After Mom checked out my brother and we all dried our tears, we set off on our errand. On our way off the boat (we had to climb down off the boat too, of course. I don't even know how my mom got off with that carseat in her hands), we grabbed our other dachshund whose name was Freida. Freida was Dutchess' pup and she had born the day the space shuttle Challenger had exploded. We called for Dutchess but she did not appear (typical of her). We put Freida on the dock and she ran off to find something dead to roll in or something else fun to do for a dog living near the shore. Before climbing down the side of the boat I had checked on the brand new baby ducklings that we were raising. They were in a wooden box on the deck. All was well with them, they had plenty of food and water.
We went to the grocery store and filled our cart with bottles of Dawn. After that, we stopped for lunch at Burger King. We ate inside, something that we almost never did. My mom mentioned that she didn't really want us on the boat with all those fumes. I completely agreed--I still was fighting a headache after being down in the belly of the boat for just a few minutes.
We drove up the main street that led to the side street that our small marina was located at the end of. In the distance I could see thick black smoke coming from about the area of our boat. No one saw it but me and as I pointed it out I made a comment like, "I'll bet Dad went and blew the boat up! Hahahaha!" My sister and I giggled. I thought about how if the smoke were coming from our boat, it was probably a minor fire and it was something we could rib Dad about for years to come. I couldn't wait to tease him about it.
My mom got very quiet.
About two blocks from our street we could see police and fire trucks up ahead. The police were sending people down the street to the left on a detour because the road in front of us was closed. I could see fire hoses spread across the road. When we got to the place where people were being detoured, my mom stopped the car and told the policewoman, "We live down that street. On a boat." The policewoman pointed us to the parking lot on the right.
As we pulled into the parking lot, we saw my mom's best friend running towards us carrying her toddler. My mom's friend, Charlie, was about 7 months pregnant and lived half a mile away. She had frantically run this half mile carrying her toddler after hearing a large explosion immediately after talking to my dad on the telephone. She was crying and panting. My mom didn't say much, she just grabbed my brother out of his carseat and started walking towards the marina.
We were escorted down the block to our marina by a policeman. My stomach felt weird but I wasn't really worried yet; I was more excited because whatever had happened seemed to be quite a big deal. My mom clutched my brother and I kept on the lookout for baby pigeons which were constantly falling out of their nests and being "rescued" by my sister and I. We walked into the parking lot and came around the corner of the big house that sat at the top of the parking lot.
We just stood there and stared. The "Estrellita" was a blackened smoking skeleton, calmly rocking on the peaceful waters of the creek. The top half was charred and deck and wheelhouse where my sister and I had kept our baby ducklings were just gone. The bottom part of the boat, along the waterline from bow to stern, was intact. The whole mess just sat there, bobbing up and down like it had no idea anything catatrosphic had happened.
A few things happened pretty quickly and I can't recall the exact order. After registering what I was seeing I began hysterically crying. My dog, Dutchess, had been left aboard and was surely dead. She had been a gift from my parents on my fifth birthday and I loved that dog so much. That was all I could think of: my dog was dead. A fireman appeared holding our surviving dachshund, Freida. Freida wiggled spastically and the fireman put her down. I think Heather picked her up. Or maybe I did.
We were surrounded by what seemed to me to be a mob of firefighters, police, and our neighbors talking excitedly. I wasn't really paying attention to what they said b/c I was devastated about my dog. But later I was told that the it was believed that my mom, sister, brother, and I had been aboard the boat when the explosion had occurred. No one had seen us leave the boat. And the area we had been hanging out in (where my brother had fallen in his carseat) had been completely obliterated. Fireman were combing the boat at the moment, looking for our burned bodies. I do remember seeing several fireman running down the pier towards us and patting me on the back and head. I had no idea why they would be so excited to see us. Our neighbors were in tears and were hugging my mom.
We walked like zombies back up the street. I was still sobbing uncontrollably about my dog. I spotted a baby pigeon near the tire of a car and I broke from our sad little group to grab it. I caught it and my mom, who pretty much never yelled, shrilly ordered me to, "Put that thing down!" I obeyed and we continued up the street. We passed our car and walked the half mile to Charlie's house.
I don't really recall much about the rest of the day. So many people showed up at Charlie's house. People showed up with bags of clothes and food and housewares. There were people we knew as well as complete strangers. I had been invited to a sleepover party for a close friend's birthday and I know that I went. I was distraught over not having a gift though--would not stop mentioning it. I was also very embarrassed because I'd be seeing another friend at the party and I was supposed to be bringing the shoes she had left at our home a few weeks ago. I wouldn't be bringing her any shoes and I felt overwhelmingly upset over this fact.
I recall wondering where Dad was. People kept saying that he was at the hospital but no one would tell me anything. After a day or so, I just quit asking. I knew he was hurt but had no idea how badly. I was sure he'd be home in a few days. Heather and I desperately wanted to go visit him but were told children weren't allowed in the burn unit. This drove me crazy but I couldn't do a thing about it.
2 comments:
Your vivid memory and description of the events leading up to this unfortunate event is great especially for being so young. Thank you for sharing more of your heart in these posts. Again,you have such a talent and I found myself reading as fast as I could because I wanted to know what happened next.
Love ya Wendy!!!
Naomi
Aw, thanks! It's funny--Jason has read the whole story and he told me that he did not know 80% of what I wrote. I guess in the 16 years I've known him I never gave him the detailed version. It's been locked up in my head though--I can see it all like it was yesterday for the most part! Hope it's not too long and tedious of a story though.
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