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I reach Blake. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, but what was that?”
“An earthquake? I’m not sure.”
We hug each other and listen as the distant rumbling continues. I look out the window and stare in horror as a whole side of the mountain across from us detaches and collapses into the valley below.
Blake has her hand over her mouth, then lowers it to ask, “Was that a landslide? You think we’re safe here?”
I shake my head in an I don’t know way. The familiar lick of panic when I’m not in control of a situation rears its head, but I squish it down, ready to take charge.
At that moment, the lights in the house flicker ominously and then die out.
We wait a few more minutes, but nothing else happens.
“Is it safe to go?” Blake reaches into her pocket for her phone, angles it a few different ways but then shakes her head. “I have no signal.”
“There is none here, the Wi-Fi was on before, but without electricity that’s gone too.”
“So we’re cut off?”
“No,” I say, reaching into a cabinet for my emergency satellite phone. One thing I’ve learned is to always plan for the worst. Never get cut off. “Let me call emergency services to make sure.”
Blake eyes it skeptically. “What is that?”
“Satellite phone.”
“In case of natural disasters?”
“Or power outages.” I circle a finger next to my face. “Always be prepared.”
A shadow of understanding crosses her face, but I dismiss it as wishful thinking. She doesn’t know about the accident. She can’t understand.
I call 9-1-1.
“Nine-one-one, what’s the nature of your emergency?”
I explain the situation and give the operator our position.
“Please hold,” she says.
The woman comes back on the line a few minutes later and I put her on speaker. “You have somewhere to spend the night, sir?”
“Yeah, we’re at my house. Why?”
“The road’s blocked downstream for you. Nasty business of a landslide.”
“Did someone get hurt?” I ask.
“Not that we know of, sir, the brunt of the debris fell in an uninhabited area, but traffic is going to be difficult for a few days.”
“What shall we do?”
“Stay put and don’t get in trouble. Roads should be cleared in a couple of days tops.”
“I only have a satellite phone on me, the electricity is out.”
“The damage to the electrical grid is reported as minimal. It should be a quick fix. Power should be restored within a couple of hours.”
