25 C25
created: 2023-06-04T10:39 updated: 2023-06-04T10:
"Hannah, go upstairs and get dry clothes and all of your diapers," Emily said. "Lexie and Olivia, go get stuff as well. I'm going to figure out how to get the truck out of the garage."
"Wait," Olivia said, suddenly paying attention to what was going on around her. "Hannah wears diapers?" Hannah gave her mom a 'Thanks' kind of look and went up the steps to her room. In the bottom of her closet there were several cases of diapers. She wondered if her mom meant all of the diapers. Or a single case. She heard the sound of Olivia and Lexie coming up the steps and then an engine start. Her room was directly above the garage so she heard it very well as her mom started to drive the truck through the already destroyed door. Hannah just grabbed all of the jeans that she could wear off the hangers as well as several tops. She threw all of it in an empty box that sat in the bottom of the closet from where she had put the first case of diapers away.
"Hannah," a very soft and sympathetic voice said from the doorway. Hannah turned and saw Olivia standing there. "Is there anything I can do to help you?""
"I think mom and I have it pretty well under control," Hannah said, a smile on her face. "Go help Lexie, you guys can wear the same clothes. I don't think mom wants to be here very long."
"Where are we going? Olivia asked. The door down stairs slammed.
"Hannah, when you're done up there, can you help me with the antenna on the truck?"
"Yeah," Hannah shouted. "Be down in a minute." The twelve year old looked at the nine year olds face, still full of fear from the events of an hour ago. "I don't know where we're going, but I will guarantee that you will be safe."
"Mom!" Lexie shouted from her room. "Would it be a good idea for Olivia and I to wear diapers?"
"Lexie wears diapers too?" Olivia asked Hannah. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with wearing one."
"She has once," Hannah said. "She wanted to know what it was like after she found out that I wore. That was Saturday night."
"You may if you want to, Lexie," Emily's voice and footsteps drifted up the stairs. "I'm not going to force Olivia to."
Hannah watched as Olivia turned her head toward the steps. "I think I may wear one. "
"I'll wear one." Lexie's voice travelled down the hall.
"Hannah, give me two diapers and some powder. Get your stuff down to the truck. The antennas aren't mounted and the laptops are still in the hall way." Hannah pulled two diapers out of the open box and handed them to her mom. The powder sat on the dresser still. "Come on, Olivia. I don't want to be here too much longer, who knows whats brewing out there that we can't see. "
"Ok," Olivia said giving Hannah a look that she interpreted as 'what have I gotten my self into...' Hannah picked up the two boxes of stuff that she had and carried them down, out the still open front door and to the bed of the black truck that now sat in the driveway. The anometer on the roof was spinning slowly in the wind. It looked like it had survived the drive through the garage door. Laying on the ground next to the truck was the larger antenna that was used for inter-vehicle communications, it's white fiberglass contrasting with the wet black pavement of the driveway. Hannah had watched her dad put the antenna on the new truck. Opening the glass on the cap that sat on the bed, she hefted her two boxes in and then looked at the mount on the truck. It was a simple pipe and the antenna had a pair of bolts that would clamp to the pipe to hold the antenna. It would take both her and her mom to get it back on the pipe. Hannah went back in the house and grabbed the two boxes of diapers that were in the storm shelter. When she got outside, her mom had placed a few items in the back of the truck.
"You want to get the antenna up?" Hannah asked.
"Yeah," Emily said, "I'll get it next to the pole, you put the bolts in and start tightening them down."
"Ok." Hannah said, jumping as a loud clap of thunder shook the ground. This system was going to be cyclic, putting down tornado after tornado. With the way the data had looked that morning, this could continue into the night. Emily hefted the antenna up and into position while Hannah placed the u-bolts in place and hand tightened them down. There was a stud that stuck out of the pole to keep the antenna from sliding down while the bolts were tightened.
"Go check on Lexie and Olivia. I want to be rolling in 5 minutes." Emily said, taking the wrench from Hannah and making sure the bolts were tight. All of Hannah's stuff was now in the truck with the exception of her laptop. She ran in and grabbed them, also grabbing her mom's purse and the diaper bag that sat next to the door.
"Lexie, you guys about ready?" Hannah shouted up the steps.
"Yeah, just need to get this suitcase closed and we'll be down." Lexie said. "Also, Olivia may need a change soon, that clap of thunder scared her."
"It'll hold more than one wetting..." Hannah shouted back, "Trust me, I've been wearing longer than you." Hannah glanced up the steps as the two younger girls came down. Hannah handed the purse and diaper bag to Olivia and walked out the front door. "This is everything." Hannah said to her mom, dropping the tough book in it's dock.
"Alright, Lexie and Olivia, hop in the back seat," Emily said. "You girls have everything, right?"
"Can we stop by my house so I can grab a few things?" Olivia asked. "I can get in, I have a key."
"Yep," Emily said, closing the small door on the drivers side where Lexie had sat. Hannah closed the same door on the passenger side and got in the front passenger seat. She placed her laptop in the mount in front of her and opened the screens on both laptops. Emily got in the drivers seat and started the engine. Various electronic devices inside the cab of the truck beeped, booped and clicked as everything in the truck powered up. Hannah tried to open the app on the tough book for ThreatNet and was pleasantly surprised that it was pulling data down from the birds. "Find your dad, Hannah."