Tom Simpson - Sink

He hired two extra bartenders, one part time, and four cocktail waitresses to handle the expected cliental and the waiters and waitresses that worked for the restaurant would fill in the rush at the grand opening. He was prepared, as always, for any emergency that could arise, or so he thought. He had never heard of sinkholes in New York and now Patrick Ramsburger started to experience one first hand.

It started pretty simple. The glasses behind the bar started to rattle. He was a little perplexed at this but, he thought maybe a large truck was driving down the driveway, even though they had a delivery road. When the glasses continued rattling, he thought maybe Florida had earthquakes, even though he had never heard of that but, he was a new resident and he didn’t know that much about the area. When the bottles behind the bar started toppling over he realized he might be in deep trouble and he looked around to see where the other employees were. He saw a look of sheer terror in the eyes of one of the cocktail waitresses and before he could say anything to her the room fell in.

Patrick held on to the edge of the bar and rode it down like an elevator until the floor settled. The bottles and glasses that had been neatly stacked were scattered on the floor behind the bar and the big mirror behind the bar had fallen and smashed with a shattering explosion. The emergency lights came on when the power died and most of the lights were dislodged from their near ceiling mounts and were scattered haphazardly around the room. There was a lot of screaming and cries of pain coming from the guest who had filled the lounge area and total confusion seemed to prevail. Being of quick mind, he yelled for everyone to try to stay calm and help would soon be there. This worked briefly until, the room fell another ten feet and the ceiling caved in.

Pat again tried to calm the patrons down but, panic had by now set in and utter chaos reigned. He again looked around for any of the other employees but, by now he could only see frightened guests. He walked around the edge of the bar, crunching on the broken pieces of glass and made his way to where he thought the emergency exit door should be. A large section of the roof was laying directly in his path and he turned back toward the people lying on the floor closest to him and began helping people stand on their feet. He wanted to open the emergency door and see what was happening outside the room but, this being cut off from him, he tried to calm as many people as he could. He realized that whatever happened would not be isolated to this room and help was sure to be there as soon as possible. He began gathering the people that were obviously in a state of shock into small groups and he finally located one of his cocktail waitresses who, looked no worse for wear at this sudden disaster and he told her to keep saying calming words to the people he had gathered into small groups, until help arrived.

Pat Ramsburger then went back behind the bar and found an unbroken bottle of Kentucky Bourbon, peeled of the sealing label, unscrewed the plastic cap, and took a big pull on the bottle. The warmness went immediately down his throat and a calming effect suddenly came over him.

He took another short pull on the bottle, shrugged his shoulders, and began looking for a way out of this hell hole. He walked toward the front entrance and in the dim light he could see the roof had collapsed across the entire expanse of the lobby and they were trapped in the existing lounge area. He walked back to where his waitress was playing nurse to about two dozen people and a warmness, similar to the whiskey, flowed through his veins. Even in a time of crisis, he thought, the good in people is still there, even if they have no idea if they will be rescued, the strong will be strong. He at that point, was happier than he had ever been in his entire life. No matter what happens, some people will still be survivors. With a smile on his face he walked over to the cocktail waitress and said a very sincere thank you, which puzzled her completely and began helping her calm the very scared people who had come to enjoy the grand opening and have a drink to celebrate.

June 14, Saturday 1:04 p.m.

Walt Morgan, head of the security unit at the new resort, was retired from the Chicago Police Department after thirty adventurous years. He retired as chief of homicide and received a gold pocket watch to match his gold detective shield that they had let him keep and they were stuffed in his underwear drawer beneath his pile of white socks in his double wide mobile home on the outskirts of Forest Glenn. He had planned to do a lot of fishing and traveling after his retirement but his years with the police department kept him from totally relaxing. Everywhere he went, he saw a suspicious character. He knew a two-eleven was going to come down every time he entered a liquor or even grocery store. It was in his blood so, he decided the only way he would be happy would be doing police work. When he saw the ad in the newspaper advertising for security guards at the new resort, he jumped at the chance to again put on his shiny leather shoes and his Sam Browne. He didn’t apply for the head position but, after the corporate office reviewed his application, he didn’t bother with a resume for a job as a security guard, they had called him up for a second interview and laid a lucrative position in his lap. It was a lot better than he had wished for and he had ten full time and five part time guards under him. Just like the old days. He was the boss.

His office in the corporate office was quite plush. Black leather chair with arms, a walnut desk with matching credenza and plush green carpeting. The office had monitors on two walls that could focus on every location in the resort and was completely computerized. He had his own secretary in a little alcove in front of his office and everyone called him chief. Life was roses. His assignment of men at the various entrances and other important locations had been reviewed by Datafuture, the designer of the security system, and had been approved with flying colors. He was more than ready for the grand opening.

Being a Saturday, his secretary was off and he was all alone in his office watching the monitors automatically changing from place to place. He could see his guards at their assigned locations smiling and greeting the guest as they wandered around the resort taking in all the

sights. He was looking at the monitor in the kitchen when the chef suddenly disappeared from view. It looked like the chef had slipped and maybe hurt himself. The monitor stopped at waist level in the kitchen and he figured the chef had fallen to the floor. He immediately got on the radio to the guard stationed outside the kitchen door and told him to check on the chef that it was possible he had been injured when he had slipped and fallen. The guard told him he would check on the situation and report back promptly.

Chief Morgan waited over five minutes and heard nothing back from the guard. That is really strange he thought. I should have heard from the guard by now. He called the next closest guard, the one by the front desk and repeated the situation and asked him to check on what was going on as soon as possible.

The retirement benefits were very generous from the package Chief Morgan received from the Chicago P.D. Unfortunately, the only benefit that the chief would get to use in the near future was the burial plan as the elaborate desk, credenza, chair, and plush carpeting and of course the chief disappeared when the entire corporate office building sank quickly beneath the surface of the earth.

Becky McClellan was standing on the grass just outside the back door of the corporate office daydreaming as she stared at the majestic waterfall in the distance when, the entire building sank abruptly behind her. There wasn’t much noise, some slight glass rattling made her turn around, and the building completely disappeared from sight. She could not even see any of the brown tiles on the roof. Just a large hole remained where the building had been and as she stood frozen, completely transfixed at such a horrible sight the hole began spreading. The edge closest to her began folding slowly under with the emerald green grass still attached almost like a blanket undulating in the wind. She stood paralyzed, unable to back away from the approaching danger. The sinking ground was within two inches of her firmly planted toes when an urgent barking broke the spell. She immediately backed away from the hole and began running toward the manmade mountain in the distance. She glanced behind her and was very relieved to see her savior, Bart the dog, keeping pace slightly behind her.