After the Summer Meeting of the Board and Members, the membership returned to their camps to get their lunch grills going. Howard and Paul got to work refilling charcoal and water containers and handing out the flyers that Laura gave them. While Howard collected food orders from Laura, Paul loaded several bags of charcoal into the old golf cart. As they visited the campsites, they were offered a hamburger or hot dog, or a bowl of potato or macaroni salad, or some other little bit of delectable food, special to that site. Paul quickly learned that he and Howard would never go hungry, and that he would need to row with Howard on his longboat more often.

Just after 2PM, grey storm clouds appeared on the horizon. Before anyone in camp, or at the pool, really noticed, the storm was upon them. The way the storm manifested itself was through a devastating high wind. No rain nor hail; just a damaging, straight wind known as a derecho. It was all over in 20 minutes, but what a 20 minutes it was.

Fortunately for the campers and residents at Magnolia and Moss, the brunt of the derecho was broken up and deflected by several small hills and the stands of trees that lined them. Damage and injury at Magnolia and Moss was not extensive. The membership was able to concentrate back at the site of the morning meeting, inside the structurally reinforced Quonset hut at the far end of the Pavilion opposite Laura’s place, which had long been designated an Emergency Shelter. People moved into the pavilion in as orderly a fashion as the wind allowed. Anyone who was injured was led to the area between Laura’s and the pavilion. It was a bit more open, but offered an enclosed area of safety from nature’s ravages.

It was common policy and practice at M&M not to disclose last names and career information among the members, unless the members themselves chose to, but those who had a medical background were identified and pooled for just such an emergency. When Gunnar was found to be a doctor and surgeon, he became de facto medical authority, and was actively pursued to become M&M’s Medical Advisor on the Board of Directors. One of the first things he instituted was the creation of a medical team from the membership to treat everything from sunburn and sprains, to things more serious. Members with medical certification voluntarily offered their skills and services. Several plastic bins were stored at the pavilion, filled with military surplus medic’s bags, and stuffed with everything needed for a well-equipped First Aid station.

In the current emergency, Gunnar set up a triage with those members. Angie, the Navy nurse, long retired and unlicensed, knew the drill backward and forward; nobody questioned her judgement, and Gunnar was grateful for her experience. Howard and Paul helped people in and got them to the care they needed, assisting where required. Gunnar noticed Paul helping Angie carefully wrap a man’s hand which had a shallow, but bloody gash. Paul seemed to know what he was doing and didn’t flinch at what was a very messy wound. That impressed Gunnar. Within 30 minutes from the start of the emergency, those few who needed aid were cared for. Thankfully, there were no injuries that required evacuation to local area hospitals as in a true emergency. Those few who were injured could go later, when the regional emergency died down.

Gunnar, however, still called his hospital to check in. He was informed that, while his services were valuable, his presence would just add to the chaos and confusion at the Emergency Room. Wherever he was, aiding people, was doing far more good than he would be able to do there.

Turtlehead State Park across the river, however, was not so fortunate. The storm’s path brought it partially along the river, and across the flat ground of the farm fields. Consequently, the state park was hit directly, and hit hard.

Martha was sitting at one of the picnic tables, consulting her clipboard, checking names, making sure everyone was accounted for. The cell phone in her hand began to vibrate.

“Hello! Magnolia and Moss, this is Martha!”

“Martha? Richard Stone here.” He was the senior Ranger at Turtlehead.

“Hello, Ranger Rick!” That joke got old within minutes when he first started with the park service, but somehow, when Martha said it, it sounded noble.

“How are you guys on that side of the river? Much damage and injuries?”

“We made out fairly well, considering. A few injuries, but nothing of note as a true emergency. What about you?”

“We got hammered, I’m afraid to say. We have multiple injuries, and we can’t get emergency ambulance services anytime soon. Do you have any medically certified people who could help us out? My staff is doing the best it can, but frankly, we’re overwhelmed. We have some first aid certified campers, but it’s not enough. It’s a nightmare here.”

“Yes, I think we can help you. Hold on!” She put the phone down, looking around for Gunnar. “Gunnar! It’s Ranger Richard Stone from Turtlehead. They have too many injured people; they can’t handle all of them over there, and are being told they must wait for emergency ambulance services. They don’t have enough rangers or first aid qualified campers, and are overwhelmed. He wants to know if we can send help!”

Gunnar jumped onto a picnic table and surveyed the floor. Anyone who was injured had been bandaged or cared for. He quickly counted his team, and turned back to Martha.

“Yes, let him know we’ll have a team of,” he counted his fingers again, “a team of eight.” He linked eyes with Howard. “Coming by boat?” Howard nodded in the affirmative. “In thirty minutes or so. Emergency Team grab your gear! Recharge your pouches! Meet me at the east entrance,” he said, pointing to the protective sliding metal door that overlooked the inner parking lot; the same place that Paul had prayed earlier that morning.

Martha was back on the phone, confirming with Ranger Stone to expect an ‘appropriately dressed’ team coming across the river by boat. Then she went to the storage bins to help dispense the medical supplies. After handing out a box of gauze bandage rolls, she lifted a lid to another bin, discovering a pile of blood-red cotton running shorts, each embroidered with white thread at the bottom of the left pant leg. Next to them was a pile of white knitted tube tops, and red on white, and white on red, American Red Cross t-shirts of various sizes.

Gunnar, having walked over to the sliding door, started addressing his team. “Obviously we can’t go as we are,” followed by good natured groans from the assembled, yet still completely nude, team, “so get to your tents or RVs, dress in what you can get on fast, with closed-toe shoes, and meet down on the beach by Howard’s boat!”

Martha held the pile of shorts up in her hand, announcing “I don’t believe that will all be necessary!” She waved her hand again, for emphasis. “It seems our mystery tailor has struck again.” Sometime ago, Magnolia and Moss had gained a mystery tailor, someone who fashioned wearable garments for someone, anyone, really, who showed a need for such, and let it be known. No one was ever able to catch who the mystery tailor was. Items of clothing just showed up, usually on someone’s picnic table, outside a tent or RV, or left on the counter at Laura’s or at the Admin office.

Martha sorted the shorts. Each one had the same embroidered pattern: M&M FNC as the top line, then the person’s first name in letters twice the size, and then their title or position. Thus, Gunnar’s read:

M&M FNC

GUNNAR

MD – BMA

Someone figured out that BMA stood for Board Medical Advisor. Martha handed out the shorts to each member of the team. Several members who had medical backgrounds weren’t there that weekend, so she refolded those and put them back. Howard was surprised to find that he got one, though he didn’t have a medical background, or even any current certifications. Despite this, his pants read:

M&M FNC

HOWARD

SB

“SB? Now I wonder what that’s supposed to stand for,” he pondered.

Laura, helping a man with an injured leg sit more comfortably at a less crowded table, turned and said “I think a letter is missing. I think it should read S-O-B.” Several people in earshot of her comment laughed out loud.

“Oh, that’s nice!” he said, a glimmer in his rolling eyes. He looked over to Doris and Angie for support.

Doris shook her head. “Don’t look at me. I’m going to agree with Laura on this one!” She knew he took any digs from her as fondness for him.

Angie laughed again, but put a hand on Howard’s shoulder. “When I was in Korea, a number of the Marine units gave up several men to work at the aid stations. These men were given armbands like those the Navy Corpsmen wore, but instead of a red cross on a field of white, they had SB on them in big red letters; ‘SB’ for stretcher bearer.” She turned back to look at Laura and Doris, a twinkle in her eye. “Still….” She tapped the end of her nose with her index finger. They all nodded their heads in agreement.

Howard wasn’t having any of it. He made two fists, and hunched over into a partial squat, like a body building weightlifter, showing off his 75-year-old body to the amusement of the surrounding people.

“I am….Stretcher Bearer!” he bellowed, again eliciting laughs, especially from the children. He straightened up, slipped on the pants, and after grabbing a walkie-talkie from Martha, grabbed a pair of shoes from his camper, and headed to the beach to prepare the boat.

If Howard was surprised at getting a pair of pants, Paul was even more surprised, and puzzled, as well. He hadn’t even been working there for a full week, and yet, there it was. He was looking at a pair of running shorts, in his size, and complete with his name:

M&M FNC

PAUL

FAC

With a perplexed look, he said, “Well I guess F-A-C makes sense, since I technically work in facilities!”

Hannah Chen, holding her own pair of shorts with her position clearly embroidered as ER RN, who could have been a look-a-like cousin of Nurse Kellye from the old MASH television show, shook her head incredulously.

“Paul! How can you be so smart with the most innocuous of subjects, but can’t figure out that ‘FAC’, in this context, stands for ‘First Aid Certified?”

Embarrassed, but laughing at himself, Paul, still holding his pants in his hands, turned to look at Hannah, and then at Gunnar, who also chuckled with a gleam in his eye. Gunnar’s face became quite serious when he spoke.

“Why don’t you join the rest of the medical team, Paul, unless you want to stay here,” he said. “Grab a full medic’s pouch, and go help out Howard with the boat.” Paul slipped on his pants, and took a pouch and another walkie-talkie from Martha. She smiled that infectious smile of hers. Paul had a sudden thought, and wondered, ‘Could she be the mystery tailor?’

While his Emergency Team put on their new gear, the men opting to wear just the pants, the women adding the tube tops, and running off to get a pair of closed-toe shoes, Gunnar began running a mental checklist in his head. Everyone, except Howard, had full medical pouches; and all were dressed enough for the public state park. His team consisted of himself, a surgeon; Patricia Simms, Physician’s Assistant; Hannah Chen, Emergency Room Registered Nurse; Terri Knox, Licensed Practical Nurse; Paula Rodgers, Certified Nursing Assistant; Toby Carmichael, paramedic; Paul, with his First Aid Certification; and Howard, stretcher bearer. He shook his head and chuckled when he thought about that again: “Howard, stretcher bearer”.

“What do you want me to do, Gunnar?” asked Angie, one hand on her walker, the other on the top of a picnic table, steadying herself.

Gunnar frowned. He loved Angie, didn’t want her to feel left out, but had to balance the emergency against her abilities and capabilities.

“Why don’t you hold the fort here, for now. But I don’t want to leave you all by yourself, though. I know, wait here.” He ran over to the back part of the pavilion, looking for several children. “Bonnie!! Danny!! Megan!! Todd!! Are you kids still in Scouts?” They all nodded their heads. “Why don’t you help Miss Angie, change some bandages, offer help to anyone that needs it. Practice some of your first aid requirements and get some practical experience.”

“I know I’m not a part of the Medical team, but can you use me in some way?” asked Doris. Gunnar thought about it for a minute. While not a part of the Medical Team, he knew that Doris had a different way with people and with things that didn’t always present themselves in modern medicine. Besides, while she didn’t have the certifications, he knew that she was at least equal to Paul in first aid care through life experience, and a lot better than everyone in other ways.

“I don’t see why not, Doris, but we’ll need to find you something to wear. We can’t have you showing up like that over at Turtlehead,” said Gunnar, his hands waving in front of her 80-year-old completely nude body.

Doris laughed. “I know, I might scare them all, right?”

Martha overheard them speaking, looked through the pile of clothing, but came up with nothing, not even a blank pair of running shorts in her size. Help, however, came from an unexpected quarter.

“She can use this!” said Ruby, a tall, statuesque woman, with flowing black hair. She slowly walked up to Gunnar and Doris, her hand holding onto her red sarong, still wrapped around her body. It almost matched the color of the new running shorts. “She can take this, and wear it over and back.” She started to unwrap the sarong from her body.

This was a big step for Ruby. Her incarcerated ex-husband was a sadist, and had a habit of putting his cigarettes out using Ruby as a human ash tray, when he wasn’t beating her. She hid her scars as best she could, always wearing something, however, even at Magnolia and Moss. Ruby was always encouraged by the members of Magnolia and Moss. They never pushed her about always wearing something, whether it was sheer or not. They accepted her, just as she was, and that was important for her at this stage in her ‘recovery’. She and Laura were often mistaken for sisters, or at least cousins.

She handed her sarong to Doris, and quickly retreated out of the pavilion, around the pool, to the Pump House, picking up a few chairs and lounges knocked about by the wind. Gunnar shook his head from side to side.

“It never fails to amaze me!” he stated.

Doris turned as she finished wrapping the sarong around her body. “What’s that, Gunnar?”

Watching Ruby, with her pock-marked body, her skin marred with black burn marks, he answered, “The fragility and strength of the human body, and the infinitely more fragile and strong human spirit!” As embarrassed as she was, Ruby still took time to pick up and reset a few chairs along the way.

Kate ran up beside Gunnar. “Dad, you didn’t wear shoes. You drove in here barefoot and shirtless, remember!”

Gunnar hung his head. So many things he could think of in an emergency, but couldn’t remember that he left his shoes at home.

Again, help came from an unexpected quarter. A man Gunnar was unfamiliar with removed his leather loafers.

“Here, Doctor! You look to have the same size shoe as me,” he said, handing them to an appreciative Gunnar.

Gunnar put them on. “Thanks, er, Mister….?”

“It’s Bob. Don’t worry about it, I’ll find you later when you get back.”

Martha overheard the conversation. She had checked Bob and his wife Elizabeth in the day before. They were celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary. She made a note in her tablet. Their fees for the weekend would be refunded later in the week. She handed Gunnar another walkie-talkie, and the backpack-sized aid station Doctor’s kit.

Kate walked down to the beach with her father. As a surgeon’s daughter, she had learned a few things about first aid. However, this wasn’t something she was good at doing. While she enjoyed working with people, hence her degree studies in Social Work, she just didn’t deal well with blood and other bodily injuries. But in walking with him to the beach, she was satisfying a personal ulterior motive.

When Kate and Gunnar arrived at the beach, Howard, Paul, the rest of the medical team, and four other men were waiting for them. The women were already in the longboat, all the men standing on the beach. The four non-medical men insisted that everyone get into the boat, and they would push it into the water, so nobody had wet shoes. Knowing that arguing would cause a delay, all the medical staffers got into the boat, Kate gave her father a kiss goodbye, and flashed a bright smile at Paul. The four men, with Kate near the rudder, slid the boat into the river.

Doris, seated at the rudder, took charge. “Oars, up!” Howard and Paul brought their oars straight into the air from their stowed positions. “Oars, out!” With that command, the two lowered their oars outboard, fitting them into the oarlocks on the gunwale, and started rowing in unison. Doris lowered the rudder once they were far enough out, and so their mission of mercy began.

* * *