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When Dawn Breaks, A Novel

By Jennifer Slattery

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Jacqueline Dunn stared at her television, reading for the fourth time the alert scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Hurricane warning for Southeast Texas: Mandatory evacuation in effect for the following areas. Six zones followed, including hers. Was everyone overreacting?

She crossed the room and peered out the window. The sandy beach stretched before her, frothy waves tumbling in. Dark clouds hovered near the horizon. Not unusual. Except that Hurricane Gita had grown to a category four storm and was headed straight for the Gulf Coast.

She glanced back at the television. The news shifted from the radar map to Lowes Highway. Loaded vehicles inched forward at what looked to be a five-mile-per-hour crawl. Which meant, if she left now, she might make it out of Crystal Shores before the storm hit.

There was no sense delaying the inevitable. Sucking in a deep breath, she gripped a packed suitcase in one hand and her computer case in the other. Stepping around partially packed boxes, she headed toward the front door. A stack of mail lay on the entryway table. She shoved it into the side pocket of her computer case then marched into the garage.

Lord, please stay this storm. I can’t afford to start over. Not at my age.

With a sigh, Jacqueline loaded hastily packed boxes in the back of her car and cranked her engine. She started to set the GPS then stopped. Gripping the steering wheel, she stared at the white cement wall in front of her. Where to? Staying in a hotel, for only God knew how long, would eat her savings. But what else could she do? Her parents lived too far away, and her daughter... The muscles in her neck tensed as she thought about their last conversation. No. A hotel was her best option, expensive or not.

She glanced at the clock on the dash. Eight thirty AM. According to the National Weather Service, the storm would hit in five, maybe six hours. That didn’t leave much time for debating. Right now she needed to focus on one thing—leaving town.

Two hours later, stuck in a major traffic jam, her phone chimed. Her car’s blue tooth picked up the call.

“Hi, Elaine.” A hot flash ignited Jacqueline’s pulse and triggered sweat glands. She cranked up the air and turned the vents toward herself.

“Don’t tell me you’re still at home thinking this thing will pass.”

“No, I’m taking the slow-mo-scenic route.” She leaned forward, stretching her chin to allow optimum ventilation down her itchy neck. It didn’t help. “What about you?”

“Just entered Kentucky.”

“Where you going, Canada?” Keeping one eye on the road, Jacqueline angled her face toward the dash. Cold, dry air pelted her eyes, making them water, no doubt sending rivulets of mascara down her cheeks.

“Indiana. What about you?”

“Great question. I’m actually hoping to make it to a hotel before everything within a day’s drive of the coast gets booked.”

“Have you thought about—?”

“Delana’s? Briefly.” Hovering near spontaneous combustion, she searched for something able to double as a fan. She settled on a plastic map and flapped it in front of her face at sound-barrier speed.

“She’s so close. Willow Valley is five hours north, right? An hour from Texarkana?”

“Six…but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to leave one storm to head into another.”

Tossing the useless fan, she gave her shirt a tug then glanced toward the window, ready to thrust her head outside.

A man in bifocals stared back at her from the car idling in the next lane. She straightened and focused on the long line of vehicles in front of her, certain her face resembled a bad case of measles.

“I thought you two were doing better,” Elaine said.

“If by better you mean forced niceties and two-sentence conversations, then yeah, we’re great.”

“Maybe this is what you both need. Some time together. To reconnect.”

“Maybe. Do you have a bucket list?”

“A what?”

“You know, a list of things you want to do before you die.”

Elaine laughed. “It’s a hurricane, not the next world war. And now that you’ve decided to listen to me, the mayor, and the weather officials, you’re going to be fine.”

“Define fine. Does it include a depleting bank account and no retirement plan? With nothing to show for the past five decades of my but a long list of debts and chamber meetings? If that’s fine, I want the upgrade. Do you ever wonder if there’s more to life than commission checks and designer hand bags?”

“More than purses? Says the girl who once joked about opening a boutique.”
It wasn’t a joke. An impossibility, perhaps, but if she had it to do over... Although right now she’d be happy to salvage a portion of the assets she left in Crystal Shores, soon to inundated with massive amounts of water. “I’m just taking stock, you know?”

“Sounds like you need to lay off the Melatonin. I’ve heard it can make people depressed.”

“I’m sharing my mid-life cheer is all.”

“Honey, you passed mid-life eons ago.” Elaine paused. “So, you going to your daughter’s or what?”

“I’ll contact her.” What was the worst that could happen? Stupid question. The better one:

How long could two headstrong women co-exist before strangling one another?

With a heavy sigh, Jacqueline searched through her contacts for her daughter’s number.

Maybe she should wait. Until when? She showed up at Delana’s doorstep with suitcase in hand? No. Her daughter needed time to process and maybe even throw a fit or two.

She hit call then wiggled against the seat back to relieve a sweaty itch. Her nerves fired with each ring.

“Mom.”

Jacqueline exhaled. “Hey, sweetie. How are you?”

“I’m good. I meant to call you. You okay? I saw the news.”

Was that genuine concern? A good sign. “I’m fine, sweetie. On the highway with all the hurricane evacuees. In fact, that’s why I’m calling.”

“Uh, huh?”

A hint of tension. Not good. “I haven’t seen you in…Wow, almost two years?”

“Yeah?”

“I miss you.”

Dead air.

“I figured I might as well make a vacation out of this.”

“Uh, huh?”

“I thought it might be nice for you and me to spend some time together.”

“Meaning?”

Jacqueline swallowed. “You’re so close and as long as I’m driving north… I figured I’d head your way. Stay with you for a few days.” Or weeks, depending on the severity of the storm.

“You what?”

She flinched at the venom in her daughter’s tone. “Is that a problem? Because I could always check into a hotel.” At $150 a night?

Her daughter sighed. “No. It’s fine. You can stay in my guest room.” Her voice held the warmth of a salamander.
***
Fourteen-year-old Gavin Rallings sat on the edge of the couch, picking at a fingernail. How long before Hurricane Gita hit? Too soon, he knew that much. They needed to leave; now, only they had nowhere to go and no way to get there. Mom’s boyfriend sure wouldn’t help them. Only person he cared about was himself.

Gavin’s pulse quickened as the dude stomped about the apartment, shoving dirty clothes in a gym bag.

Mom chased behind him. “What’re you doing? Answer me when I’m talking to you!”

Ace scowled. “Stupid cow, lay off me.”

Mom hurled insults in return, clenched fists trembling, while Gavin held his breath, waiting for Ace to unload.

Gavin’s eight-year-old sister, Adele, hovered near the hallway, wide eyed. His other sister, eleven-month-old Baby Jaya, sat on the floor in the corner. With her peach-fuzz head turned to the side, she chewed on a remote. Saliva dripped down her chin, and snot bubbled from her nose. Gavin wanted to go to her, scoop her up and hold her close, but he stayed frozen, staring, waiting.

“Where we going?” Mom wrapped the belt of her robe tighter around her thick waist.

Ace whirled around. “What do you mean, we? You’re grown. You do what you want.”
Mom fired another string of curses and hurled a coffee mug across the room. Gavin flinched when it hit the wall and shattered onto the floor in jagged pieces.

Baby Jaya started to cry. He hurried to pick her up. Shushing her, he grabbed her pacifier and poked it against her pink lips. She turned away, scrunched her pudgy face, and let out an ear-splitting wail.

Ace spun around, narrowed eyes targeting Gavin. “Shut her up, already!” He took a step forward. Snake-like veins bulged on his forearms.

Gavin lifted his chin and leveled his gaze. “She’s just a baby.” Holding his sister close, he rocked and hummed softly.

Mom’s boyfriend sneered. “Listen to you. Thirteen year old runt trying to act like a man.”
More of a man than you’ll ever be.

The wailing continued, so Gavin stood and started to pace until she settled into a hiccupped whimper.

Mom moved in front of Ace and crossed her arms. “So you’re leaving, just like that?”

“Just like that.” With his bag in hand, he pushed her aside, marched across the living room, and threw open the door. “Check ya’ later, Teresa.”

Mom chased after him. Gavin followed to the doorway and peered around the frame. People moved through his peripheral vision, lugging boxes and armloads of clothes down the apartment hall, but they barely registered. His vision, his thoughts, zeroed in on one thing—
Mom freaking out, on the verge of losing it. Which meant Gavin needed to step up, only this time he didn’t know how.

“Wait! What about us?” Mom’s shrieks echoed through the narrow hallway, and a few neighbors poked their heads out.

Without so much as a backwards glance, Ace disappeared into the stair well. Mom called him a bunch of nasty names then slumped to the floor. She covered her face, rocked for some time.

A woman in heels and shorts passed by, pulling a bulging suitcase. She glanced at Mom and shook her head. More apartment residents passed, some by themselves, others dragging whimpering children behind them.

And still Mom sat.

Adele tugged on Gavin’s arm, looking up with wide brown eyes. Her chin quivered as tears welled behind her long lashes. “Are we going to leave, too?”

He inhaled and exhaled slowly. Stay strong. Calm. Don’t let her see your fear. “Don’t know, but we’ll be all right.”

A door creaked open and Stella, their nearest neighbor, emerged from her apartment carrying a sagging box. and rolled her eyes. “Teresa, whatchya’ doing sitting on that nasty ol’ floor crying like a crazy woman?”

Mom lumbered to her feet and wiped the dust from her backside. She looked from Stella to the stairwell, shoulders slumped.

“That loser done took off on you again, didn’t he? I told you he was no good. You better get on the bus and get outta here. The news said Mayor Carson’s shipping folks to a shelter in Houston.”

Arms crossed, Mom shook her head. “I’m not going to no flea-infested shelter.” She moved out of the way as another tenant passed by with two gym bags.

Stella glanced from Gavin to Mom then threw her hands up. “Come on. Y’all can ride with me.”

“Where you going?”

“Does it matter?” She laughed. “Got me an old boyfriend north of Tyler.”

“Texas?”

“No, Saudi Arabia.” She rolled her eyes then checked her nails, a smile emerging. “He’ll be real happy to see me, too.”

“Happy enough to let us stay?”

She shrugged. “Probably.”

Mom blew out a puff of air. “All right. Just let me grab a few things.”

“Make it fast. If you’re not at the curb in three minutes, I leave without you.”

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