Chapter 5

In the morning, we still had our arms around each other. She had her head on my shoulder. Her beautiful eyes found mine and she kissed me on the cheek. "Morning, Jordan."

I held her to me and said, "Morning, pretty one. Nice to have you right here." I saw her brows furrow and she looked troubled. "Anything wrong?"

She pulled back and said, "No, I just need to get started." She quickly left the bed and went to her room.

That day, after getting Brianna off to school, she was on the phone for hours, seemingly, and was unable to find us a place within reasonable distance of her house.

At noon, she came to me and said, "I can't find a place for all of us to stay," and she sniffled.

I said, "Give me a half hour and I'll see what the options are." So, I called the recreational vehicle rental agency and asked for a comfortable RV with a trailer hitch strong enough to pull a large trailer. Within minutes, they had what I wanted.

I said to Jennifer, "OK, here's what I have to offer. I rented an RV that allows us to go self-contained to Pensacola. It has a trailer and we can rescue anything you need from your house."

Her eyes grew wide and she came to me to give a total body hug. "You are amazing. I never knew anyone who could arrange those kinds of things."

Of course I took credit for the brilliant idea. Right out of the Yellow Pages. We took possession of the RV just after Brianna came home from school and began our journey. It was at least five hours. Jennifer had transferred the food in the house refrigerator and the vegetables to feed us. We could have been gone a week and not hurt for nice things to eat.

We saw miles of devastation as we approached the bridge to the island. The closer we came to the turnoff, the worse it looked. As we crept along, I saw them both crying softly. The deputy sheriff inspected her driver's license and address before he let us proceed onto the hastily rigged pontoon bridge across the gap in the bridge that the hurricane had destroyed. She directed me down one street, then another, and finally we arrived in front of her former residence. She took one look and started sobbing. Brianna did the same.

I started the utility generator to keep the RV cool and opened the door to assess the situation. It smelled bad. Really bad. I began my walk toward the house. I heard her call, "Wait, Jordan, please."

When we were inside, you know what we saw. I know that you watched CNN and other TV shows that delighted in showing the destruction resulting in human misery. Pianos floating; artwork crooked on the walls, mud and sand filling the house. Her house was like that. The yard and pool were completely littered with debris. The concrete slab had been floated, twisted, and broken into two misaligned pieces. We had to move trash and flotsam to open the front door. She used her key, even though the windows were broken and we could have gone in that way.

She sat on the wet stair crying. "I don't know what to do."

"In the morning, you will find your most precious things and I will carry them to the trailer. We have lots of boxes and padding." Then, I assumed control, "Tonight, we're going to eat and go to bed. Not enough light to do anything safely."

She dutifully made dinner in the RV and we all sat around as we ate and watched the TV for a couple of hours. During the commercials, I figured out the sleeping arrangements so that no one would feel compromised. I wanted Jennifer to sleep with me, but that was out of the question with Brianna in the room. So, I put each of us in a separate bed, taking the larger one for myself. At bedtime, we all went to our separate spaces and I know we were all completely spent.

I awakened early, heard Jennifer making breakfast and went to join her. She did some quick scrambled eggs and ham and made toast and coffee. She served me a large slice of melon. As we ate, she said, "Wish me luck." She went to Brianna's bed and dragged her out. "Come on, sleeping beauty. We have work to do."

"Aw, Mom, it's Saturday." She looked around and saw where we were and then said, "Yeah, OK. OK."

After breakfast, and within about eight hours, we had removed the "most precious" still OK items from the house and her personal records cabinet, which was relatively undamaged. Jennifer took down some special artwork and found that all her silverware and crystal was intact. She packed them. I found about 30 bottles of wine, some of the labels had been washed off, but, we could take potluck. I loaded two boxes of liquor and special expensive liqueurs. I recovered many good tools and miscellaneous bolts and parts from the workroom. Brianna recovered most of her CDs and tapes. She lived upstairs. Then, she brought her stuffed animals, books, and school projects.

Their computers appeared to be out of commission, but I loaded them in hopes that someone could retrieve the hard drives if they wanted them. They both found several drawers of clothes, some of them wet, and easily ten pounds of nice lingerie. I judged that all of it could be taken to the laundry and most of it saved. They were all in tears most of the time. At least, we managed to get the critical items before the looters got to them.

If I had thought to bring a student to help me carry, we might have salvaged some more things Jennifer wanted, but not much. Both were relieved to get out of the house and back into the RV where the smell was much less obtrusive. They went to the large bed in back and cried together. If you haven't smelled the post-hurricane devastation, you're much better off.

I watched TV for an hour while they tried to get themselves back together. Jennifer came out with her face red and puffy and then Brianna came, too. Jennifer said, "We've done what we can now. Could we get out of here so we don't have to see it?"

"Where? Want to go home?"

"I thought this was my home and it never will be again. Yes, take us home."

I drove east for a few miles until I found an RV park off the I-10 that I liked and pulled in. I said, "This is it for the night, ladies. I can't take us back to Albany without sleep."

Within minutes, Jennifer had started cooking dinner from the food she brought from my refrigerator. She asked, "Would you like to grill a steak or have me do a microwave chicken?" She seemed much more in control.

"You tell me."

"I know what's right, but tonight I'd like a steak with some nice red wine."

I stepped out of the RV and lit the propane grill. She decorated the steaks and within minutes I had them on the grill. I picked a bottle of red wine that I thought I recognized the label on the cork. It tasted great. I poured one for Jennifer, which she sipped as she steamed some broccoli and made a salad with hard rolls. Elegant food that tasted much better than what we had when we were in my tent. We sat at the eating booth in the RV and had the best dinner that I could remember. Of course, if you aren't starved and don't like medium rare sirloin, then, you'd have to imagine something else.

After we cleaned up the kitchen, I said, "Brianna, you may have the first shower if you like. That is unless you'd rather go shower at the pool."

Her face brightened and she said, "Thank you, Jordan. I'll take the shower I really need it. I didn't bring a suit and it would take too long to find one in the trailer."

She went into the small shower and within minutes, emerged in a towel wrapped around her, resting on her nice shelf, but showing much of her luscious body. God, I wish I could hold a towel up like that! I said, "OK, Jennifer, your turn."

She smiled at me and whispered, "Someday, I hope we can do it together." Then, she went to shower alone. No way we could both get in there, let alone take a shower.

Later, I went to the shower and rid myself of the odors and repellant that were covering me since this morning. I came out in my briefs drying myself as modestly as I knew how. Both were looking at me curiously.

After we watched some mindless TV sitcoms and the bad news from the Middle East again, I sent Brianna to the bed in front, which had its own privacy curtain. I sent Jennifer to the bench bed in the back. I slept in the overhead queen-sized bed and it felt heavenly as soon as I put my head on the pillow. In a few minutes, I felt movement in the coach and shortly Jennifer was climbing into my bed. She whispered, "May I sleep here?"

I brought her to me and thrust the sheet off both of us. It was cool, but not cool enough to have a hot woman cuddled next to me under the covers. Fortunately, the generator and air conditioner made enough white noise that Brianna could not hear our voices. She said, "I'm turning over."

I replied, "Good. I can't handle you when you're really close." She wiggled her butt against me and we could feel the rocking motion in the RV.

I put a small pillow over my hard on and wiggled far enough away from her not to be obscene. I wanted to be risqué, but she didn't seem over her trauma from earlier today.

In the night, I felt her get up and get down to go to the toilet. She returned in a couple of minutes and pushed her naked butt against my continuing erection. She turned her head and said, "Do I have to do all of this? Sometime, I'd like it if you acted like you want me," she giggled.

I replied, "Be careful what you ask for." Within half a minute I had thrust into her from behind. I said, "Is that OK?"

When she pushed back, making me go all the way to the end of her, "More than OK. Know what to do now?"

It happened so quickly that I forgot the condom. When we moved against each other, I could feel the RV rocking. I hadn't lowered the rigid supporting braces. I had one hand over her shoulder to hold her in place and the other on her breasts pinching and stoking the nipples. I could tell that she was in a high state of need. I stroked her clit for just a few seconds, when all of a sudden Jennifer groaned with sounds of pleasure and continued them until she had her first spasms. Then, the rocking motion became even more pronounced.