Page 408 of Seasons of Love
I checked my phone for further information on the earthquake. We were still in a state of alert, but the last tremor was quite small. It could be hours until another one hit, or we could be lucky and that would be the last one.
“I’ll call the fire department. Can you see if you can find Mason or one of the other guys? They’re probably helping,” Mal said. I left my bag by his feet and scanned the large hall for a familiar face.
All around, there were people in various states of dress. Some looked like they’d been getting ready for bed when the earthquake hit, and then there were the wedding guests who, in comparison, were overdressed.
Some people had minor injuries, but I couldn’t see anyone needing medical help beyond first aid. I was glad Mason had the other resort managers here to help. A few additional pairs of first-aid-trained hands were always good, especially when they were probably looking at staying in the safe location of the resort’s main restaurant until safety could be assessed in the morning.
“Jake!”
I looked around for who called my name and saw Mason waving a few feet away. He was kneeling next to a woman and a little girl.
The little girl wasn’t crying, but her cheeks had streaks of dried tears and her chest was still heaving as her mother ran her hand over her hair.
“Look,” Mason said. “This is Dr. Jake. Shall we ask him for his opinion?”
The little girl nodded.
Mason gave me a look that said to go with it, so I smiled and kneeled down too.
“Hello, what’s your name?” I asked.
“Melody.”
“Hello, Melody. That’s a beautiful name. I’m Dr. Jake. Do you want to tell me what happened?”
She shook her head and put her thumb in her mouth.
Mason put his finger gently on the girl’s chin to tilt her head. “Do you see that big nasty bump, Dr. Jake? When the ground started shaking, Melody was so brave trying to get to her mommy to help her that she bumped her head on the bedside table.”
“Oh, I see, that is definitely a sign of the utmost bravery. I think you’ll be okay, Melody. But just to be sure, why don’t we put a band-aid on your bump?”
She smiled and nodded. Mason took out a kid’s band-aid from his kit and put it on Melody’s forehead.
“There you go,” Mason said. “Are you going to stay here with your mommy to make sure she doesn’t get hurt?”
The little girl nodded. Her mom looked relieved to have a calmer child on her hands and mouthed a thank you over Melody’s head.
“Thanks for that, Jake.”
“It’s Dr. Jake to you,” I joked. “Mason, we need to get to the island. There’s no phone signal, and we don’t know the impact of the earthquake on the resort or the community. Mal is trying to get through to the fire department.”
“You remember where my office is?” Mason asked.
“Yeah.”
“My car keys are on the top drawer of my desk. I’m not going to leave here anytime soon, so take my car to the fire department and leave it there. My brother-in-law is a firefighter there, so he can make sure I get the car back.”
I looked at Mason. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. It’s a little chaotic here, but we’ve certainly had worse earthquakes. There’s nothing here we can’t handle, but both you and Mal should be on the island.”
“Mason, your guys here are good. I’ve never seen such organized emergency procedures. I’m gonna have to pick your brains when this has calmed down,” Trey said, coming out of nowhere.
Suddenly an idea came to mind. I just hoped I wasn’t out of line.
“Hey, Trey, the procedure here is actually modeled after ours at Silver Sands because we have a similar layout, just smaller. If you’ve got nothing better to do, we could probably use an extra hand out there.”
“Sweet. You haven’t heard this, Mason, but I’m heading up to my room to grab my stuff,” Trey said. Mason closed his eyes and shook his head.
