Red Rain

15

Lea felt a sharp stab of pain in her right eye. She uttered a cry and pressed a hand over both eyes. Sympathy pain. It happened every time Ira or Elena hurt themselves.

The wall board fell from her hand and smacked the tumble of boards at her feet. The pile rumbled and slid beneath her. Eyes still covered, she struggled to keep her balance. Waited for the pain to fade.

A dog howled. She heard shrill, alarmed voices behind her.

“Mes enfants? Avez-vous vu mes enfants?”

“Do you live in the village?”

“The village is no more.”

Dazed, Lea wandered away from the voices. No way to escape. She could go only as far as the beach. And even there, the moans and howls of stricken people mingled with the crash of the waves. The beach was littered with death, a long line of dead starfish.

As if the stars of heaven had fallen to the sand.

And then the red raindrops came down, soft at first, then in curtains like a waterfall of blood. The blood of the hurricane victims raining down, although there were no clouds in the sky.

And the twin angels emerged from the red rain. Two identical blond boys, so frail and thin, with glowing blue eyes, sad eyes. They walked over the rain-spattered sand toward Lea, seemingly oblivious of the red drops falling around them.

“Can I help you?” she called. They’re so beautiful. So beautiful and sad.

They didn’t answer. They stopped and lowered their heads. They stood there perfectly still, blond hair gleaming so brightly as if the rain hadn’t touched it. Their thin bodies appeared to tremble.

She took a step toward them, sandals sinking in the sand. “Are you cold? The rain. Where are your shirts?”

“It’s all gone, mum,” one of them said. He raised his blue eyes to her.

“Gone?”

The rain pattered more gently. The red curtains dissolved into raindrops. The world brightened to a yellow-gray glare. She wiped rain off her forehead.

“Our house is gone, mum,” the boy said. He had a high-pitched voice, more like a five-year-old. They have to be ten or twelve, Lea thought.

“Where do you live?”

He shrugged his slender shoulders. “Nowhere now.”

His twin let out a sigh. He kicked a wet clump of sand with a bare foot.

“You mean-?”

“It’s all gone, mum. All of it.”

Lea was staring at them so intently, she hadn’t realized the rain had stopped. She swept her hands back, squeezing red water from her hair. Behind her, she could hear excited voices. Alarmed voices. People shouting about the blood rain.

“What’s your name?”

“Daniel, mum. This is my bruvver Samuel.”

Samuel nodded but didn’t speak.

Lea wanted to hug them. Wrap them both in her arms. Tell them everything would be okay. My heart is breaking for them. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this strange emotion.

“Can I help you? I mean, are you lost? Can I take you to your house?”

Daniel shook his head. “We don’t have a house anymore,” he said in an even tinier voice.

His brother sighed again. His blue eyes were watery, but his face revealed no emotion at all.

Is he in shock? she wondered.

“Where are your parents?”

“Gone, mum.”

“Gone? Do you mean-?”

“Dead, mum. In the storm, don’t you know. We lost them.”

“Oh my God.”

We lost them. What a grown-up way to say it. Not childlike at all.

What could she say? Trembling in their baggy little shorts, they looked so small and frail and frightened. Again, she felt the powerful urge to wrap her arms around them and hug them. Protect them from this whole nightmare.

But of course that was impossible. She couldn’t protect herself from the nightmare. Once again she saw Macaw’s dead face with the nail puncture through her splattered eyeball.

“Is there someone else in your family? Aunts and uncles? Your grandparents?”

They shook their heads.

“No one,” Daniel said. His twin still hadn’t spoken. “It’s just us now, mum.”

Lea spun around. Where were James and Martha? She couldn’t see them from the beach.

Waves crashed against the shore. An upside-down canoe was carried onto the sand and tumbled to a stop against a steep sand hill. Seagulls soared low, chattering loudly.

“I’ll take you to your house. You can get some clothes,” Lea said.

“It was washed away,” Daniel said, lowering his eyes. “All of it. Everything. Washed away. Samuel and I, we watched it go.”

Samuel nodded.

“And you have no one? You’re all alone?” Lea realized she was repeating herself. She didn’t want to believe it.

“Just our friend.” Samuel spoke up for the first time. He had a high, little boy’s voice like Daniel.

“Friend?”

Daniel stepped in front of his twin. “He means me, mum. I’m his only friend.” He gave Samuel a scowl. “His brain right now is kind of like shepherd’s pie. You know. Everything all mixed together like.”

Lea waited for Samuel to reply. But he lowered his eyes again and remained silent.

These two beautiful boys-what will happen to them now?

Ira and Elena flashed into her mind. She pictured them getting ready for school. The gulped-down breakfast. The yawns and groans and protests. The lost homework. The wrestling with Axl, Roz’s funny child. Axl liked to jump on their backs and ride them around the room, especially when they were in a hurry and had no time for him.

Was Roz worried about Lea? Thinking about her right now?

Mark should be home from his book tour by now. Would he drive the kids to school or leave it to Roz? Or did he keep them home to watch the hurricane news on TV? Were they suffering? Not knowing if she’d survived. .

Were they trying to reach her online? Her laptop was buried somewhere in the wreckage of the rooming house. Wreckage.

“Can you help us, mum?”

Daniel’s tiny voice broke into her thoughts. He stepped forward and took her hand. His hand felt soft and cold in hers. He gazed up at her with pleading, wide eyes.

They’re so adorable. Angels. Really.

“Can you help my brother and me?”

Lea squeezed his tiny cat’s paw of a hand. And she felt something.

She didn’t know what it was at first. She was trying hard not to think about what had happened here and what she saw all around her. But holding the boy’s soft hand, she felt a strong connection.

It was so sad. So sad and overwhelming. She didn’t want to think at all. She wanted to push it all away. Yesterday. Today. This dreadful morning. Push it away forever.

But she felt a powerful attraction to this boy and his nearly silent brother. Something warm and soft and real. Two creatures who really needed her. And this crazy feeling that she needed them.

“Yes. Yes, I think I can help you.”