Read Online Alive! Not Dead! by R.M. Smith - Free Book Online

was seven.
    He loved pee-wee softball.  He loved his uncle Ski, too.  He thought the world of him.  Ski would hang out with him at his games – plus he was his PhysEd teacher in grade school; and Cindy was really neat, too! She was Miss Thompson! She was another one of his teachers at school! She was always nice to him.  It was so neat to have them here watching him play! He was nervous around Mindy, Miss Thompson’s sister though.  She was so pretty! He got so shy around her! He couldn’t even talk – and uncle Ski would give him so much trouble about it! Ski called Mindy Sam’s girlfriend.  Mindy would smile.  She said ‘of course’ she was.
    It was a cool late afternoon in Spokane, Washington.
    “Hey batter, hey batter, hey batter,” the outfield players began to chant as one of the opposing team stepped up to the plate.
    The ball was pitched.
    The batter swung, and missed.
    As the umpire yelled “Strike one!” the horizon of the earth rose.  People were thrown off balance.  Cars crashed out on the passing street.  Trees bent, some snapped in two.  The fence behind the umpire crashed down onto him.
    As this was going on, the earth shifted, hard, like a yank.  The ground split.  There were loud cracks as building foundations were lost.  Water mains broke.  Electrical wires snapped.  Glass shattered.
    A large crack formed in the playing field of the softball game.  Large chunks of the earth titled into the crack.  Fire bellowed from the cracks.  Thick smoke rose.  Players on the team fell into the crack.
    Ski watched in horror as his nephew disappeared down into the smoke.
    “No!” he and Cindy yelled.
    The crack grew larger.  It started splitting toward the bleachers.  Cindy was awestruck.  She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.  Ski grabbed her hand.  “We gotta get out of here!”
    He jumped off the back of the bleachers as they started teetering down into the crack. Luckily, Cindy didn’t go down with them.
    They ran over to his jeep.  His hands shaking, he started it up.
    “Wait! Where’s Mindy?” Cindy cried.
    “Oh, Jesus, she’s in the john,” Ski said.
    “We got to get her!”
    He threw the jeep into gear and tore through the lawn.  There were port-a-potties behind the bleachers.  The bleachers were now gone down into the cracks.
    A telephone pole had broken and was now lying against one of the port-a-potties. Sparks were flying.  Ski drove his jeep right to the edge of the cracking earth.  His eyes wild, he watched as it crumbled away next to the tires of the jeep.
    “MINDY! GET OUT HERE NOW!” He screamed.
    The port-a-potty door was shoved open.  Mindy jumped into the back of the jeep.
    Ski sped away from the field.
    Destruction was all around them.
    “What’s happening?” Mindy cried.
    “I don’t know,” Ski yelled as he swerved around a fallen tree.  “But we need to get somewhere safe!”
    “The gym!” Cindy screamed “The gym at school! Go there!”
    Ski made a hard left, passing a fire hydrant as it blew into the air.  The school wasn’t that far.  The sky had turned a dark red.  Smoke was rising everywhere.  There were loud booms, low rumbles, and screams as the jeep’s tires screeched around cor ners.  Was it the end of the world?
    The earth was still shaking as they made it to the school.  Ski drove right up to the front door.  He led the girls through the shaking hallways to the gym.  There were other people huddled inside as dust sifted down from the ceiling.
    It stopped.
    It was quiet.
    No one said a word.  They all looked around, expecting the worst.
    Twenty minutes later, one of the men in the gym - Ski’s assistant coach and friend Kent Lonng - went for help.  No one’s cell phone worked.  He was going to go outside to see if he could flag down some help.
    Thirty minutes passed.  Kent didn’t return.
    “I’m gonna go check on him,” Ski said.
    “No, Ski, no! Wait here!” Cindy cried.
    “I’ll be fine.