R. Allinson: The Long Road Home

Calm was the last thing Tom felt like being, and from the buzz of conversation and chairs scraping, it was the last thing most people in the room felt.

Tom stared at Mike, who just stood there shaking his head.

“Well, shit. The bastard was right after all,” Mike said after a moment.

“Who? What?”

“I’ve been hearing rumours about this,” Mike said.

“Rumours? Where?” Tom wracked his brain, but all he could come up with was the crack-pot homeless man who regularly sat in front of his local Tim Horton’s and informed them they were all doomed, that the end was nigh, that the wrath of the gods was coming from the sky to smite them all. He’d been saying the same thing for five years.

“My crazy brother-in-law. I didn’t really take him seriously though. This is fucked up.”

Tom didn’t reply. He just blinked at the screen. This couldn’t be happening. It must be some sort of hoax. End of the world? No. It couldn’t be true. That sort of thing only happened in movies and books. And it nearly always worked out for the best.

“Is this for real?” he eventually said.

“Looks like it.” Mike was alternating between staring at the big screen TV and his phone.

Tom rested his head in his hands. This couldn’t be real. Claire would know if it was a hoax. More than once, Tom had fallen for an online hoax, only for his wife to laugh and tell him the truth.

“Claire. I’ve got to call Claire.”

Tom pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled his wife’s number. It went straight to voicemail. Tom frowned at his phone. Maybe she was trying to call him. He sat the phone on the table and stared at it, willing it to ring. It did. Tom reached eagerly for the device, but it wasn’t his wife.

“Hi, Lisa,” he said to his sister. “Is Claire with you?”

“No, she’s at home. Are you seeing this?”

“Yeah…”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know. I tried to call Claire, but it went to voicemail.”

“She said she was going to turn it off so she could concentrate on finishing off some article. I’ve got your boys. She’ll be here in a couple of hours. She probably hasn’t got a clue what’s going on.”

“You’ve got Tristan and Noah? Are they okay?”

“Yeah, they’re fine. Molly’s sitting with them now. They’re watching Toy Story.”

“Have you told them anything?”

“No… I… I’m waiting for Claire. Besides, they’re too young to really know what it means.”

“What does it mean, Lisa?” Tom didn’t know if he really wanted an answer.

“I don’t know yet, Tom. It’s too early. I’m sure we’ll find out more over the next few days. What you need to do is get on a plane and get back here.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, I think I’m a bit in shock or something.”

“Same here, little brother. Where are you?” It was getting noisier as more and more people started calling people. Tom glanced around the room. One lady was openly weeping.

“In the conference room. We just found out about ten minutes ago. It’s getting a little nuts in here.”

“Okay, well you go figure out your flights, and I’ll look after your boys for you until Claire gets here.”

“Thanks, Lisa. I owe you one.”

“Don’t be silly. They’re my nephews. I love them. Stay safe, brother.”

“You too. See you soon, hopefully.” Tom hung up and tried Claire’s number again. Despite what Lisa had told him, he was still disappointed when his call went straight to voicemail. He sent her off a quick email asking her to call him, and then left her a Facebook message as well. Even if she had her phone switched off to focus on her work, he knew she still sometimes needed the internet for research and was known to be guilty at times of a little sneaky glance at Facebook or her email. He hoped this wasn’t one of her more disciplined days.

Messages sent, he looked to his friend.

“We need to get back to Toronto.”

Mike nodded. “I’m sure Fred will forgive us for skipping out on the rest of the conference. I’ll call the airline and get our flights changed.”

“Okay, thanks, buddy.”

The two men went back up to Mike’s room. Mike yanked open the bar fridge and pulled out two little bottles of scotch. He offered one to Tom.

“I’m sure Fred will forgive us.”

“Sure about that?” Their boss was notorious for not approving extraneous spending on business trips. Fair enough, in Tom’s opinion, but he knew it grated on some of the other staff.

“It’s the end of the world. What’s he gonna do? He probably won’t even get a chance to see the bill if this is all true.”

“Good point.”

They both slammed the bottles back. Tom grimaced at the aftertaste. He felt it burn in his belly. Tom turned on the TV and flicked channels while Mike looked up the number for the airline. Most channels were showing something about the asteroid.

“Can you believe it?” Tom shook his head. Ironically, one channel was playing Deep Impact. Armageddon was scheduled next.

Mike snorted when he looked over. “Wonder if that was a coincidence, or someone’s got a sick sense of humour in programming.”

“I’ll go with sick sense of humour,” Tom said.

“I dunno, maybe it’s hopeful? I mean, don’t those movies all have happy endings? Earth is saved at the last minute. Shouldn’t they be playing Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, or whatever that Steve Carrell movie was called?” Mike mused. “They all die in that one. Come to think of it, I think that was a rip-off of Last Night. They should play that. Oh, and I saw a preview for an Aussie movie the other day — can’t remember what it was called. The asteroid hits in the northern hemisphere and they know the fireball is coming, and they’ve got like twelve hours or something, but they know death is coming.”

“Yeah, I’ll check that out. Get some tips.” Tom sighed.

“You get onto the wife?” Mike asked. Tom could hear classic hold music coming from Mike’s phone.

“Nah. Talked to my sister though. She lives around the corner from us. You’ve met Lisa, haven’t you?” Mike nodded. Tom ran his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, anyway, she’s got the boys. She said Claire’s in lock-down mode working on finishing off an article for her freelance business.”

“Oh. Shitty. She’s gonna get a nasty surprise when she logs back on.”

“Yeah.” Tom frowned. He really wished he could be at home with his family right now. He just wanted to hold his wife and sons. Claire was going to freak out. He wanted to be there for her. That’s what husbands were meant to do. Instead he was stuck on the other side of the damn country.

“No luck?” Tom nodded towards Mike’s phone. Mike sighed and shook his head.

“Just this stupid hold music. Why don’t they get a better playlist? And they keep interrupting the crappy stuff with a pre-recorded voice to let me know that value my call, and someone will be with me as soon as possible. It’s annoying. I keep thinking someone real’s actually going to talk to me, but it’s just a recording and back to the hold music.” Mike glared down at the phone.

Half an hour later, Mike’s phone was still blaring out horrendous music. The two men morbidly channel surfed and then settled in to watch the ending of Armageddon.

“Where’s good old Bruce when you need him?” Mike shook his head.

“Wonder what it’s like out there?” Tom nodded out the window.

Mike shrugged. “Probably a lot of confused and scared people.”

“Yeah. Wonder how long ’til shit hits the fan?”

Mike screwed up his face. “Well, we are in Vancouver… they do like to riot here.”