Scott Williams - The Pulse

“Well, I don’t see how it could be worse than a hurricane. I mean, no one is getting hurt because the power’s off and the phones don’t work. It’s not like there’s wind blowing houses apart or flood waters filling the streets. How can it be that bad?”

“Think about it for a minute, Casey. Think about all the people in the hospital, for instance, depending on machines that run on electricity to keep them alive. Think about people that need to get to the hospital, but now can’t. Think about all the stores that will have to stay closed and can’t sell food or anything else. What will everyone do when they can’t get anything?” Grant paused for a minute. “You can be sure people are getting hurt or dying because of this.” He suddenly got quiet. “You don’t even want to think about all the people who must have been flying in jets and other airplanes when this pulse or whatever it was suddenly hit.”

“What would it do to an airplane? If they stopped like all these cars did, couldn’t the pilots still glide them down or something? I’ve seen them do that in movies.”

“Maybe some types of small planes; not big jumbo jets, from what I understand. They don’t glide well at all, and there are not many places they could safely land. Besides, big airliners are even more dependent on computer controls than cars are. They can’t navigate without all that stuff to tell them where they are, how high they are flying, and how fast they are going. I think they would all crash if all that went out. At least that’s what I read somewhere.”

“Oh my God, if this had happened just a couple of days later, my dad could have been in a crash!”

“Is he flying somewhere then?”

“He’s supposed to be coming back here from St. Thomas on Thursday. But he couldn’t have been on a plane today, because he’s out in the ocean with my Uncle Larry on a sailboat. What would this do to a sailboat?” Casey suddenly looked frightened. “What if their GPS went out? How will they find their way back to land?”

“Where were they going?” Grant asked.

Casey told him all about the delivery trip, about how she and Jessica had sailed with Larry in the islands the previous summer, and how Larry had been sailing all over for years and years, but it was her dad’s first offshore voyage.

“I wouldn’t worry right now, Casey. It sounds like your dad is in good hands with his brother, and a real sailor like that can navigate without fancy electronics. They’re probably in about the safest place anyone can be right now, out on the open sea.”

“But how will I know ?” Casey was distraught. Grant put his arm around her and she turned to him and hugged him with both of hers. “He won’t be able to call me when they get to land. I won’t even know if they made it or not.”

“I hope I’m wrong about the extent of this, Casey. I really do,” Grant said as he returned her hug with a reassuring squeeze. “I hope this was somehow local and just affected the city. That way, they can get outside help in here fast and get things running again.”

Casey had never given much thought to how much everything in modern life was dependent upon electronic devices and the power that made them work. Like everyone else, she imagined, she just took it for granted that all these things would keep on working just as they always had. Most people had never considered the possibility of a situation like what was going on today. She was grateful that Grant was with her and that he seemed so knowledgeable. She wanted to just stay in his arms where she could momentarily forget her worries, but she felt his embrace relax, signaling an end to the hug, and she reluctantly pulled away.

“So what do we do now?” she asked, hoping that whatever it was, they could do it together.

“Do you still want to ride around some on the bikes? Maybe we can look for your roommate, and listen to the talk on the streets.”

“Of course. We could try going by Joey’s place to see if she’s there. He lives in a little cottage on the grounds of an old mansion on Philip Street. It’s about three miles west of here, over in the Garden District.”

“I know the area. It’s where the rich people live.”

“It’s just a rental, but yeah, his parents are loaded, I think.”

“Let’s go, but I’m getting kind of hungry. We’d better find something to eat first.”

“I’ve got pizza in the freezer,” Casey said, “but no way to cook it.”

“Let’s see what we can find somewhere on the way. We’re going to have to start thinking about more than lunch too; if the power stays off, food will run out fast.”

“I didn’t think about that,” Casey said.

“You haven’t been through a hurricane. It’s okay. Leave that to me. I know all about this stuff.”

Casey was becoming more impressed with Grant all the time, and in a twisted kind of way, she was almost glad the lights had gone out. When she thought about it, she knew he lived alone, and with everything shut down, he probably didn’t have too much else to do right now. This would give them a reason they otherwise would not have to spend time together—time that she hoped would help them get to know each other even better. It seemed that Grant liked her company and wanted to help her. If not, he would just do his own thing, as he was used to being on his own.

They made their way to the busy maze of Magazine Street, which was much narrower and seemed even more crowded than St. Charles Avenue, with stalled cars, pedestrians, and throngs of other people riding bikes. They found a line outside a pita sandwich shop that was serving what food they had left and the rest of the semi-cold sodas from their coolers to customers who could pay in cash. Casey never carried bills on her, always relying on her debit card to make even the smallest of purchases. Once again she felt stupid and embarrassed and had to admit to Grant that she didn’t have any money. Grant told her not to worry, he had money on him, so they were in luck and got in line standing beside their bikes, where they could overhear all sorts of wild speculation from those around them about what could have happened. Theories ranged from terrorist attacks to government conspiracies and even an alien invasion. Many people in this city that never sleeps had been outside and had seen the bizarre lights that flashed across the sky in the wee hours of the morning. It was obvious that there was a growing sense of frustration at all the unknown aspects of the situation, and even though it was only March, by late morning it was getting hot and humid. Gathering clouds threatened the afternoon rain that was typical in the Big Easy. When the rain started falling it would only add to the annoyance of all the suddenly stranded drivers who found themselves unable to get to wherever they had been trying to go that morning.

Grant bought all the bottled water and Gatorade they could stuff in their book bags, along with some one-serving bags of baked potato chips, the only extra snacks the shop still had a supply of. Then they pedaled off to make their way to Joey’s house, where they hoped to find Jessica. Along the way, Casey told Grant that the relationship between Jessica and Joey probably wasn’t going anywhere. It was more of a physical attraction than anything else. Joey was arrogant and impatient and didn’t seem to care much about listening to what anyone else had to say. He didn’t have much time for her roommate anyway, Casey said, adding that he was a pre-med student barely keeping his GPA above the minimum, thanks to all the time he spent partying with his friends.

“Sounds like she should have dumped him already, if you ask me,” Grant said.

“Yeah, I keep hoping she’ll move on. She deserves better.”