Olivia's Mine by Janine McCaw

was just thinking sir, it’s Monday now.
Should I get the police on the phone?”
    There was almost a smile from McMichael.
    “Indeed it is, Sarah. That would be a wise
thing to do. Don’t tell them about Ruby, we’ll deal with that
another time. Tell them I will try to be there in a minute. And get
yourself a blanket, okay?”
    And as McMichael headed towards his office,
he too, saw something quite extraordinary. There, candle in one
hand and cart handle in the other, was young Jimmy Yada, pulling an
injured man over to the hospital in his rickety old wagon.
    “Do you need some help there?” McMichael
asked.
    “I think his leg is broken, but I can manage,
I’m almost there,” the boy said, rather matter of factly.
    McMichael took a closer look. The boy had
taken a piece of lumber from the rubble and secured the man’s leg
to it with some torn clothing, making a quite reasonable splint for
the leg. The man, who spoke little English, made an O.K. sign with
his thumb and his index finger and flashed it at McMichael.
    “So you can doctor,” McMichael said, highly
impressed with the lad. “Carry on.”

Chapter Nine
     
    The sun was rising lazily over the Cyprus
trees as if nothing about this day was out of the ordinary. A hawk
circled above the town, its massive wingspan casting large shadows
on the sand. It hovered and cried, waiting to scavenge the dead and
decaying if only the humans would leave. Eventually it was chased
away by a majestic bald eagle, which, while equally as curious,
found more sustenance with the offerings of the Pacific Ocean.
    Olivia and Frank awoke from what had been a
very restless sleep for both. It had been almost five a.m. before
Frank was able to go to the town hall and bring Olivia back to
their house, a home that had been thankfully spared from
destruction.
    “How are you?” he asked, brushing a delicate
strand of chestnut coloured hair from her face as she lay in bed,
nestled in the pillows. He was hoping she didn’t want to turn
around and go immediately back to Seattle.
    “Fine, I think,” she yawned. “Although I
certainly didn’t expect to spend my honeymoon like this.”
    It was not as if Olivia had grown up with the
notion of marriage being the be all and end all of her life. Her
mother had instilled in her the knowledge that the roadway of life
was full of ups and downs, and marriage was just a stepping stone
on the path along the way. Still, it had been what she desperately
wanted, to be wed to Frank, her high-school sweetheart, and be
accepted into a couple’s society. She was so much unlike her older
sister Anne, who had chosen to forsake marriage and children, and
give her life to God. Olivia did not expect to become rich, but a
life of service and poverty was definitely not for her. Some
couples, her mother said, had very rocky beginnings to their
marriage and wound up happy for their entire lives. Others, she had
told her, looked outwardly blissful but were internally
self-destructing. Olivia hoped her own marriage was coming in like
the proverbial lion and would go out like a lamb.
    Frank entwined some strands of her hair
around his finger.
    “No, I guess you didn’t. I’m sorry. I’ll make
it up to you Liv,” he said. “Tell you what, come summer, we’ll go
away for a bit. I hear there’s a nice resort on Vancouver Island,
across the water. We can get away for a few days, lie on the beach,
and go to a fancy restaurant or two. Would you like that?”
    Olivia smiled, but said nothing. She
stretched her slender arm across her husband’s bare chest, and
tried to return to slumber. But the image of her new friend Lucy,
and the anguish of the night before, played over in her mind,
keeping her awake. She had asked Lucy to come home with her, but
Lucy had shaken her head, declining the offer. Olivia felt Lucy
must have wanted to be with her friends in town that she had known
for some time. They would probably know how to comfort her better,
appreciating the