Isolation was nice,
but I knew that only a few dozen miles away, the industrial facilities were
recovering, and I should be there.  But with roads closed and no contact...
"Let's go walk around," I said.

   We put shoes on and walked out the door, me carrying the shotgun, her
with the camera.  She took pictures.  Lots of pictures.  A skunk nosing
along the edge of the marsh, several snakes, an alligator, three raccoons.
We made a circuit of the destroyed apartment building and she shot dozens
of shots.  We walked up the road in each direction until we reached the
debris fields, and we photographed that, too.  In short, we made a circuit
of the high ground that protected our house from the storm surge.

   Walking back to the house, she commented, "I never imagined this place
would look like this."

   "Yeah, but in a year you'll have to know where to look for signs.  The
marsh out there will heal itself.  They'll clear the road.  And they'll
clear off the apartment debris.  And you'll not even know there was a
hurricane if you didn't know where to look."

   "Do you think they'll rebuild the apartments?"

   "I don't know," I said.  "Depends on how much insurance money and
government money is in it.  Maybe.  I just can't tell."

   "I don't know if we could get back in there anyway.  There's a waitin'
list down here.  Mom talked about movin' to the city where they have more
housing available for government programs.  Now I guess we will." She
paused.  "If she even comes back."

   "But she's your mom.  Surely she'll come back, huh?"

   Nikki's face was serious as she turned to look at me.  We stopped in the
middle of the road.  "Maybe not."

   "But then you'd be, like, abandoned?"

   "Last year she tried to get me taken away to a home, Dan.  She called
the sheriff department and told them I was out of control and she couldn't
handle me.  I'd be gone now, but I don't get in trouble in school and I
passed a drug test and the only bad report on file was hers.  They put us
in family counseling, for what that's worth."

   "Counseling?"

   "Yeah.  Every two weeks we go sit in an office with a social worker and
Mom says what they want to hear an' I say what they want to hear, and they
collect the government money for it.  But no, Mom wouldn't be sad if I
didn't show back up in her life."

   "That's sad, baby," I said.

   "So you can see why a hurricane is a big plus in my life, right now, huh
Dan?"

   We walked back to the house together, silent.  She started the
conversation back.  "I'm okay, Dan.  Really.  For now, anyway."

   "But after this?"

   "That part I don't know.  So I just enjoy today.  And tomorrow.  Okay?"

   "Okay," I said.

   She led me into the office.  "Let's look at these pictures."

   I turned on the computer again and while it was booting, we had
sandwiches and soft drinks.  I looked at her across the table, not saying a
thing.  Finally I flipped open my cellphone.  And I had two bars of signal
strength.  I punched speed dial.

   The phone was answered with "Well, hello, stranger!"

   "Why, hi, Steve!  What's up?"

   "You're up!  Three plants have been after us for the Great Dan Granger
to come rescue them.  And we can't even find you.  Where you been?"

   I saw Nikki watching me.  "Let me tell, you, Steve.  I weathered the
storm out down here at the house."

   "You did WHAT?"

   "I stayed home.  Didn't evacuate."

   "I saw video they shot from a helicopter, Dan.  Everything down there is
devastated.  Almost."

   "Yeah, I'm part of the "almost." I talked to the sheriff myself
yesterday.  He says roads MIGHT be open in a couple of days or three.  So
I'm stuck here."

   "Dammit, Dan... I need your ass up here.  We have facilities down."

   " I can't help you there, Steve.  No way out.  Hey, I have a 3G card for
my computer, so I can do a lot from right here."

   "Or I can have a chopper pick you up."

   "That'll work.  But only if I'm back here every night.  I got a kid to
take care of."

   "I was jerkin' you about the chopper.  We'll start sending you pictures.
When you can get out, we'll see you."

   "Okay, Steve.  Sorry."

   Nikki looked at me with cool regard.  "You just told them you had a kid
to take care of.  Is that me?"

   "Yep.  Even though you're hardly a kid.  Come on.  Let's go play with
those pictures.  I need to see if I can get a 3G signal in here now."

   I let her sit in front of the computer and directed her through tying in
the 3G and just like that, we were back in the greater world.  I can't say
that I was particularly excited by that.  I was beginning to like the
isolation.  My thoughts were punctuated by the chime of incoming email.

   Nikki turned to me.  "D'you need to get here?"

   "Nope," I said.  "After we look at your pictures." We flipped through,
laughing, talking, doing an occasional edit.  And she came across the timer
shot of her and me.

   "This one is the best," she said.  And she got up.  "You do what you
need to do.  I'm gonna be in the kitchen makin' supper."

   Three days' backlog of email fell down on my head.  I clicked through. A
lot of them got ignored, some got a boilerplate reply concerning my present
status.  And at the very end of the queue I started working on the storm
projects as pictures and reports started coming in from technicians in the
field.

   Nikki reappeared over my shoulder.  "How's it goin, babe, " she asked.

   "Look," I said, and I showed her some of the pictures.  "That's wet and
needs to be dried out.  This is gonna have to be replaced.  This one needs
a new roof before we can do anything." I sighed and shook my head.  "I'm
typing up email right now trying to see who's got used equipment and who's
got extras we can borrow.  It's a mess."

   "I haven't seen you tensed up like this," she said.

   "I know.  I... we were living free and easy for a couple of days.  It
was nice.  Now it's gonna be hell for a few weeks until we get things going
again.  " I reached up with my right hand and pressed against the junction
between my left shoulder and my neck.

   "Nuh-uh," she said, pushing my hand away.  I felt warm, soft, feminine
hands massaging my neck and shoulders.

   "Mmmmmm, Nikki, you don't have to do that."

   "I know.  Does it help?"

   "Yes, it helps.  Very much.  Thank you."

   She massaged for five minutes then went back to the kitchen.  I heard
pots rattling, then a lid set in place, and she was back.

   "So if you did like they said, and a helicopter picked you up..."

   "Email says the city's shut down.  A few hotels are on emergency
generator but they're sold out to recovery workers.  I have no idea where
I'd stay, but sleeping on the floor of an office is likely.  And there's
certainly no place for you.  And I may see myself leaving you here during
the day by yourself, but not overnight.  No way!"

   "But if I wasn't here..."

   "Don't even go there, Nikki.  You ARE here and I want to take care of
you.  Besides, I'm not going to go live like that if I don't have to.  I
don't need the stress, the aggravation OR the money."

   And that got me a kiss on the cheek.  As I sat there, stunned, she left
and I heard the vacuum cleaner start up.  Tommi came running into the
office to hide.

   I reached down and patted his yellow head.  "Patience, old boy," I said.
"There's a woman in our house now."

   In addition to the email, my cellphone was now ringing every ten
minutes.

   If Dan couldn't go to the world, the world could come to Dan.

   At five, Nikki was sitting on the chair next to me in the office
watching me review pictures and emails.  Since she seemed to take an
interest, I verbalized the email answers, embellishing the instructions and
findings so she could follow along.  And half the time I had the cellphone
headset on, talking.

   At five I turned it off.  She took me by the hand to the kitchen where I
was greeted with my supper on the table.  "I hope you like it," she said.
"It's been a long time since I cooked it.  But you have the same stuff in
your cabinets that my grandma did."

   "Two centuries of Cajun grandmas did it for us, babe." It was delicious.
Perfect.  She'd even poured my soft drink over ice.

   After supper I went back to work, logging my time on each of three
projects I was covering.  If I was gonna work, I was darned sure going to
get paid.  I told Steve so over the phone.  He laughed.