Chapter 4

The summer of 2004 was supposed to be a free ride for me. I was planning on a spending 3 months on hiatus from my job to work with the Olympic hockey team. The firm I work for never had too much problem with my absences as they used them for publicity to show the company giving something back and a well rounded employee base. That was before hurricane season of 2004.

I happened to be in Florida when Charlie came through. As it bore down on the state I was in the right place at the right time, as far as the company was concerned. I was there to insure customer reserves were protected from the storm, keeping their investment, our customer, and the general public safe from what ravages the storm could deal to volatile fuels.

Once preparation was finished, and I got my hockey charges evacuated to other USOC facilities, I hunkered down for the storm. Once it passed through I handled any crisis that may have arisen, and luckily there were none. But there was a relief effort, and me with my company logo prominently displayed on my chest, back and van, made myself very visible to all the media.

A home I had rented near Estero was well protected against storms of this type and had its own power source should the grid go down. After I helped people into shelters, I was back to my "base" to safely hunker down by myself. After the storm went through I was making my rounds when a local fire company asked if I had any extra equipment to read the presence of carbon dioxide or petroleum gas emissions. They needed all they could get as they sifted some of the rubble in a possible rescue effort. I was only glad to help and assist them, adding a team of would be rescuers.

In one of the strangest morning of my life we were called to a small apartment complex to assist. Dogs were indicating that there was something inside the 6 unit building that had been crushed by the storm. I don't imagine the crackerbox construction would have sustained much of any direct hit by the smallest of storms.

A small Payloader had been rigged with a winch to pull larger pieces of debris off the remains of the building and I quickly moved in as close as I could to get air samples to insure safety, all the while calling out for any signs of life.

As soon as the large piece of roof and wall came off we heard cries for help. I became excited and began yelling back instructions to be still and wait to be sure they could be safely extricated. There was what were apparently a woman and an older man. They assured us that they were fine, but hungry and hot. They emptied a bathroom closet and waited out the brunt of the winds when the walls came crashing in. The boxy closet was framed quite well with an inside simple frame to hold shelves. They had taken each of the lower shelves out and the top one remaining was just enough girding to keep the small space together. That piece of the framework tipped just enough to prevent them from breaking the door open or busting through the walls. Although I wasn't really a rescuer per se, I felt compelled to help as much as I could. When I got in close and tried to calm the trapped pair the smell was beyond imagination. They had been in the "box" for near 20 hours now in blistering heat and, of course, no place to relieve themself besides there.

As I tried to portray a calm front to the victims I got as close as I could so I wouldn't shout or alarm them. The ambulances were coming into position with EMT's at the ready when the voice inside that tomb asked, "Rob? Rob is that you?".

I was sort of stunned to hear my name and shrugged it off to hearing the voice wrong. Then as the little space was pried open the face inside was that of Gail, Haley's odd roommate from Minnesota.

"ROB, it IS you! You're my angel of rescue! Thank you, thank you so much!!" She said as I moved back to let medical personnel go in and do their thing.

I nodded a quick hello and said I had to move on and would catch up with her later. The team that had "recruited" me was moving onto to other areas looking for more trapped victims and they needed my help.

I hadn't been prepared for smell and human reality of the situation with trapped people, that their bodies still functioned and that trying to "hold it" wasted needed body strength, especially not knowing if you might ever be found. Gail was a haggard mess, the little I saw her, but she was still dressed in black frumpy clothes with long black hair, about as messy as I remember it being on "good" days.

As we began hearing stories of the next storm coming towards us that afternoon I remembered to stop at the local triage to see if Gail was admitted and how she was doing.

I found that after being checked out they got her a shower and lent her some scrubs so she could wash her clothes. Many people were roaming Florida with just the clothes on their back. Even washing in rainwater had to make her clothes smell better than they did when I first opened her "tomb". She had been sent on her way, obviously excused from her "job" of taking care of senior citizens with their daily needs at their homes. Why someone with her education was doing that was beyond me. She was a top notch commercial artist and accomplished draftsperson, specializing in CAD design and geological CAD. She was big into volunteering in college, so I figured she must still be.

Leaving the hospital I made my way the 60 miles back to my little paradise near Estero where I did have power and light, as well as cell communication. On top of all of that, I had a well stocked fridge. I was only short of lots of fresh water with just two 5 gallon jugs, but had enough filtered rainwater to shower and wash if need be.

As I drove up the road there was a constant stream of people walking to shelters and safe houses looking for a meal and a place to sleep safely before they got back to work rebuilding or putting their homes back together. I was picking up any families with children and delivering them to where they were going while I made my way inland. Once I got so far on my trek I stopped seeing families with children and had no compunction to stop so I could just get home, I was exhausted.

Just before my turn off of major roads I saw a dark figure walking and I knew it had to be Gail. I stopped and opened the door.

"Where are you going, Gail? Let me give you a lift." I shouted as she came up and plopped herself in my front seat.

"I'm not goin' anywhere; I'm just getting' away." She said without looking at me.

"I was surprised to hear your voice this morning. I'd know it anywhere, I heard it so much in the dark when you would stay with Haley. I had a big crush on you and your voice then. I heard you and Haley split." She said in a sad monotone.