Tom Simpson - Sink

The lake maintained a constant level even in the event of heavy rains or extreme drought by a series of specially located sensors around the shoreline and the filtering of the water was so pure that any algae or bacteria was chemically treated before it could spread. The water level was adjusted by the removal or adding to the underground water table by a series of massive pumps also hidden in the mountain.

The entrance to the mountain was hidden by well placed manmade boulders on the east end and that is where Rebecca McClellan and Bart now headed. Becky didn’t know what was causing this sudden shifting of the earth around her but after watching “The Wizard of Oz” at least fourteen times and after hearing about cold war fallout shelters from her parents when they were reminiscing about the fifties and sixties, she figured the best place she could go was somewhere very stable and the manmade mountain seemed to fit the bill. She pressed the entrance button built into the side of the doorway and was thankful of the whirring sound the door made when it slid open. The power plant, being self-contained she had reasoned, would probably stay on during a category five hurricane, and a feeling of relief washed over her when the door slid slowly shut behind her.

Feeling quite a bit safer now that she and Bart were surrounded by steel reinforced heavy duty walls she began wondering about her parents and her friends. Bart, sensing her anxiety, put his paw out in a gesture of utter devotion for his human pal. The tears that had begun welling up in her eyes slowly dwindled as she realized that there was still hope for the world, even if a dog was the one that had brought that reality back to her.

“You are right Bart. We can make it no matter how rough it gets. You are truly man’s best friend or in this case, woman’s best friend. Let’s go up to the top of the mountain and look out that little observation port they put in. We will be able to see the whole area and maybe find out what is really going on.”

The switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree for more than ten minutes. The calls, many garbled, had two things in common. They were all frantic and all came in from cellular phones. The regular phone lines, fourteen in all, routed through the office in the lobby, had been severed in the first sinking of the building. The callers, half male and half female, were disoriented and had no clue what was happening, other than they were in a dark area surrounded by hundreds of other people and they had no idea how to get rescued. Finally, a call came in that was steady in nature and explained a lot better of what was actually going on. The voice was of a young male who said he was walking on the edge of the lake when all the buildings had suddenly disappeared. He explained that he was a life guard, off duty at the time, and that it looked like a massive sinkhole had struck the area. He was calling from one of the resort supplied cell phones that he had forgotten to return at the end of his shift. He very anxiously stated that many rescue vehicles were needed and that he could not find his girlfriend.

The sheriff, Ralph Slocum, taking over the switchboard from his startled dispatcher, asked for the caller’s name for the sole purpose of calming the alarmed youth down.

“My name is Paul Zangallio, sir and I’m awfully worried about all the people here.”

“Don’t worry son.” The sheriff soothingly replied. “I’ll get you some help out there right away and everything will work out fine. Just keep calm and stay on the line while I alert all the people I need to.”

The sheriff, picking up the radio transmitter, yelled loud enough to be heard throughout the county office building.

“Paul, where the hell are you? I need you out at the new resort right away. Pick up

anybody you see on the way and carry them out there to help you. We have us a real life disaster happening right here in our county. I am going to call the governor’s office and the hospital but I need you out there to straighten out whatever you can. Hurry up boy.”

“I got your message sheriff. It’s that robbery I predicted isn’t it. I was right wasn’t I?”

“Don’t get on your high horse Paul. It sounds like the whole place has caved in. Just get out there and help all you can. I’ll be out there as soon as I make my calls. Now hurry up.”

The small group that gathered in front of what used to be the lobby entrance was composed of the twins Mike and Mark Summers, the two teenage girls Beverly Forham and Sally Backlin, the lost Indian Connie Littlefield, and the new found couple Steve Sidel and Kathy Santos. The twins were tying the yellow nylon ropes around the closest Royal palms and had just started tying the third one when they heard someone shouting at them from back by the tennis courts.

“Hey guys. We don’t really know what’s going on but we’re coming over to help out.”

Kevin Backlin and Bill Forman were jogging across the green lawn toward the small crowd of people and Kevin was trying to comfort them as best as possible with his shout of the calvary of two were coming.

“Oh daddy you’re safe.” Blended out of the two girls’ mouths simultaneously.”

“We thought you were trapped underground with mommy.” Cried Sally Backlin.

“Yeah, we thought you were down there.” Echoed Beverly Forham. “I’m so glad you are all right. We just have to get mother out of that hole. I hope she’s not hurt. I’m so worried about Sally’s mom too. What can we do? We just have to help them.”

“It’s ok Beverly. We’ll get everyone out safe. Right Kevin.”

“Yeah girls. Don’t worry. Everyone will be just fine.” Assured Kevin Backlin.

“Listen men. I just got here but I have an idea.” Suggested Steve Sidel. “I think these boys have a fantastic idea of dropping the ropes down so we can pull the people up but, from the sounds I hear I think some people will be to weak or hurt to try to make it up the ropes. I think we should find some ladders and maybe some wood and make some kind of makeshift ramp to pull these people to safety. I don’t think we have much time before maybe we’ll have more collapsing of the ground and the deeper it goes the harder it will be to get the people out of there.”

“That’s a good idea mister but, I wonder where we can find any wood?” Questioned Bill Forham.

“There is a big pile of new lumber behind the maintenance shed that they were going to use for building a storage area for the new lawnmowers that are on order. There are also two extension ladders hanging on the back wall of the shed that we used to clean the gutters of the second floor wing.” Mark Summers enthusiastically suggested. “Mike and I could grab the ladders and the girls could carry the boards over one by one.”

“That’s a great idea. See if you can find some nails and a hammer while you’re over there and maybe we can build something stable enough to help those people out of this hole. If you two gentlemen can shimmy down these ropes with me maybe we can start helping some people out of the pit of hell they are in. Ok?”

“That sounds good and by the way my name is Kevin and this is my partner and best friend Bill. Our wives are trapped down there and we really want to climb down and see what is going on. Right Bill?”

“Yeah, you’re right Kevin but, I think we ought to send one of the girls to see if they can locate Jack and Billy, by they way, they are our sons and I think they are probably scared as hell by now.”

“Of course. You need to know where the rest of your family is and my name is Steve and my friend’s name is. Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t even know your name.”