Эбби Луби - Nuclear Romance

“Listen Diana. Bad things may be coming down. I just want you to be ready.”

“What things?”

“Imagine the worst—for me at least.”

She listened to him breathe, it was heavy, labored.

“Think they’ll fire you?”

“A single thread is pulled and the whole thing unravels. I always get the same sour gut just before the bottom falls out. I’m feeling it right now. I’ve had it since I filed that story, if you can call it a story.”

“You did the best you could.”

“I did shit. I was sabotaged, and it won’t stop there.”

“Lou, Honey. I feel so bad. Is there anything you want me to do?”

“If anyone from the paper calls and asks you about us, you need to be prepared.. You can deny everything if you want.”

“I won’t deny anything, Lou, unless you want me to.”

“I want you to do what’s comfortable for you. The real question is, are you okay with hanging out with an unemployed journalist?”

“Yes. You know how much I care for you. No matter what.”

“Yeah? Even if I get a job shoveling shit in a shit factory?” For the first time in days she chuckled. “Isn’t that what a lot of newswriting is? Shoveling shit?”

He’d been through worse. When he got to work, Owen was waiting by his desk. He had the look.

“Sorry to do this, Lou. I need your keys, and then we’ll escort you out.”

“Tell me why—or let me guess—the underground lake story perhaps?”

“It’s more than that. You’re really getting the boot from Finch, the boss. He’s the publisher, and he doesn’t have to give us a reason. Time you and me part ways.”

The two men looked at each other. They had been a good team, but Owen was following orders, doing what he needed to do to keep his own job. Lou wondered if Owen had put up a fight on his behalf.

“I see. So you want me to leave right now? Can I get stuff out of my desk?”

“Sure. Take whatever you need.”

The usual din in the newsroom came to a halt. A phone rang now and then, but computer keys stopped tapping, radios and TVs were turned down. Several reporters looked over at Lou, dreading the entire scene. A top reporter was getting axed, morale would sink even lower. Lou looked around and smiled, trying to let them know he was okay.

He turned to get stuff from his desk and pulled some folders from his file, cramming loose papers in a large envelope. He looked for his rolodex.

“Owen, where’s my Rolodex?”

“We had to take that, Lou. Company policy.”

“No shit. Since when?”

Owen nodded at a security guard that just walked into the newsroom. Owen extended his hand to Lou.

“You’re an ace reporter, Lou, wish this wasn’t happening.”

Lou reluctantly shook Owen’s hand and watched him walk back to his office. The security guard approached Lou.

“You ready to go, Mr. Padera?”

“Not just yet.”

Lou sat down at his computer and slipped in a back up drive to copy his files. The screen flashed NO HARD DRIVE.

“What the—”

Lou bounded out of his chair and sprinted toward Owen’s office. The guard chased after him.

“Mr. Padera, you can’t go there. I have to escort you out. Now.”

“The hell you do.”

Lou barged into Owen’s office.

“Give me my hard drive, Owen. Please.”

“No can do, Lou. That’s company property. It’s time for you to leave.”

Jen looked at the two suitcases on the porch. She was sure she had packed everything she and Ricky needed for their mini vacation. Her phone rang.

“You about ready?”

“Yup. And Ralph…”

“Yes?”

“Thanks for doing this. For taking me and Ricky away from it all. I think the four of us will have a great time.”

“It’s my pleasure. I’ll pick you guys up in about fifteen.”

Ralph and Jen had become good friends since the horrific evacuation day. Since then, he encouraged her to speak out about the plant. Diana admired him for that, for the sensitive way he related to Jen.

It had been a long time since Jen felt comfortable with a man. Ralph was a psychologist with a practice in Katonah, just twenty minutes away. Jen especially liked how he and Ricky connected. Her son seemed to be climbing out of his grief and losing interest in the horrendous video games. He was even making a few good friends at school.

Because Ralph and Jen lived only a few miles away from each other, the kids would go to each other’s houses after school to do their homework. Jen realized that, inadvertently, Julie might be helping Ricky deal with Kaylee’s death, and Ralph agreed.

On school nights, when Ralph would arrive at Jen’s house to pick up Julie, Jen would have dinner for him and he’d linger and chat. They fell into a pattern comfortable for both of them and for the kids. One evening Ralph confided in Jen about the traumatic loss of his wife in a fatal car accident when Julie was just a toddler. As he tearfully told her about his wife, Jen comforted him with a hug. That both experienced the terrible loss of loved ones created a silent bond.

When he suggested they all go away to a kid-friendly lodge in Saratoga, Jen realized it was just what she and Ricky needed. They hadn’t left the area since Kaylee died. Ralph booked two rooms, each for parent and child, and they were off.

“Mom?” Ricky said, sitting on the third step of the staircase.

“Yes, Sweetie?”

“Am I too old to bring Kaylee’s teddy bear—the one I’ve been sleeping with since… since she died? Do you think Julie will laugh at me?”

She got as close as she could without putting her arm around him, now that hugs were again off-limits.

“Julie won’t laugh at you, and its fine to bring the teddy. Besides, you and I will be sharing a room, and you can tuck him out of site if Ralph and Julie stop by. Okay?”

“Okay. We going soon?”

“They should be here any minute. Are you excited?”

“Yeah. And Mom…”

“Uh-huh?”

“Is Ralph going to be your boyfriend?”

She smiled. “I don’t know, but I do like him. But right now, he’s just a good friend.”

“So… not like Dad?”

“Not like Dad. At least not yet. But you never know.” As they drove out of town they passed the riverfront park. Jen could see a few young children playing in the water at the beach she would forever boycott. A lifeguard watched the kids as they horsed around, ignoring the dreary domes outlining the sky.

It was one of the worst nuclear power plant disasters in the world. Six reactors in Japan toppled like dominoes after an earthquake, incredulously followed by a devastating tsunami. High levels of radiation were released into the atmosphere. People within fifty miles of the plant were forced to evacuate because a core meltdown was imminent. Fear spread throughout Japan and the world. For Americans living near nuclear power plants, the question was obvious: Could it happen here?

Cashing in on the disaster was a good opportunity for Chrissy. It had been a few months since she wrote the radioactive lake story, and she was frantic for work. She sent her resume to magazines and newspapers both locally and in New York City. No one was hiring. The editor at the Metro Record put her on the stringer list as a freelance writer. It meant being on call for work that was piecemeal, and the first call she got was to cover a cop killing in the Bronx. She struggled to write up the story tabloid-style, barely made the deadline, and the next day the story was changed completely. All she really cared about was her byline.

Now, in the aftermath of Fukushima, she could sell her expertise based on her stories about ALLPower. Would Metro be interested? Not really, they told her. The Japan story needed full-time, international reporters. Sorry.