Brian met with one of his friends, Ben who was twelve years old. "Holy shit, did you see my house?" Ben gasped. "Half the roof is caved in! I was in bed, and I swear it jumped up and down like it was possessed!"
Another boy named Josh, also twelve, joined them. He was pudgy with long floppy hair. "Ben, that's nothing. My roof fell in over me. It stopped just here"—he touched his stomach—"I thought I was gonna be stuck, but Dad helped me wiggle out."
"Oh, cow shit." Erin, thirteen, brushed dirt off himself and tried to get his ever-present cap clean before putting it on.
The other boys thought he might sleep in that hat. Brian gazed around at his friends, glad they were alright even as an argument sprang up between Erin and Josh. Brian shivered and spoke to Ben. "You think Annette is okay?"
Ben nodded. "I saw her outside the house. Didn't look like they had as much damage, and she seemed okay."
Brian relaxed a little.
The sound of sirens drawing closer filled the air. The boys reluctantly broke up to go to their families so they wouldn't worry that something had happened to them. Parents good and bad treated their kids with love now that the disaster had temporarily scared them.
The ambulances pulled into the trailer park maneuvering around the debris. Brian's dad finally stumbled out, looking around blearily at the damage.
Brian tried to make his sister laugh now that she was calmed. He managed to raise a smile to her lips, but her eyes were haunted and frightened now that she knew the earth could swallow them up if it wanted to.
A crew of volunteers showed up to make order out of the chaos. The paramedics went around and earmarked the most grievously injured to be taken to the hospital. The volunteers from a disaster team got everyone to stand in front of their homes and asked them questions. They also took pictures of homes for insurance purposes.
One guy who was writing up a list on Brian's trailer told him they were fortunate. Lucky because the quake had been mild, and it could have been a lot worse.
Brian was a little awed at the realization they could all be dead. He found himself anxious to get to their clubhouse to see if it had been damaged, but of course, his mother didn't want him out of her sight. Volunteers pitched tents nearby and unfolded cots from another truck. Brian assumed they'd be sleeping there. It looked like it sucked, and there was no privacy and hardly any room but sleep there he'd have to; his momma wouldn't hear of him camping in his own tent.
***
The swamp wasn't the coolest place for a clubhouse. For one thing, it stank of bog gases. Josh liked to joke the swamp was farting all the time like the bog of eternal stench. For another, it was gloomy. Tall twisted branches arched up everywhere, heavy with Spanish moss. The sunlight had trouble filtering in through them. Also, one had to beware of the swamp's bog and quicksand. The boys had heard horror stories of people being caught in the quicksand or bog and slowly sinking to their deaths, screaming for help.
The clubhouse was well hidden. For one thing, it was deep in the swamp. For another, the bog around it only had a few solid places to walk. The old shack had four walls and a tin roof comfortably big enough for all of them. During high tide, they couldn't walk from the shore to the shack without sinking knee-deep.. When the tide was out, the bog retreated, and they could walk on solid ground to a spot they called their island.
Inside the clubhouse was a long box, a table, and two chairs. The walls were covered in pin-ups and cool posters they managed to get. There was a radio they turned on to listen to the news.
"Tipton, Florida had a harrowing experience today as a mild earthquake sent shock waves through the community. Several buildings were damaged. Forty people were injured, with six deaths. Geologists haven't stated whether more earthquakes were expected, but the community of Tipton..."
"Hey!" Brian said.
Ben wrinkled his nose. "I wanna hear some music, not more about the stupid earthquake."
"You think there'll be more?" Josh asked, sharpening a peg with his knife. "Like maybe bad ones that will knock everything down?"
Ben shrugged. "They said it was a one-time event, so I guess not, but even if there is, I don't want to spend my last few days waiting on a quake. I want to do my own thing and just not see it coming."
"Yo, I second that," Erin said. He frowned, looking out the window. "What's that?"
Ben got up and walked to the window. He quickly lost interest. "Aleya. Not surprised the quake probably churned everything up."
Brian gave up and went to look. To his surprise, it was worth looking at. The lights in the distance were bright blue and seemed to dance above the swamp. "That's kinda cool!" Brian said.
Josh pushed past them to look. "Hey, that is cool."
"Careful," Ben said, "You'll get hypnotized and dragged to the swamp."
"What crock," Erin said. "People don't follow bog lights in the swamps anymore. They aren't stupid like they were back then."
Ben shrugged. "You never know, and now that the lights are so much more powerful, they might draw people into the swamp beckoning and calling until the poor sap find himself stuck in the bog, sinking. Slowly sinking. The bog making its way up their chest. While they struggle only making themselvers sink faster and faster up to their chin, then they start choking on the grit and mud trying to breathes through their nose and then..."
"POW!" all the boys jumped except Erin, and he laughed at them. "Jesus, what a bunch of pussies. I mean, come on."
The others glared at him then sheepishly admitted he had gotten them good.
Outside, the light continued to float mysteriously.
