The Day the Siren Stopped by Colette Cabot Page B

some sort of emergency, you could leave them here for a while, if you'd like.  I can notify them that you've been found.  They are causing quite a sensation with the kids around here.  They've been well fed and are receiving a lot of attention.”
     
    Mason thanked her and felt very relieved, but he was anxious to get them home.  Phillip and he spent the entire day getting the camels, dealing with authorities, and taking them back to the miraculously preserved barn in Nevada, Missouri.  Phillip was a very good sport about getting camel slobber all over his business casual attire.  It took quite a few attempts and a lot of instruction before he was able to lead a camel successfully from the trailer to its stall in the barn.  It was early evening before they made it back to the library.  Kathy Mae greeted them with joy in her heart and had become good friends with Dawn, Phillip Buggerby’s wife, during their absence.
     
    “C'mon you guys,” Phillip motioned them to follow him out of there.  Both Kathy Mae and Mason gave a puzzled expression to him as well as to each other.
     
    “Phillip has rented a hotel suite in town,” explained Dawn, “and we are inviting you to stay with us.  There's a pool.  Although, I don't know about you, but I've somehow forgotten to bring along my suit.”
     
    It was quickly decided that a nice little vacation would be most welcomed. 
     
    “Guess what,” Kathy Mae said grabbing her purse on the cot and raising it in the air, “Got my purse back.  They have a lost and found set up in the basement.  People are bringing in all sorts of personal items, and my purse was among them.  I've also got a few changes of clothing courtesy of the local charities which have been helping out.”
     
    Mason explained about the barn, the camels, and the fact that her job could continue from Nevada.  She told him she had signed up to receive a FEMA trailer, but didn't know how long it would take before it would be delivered to the place where her home once stood.  The ground would need to be cleared of debris first, as well as establishing safe utility connections.  When Mason heard this, he decided not to mention his idea of living in the barn with him and the camels.
     
    “I guess a FEMA trailer is all right,” said Mason, “but there must be insurance on your house.  You could probably rebuild it even better than it was before.  From what I heard about the chaos after Katrina, it might be faster than waiting on the government.”
     
    Kathy Mae decided Mason was right, and when they got to the hotel, she called the authorities and canceled her order for the FEMA trailer.  They assured her that it would go to the next family on the list.
     
    Phillip's wife, Dawn, informed them that while they had been gone all day she had received word that Lois Wade had been located.  She was in the hospital and recovering from surgery.  Phillip decided that he would hire some young boys to help salvage equipment and retrieve files from the old office location in Borough.  He trusted Kathy Mae to run the new office in Nevada and he was about to arrange a rental car for her before she informed him she did not have a license.
     
    “You don't drive?” he asked with astonishment and disbelief.  “How can you become a real estate agent and not drive?”
     
    “I know how to drive,” she said, “thanks to a friend of mine a long time ago.  But, I never took the test or got a license.  I didn't need to, since I couldn't afford a car anyway.”
     
    Mason and Phillip decided among themselves that they would find a car for Kathy Mae soon, and that all of them would possess vehicles within the next few days.  They also decided that they needed to look through the rubble at both Mason's and Kathy Mae's old places to find paperwork related to the insurance and ownership of the properties.
     
     
    ****

A Pleasant Surprise
     
    Days later, Kathy was cleaning out the remnants of her old place