Saranghae

Saranghae Page 23

"Are you sure you don't want us to get in contact with your husband?"

"No," Shaundra told the nurse. "He's busy working in China."

"What about a family member?"

"No, no one. My family is in the United States."

"Very well, the anesthesiologist is here."

Shaundra turned her head toward the door. A friendly looking Asian man around her age entered.

He bowed and introduced himself. "My name is Keiichi Wantanabe, and I will be your anesthesiologist for your procedure."

Good, he speaks English. "It's nice to meet you." Her doctor told her that the procedure would take about forty-five minutes and she would be sedated the entire time, which she hated since it was dangerous for her to have any more drugs in her system, especially since she'd tried so long the last couple of weeks to be careful.

"I'm going to put some medication into your IV. You're going to feel some warmth go across your chest, and then you'll feel cold."

Shaundra nodded.

The procedure began.

"Let me know when you feel the warmth."

It happened almost instantaneously. "I feel it," she replied.

Then the cold. Shaundra shivered.

"I need you to start counting backwards from one hundred," he told her.

"One hundred." The room began to shake. "Ninety-nine."

The room shook a little more.

"Oh, shit," the anesthesiologist said. "Earthquake."

Lights flashed off and on in the operating room. Shaundra heard noises as she began to drift off to sleep. Something fell to the floor and shattered.

"We have to get this patient out of here and to safety,"

someone said.

She couldn't tell who because the voice seemed so far away. The bed shook, and she prayed she wouldn't fall off.

Someone laid themselves across her protectively.

The tsunami warning sounded.

Shit, she thought. This could be serious.

"There's no time to move her. We have to bunker down here."

"Ninety-six."

Nothing.

His feet were barely planted on Japanese soil when he felt the ground move under his feet. Ichiro looked around. An earthquake...a big mother. People screamed and ran for cover as the insides of the airport terminal shook and the walls swayed. He waited for the earthquake alarms to sound.

They went off simultaneously.

"Attention, ladies and gentlemen," the announcement started over the public address system. "A powerful earthquake has just struck Japan. Please remain calm."

Fruitless words, Ichiro thought. Of course people were going to panic.

"A tsunami warning has been issued for the coastal areas to include the Miyagi Prefecture." Ichiro knew the area well.

But that was nowhere near his intended destination, Osaka.

Thinking fast, he made it to the baggage claim, got his luggage, and headed outside to see if he could secure a taxi to take him the rest of the way. Poor Shaundra. Wherever she was she must be terrified.

Luck was with him. A taxi. Ichiro hurried over to it. "I need to get to Osaka," he told the man.

"Don't you know there's been an earthquake?"

"I know," Ichiro told him. "But I need to get there to check on my wife."

"I hope it's still there," the taxi driver said. "I've been trying to get some information over the radio. I'll take you there, but there's no promise."

Ichiro hopped into the cab, and the driver drove away from the airport, adjusting the radio. He found the news.

"Mass destruction."

"Oh my," the driver said.

The roads were crowded but passable. Finally he made it to the farmhouse. Ichiro paid the driver and hurried inside with his things, turning on the lights and the television in the parlor. A red light on the answering machine caught his eye.

There were several messages for various members of the household.

"Hello, this is Detective Sato. This is a message for Mr.

Ichiro Yoshida. We have some information on your wife. We have credible evidence that she was in Miyagi Prefecture within the last week."

Ichiro sank to the floor as Miyagi Prefecture flashed across the scream. It had been hit by a killer tsunami. Ichiro screamed.

The End