A CALIFORNIA ROSE
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rose screamed as the walls crumbled around
them. The light pole fell, pinning them under it--but also saving their lives.
The heavy beams and chunks of plaster and concrete fell against the fallen
pole, missing them.
When the dust cleared, Rose found herself
lying on her back on the pavement. Her right foot was trapped beneath the pole,
but her face was exposed to the air. She could the sky overhead, where several
fallen beams formed a frame of sorts.
“Jack!” Rose could feel him lying beside her,
but she didn’t know if he was conscious, or even if he had survived the
collapse.
“I’m right here, Rose.” Jack reached for her
hand. He was lying on his stomach on the pavement, his legs pinned under the
fallen pole. He suspected that one of his legs was broken, but that wasn’t
important right now. “Can you move?”
Rose tried to move her trapped foot. There
was a small crack in the pavement beside it, and she could almost pull her foot
out, but her attempt to move made the pile of debris shift, threatening to come
crashing down on them. After a second attempt, she gave up.
“It’ll be morning soon,” Jack told her.
“They’ll have rescue crews out then, when there’s enough light to see by. Just
hold on a little longer.”
Rose listened to him, worried. His voice was
weak; she wasn’t sure that they could wait until morning to be rescued. But
there was nothing else she could do but wait.
She settled back against the pavement.
Occasionally, she could still hear the sound of footsteps running by. She tried
calling out, but no one heard her. Occasionally, the rubble shifted,
threatening to collapse in on them, and Rose began to suspect that they
wouldn’t make it until morning.
Jack was still holding her hand. “Just a
little longer, Rose. It must be almost three in the morning by now. It’ll be
getting light soon.”
Rose listened to him, not really believing
him. He sensed this and tried for levity.
“I guess this means I don’t have to go to
work tomorrow.” He tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a gasp of fear. He
clenched his teeth, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. The wound in his
back was still bleeding; he could feel the blood trickling down his back and
pooling under him. A strange coldness was beginning to creep over him.
“I love you, Jack.”
Her words caught him by surprise. His heart
leapt at them, until he realized what she was doing.
“No. Don’t you do that. Don’t you say your
good-byes.”
“We’re buried alive...”
“You’re going to get out of here. You’re
going to go on, and you’re going to make lots of babies, and watch them grow.
You’re going to die an old, old lady, warm in your bed. Not here. Not this
night. Do you understand me?”
Rose was listening now, trying to believe
him. He pressed on.
“Rose, listen to me. Listen. Visiting Elias
University that night was the best thing I ever did. It brought me to you. And
I’m thankful, Rose, I’m thankful.” He was exhausted; the effort of speaking was
almost more than he had the strength for. But he couldn’t let Rose give up.
“You must do me this honor. You must promise me that you’ll survive, that you
won’t give up...no matter what happens...no matter how hopeless it seems.
Promise me now, Rose, and never let go of that promise.”
Rose’s face was turned toward him, trying to
see him in the darkness. “I promise.”
“And never let go of that promise.”
“I will never let go, Jack. I’ll never let
go.”
He smiled, putting his head down on the hard
pavement. She would survive, he knew. He could rest now. But there was one more
thing he wanted to say to her.
“Rose...I love you, too.”
She squeezed his hand, and he knew that she
understood. His hand clutched hers convulsively, as if in doing so he could
ward off the pain, and the darkness; as if by doing so, he could keep back
death itself.