Running Northwest (42 page)

While other areas such as the ones on the Oregon Coast were not so lucky. From Gearheart near Astoria south to Waldport roads were flooded, buildings damaged, windows broke and trees were down nearly everywhere you looked. Power was out in many places on or near the coast, phone lines were down and the cell phone networks were over loaded making communicating difficult.

Making it through the night Thomas went out outside after Daniel and he woke up. Amazingly, they still had power, although every now and again the electricity would fluctuate. Daniel sat at the counter in the kitchen and watched the morning news and coverage of the storm. While Daniel ate breakfast, Thomas went outside with his two dogs in tow and assessed the damage to his own home. Despite the high waves still rolling in from the ocean, the beach was already a wreck as far as he could see. Large trees found themselves washed onto shore, pieces of wood from boats or homes were scattered on the sand and garbage was strewn all over. Thomas turned and looked back towards the house and rubbed his beard and sighed, then looked down at Harley who was calmly sitting next to him. “Well
this doesn’t
look pretty but it’s not as bad as
I thought it would be old girl
”
.

The roof on the house facing the Pacific was missing many shingles, and a board protecting a window was gone and the glass was cracked, both would need replacing. Several trees had blown down and the wood siding on the south end of the house appeared to be damaged by a falling tree. However, besides large piles of sand that were pushed onto the deck and against the house, this appeared to be the worst of the damage to Thomas’ home. As he stood on the beach, he could already see his closest neighbors house about 100 yards north was damaged badly. He knew they were not home so he would give them a call when he went to work and let them know about the damage. His neighbor’s house sat closer to the ocean than Thomas’ home was and stood partially on stilts. He could see the deck facing the ocean was sagging heavily from two missing wooden supports, the stairs were washed completely away and many windows were broken. The roof also appeared to have some heavy damage to it. Thomas looked at his cell phone and it was nearly 10 am. He called for Layla and the young dog came running back. Then Thomas and the two dogs went inside the house. He would deal with the damage later in the day or the next.

After he got inside Daniel feverishly rattled off all the storm damage the news had shown on TV. Apparently, many businesses were staying closed for the day all over the coast to fix damage that
had been done. The police and f
ire departments were already urging people to stay home unless it was necessary for them to go out. Roads were flooded and shut down in many places all over the area. On the Wilson River Highway, leading through the mountains into Tillamook from Portland the road had been taken completely out in one section by a mudslide and fallen trees. The news was reporting that the governor was considering deploying the National Guard to areas along the coast because of the severity of the damage. Thomas sat and watched the footage go across the screen as his son was talking to him.

Thomas took a sip of his coffee and then calmly said, “Hey buddy we should probably get out of here and head into town so I can check on the shop”.

“Okay Dad, I’ll go get ready. How does the house look from the outside?” the boy asked quietly.

“Well it could be better, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be to be honest. The neighbor’s house up the way got soaked pretty badly though, so I’m gunna call them when I get to the shop and let them know what’s going on. I may go and check it out more closely later on if their son isn’t in the area” Thomas said.

“That bad huh Dad” the boy asked.

“I’m glad we were in this house and not that one, Buddy. Why don’t you go and get dressed. I am gunna bring the dogs with us and they can hang out at the shop with me. I’m gunna close it down for the day anyway considering all that’s going on in town, people might need my help” he said. Then asking “do you want to hang with me or go to your uncles like you planned?”

“Well as long as Erin is okay with it I’ll go there, maybe I can have her bring me to the shop later on if you’re gunna be there,” the boy answered. Then he jumped up, went, and got ready to leave.

The drive into town was chaotic even in the pickup truck. There was standing water on the road into Tillamook sometimes as deep as two feet Thomas guessed. Cars were stuck in the water and several large trees were down over the road. People were out with axes and chainsaws clearing the road of the trees and the closer he got into town the police were starting to direct traffic. The trip that from his house that normally took about 20 minutes took nearly an hour. During the drive he texted Erin to make sure it was still all right if Daniel came over. Erin was still more than okay with it. When he pulled up to Derricks house
,
his best friend was sitting on the porch and waved to Thomas as he rolled into the driveway. Daniel got out of the car and ran to the house as the two dogs watched with worried looks.

Erin came out of the house, took the boy up in her arms, and gave him a big hug. Daniel began talking her ear off as she waved at Thomas and herded the boy inside who said goodbye to his dad as he went in the door. Derrick walked down the steps, met Thomas, and shook his hand.

“How’s it going brother, see you made it through the night” Derrick said.

“Yeah we did okay I guess, little man got scared a bit so he crashed with me and the dogs” Thomas replied.

“Figured as much, so any damage to the house?” Derrick asked
.

Thomas gave Derrick a look and smile and then said, “a bit, not as much as we thought but enough to where I’m gunna need your help at some point getting it done”

“Just let me know man
,
” Derrick said smiling.

“So your house looks like it’s all right though,” Thomas said.

“Yeah we did all right, the tree in back broke but that’s it. More firewood for fires I suppose” Derrick said with a laugh.

“How about the bar, anything there” Thomas asked.

“Don’t know yet, I was waiting to touch base with you. I assume you’re gunna go and check out the coffee shop?” Derrick asked.

“Yeah I am but I’ll stop by the bar after I figure out what’s going on there. I’m closing it for the day though, no sense in having it open today I guess” Thomas said.

“Yeah I’m leaning towards that with The Whaleback but I don’t know. People might want a place to go and have a drink after all this shit going around here” Derrick said with a laugh.

The two of them chatted for a few more minutes and smoked a cigarette then left separately to attend to their businesses. As Thomas drove through Tillamook he took in the damage big and small and was amazed. As he pulled up near the corner of Second Street where it meets with the Oregon Coast Highway, he spotted the sheriff and stopped to talk with him for a few minutes. The two were decent friends and after their brief talk, Thomas told him to stop by the shop later for some free coffee, and they could talk about the storm damage and any news.

Thomas pulled away and headed for the coffee shop. As he pulled close, the coffee shop appeared more or less fine. After getting out of the truck, he noticed one window in back was blown out and gone but that was the worst on the outside at least. Inside however was a different story the broken window had let in a lot of rain and the floor of the storage room was flooded. Thomas could tell he already had lost some stock but nothing that could not be replaced by the insurance company along with the window. Thankfully, the floor of the storage room was tile and not wood like the front of the shop so clean up should be easy and not expensive.

After looking around the rest of the café, Thomas went and sat in his office and lit a cigarette and said aloud “this is gunna b
e rough day I can tell already.”

He pulled out his laptop and waited for it to boot up. In the back of his mind, he already wondered when Tracie was going to be here. He had made up his mind about what to do, with the facts he from Erin and Derrick, combined with how she was acting recently they supported his choice; he hoped the conversation would go easy. He stared at the screen of the laptop and looked at the clock on the wall; it was 11 am. He reached for his cell phone, it was time to call the neighbors and inform them about their cottage.

.
             
.
             
.

Stephanie had been awake for a few hours already and the area around her rented cottage had already been a frenzy of activity. Several of the homes near the beach below her were damaged extensively by water and debris. The normally wide open sandy beach that just the day before she had been walking on looked like a small pond because of all the water on it. Neighbors were pitching in to help each other; everything was a mess. Ann had stopped by earlier to check on Stephanie and see how she fared in the storm. Thankfully, only a few businesses in Cannon Beach had suffered major damage, but many had broken windows. Power was out to a portion of the town mostly at the northern end near Ecola State Park.

After getting herself cleaned up, Stephanie decided to head into town and check things out and get some fresh air; she had a lot on her mind. As she walked north up the sidewalk and past cottages, homes and the clapboard sided shops some of which she had been in just two days before she felt sad for the town she had come to love. It took her about 15 minutes to walk to the main downtown area. Tourists began leaving the town and surrounding area yesterday and also the day before that when the weather was not what they wanted and was getting worse. The ones that stayed through the storm left this morning and the town looked deserted and empty. Ann was right and only a few shops were even open for business at this point and the locals were rushing to help anyone who needed it. As she walked alone the temporary light rain dampened her hair, she smiled slightly as she watched the people of Cannon Beach. The storm was horrible and damaged a lot, according to Ann and the news on TV. However, the people that lived here were fast at work fixing, rebuilding and helping each other despite the rain and high winds. They worked hard to get the town and their lives back to normal Ann told Stephanie that was just how people did things out there. Nobody complained much; they just dug in and pressed forward. Stephanie liked that spirit.

She slowly walked towards the beach area, which was supposedly closed due to massive flooding, debris and high surf but some people took their chances and wandered on to it. She stood on the top of the large cement sea wall that protected the town from the effects of the ocean at times like this. The beach was littered with dead trees and all different types of debris. Dead fish and sea birds were all over the place making the scene look very sad and bleak. The salty wind and light rain blew in her face and hair and she felt as if she looked disgusting right now but Stephanie did not care.

Her thoughts went suddenly to Thomas; she worried about him and his son. She wondered about his house on the beach, his coffee shop and how much they were damaged. Thomas and Derrick’s bar The Whaleback crossed her mind and she worried how much damage there was. The news from Tillamook and the area around it were not good, and they had been hit hard. Somewhere from deep inside she felt the urge to go and see Thomas, to make sure he was okay. She knew though given the events of the night it would not be a smart choice. It was supposed to be her last night on the coast, if her dog Shadow was with her she would have stayed much longer. She wondered if she would ever get the nerve to see Thomas in person and actually talk to him. On the other hand, should she just get on the plane tomorrow and fly back to Michigan, leaving this little adventure behind her? Should she leave Thomas behind her and just move on? She stood gazing at the wavy ocean, a chill ran thru her, and she rubbed her arms. She wondered what the real point of her coming here in the first place was. Had she done what she set out to do or just found every reason not to do it?

Eventually she turned and walked slowly back the way she had come. However, she was not ready to go back to the cottage yet so she would just wander for a while. As she made her way back to Hemlock Street, she turned right at the corner and ran into Ann who was sitting on a wooden bench with two cups of hot coffee. She greeted Stephanie with a smile and then said, “I thought you might need this when I saw you walk off alone”.

“You have no idea. Thank you so much,” Stephanie said as she reached for the coffee, asking “How long have you been here?”

Ann stood and looked right into Stephanie’s eyes and said, “Long enough to not want to bother you while you’re feeling sorry for yourself. And certainly long enough to see a woman who’s in love and doesn’t know what to do about that love”

Stephanie was shocked and looked at Ann and tried to hide the look she had on her face confirming what Ann had just said. For as much as she wanted to say something and deny it, Stephanie could not. She was a mere miles away from a man that she had secretly loved most of her adult life, a man who she lost and was too afraid to admit that she made a mistake when it would have possibly mattered to him. She was alone in a strange city and state where she no reason to be at other than for him, A place where ironically she was trying to hide from him.

“Sweetie it seems you haven’t been quite honest with me about some things since you got here. I can’t say that I blame you. Why would you want to open up to a crazy old woman you just met
?” Ann asked
with a smile while giving Stephanie a curious look then adding, “But here is why you should, it’s because this crazy old lady has been through some things and seen some stuff. I remember what it’s like to be a young girl in love because I used to be that girl. And now I’m an old woman who is very much in love, so I’ve been there and done that”