Jonah said he"d get the family, so I signed off. The next four days were sure going to be interesting, but like in the old Chinese proverb way.
9. Too Little. Too Late?
"We might be "bout four days from Armageddon, or leastwise that"s how it"s going to seem around here," I started out.
The whole family was gathered around the table this time, from Evangeline through Helen and Adam on through Grandpa.
"But you said the Nomes isn"t our enemies, right, Clint?" Mamma asked anxiously.
"Right, Mamma. But it turns out they"ve got relatives of their own that there"s a feud with. These boys play on a bigger scale than we ever figured, and we Slades have gummed up the works but bad." Jodi and I went on to summarize what Rokhaset had told us. "So unless we can do something to help "em out, in four days the New Madrid"s going to cut loose with a Big One and ain"t nothing going to be left standin" for hundreds of miles, least of all the Slade homestead."
The family sat there in silence. It was an awful lot to take in at once. And somehow it sounded a lot more fantastic here, in the comfortable electric lights of the family room, than it had in the blue-white glow of Rokhaset"s domain.
"You think they can do that?" Father said finally.
I exchanged glances with Jodi. "It"s hard to say, Father. But . . . yes, I guess I have to believe it. What reason would they have to concoct such a silly story if they had a more reasonable motive for wanting the diamonds? We sure didn"t show any sign of needing anything that outlandish."
"Well," Evangeline pointed out, "y"all did say they learned how to talk with us from listenin" to the TV and radio. Lord only knows what they think is normal, Clint."
I chuckled despite my worries. "You got a point there, Evvie. Jodi?"
She tossed her dark hair back, then shook her head. "I think Rokhaset"s pretty clear on how we think. No way he"d waste his time making up some bobbe maisse like that one; he"s got more important stuff to do."
"Well, then, we give "em all the diamonds we have left and hope it"s enough." Mamma said.
"Do more than hope, Mamma. Pray. If this doesn"t work, those destructive cousins of the Nomes are going to cause the biggest disaster the States have ever seen."
"What can we do, Clint?" Adam demanded.
"Grab our tools and get out there for when they start trying to get the road back. It"s easy enough to wreck something, but they don"t drive cars, and I"m not sure they"ll know what has to be done to really make it driveable. And shut off the fence. They"re not going to come after us now that they know us." I felt my eyes trying to shut. "But me and Jodi have to get some rest."
"Lord, of course you do," Mamma said. "Why, it"s been almost twenty-four hours you"ve been up, and most of that either hiking the caves or facing Mr. Rokhaset, which must have been about as scary as anything!"
"Get up to bed," Father agreed. "Need your strength later."
Jodi and I didn"t argue. We knew there wasn"t any way we were staying awake much longer. I stumbled up to bed, feeling my feet get heavier with every step. The clothes I peeled off seemed to be made of lead, and I don"t really remember hitting the mattress.
I woke up with a hoa.r.s.e shout, as the ground quivered underneath the house. "JODI!"
"A CHORBN!" I heard the Yiddish curse echo all the way down the hall. "What? Did they move up the schedule?"
By then, I was out of bed and down the hall, bursting through Jodi"s door. The shaking was already over. "No, no, that was just a little one. But Holy Mother, did that scare me!"
"And I was calm, you think? Oy!" She was still in the bed, nude from the waist up since the sheets had slid down when she sat up abruptly. The view was on the spectacular side. Her long, curly, l.u.s.trous black hair was spilling over her shoulders, framing her chest. Jodi was basically a slender woman, but not everywhere. I was a little transfixed, for a moment. Memories . . .
She looked me up and down, suddenly grinning. "You look as nice as I remember, too, neshomeleh. But you might want to put some clothes on before your family decides we caused all that shaking and bouncing around."
I looked down. I was nude from the soles of my feet up.
"Oops. Hey, look, I was startled. Gimme a second."
By the time I got back to her room, with my bathrobe on, Jodi was already out of bed and wearing her own robe. In that respect, if nothing else, she certainly didn"t fit the stereotype of a Jewish-American Princess. Jodi was always punctual and could get dressed faster than a fireman. How she manages that, I"ll never know, because the end result was never sloppy. Every item of clothing was on right, b.u.t.tons square, zippers zipped, hair brushed, the works. Even the many times I"d watched her do it, I"d never really been able to figure out her secret. She just seemed to pour herself into her clothes, shoes and all-h.e.l.l, work boots and all-and she had the kind of magic hair that, despite its length and thickness, immediately fell into place at the touch of her fingers.
When I walked in, she was muttering something to the effect that the much-vaunted stability of the nation"s conservative inner regions compared to decadent Manhattan was obviously a be-d.a.m.ned lie. About a third of the words were in Yiddish so I didn"t catch all of it. But the last phrase came through clear as a bell: "-least the ground doesn"t mug you!"
"C"mon," I chided, "what"s the big deal?" I imitated her accent. " "The trucks on Fifth shake my apartment harder than that!" "
She giggled despite herself. "Okay, wisenheimer, you"ll get yours. But only after I get a shower."
We both needed showers badly after the last day. If I hadn"t been so dog-tired I"d have showered before going to sleep, but collapsing in a shower isn"t the best idea.
So, half an hour later, we met downstairs. A frustrating half hour, since Jodi and I like to take showers together which maybe accounts for why we usually take such long ones. I was finding this be-proper-before-the-family routine was getting old really fast. Even the prospect of continental catastrophe in four days wasn"t enough to squelch all my normal I-want-Jodi enthusiasms.
I guess I muttered something to that effect. "Stop whining, Clint," Jodi instructed me, as we headed for the kitchen. "Look at it this way. Soon enough we"ll either be dead or we"ll be married and either way you won"t have to worry about it any more. Getting laid, I mean. You"ll still have to scrub my back-don"t think for a moment I"ll let you off the hook on that just "cause you"re my husband. Or a corpse."
Her stern and stoic words would have been more effective if she hadn"t goosed me as I started through the kitchen door.
Mamma was in the kitchen, looking exhausted herself, but with enough food to feed four of me laid out. "Nice to see both of you up, Clint dear, Jodi. Father and Adam are up to the road, along with Helen and Evangeline. Everyone else just went to bed, which is where I"m going now."
"How"s it going up there?"
She gave a tired smile. "Lord, they"re devilish looking things, but those rockworms and their keepers can work miracles. We just might get this done in time, Clint. Might could. Best eat up and go see for yourselves."
I gave Mamma a hug, which she returned-a little tighter than usual. She kissed Jodi on the cheek and then headed upstairs. I turned to the table and dug in.
"We slept ten hours, Clint. Down to three and a half days or less now. We have to get into town, get back with the diamonds in less than a day."
I nodded, wolfing down some ham. "I know, I know. Let"s get up to the road, see what they"re up to."
It wasn"t a long hike, and in the sunlight it was less eerie, though no less strange, to see the hurrying pipestem-limbed Nomes and their centipedal a.s.sistants. As we came to the edge of the huge scar in the earth, I sucked in my breath. b.u.t.tresses of limestone were forming, curving in rippling bands to create supports for the stone that would lie atop them. It was the rockworms which were doing most of the work, chewing up rock in one place and depositing it, changed and molded, in another. I looked around and saw Adam, Father, and Rokhaset under a large spreading oak at the far edge.
We hiked around to them. Looking down, I could see that the rockworms came in differing sizes, from the little ones about two feet long up to one nightmare-inducing monster nearly twenty feet long, with horns and spikes of crystal adorning its head and a mouth that looked more like a rock-crusher than anything living.
"Father, Adam, Rokhaset." I said in greeting.
"It is good to see you again, Clinton Slade, Jodi Goldman," Rokhaset acknowledged us.
"Clint. Jodi. Work"s going."
"And fast, too," Adam said. "Their . . . what was the name again, sir?"
"Seradatho H"a min, or you might call them simply seradatho for short."
"Seradatho, yep, they just make the rock as we stand here. Ain"t maybe as fast as a full construction crew, but it"s plenty fast enough. I think."
"Is it safe for me to go down and look?"
Rokhaset gave a deliberately human shrug. "The seradatho will not harm you on purpose, Clint. But some may not notice you immediately, even with their handlers present, so take care."