doc_smith (ex_doc_smith506) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-11-11 22:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 22, analise gordan, derek miller, louisa may smith, | derek and louisa may |
WEEK 22: TUESDAY
Characters: Derek, Louisa May, and Ana
Location: From the farm to the trailer park, and back to the farm again.
Summary: Derek and Louisa May go trailer huntin’. While at the park, they get some worrying news about Molly.
Rating: G
The one good thing about winter was that the sun was slow to rise in the mornings. Darkness extended further into the morning, giving Derek more time to sleep without having to find a way to shut out the light. Unfortunately that was only good for so long. The sun may rise later but it always did rise. Derek was in bed with his blanket thrown over his head. Eventually gave up and went downstairs, up in time for lunch.
Louisa May was blowing some warmth back into her fingers in the kitchen when Derek came stumbling in. Her face brightened as he entered the room.
“Just the man I was here to see,” she said, smiling. “I’m ‘bout to go out and look at some trailers. Wanna come?” She paused, noticing his bleary expression. “You don’t have to if you don’t feel up to it.”
Derek passed a hand over his face. Off the top of his head, there wasn’t a project he needed to finish today. “Yeah. Sorry, I just didn’t sleep well. I need to tinfoil my windows or something. But yeah, sure. I’ll go.”
“Excellent,” Louisa May replied. “You need to grab something to eat first? I’m in no rush.” She was glad for Derek’s help -- and for a chance to spend some time with him now that he’d had a couple of days to think things over. Mostly, she was just glad he was still around -- she’d been worried he would try and sneak off again, but he’d kept his word, and she was glad for it.
“Yeah.” he would feel better once he had something to eat. “Lemme eat and change. I’ll meet you outside in twenty minutes?”
“Sure, works for me.” She could pop outside to check on the supplies they’d unloaded over the past few days to make sure it was all properly sorted -- the things from home, the general store, and the medical supplies made for quite an impressive heap, and she wanted to make sure that nothing had gotten broken in the move.
Derek ate and dressed quickly and when he walked down the porch stairs, he was still adjusting. He slipped his gun into his waistband and tightened his do rag before slipping on a knit cap. “You know, between your trailer and tin foil on my window, the only thing we need is a car up on blocks and we’ll hit the ‘hood bingo.”
“Hah!” Louisa May replied. “Heard a rumor Mike Callahan was gonna be makin some moonshine, there’s another coupla points.” She shook her head. “Can’t say I thought I’d look forward to living in a trailer, but beats the hell outa sharing a room. Haven’t had a roommate since college, and I’d rather keep it that way.”
They made their way to her daddy’s diesel truck, their breath pluming out in front of them in the cold winter air.
Derek laughed but his smile faded at the Doc’s timing. “Greg’s supposed to be move in with me today. Don’t have anywhere else to put him.”
“You mean that dude pretending to be a knight in shining armor?” She grinned, elbowing him a little as they pulled out of the driveway. “Oh, Derek, dost thou mind not touching mine sword? And mighteth thou keep thy clothes from the floor, as the sight does verily offend me.” She was only joking -- but Greg did strike her as a little... well... overly eccentric.
He snorted. “I’m not touching no man’s sword. But methinks that guy’s a freak.” Knowing that he would have a roommate made the idea of having a trailer of his own more appealing. It would be nice to finally feel like he had his own space now that he was losing the last bit of privacy he had left.
“Methinks someone has spent a little too much time on his own. I identify, believe me. For a while there, I thought I was Laura Ingalls Wilder. I don’t wear bonnets, though. Big ol’ difference.”
“Damn right.” He settled in the truck, snapping on his seatbelt. “You have an idea what you’re looking for in a trailer?”
“Propane heat, a working battery, a bedroom in the back, and a place in the front I can set up as an exam room.” She paused. “And it can’t have any funny smells. I don’t think I’d be able to live someplace that smelled funny.”
Derek gave her a look that nearly dripped with skepticism. “Good luck with that.”
“A gal can dream, can’t she?” Louisa May replied with a sigh. “Maybe the cold weather will help. How much further up the road is this place? I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of visiting there before.”
“Ten minutes up and then to the left.” Derek hadn’t raided in the trailer park because Alice didn’t like his attitude but he’d been off property often enough now to have a decent lay of the land.
“Excellent.” Louisa May concentrated on the road for a little. Her hand went to the car radio almost automatically before remembering that there’d be nothing but static. “Heh. I keep forgetting there’s no radio any more. No more jazz. No more NPR. Sad. What sorta music you used to listen to?”
“Country,” Derek answered, carefully keeping a straight face.
“Hah!” Louisa May barked out. “My ass, you liked country. I can’t see you putting up with all that ‘my dog is dead, I like drinking beer, I’m from the real America’ shit... Although I can really see you getting into line dancing. With cowboy boots and a shirt with fringe on the sleeves.”
“Yeah, I’m a real honky.” After a second he gave up the pretense and smiled. “Oh wait, sorry, it’s me we’re talking about, not Jed.”
“Whooo-eee. His picture’s under the definition of ‘honky’ in the dictionary,” Louisa May replied with a comfortable laugh. She was glad Derek was still around -- she wouldn’t have been able to joke about things this way with pretty much anyone else. They made their way down the road, keeping up an easy banter until they reached the trailer park.
The park had obviously been picked over -- many of the trailers had open doors, and refuse was scattered over the ground covered by a light dusting of snow. The entire scene looked rather bleak, and Louisa May felt her stomach ball up in frustration.
“Well, let’s take a look around, see if there’s anything usable. Don’t have to be pretty, just has to keep my ass from freezing this winter.”
The scenery made Derek unexpectedly grateful for his own room. While he would love to have his own space, the idea of finding, cleaning and then moving something as large as a trailer in this weather seemed overwhelming. “We going to be able to move one?”
“Well, if it’s too big, we can come back with the four by four. This can tow a decent load, though.” She looked around, not wanting to leave the warm interior of the truck cab. “Right. Let’s get to shopping,” she said, trying to sound brisk and upbeat.
Derek nodded. He looked out at the trailers lined up in front of them. So many of them had doors missing or windows busted out. A few had been spray painted.”Might have better luck towards the back,” he suggested. “I know we were talking about the ‘hood but these are pretty rough looking.”
Louisa May nodded and directed the truck down the row of trailers. She slowed as she saw one with intact windows, but shook her head. No propane. Propane seemed like the best option for heating, so that was what she was sticking to at least for the time being. She stopped in front of one that looked promising -- the door was open, but didn’t seem broken, and there were two propane tanks in the front.
“Wanna check this one out?” she asked Derek, gesturing with her chin towards the trailer in question.
“Sure.” They climbed out of the truck and Derek pulled his handgun out from his waistband. It might be overly suspicious but anything that was intact could indicate occupation and he wanted to be careful. Derek made sure to enter the trailer before Louisa did, his gun leading the way. The air smelled foul and stale and there was no sign of movement.
The trailer was, in a word, filthy. Grease crusted the stove, and a thin layer of grime covered everything. Louisa May looked around, a look of disgust on her face. She warranted a glance at the bed, which had a stained mattress and a dip in the middle, the springs sticking out.
“Not sure I can fix this one up to my liking,” she finally managed. “If I’m gonna be seeing patients in here, I don’t think there’d be enough bleach in the world to get it clean enough.”
It was the smell that bothered Derek the most. Underneath the stale air from a lack of circulation, there was something foul. “And it stinks. I think something died in here.”
“Or several things,” Louisa May agreed, her nose wrinkling. “Let’s get out of here.” They cleared out of the trailer quickly, Louisa May grateful for the cold, crisp lungfuls of air that didn’t smell like death.
Derek put away his gun and leaned against the side of the truck. For a second, he didn’t do anything more than watch his breath steam in front of him. “I don’t how much luck you’re going to have here, Doc,” he said.
“Well, let’s look at at least one or two more before we throw in the towel,” Louisa May replied. “And if we don’t find anything today, we could always hike over to a trailer dealership in Medford -- get something new. If there’s any left -- I got a feeling a lot of folks bugged out of town and they might be cleaned out.”
Derek wondered if it wouldn’t have been better to do their search the opposite way; start with the dealership and then look for used ones only if that went bust. Still, they were here now. “Okay. No sense leaving before we hit the end, then.”
“You mind ditching the truck for now? I think I still need some fresh air.”
“I can walk.” They passed another couple trailers in clear need of too much repair. They were coming to the end of the park and running out of options when a shiny trailer caught Derek’s attention. It was silver and bullet-shaped. “Hey, what about that? Airstream.”
“Worth a shot,” Louisa May replied. “Always liked me an Airstream. Look like space-twinkies.” As they approached, she gave an appraising glance at the exterior. “No broken windows here,” she said, hopefully. “Tires got some air in ‘em too.” She looked over at Derek. “You goin’ in first, cowboy?”
“Thought we decided I was the honky?” Derek answered, drawing his gun. As before, he did go in first. If there was anyone living in the trailer, his life was worth a whole hell of a lot less than the doc’s. There was no need: like before the trailer was empty but this time it only smelled stale, not like death.
Louisa May followed behind warily. This trailer had been rifled through, the cabinet doors open and all the things that were deemed worthless were strewn all over the floor, but the surfaces were relatively clean. “Mmmm-hmmm, this is a good sight better,” she said to Derek, picking her way gingerly around the things spread over the floor. “What do you think?”
There was a couch and a small kitchenette, and a narrow hallway with cabinets on one side, and what she presumed was a bathroom to the other -- opening the door confirmed her expectations. It was cramped, but had a sink, a stand-up shower, and a chemical toilet. All in need of a thorough scrubbing, but nowhere near the level of gross that the other trailer had.
“It don’t stink, Derek said approvingly. “I’m not volunteering to grab a brush and help scrub it down or anything, but this looks like it might work.”
“Aww, thanks,” Louisa May drawled sarcastically. “Let’s see where the magic happens,” she said, making her way to the small door leading to the bedroom. There was a bed, some wall sconces, and a small bookshelf, and not much else. But this didn’t stink either, and a careful probing of the mattress showed it to be intact.
“This is okay,” she called back to Derek. “I’d need to clean the hell out of it, but we take that kitchenette out, and there should be enough room for a place for an exam.” She walked back down the narrow hallway, closely examining the chipped veneer on the cabinets and the slightly peeling wallpaper. Not perfect, but definitely workable. More workable than the other place, that’s for damn sure.
That was good enough for Derek. “So how the hell we pull it out of here? I’ve never rigged up stuff like this before.”
“This is where bein’ a little bit country helps,” Louisa May replied with a smile. “Truck has a hitch, trailer has the hookup, we just gotta back up to it and lower the jack, chain it into place. I think it might have brakes or something, though, might take some figuring out. I wonder if this thing has a manual?”
“Maybe,” Derek said doubtfully. “Let’s go get the truck and see if we can figure it out.”
The two of them made their way back down the abandoned aisles of trailers, back to where they’d parked the truck. “I really think this could work,” she said, her cheerfulness restored. “And if we can’t sort it out, I know there’s folks back at the farm who can.”
“Not bad at all,” Derek agreed. If they were lucky enough to find a usable trailer, hopefully they could get it rigged up easy enough. But when they got to the truck the radio was squawking.
“--the hell are you? GP to Derek and the Doc, come in!”
Louisa May looked at Derek, then broke into a run towards the truck. “You take the wheel, I’ll work the radio,” she called out to him, as she split for the passenger side of the truck.
Derek stomach sank. The person on the end of the radio - not Meg or Drew who he would have recognized right away - sounded frantic. Nothing good could come of that. “Christ,” he muttered, taking the Doc’s keys and rushing to get in the truck.
Fumbling with the buttons on the radio, Louisa May managed to get it working. “This is Doc. I repeat, this is Doc. What’s the situation, GP?”
The truck rumbled to life beneath them as Derek got them turned around as fast as was safe on the road.
“Somethin’ happened - Molly got lost. We found her in the woods. She’s barely breathin’ and she’s unconscious.”
Derek’s heart dropped like a stone. Molly was a good kid.
“We’re gonna get there as fast as we can. She got a pulse? She shivering at all?” Louisa May’s voice was clipped and calm. She looked over to Derek, her finger off the transmit button. “Now, be safe,” she said to Derek. “We’re no good flipped over in a ditch.”
Derek nodded, hands tight on the wheel. He was going just five miles over what he considered safe but couldn’t bear the idea of slowing down.
There was a hiss of static and then a reply from a voice that Derek was now pretty sure was Ana.
“She got a pulse, but it’s light. And she’s shiverin’ bad. Looks like she tried takin’ her coat off.”
“Okay, okay. You got to get those cold clothes off of her now. And get blankets. As many as you can. You have to warm her up. But don’t rub her arms and legs. That’ll damage her skin. And don’t put anything hot right on her -- just blankets and warm, dry clothes. You got all that?”
“I got it, Doc. Anythin’ else?”
“You repeat it back to me,” Louisa May replied. “Write it down if you have to.”
“Get her out of her clothes and into somethin’ warm and dry; get her under blankets. Don’t rub anythin’ and don’t put anythin’ hot on her.”
“You got it. This Ana I’m talkin’ to? Or Abby?” Louisa May kept her eyes trained on the road, mentally checking the inventory in the black duffel at her feet, working through every worst-case scenario in the book. Thank the Lord no-one had to do CPR on the girl -- Louisa May wouldn’t trust anyone else to do it without causing more damage and perhaps even cracking a rib.
Derek let the girl on the radio answer for herself, concentrating on getting them back to the farm without turning the truck into a flaming wreck.
“This’s Ana.”
“Okay, Ana. You tell whoever’s takin care of Molly what I told you, and tell them that we’re gonna be back there real soon.” Louisa May thumbed the radio, looking over to her driving partner. “You’re doing a great job, Derek. You keep it up.”
The corner of his mouth turned up but only for a second. The way the afternoon had turned was nearly disorienting. He and the doctor and had been having a productive but generally enjoyable day before this. “What the hell was she doing outside that long?”
“Sometimes, when people get cold, they get disoriented. Can’t think straight. Can’t recognize that they’re getting cold. That’d be why she took off her jacket.” She paused. “She’s that skinny little thing, isn’t she? Probably didn’t take much, she might not have realized it would be that fast.”
“Poor kid,” Derek sighed. “First Jack and now this. You think she’s going to be okay?”
“Can’t tell for sure until she warms back up again,” Louisa May replied. She was always cautious about making promises she couldn’t keep, and she hadn’t even seen the state Molly was in yet. “But I’m gonna do whatever I can to help her.”