Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:51:26 -0800 (PST) From: T. Chase McPhee Subject: Natures Fury! 01 (please add to 'Nature Walk') The story below is a work of fiction, set in the format of reality. Any resemblances to real people, alive or in the hereafter, is entirely coincidental in nature. It is not meant to accurately reflect upon persons, in towns, cities, countries, nor governmental areas, which the story is staged. If a sexual scene involving male-to-male relationships offends you, then you should not read this story. Additionally, if you are under 18 years of age, in most state and countries, you are not allowed to read this story, by law. Check with your local laws regarding such. % Sexual safety matters. Remember guys, this is fiction. In real life, use protection. % Nature's Fury! 01 wriTten by T. Chase McPhee % Standing at the side of the truck, it seemed to Kevin Spangler it was getting warmer, instead of cooler. First he had taken off his jacket, then loosened a coupla buttons of his flannel shirt, exposing his chest fur. Many a customer, lining up for a gallon of milk, accused him of working too hard! Suddenly, from a distance he thought he heard thunder. Then, across the parking lot, underneath the cars, little streams of mud formed. "Oh shit!" He called out, when he looked up. Chad came out just in time, to check on Kevin. He was standing right next to him, when he spied it too. Headed their way, a slow moving wall of watery mud churned towards the parking lot, at a slow, snail's pace. "What tha?" Kevin said, his hand over his eyebrows, as if blocking the sun. Chad did the same, saluting the same moving mass. "We gotta warn people!" Right away, they abandoned the truck of milk and ran throughout the parking lot, partially affected. People heeded warning and ran back inside the store. "It's headed directly for us!" Kevin called out, watching. Others gasped at seeing the slow moving wall of mud course it's way through the parking lot of Barr's & Bridges. When it began taking Kevin's truck, still a third loaded with milk, it became evident of the fury of nature's way. "It just took Kevin's truck," Chad said, his cellphone connected to 911. As if an animal, a big one, almost as if Godzilla himself, they watched as the slimy mass, waist-high, churned through the parking lot. In an instant, twenty five cars, half as many shopping carts, became part of the moving sediment. Fortunately, the median of Van Dusen Blvd., provided a corral, keeping the liquid matter from traveling on the other side of the road, carved out for other businesses. "Get everybody in the back," came the call from Chad. Pressure on the front windows had caused the plate glass to crack. It didn't take folks much prodding to get them to run up the aisles. Over the store loudspeaker, Matty's voice could be heard resounding, "'Walk'. Things are going to be okay. You're safe in here." At least that's what Matty was praying about. He never prayed so hard in all his life, with seeing the cracks in the plate glass and the fury of having cars moved from the parking area, as if driven away en masse. % Like Kevin Spangler, Steve thought he heard thunder, too. Following Philip, Aidan in his arms, elbow crooked under the twelve year olds knees, he carried him along, through the back yard. Suddenly, his feet seemed to step on loose soil, soggy, making a squishy sound. Finally reaching the old homestead, now owned by Alonzo and Callan, he plotted across the backyard. Out of sight, he assumed Philip had entered the back door. He entered, knocking. "How're you doing there, Aidan?" "Okay." He sounded a little reluctant to answer. Callan asked again, "You okay?" Steve filled them in, "He's a little afraid of the thunder I think." "Thunder? The sun is shining as bright as the summer!" "Right," He answered Alonzo, readying to pour a cup of java. "Care for some, Steve?" Before he could answer, a loud thud was heard, coming from the front of the house. Aidan flew into Steve's arms as if attacked by a growling dog. Waiting in the kitchen they heard Alonzo curse out loud. "Whatsamatter?" "The front door. It just got `kicked in'!" "Kicked in?" "Yeah, by..." Before Callan could state the dilemma, an inch of mud began seeping into the kitchen. "Quick! Out the back!" "Wait!" Steve called out, "What about Philip? Seth? Diego?" "They're not here. We thought they were at your place," Callan answered him. "Dad, I'm scared." "You and me both, kiddo!" Heading out the back, the ground had become mighty smooshy, two, then three inch deep myriads of muddy slime flowing over the yard as if ocean waves on the beach. Not the ferosity as at Barr's & Bridges, the trees surrounding, slowing down the clumps of mud. Then, all around, towards the north, they heard thunderous claps, as if lightning striking. "Look!" Several feet from the house, a waist-high wall of mud snapped a tree, pushing it over like a toothpick. All the time Steve ran with Aidan in his arms, his thoughts were on Philip and the other two boys. If they weren't at his place and not at Alonzo's place, then there's only one other place little boys go to, when feeling down. % It seemed no place in West Richlan had been spared by the mucky gook. Several hours later, folks from all areas of town had phoned into police, reporting they had been unindated by the slow-moving mass of mud, rocks and cold water. Some areas reported seeing boulders of ice. "I hope Uncle Seb is okay." "Call him on your cellphone." "I can't. It's not working," Justin told Christian. "Whatever this is, must've taken the tower down." "Or maybe so many are using their cellphones, it's not taking the overload?" So far, living in the more densely populated south side of West Richlan, streams of mud had been reported, whereas in the northern area, around Bernice Bridges' home, the larger widths, began cutting swaths, wide as roadbeds through the mountainous estates of trees and homes. "Upstairs, kids," Alberto called out to them. On the other hand, Bernice paniced. "Oh my this is just terrible!" Yelling out, she remained closely behind the boys. "Don't worry Aunt Bernice, we'll be okay." Diego, Seth and Philip hustled up the stairs, followed by Alberto. Walking around the indoor balcony, they looked over the wooden railing, down into the major portion of the modern home. The trio of boys, along with Bernice and Alberto, watched through windows, as the mud makes it's own paths. Things breaking became a normal sound, consistent with the rolling mud. The kids watched as Alberto ran down the stairs, Bernice following. At his direction, they hurled a sofa in front of the side door, the ones used by the kids. Water seeped through, but for now the muddy sludge remained out, traveling along at a slow speed. Even though Philip sought immeditate safety for the people around him, he wondered about his boyhood pal, his dad and the others. % "Give me your hand!" Walking into his own abode, Steve already found signs of the encroaching mud flow. Already, as they walked in the back door, the screen door didn't bang shut for once. "Over here, Steve!" "The boys?" "They are up here with me," Berk called out. First he climbed up on the diningroom table, then fed Aidan up through the skylight. The first one to greet him was Scruffy, licking his face. Next, Steve helped his neighbors. For himself, he refused to climb up onto the roof til he found out what happened to Philip and the boys, insuring their safety. Of course Alonzo and Callan were worried of the whereabouts and safety of Diego and Seth, but Steve was mighty convincing of having them stay behind with the rest of the boys and Berk. "Don't worry about me," are the last words they heard from Steve, before he headed out the back door. Berk tried helping, jumping down from the skylight, onto the diningroom table, but too late, spotted the mass of mud entering the back door. He scooted back up onto the roof, immediately hit by a barrage of concern from the boys. % On the good side of Van Dusen Blvd., Michael Byrd marveled at how the median kept the waist-deep flow from touching his establishment. They had warning before it hit, so tried blocking the fork in the road. It hadn't stopped it's might. Even Caterpillar trucks couldn't keep nature's fury from following the downhill flow, carving out it's own path. Telephone poles snapped, along with trees. Cars slid right along, whether with the flow or sideways. Even well-rooted trees, some being around for a millenium, became uprooted. Only the two foot wide, four feet high traffic median seemed not to give into it's path, making the flow adhere to the roadway. Not so fortunate had been Mr. Pink's, the hottest gay club, in the whole area. Hours later, much of the pink had been tranformed to dirty brown. % They had heard it, but hadn't seen it. Had reports of it striking many areas of the town, but had not experienced it visually, nor aurally. News travels fast in a small town. Bad news, even quicker! The inhabitants of West Richlan Presbyterian got on their knees and prayed for themselves and their neighbors, thankful the flowed followed a different path, away from the church. % Steve fought the mud, first up to his knees, then decided it better to hike up a tree. When the tree didn't hold, it fell, being uprooted. Inside Bernice Bridges home, they heard a mighty thud. The whole house seemed to quake. Then, through Matty's room, sticking right out the door, the end of the tree, leaves and all peeked out into the opening. Immediately they thought it best to retreat to the downstairs. For now that sofa was doing it's job. It was old, heavy and fought back the immediate threat of the door busting open. "Hey, it's dad-Steve!" Right out from Matty's room, Steve came walking. His coat was torn and his hand scratched. Other than that, he had a lot to be thankful for. Running down the stairs, he caught Philip two steps up. To the others he commented, "Matty's bed couldn't be in a more welcoming location!" "Where's Aidan?" "He's fine they are all up on the roof, out of harm's way." Alberto questioned, "I take it you got hit bad?" Of course, Diego and Seth wondered about their dads, which Steve confirmed their safety with Berk and the boys. Steve answered, by priority, "Your dads are fine and to answer you," he turned to Alberto, free of Philip whom completed the trio of friends, "yes, the house is going to come out of this soiled." "Your hand," Bernice sought to address. Bernice snatched one of the white doilies from the end table, wrapping it around Steve's hand. "It's all I have for now." "It'll do." Steve was thankful for the medical attention, but more so of the survivors around him. Thoughts then capsized his upbeat attitude, thinking of those he could not see. % Several hours later, around sundown, the major part of the calamity had past. Along with the sun setting, the temperatures took a sharp decline. This either slowed the remnants of the mud flow or paved the way towards a new storm developing. For sure, the West Richlan police and emergency crews weren't sitting back to wait for the next barrage of mud, should a quick warmup occur. A corp of engineers had been summoned, a contingency plan being worked out to contain the next barrage of mud. % Saturday morning, even after a day with destiny, Barr's & Bridges opened, duct taped windows where cracks had been made, night before. The parking lot didn't have it's neatly arranged outline of spaces, but with the plowing back of mud, parking was ample. "You came through for us Kevin. Thanks." "Well, you know they say, `time heals'?" "I remember," Matty replied, waiting for more of an explanation. "Seems my dad decided to put aside our differences." "Sometimes," Chad added, "in the face of calamity, it will help situations turn out right." Matty says, with a wise ass attitude, "Y'know Preppy, maybe you should've been a philosophy student?" "Yeah right. I could go around with a little journal and write up things like the reasons why I'm taking these cartons of food from Kevin, while you're standing around looking.... handsome?" Chad almost said `pretty', but it didn't fit Matty. Sure, he took extra breaks, but it wasn't for laziness. Right up until now, he's been juggling two careers. Of part-time store manager and almost fulltime real estate agent, the machinery was bound to break down soon. "I got an idea," Chad said with a smile. "Go to my office and catch a catnap?" "No. Why don't you go upfront. Use your charms on Zach and see if you can trade places?" "Yeah. Okay." As soon as Matty opened the stockroom door, leading to the sales floor, he was hit by a crowd of customers. Short ones! "Mr. Bridgess, do you got any more hot chocolate?" "Where's your mom, Timmy?" The seven year old stood there, shrugging his shoulders. "C'mon, let's go find your mommy." Good with kids of all ages, Matty took Timmy by the hand and escorted him up front. Near the front, he had to scoop the kid up in his arms, to avoid a collision with a shopping cart. "There you are!" Matty was happy, a smile on his face, as he deposited the two legs in the place where even an overgrown kid could sit comfy. "Thank you so much. I would have had to lose my place in line to go find him!" "No problem Mrs. Maxwell." At the service desk, Zach had decided, for good customer service, offer a $25.00 rebate for a garbage can of bad food, brought in by the customers, whom had been afflicted by the wrath of the mudslide, losing electric or even inundated by some of the masses of moving earth. "Nice idea," Matty mentioned, followed by, "Chad needs you in the back!" "Oh?" "Yeah. Something about helping out to unload the trucks, so I can take it easy?" Fortunately, Zach took it as a joke. But for Matty, it looked like his job up front, at customer service, wasn't going to be any picnic. "Mr. Bridges! We're here!" "Where?" Then, standing on tippee toes, extending his five feet, eleven inch height, Matty could see over the tops of the four person deep line, to see the `two Johns'. It had been several months since Zach had caught John Dellano fucking his boyfriend, at the time, Nolan, in the men's jon. The high school senior since, has met up with John Torkelson, fellow classmate. At first it was a coincidental meeting, in the shower after away games, football and soccer, reporting back to school at the same time. John, they call him `Tork', had been one of the last of the soccer men entering the school lockerroom, taking care of unloading equipment from the bus. John Dellano, the football player, had the coach nursing his stiff shoulder. By the time both hit the showers, guys had departed the shower room. One caught one looking at the other. Both tell of their first meeting, blaming the other for spying on them first. Neither can really remember the exact course of events. All they remember is John asking Tork for a bar of soap, then the rest is history. "Tork, run in the back and help unload the truck," Matty said in a professional manner. "John, go help Andy in the deli." "Yes, sir," John saluted. At first it had been out of habit, John Dellano's father being a serviceman. At first they traveled all about, until his dad hurt his leg. Now he works computers, at Advantage Exercise Systems. So, John earns some extra bucks, saving money for college and other expenses. Marco Benevuto had finally turned eighteen a month ago, so, like John, he could be `taken advantage of' and work all crazy hours, saving for college. "I'm okay here John. Check the bakery." Seemingly a Jack-of-all-trades, John, Tork and the other high schoolers whom worked at Barr's and Bridges', had a knowledge of several departments. John has really cleaned up his act, becoming more of an asset, since he's met Tork. "Need help, Marco?" "Sure. Always need help." At eighteen and halfway through his senior year in high school, Marco's been on an unconventional extension of the work-study program. Chad, Matty and Zach have accused him of being more at the store, than in school, but they've never heard any complaints from his guidance counselor nor other school officials. In fact, at the store level he's done very well for himself, almost readying himself to have the bakery department turned over, under his full guidance. This summer he hopes to begin his studies in business, at WRCC. "I need a short break. Take over." Whenever Marco has left John in charge, he's eye-balled him, making sure the job is done right. He also wonders if he'll ever find a hot blond football stud like John, to hook up with. There are a lot of blond guys here at Barr's and Bridges'; Chad, John, Tork, to name a few and he wonders if there's another one out there just for him! "Customer service to line 8!" Thinking twice, waiting on customer service, Matty wishes he were back on his `muscle' job. "Where's Kathy?" Matty asks himself. Then, looking up, he sees the head casher on register nine, cashing out folks. Now wearing two hats, he takes advantage of the situation, Zach's boyfriend happening into the store. "Neil, here! Catch!" Before he can get his coat off, Zach's twenty-seven year old boyfriend, Neil van der Beck, is catching the head cashier's keys. It wouldn't be the first time Neil is commandeered for front end service. "Got it!" It seems nowadays, whenever he's not on the EMT shift, he's playing head cashier at B'n'B's. But Neil's a cheerful giver. He can't complain, since Zach is willing to `lend' him the money to study vetenary medicine at WRCC. "They have an overring at register 8." "Gotcha." Already stashing his gear at register 10, the last register before the customer service counter, Neil dons whatever B'n'B's smock is available. Poor guy. It has the name embroidered, `Mary' on it! Fortunately, Kathy had a `George' smock on, so they traded. "Busy, eh Kathy?" "With Christmas and the `Mud Flood', we're swamped, pardon the pun." "No problem. Why don't we switch." At first Kathy got it, the reverse sexes on the smock, then Neil's hint, much rather at wanting to play ordinary cashier, instead of `head' cashier. Kathy figured Neil could be trusted, so let him ring on her I.D. Just in time for Timmy and his mommy! % "Thank Gawd Justin doesn't mind washing dishes, pots'n'pans!" Finally, the clock hitting 10am, Birdy's Cafe starts to empty out. For a Saturday, people usually linger til noon, then things pick up around 12:15pm, but today is an unusual day. "I don't know how you expect to make a profit!" Christian jokes. "I don't." "I know. Nice of you to slash prices." "Dirt cheap!" Justin shakes his head, signifying a bad joke dished out from Michael. "What's with those kids?" "Who? The Hopper kids?" "If that's who the father with those kids is," Christian points out. "Damn shame. If I wasn't taken, I hit up on the older brother. Oh yeah. By the the way, that's not their father. It's their thirty year old brother." "What's their story?" Christian asks Michael, eyes glued to the thirty year old. "Well, you see, going back eight years ago, the parents were killed in a plane crash. Wade, the hottie your eyes are glued to," Michael made Christian break his pose, "didn't want his family broken up, so folks chipped in to pay off the mortgage on the ranch." "Ranch? I didn't know there were any in these parts?" "Small. You know where the old Chatsworth place is?" "Barry and Steve's place?" "One in the same. The Hopper place is about five miles up the road. Anyway, the mudslide cleaned them out." "You mean wrecked their house?" "Barn, feed, the works." "So what're they doing now?" "I don't know. I didn't ask." Michael told Christian. "Why not?" "Because anytime a guy tries to talk to Wade, he thinks the guy is hitting on him." "You're no help, Michael." Right there and then, Michael Byrd saw a different angle to Christian Houtendjik. The twenty-three year old Swedish blond treated Birdy's Cafe like his own. Walking up to Wade Hopper, he extended his hand, "Hi, Christian Houtendjik's the name. Have you and your family had enough to eat?" Like Michael warned, Wade said, "We've had our fill and as soon as I get the ranch back in swing, I'll be by to pay up." "It's on the house." "You paying for it?" Michael hung back, watching, listening to every word, even though he seemed to pay more attention to the coffee mug he dried off. He needn't do it, since Justin took care of the dishes, but Wade didn't know it! "No. I..." Christian thought quick. He had to. He already figured Wade had him pegged. "I'm running a tab for you. Until say, six months from now. Yeah, that's it. You can come in here with your family. By the way, they look like nice kids." Christian was hoping for an invitation for learning their names. Wade didn't know what Christian's angle was, but seemed satisfied he wasn't after his bod, in exchange for good. Yet, he still remained cautious. "I intend on paying every cent." "Oh, I'll be charging you. In fact, I'm charging you for standing here taking up my time!" At the precise moment, Justin comes in from the kitchen, says, "What's up babe?" placing his hand on Christian's shoulder. "You two?" Wade asks, looking around. "Yeah," Christian states, "This here is my boyfriend and you don't have to keep it quiet. We're out. Are you?" It's one thing Christian didn't want to mention. Wade was bigger, taller then himself. But since it was out in the open about him and Justin, why not touche! "I... how did you know? I..." "I know," Christian fills him in, "you don't `act' gay. You're very straight," then Christian went for it, both barrels, "very good looking, but I'm taken and I'm charging you for everything you and your family ate today." "Nell didn't like the broccoli. She didn't eat it!" "Okay. So," Christian picks up a pad and scratches out a figure, "Okay, so the broccoli goes to the hogs and you've saved yourself ninety cents!" "Hogs. What would you know about hogs?" "Pork comes from `em, right?" "Right." "Hogs need to be kept fat, right?" "Fed well, yes," Wade comments back to Christian. "And hogs love broccoli, right?" At first Wade didn't know what to think, then he realized Christian was trying to humor nine year old Nelly. His gruff look cracked a smile. "Yeah. I suppose." Along with the toothless grin came a hand, extended to Justin. "I've gotta get back up to the place. Insurance people are coming by today. Not that I had much insurance." Before he got on his way, Dave Rosario stopped in for a cup of java. Michael, holding a well-dried coffee cup got to thinking. Dave is thirty-three and Wade Hopper is thirty. Not too much of an age difference there. Plus, after talking with Dave, he knew of his carpentry, as well as a wearer of many hats. A big plus, is his early retirement from Heartland Security. Time to put one and one together! % Copyright 2006 T. Chase McPhee This story may not be sold, nor made part of any collection, without prior consent from the author.