Sedimentary Stone (Formed By Accretion)
The sun wasn’t even up yet but Simon heard dozens of voices in the hall outside. The rumble of footsteps had awakened him and he found it impossible to doze off again. He groggily climbed out of bed and shuffled to the door. It opened to reveal people running past, the fear evident on their faces.
“What’s going on?” he asked a pair of boys as they approached. They didn’t even break stride when yelling, “Brown College has collapsed!”
This news didn’t register at all with Simon. Brown College has collapsed? “But, that’s impossible. I was just there last night.” He thought. “That’s where Ginni lives. How stupid of them to say that.”
The sleepy fog was leaving his brain very slowly. His own words kept echoing in his ears and growing louder with each repetition: “That’s where Ginni lives.” “That’s where Ginni lives.” “That’s where Ginni lives!”
McCormick Road residence, where Simon and Jody were housed, was 500 yards down Long Portal road from Brown. At that distance it was usually hard to make out her building from all the others. Not this morning. Simon’s dorm had an outside window pointing that direction where he often bade his darling a silent goodnight. Now he saw a huge plume of dust and smoke hanging in the air, under lit by the flashing red and blue lights of emergency vehicles. In a flash he pulled on a pair of sweats and high top shoes. Out the door he ran and outstripped those who were going to look. His mission was to find the girl he loved.
Down the road he flew, weaving past hundreds of students and faculty who were all heading in that direction. He was never much of an athlete but some track records would have fallen to this sprint. He turned off the street and ran past the Portals as some dorm buildings were called. Long Portal was on the street and beyond, next to Mallet Portal, was a line of police cars. Further up the hill he saw with a shuddering release of tension that the entire hall had not collapsed. For a second he felt nothing but immense relief. Then he noticed that the corner room that was damaged, as if some giant took a humongous bite from it, happened to be from McGuffey, on Ginni’s floor, where she had the corner dorm.
“Ginni!” His scream rent the air and Simon rushed headlong toward the doors. Nothing existed between him and that building, not the thick crowd, the massive fire engines, not even the cordon of police holding everyone back. He hit the nearest cop with a shoulder and burst through like an All-American fullback on the goal line. Dozens of hands grabbed at him and only through sheer numbers were they able to hold him back. Two massive cops and a football linebacker dragged him back from the crumbling gash. Large chunks of bricks and mortar were falling to the ground and exploding in white clouds of dust.
“Stay back ya stupid kid!” yelled the cop whose arm was firmly wrapped around Simon’s neck, cutting off his blood supply.
“But Ginni’s in there!” he croaked.
“You can’t do anything! Rescue is already on their way up!” In the adrenaline-fuelled chaos everyone was screaming or crying or both. He kept fighting desperately to get free and save her. Right up until the last bit of oxygen in his brain had been used and the entire cruel world faded to black.
Déjà vu was playing in his head. He could hear yelling and running all around him. His eyes flickered open expecting to see a dark room and moonlight through the window. The moon shone alright but it was reflecting off a throng of upturned faces. Odd, they were all laying on their backs. Or rather, he was laying on his side, wrists and head throbbing terribly. Then a numbing memory filled his brain.
“Ginni”, he whispered. “Where’s Ginni?”
A tall thin officer with sergeant’s stripes knelt down, lifted him to a seated position and muttered in Simon’s ear, “I’d shut my mouth if I were you kid. Attacking a couple cops and resisting arrest can get you 10 years. But my Lieutenant thinks you were just trying to be a hero. You be good until all this is over and we’ll quietly let you go. Cause us any more trouble though…”
“Sir! You gotta tell me, how’s Ginni? Virginia Shelton. That’s her room. HOW IS SHE?!”
The Sergeant was rocked back on his heels from this explosion but came right back at Simon in a commanding tone, “SHUT UP! You’re not making the situation any better. You wanna help her? Then stay the hell out of our way!”
At that he stood and walked briskly toward the circle of administrators, fire and police who were in charge. There was a lively discussion with lots of nodding in his direction. Eventually the Sergeant returned.
“Word just came down. They found her under the bed. My guess is she slipped underneath it when everything started to fall. She’s unconscious but they don’t know how bad she might be hurt. They want to get her out of the building first.”
Simon gasped for air and willed himself to be calm. “Thank you Sir. Thank you.”
“You got it under control now son? I’m gonna let you out of those handcuffs. When I do, you disappear into the crowd and don’t come back.”
He nodded a little too violently and staggered to his feet. One, two small clicks and Simon could feel the blood coursing through his fingers again. The cop whispered in his ear before letting go, “You were brave. I respect you for trying to do something. Not like all these people who just stood around watching. But once the pros get here, leave it to us.”
“Thanks again”, Simon muttered, then stepped into a nearby shadow and melted away. But he didn’t go home. Nor did he head for the library, coffee shop or even the lab. He very casually walked behind a group of on-lookers until he had edged close to the waiting ambulance. If he could just see her then somehow he would know she was alright.
Within minutes a sudden intake of breath by the crowd told him something was happening. Three firefighters walked out of McGuffey Portal. Two were carrying a stretcher upon which lay Ginni, pale as Snow White after eating the apple. EMT’s were waiting and together they headed for the ambulance. The senior firefighter was met by his superior and they walked together.
“Cap, it’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. The room don’t show no signs of explosion, earthquake, nothin’ crashed into it or out of it. It just fell apart.”
“Anyone else in there? The building evac’ed?”
“Yea Cap. s’all good.”
“Thanks Mallory. Your crew did a fine job. Go on back to the station. We can let the campus cops take it from here.”
Mallory touched the brim of his hard hat with two fingers and called out to his men. They gathered at their trucks and huddled together for a brief moment. Simon could have sworn he saw one or two men cross themselves. Then they climbed aboard and rumbled away.
The moment Ginni got to the ambulance Simon could tell something was very bizarre here. There wasn’t a scratch on her. He knew because the female EMT made a quick examination and was just as stumped as Mallory.
“Jimmy, what do you have for vitals?”
“117 over 91. Pulse-90. Pupils-reactive. Noooooo abrasions, cuts or bruising. You sure she came out of that?” he answered, jerking his thumb towards the wrecked building.
“That’s what I was thinking. You don’t think those jerks grabbed the wrong girl do you? Playing a joke?”
“Not Mallory. He’s a straight arrow. Wants to be chief some day.”
“Captain! Hey Cap! Is this the only vic?”
The Captain turned on his heel and looked over at the EMT’s. “Yeah. Entry crew says she was the only one in the room and school confirms she lives alone. No other dorms were affected and everyone else is accounted for. Take her in to be checked-out.”
“You got it Cap’n.” Cecilia Jones gave her partner a ‘what-can-you-do’ shrug and said, “Let’s go.” They bundled Ginni into the back and sped off to the University Hospital.
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