KING OF HEARTS - Brothers to the End
KING OF HEARTS
BROTHERS TO THE END
by
The afternoon was full of music and laughter. The ranch hands seldom had the opportunity for social gatherings and made the most of it. The temperature rose into the nineties and the wind from the southwest began to pick up. Clouds began to gather and though there was no rain, the smell of it was present.
Around five in the afternoon, the guests began clearing up in order to get home ahead of any possible storms. The embers left in the barbecue pits were soaked down to prevent fires and the pits were dragged over behind the chapel to be retrieved in the morning. Chairs, tables, and leftovers were loaded up.
Angelo and Andrea bid everyone farewell and headed for their truck. Ruth stopped Angelo before he got behind the wheel. “Angelo?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“I want you two to stop over at the homestead and stay there until the weather clears.”
“Ma’am?”
“There is a good, sturdy storm cellar there. Something is coming. I can’t tell you what or when, but it will be here soon. King of Hearts ranch doesn’t have a cellar. But the homestead does. Please do as I’m asking.” Bill walked up while Ruth was speaking.
“Do as she says, son. She’s seldom wrong. Now get a move on. If there is any stock over there turn it out. It will be safer away from the buildings, out in the open.”
Angelo looked worriedly at the clouds swirling above. “What about the main ranch?”
“Our stock is already out in the open. Now git!”
“Yes, sir!” Angelo floored the gas and sent his truck rocketing over the path towards the stone house.
“What is it, Ruth? What is that mojo telling you?”
“It’s telling me something is coming and it’s big. Have we ever taken a direct hit from a…” her voice trailed off and she stopped talking.
“From a what, Ruthie? Direct hit from what?” Bill asked, preoccupied as he watched the clouds.
“Bill? The wind…it’s gone. Everything is absolutely still. Not a breath of air stirring right now. And I don’t know how better to describe this, except to say the air is green.” By now, everyone but Ruth and the Raiders had left.
Suddenly the hail started. First, small marble sized pellets. Then golf ball sized, followed by even larger chunks of ice. “Come on!” Bill yelled. “Get to the general’s! He has a basement! Go! Go! Go! Run! Not in the trucks! If those windshields shatter, they could kill you. Run! Cover your heads but run!”
About that time a truck came barreling down the rise, determined to rescue “his” people. Bill shoved Ruth in the back seat and yelled, “cover your face and head and stay down!” before he clambered into the bed with the rest of his men, all now hunched over, covering their heads from the hail pelting them.
“Go, general! We’re in for it! Let’s go! Let’s go!”
By the time the truck pulled in under the carport, the hail had nearly ceased, leaving the ground white, as if from snow. It was followed by heavy rain. The wind had picked up again, blowing the rain nearly horizontal.
“Ruth, is this it?” Bill raised his voice to be heard as he tried to shield her from the rain.
Ruth shook her head slowly, “No, this isn’t it. Not all of it, anyway. Something worse is coming. It’s coming now!” As she finished speaking, the wind rose to a noise level usually described as being train-like, that of tornadic winds.
“Everyone to the basement! Get downstairs!”
The general wasn’t waiting for sight seers. He had to shout to be heard, but everyone followed him on the run to find the way downstairs to the dark, still unfinished basement.
“Bill! Where’s Ruth?”
“What do you mean? Didn’t she come in ahead of us all? Damn it, Ruthie! I’ll get her!”
“I’m here! I’m here! I’m right here! Don’t you dare go back out there!”
Bill finally located his wife in the dark basement. He grabbed her, holding her tightly against himself, trying to shield her from any airborne debris. They all heard wind driven debris slamming into the walls of the new house and windows breaking.
Just as the sound of the wind began to die down, it returned but now with a punishing, shrieking tone to it. They could hear the new house above them tearing loose. There were great crashing sounds as appliances, flooring, and debris either began falling down into the basement or were sucked out into oblivion. Breathing became difficult as it felt like the air was being sucked out of their shelter, indeed, out of their very lungs.
Bill yelled, “Everyone get down! Try to get under something. Protect your heads! Get down on the floor! Get down!” As he yelled, he pulled Ruth to the ground, rolling over on top of her. Sarge piled on top of the two, determined to shield those he loved.
Ruth found herself incapable of movement while under both Bill and Sarge’s protection. Bill’s hands were spread protectively across Ruth’s head, while Sarge draped himself across his younger brother’s head and upper body. As the winds continued to churn and boil around them, Ruth felt first Sarge and then Bill jerk once, the two men grunting simultaneously.
“Ruth, do you love me? Do you trust me?” Bill spoke loudly into her ear. “No time...tell me, girl! Tell me!”
Understanding what he wanted, but not what it meant, she answered him in an equally loud voice, “Yes, Bill, yes! You know I do!”
“You have to survive. No matter what happens, you have to pull through this. Promise…me…”
“Yes, Bill! I pr…I promise! You’re scaring me! Sarge! Sarge! What’s happened? Are you ok? I think Bill’s hurt!” But no matter how she called out to the two most important men in her life, no one answered.
When the noise from the tornado had finally ceased, everyone began moving, calling out, and then shouting.
“Bill? Sarge? Can you guys move off me? I can’t breathe! Help us! Help!”
“Ruthie? Where are you?” Harris yelled.
“Over here! Under Bill and Sarge. They must be unconscious. They aren’t moving or speaking. I can’t move them or myself.”
“Stay still, Ruth! We’re coming to you. Don’t move, honey. We’re coming! Don’t move!”
“Harris?” Ruth called out shakily as she heard debris being moved and light began to show through to where she was still pinned down.
“Yeah, Ruthie. Hold on, hon. We’re coming.”
“Harris, I…I don’t think Bill or Sarge…I don’t think they made it. They are both on top of me, no movement. I’m trying to feel for pulses, but I’m pinned down, and I can't tell if they’re breathing. Dear God, save them! I can’t help them. Please save them!” As the possible implication broke through her confusion, she began screaming hysterically: long, deep, guttural screams of terror. “Bill! Sarge! Wake up! Wake up!”
“Hold on, Ruthie! We’re coming to you and them. A lot of debris to move. We’re getting there, though. Howie? Mark?” Harris shouted. “Are you able to move? Reach Angelo and get him and the rest of the hands back out here. Find out if anyone else was injured. Tell them the whole unit is under what used to be the general’s house. We need help! Two possible fatalities. Maybe more. We need help! Oh, Sweet Jesus, get us some help!”
Available May 2022
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