It made Jean’s heart full to see this re-creation of the man he had been before he had learned about defeat. His was not an ersatz confidence, but rather the quiet control of a man used to accepting authority and responsibility. The group responded to him, and she was proud of him. Because of his efforts they had, in a short time, accepted the old house as refuge. Hal and the blond man, Bunny Hollis, had broken the lock of the old door. The inside floor was reasonably sound. All the windows were shuttered, but the shutters fit poorly and had cracked and spread in the weather so that pale light came into the rooms.
When Hal had introduced her to Virginia Sherrel, he had said, “Mrs. Sherrel lost all her luggage in that car, honey. Falling in the mud didn’t do her any good. Don’t you have something that would fit her?”
“This,” said Mrs. Sherrel, “seems to be dungaree weather, if you have some.”
Jean reached for a suitcase. “I have some, and a blue work shirt. They should fit, I think.”
Jean and Virginia and the kids were the only ones in the house when Jean had looked up and seen Hal come back in and had seen in the faint light the strange expression on his face. For several bad moments she thought he had reverted to his previous mood of passive resignation. Then he took the two of them aside from the kids and told them what had happened. Jean saw, with both relief and gratitude, that he had not changed back. He was still in charge, still able and alert. Virginia went back to find a place where she could change.
Hal Dorn turned and watched Flagan come into the room. Malden pulled the door shut. Flagan didn’t look at any of them. He walked over and sat down with his back against a wall. His wet clothes dripped water on the floor. He lowered his face against upraised knees. Hal ended the short, curious silence by saying to Malden, “Let’s take a look around and see what we’ve got here.”
Malden nodded. Hal realized how glad he felt about the interruption to the trip. This was better than driving and thinking the long bitter thoughts of discouragement. He knew that later it would be the same again, but for now it was good to have something to do, plans to make. With intelligence, and some luck, they should come out of this all right.
Chapter 6
Hal Dorn and Malden inspected the house. The main room, the room they were in, was a long room on the northeast corner of the house. It had a low ceiling and was paneled in a dark, rough wood. The room was completely bare and there was a smell of wet rot. The wooden floor had heaved and buckled, and, near one wall, there were holes where the floorboards had rotted away. There was a small brick fireplace set into the south wall and, to the right of the fireplace a stairway to the second floor. The walls of the stairway had been plastered, and the plaster had fallen away from the lath and lay like dirty snow on the stairs. There was a door to the left of the fireplace that led to another room, and another doorway in the west wall that led to what had been the kitchen.
The impression of relative silence disappeared quickly. Hal could hear all the tones of the wind. The wind pressed against the rear of the house. It found small cracks where it could enter. As it came in the small cracks and as it twisted around the cornices, it made small wild sounds, full of a supersonic shrillness. The shrill sounds ebbed and pulsed with the changes of the wind. Hal thought that, if he had to listen to that sound too long, he would begin to howl like a dog.
Thin gray bands of light, diffused by dust, shafted into the house through the cracks in the ancient shutters. He could feel the stir of the bones of the old house when the wind swerved and smote it. Over the wind-sound there were other sounds from the wild world outside — remote and inexplicable thuddings, rattlings, crashings. Heads lifted when something cracked sharply against the back of the house.
Hal and Malden went up the stairs. There was a narrow central hallway, four small square bedrooms, no bath. The wind sounded stronger up there. The two men stood and listened to it. “What do you think?” Hal asked.
Malden merely shrugged. Hal looked at him closely and had the strange impression that the man was bored. “Got any ideas?” Malden asked.
Hal forced himself to consider the eventualities. “We must be four or five feet lower than the level of the highway here. My car radio conked out. I don’t know if it’s going to get worse than this. That water was coming up fast.”
“The hurricane is headed this way. I heard that much.”
“Then it’s going to blow a hell of a lot harder. I don’t know if this place will take it.” He paused. “We ought to do two things. Put somebody on a car radio and get what dope we can. And have somebody go out and see if they can find a good way back to the highway. I’ve got two little kids to think about.”
“So you won’t go.”
“I didn’t mean that,” Hal said. “I meant it has to be a way out of here where we can take the kids. But we have to find out which is more important — higher ground or shelter. I don’t remember much of anything along the highway — a gas station way back, too far back.”
They went back down the stairs. Jean had made a blanket nest in the corner for the children. She sat with them. Virginia Sherrel, in one of Jean’s blue work shirts and a pair of her dungarees, sat near her, and the two women talked. Flagan sat alone, his head still resting on his knees. Bunny and Betty Hollis stood close together looking out a horizontal crack in one of the blinds. His arm was around her.
Hal gave Jean what he hoped was a reassuring smile and said, loudly, “A snug house. Not exactly split level.” As he said the last few words the wind-sound unaccountably ceased, and his voice was too loud and strong in the room. Flagan raised his head. They all listened to the momentary silence, and then the wind came down upon them again, stronger than before. They felt the uneasy shift and creak of the old house. Stevie began to cry. Jan, who had been almost asleep, stared at him for a moment and then, as was her habit, joined in. Jean began to comfort Stevie, and Virginia Sherrel picked up Jan and held her closely, rocking her.
The couple at the window had turned around. Hal beckoned to Bunny and nodded at Malden and went with the two of them into the adjoining room. They stood close together to make talking easier. Hal felt frail standing with the two of them and thought that it was fine that there were some muscles in this group. They could just as easily have been stranded with three or four middle-aged couples.
Bunny said in a tense voice, “Man, you ought to see that water coming up! It’s about halfway to the house right now.”
“Then we shouldn’t wait too long,” Hal said. “Somebody had better go find out if we can walk out of here.”
“Every once in a while those trees go over,” Bunny said nervously.
“Two of us would be better than one,” Malden said. “Hollis, let’s us go take a look. If we find a good way to higher ground, I can go on ahead and get help, and you can come back here and lead them on out to the highway.”
“Doesn’t it make more sense to wait it out right here?” Hollis asked.
“The water is coming up,” Hal said. “Suppose it gets to be six feet deep here, with a current from the Gulf. The sills under this place are rotten. If it shifts off the foundation it’s going to roll, and if it rolls, it’s going to collapse like a house of cards.”
“Okay, okay,” Hollis said without enthusiasm. “So we duck the trees.”
“I’ll get on a car radio and see what I can find out,” Hal said.
They went into the larger room and explained to the three women what they were going to do. Betty Hollis was alarmed. She objected to Bunny’s going. He quieted her.