It was the worst disaster in Westpoint's long history. Seven people were killed; one of them was just a baby. Dozens were hospitalized; some with moderate injuries, some serious and severe. The worst cases were flown to Christchurch and to Auckland as Westpoint's small hospital couldn't cope with the influx, it was all too much.
The St. John's Theater was lost. What was left would be demolished and it would not be rebuilt. The emergency services had not been able to save it; all they could do was to help the casualties. It was a shame that the St. John's was lost, but people were much more important. Westpoint wept.
Justin and Billy had saved their grandmothers, taking them out of the emergency exit at the back. Billy's brothers, Wayne and Robert, helped him to carry Ma across the street and they laid her down on the sidewalk. Their mother sat cradling Ma's head in her lap and crying as she waited for a medic.
Justin took his grandmother to a neighbour's house and left her there, with Claudette and Lana, while he went back to the theater. Kathleen insisted that he did.
"For fuck's sake, Justin! I'm all right. Stop fussing and your arse back over there. If ever Westpoint needed their Superboy, they need him now."
Nobody argued with Kathleen Reynolds; he went back. Where was his grandson?
Ma Carver was not injured, but she died in her sleep a couple of nights later. It was probably due to the shock and trauma. Her old heart couldn't take it.
Four days after the disaster, JH woke up. He opened his eyes and looked at Bobby.
"Oh, thank heavens! Hello Son, welcome back. Don't move. Stay where you are and I'll get your dad."
JH lay back and looked up at the ceiling. He was in a hospital. He'd never been in the Westpoint hospital, but he knew that this was not it. Wherever he was, this was a huge place. He heard Bobby coming back.
"Come on, Old Man. Get a move on, our boy's awake and waiting for you."
JH smiled as he heard Jon reply.
"He's got terrible timing. He could've waited while I had a pee!"
JH turned his head and gasped as he saw Jon in the doorway. He was in a wheelchair and was swathed in bandages from his waist to the top of his head. All that he could see of his face was his eyes and his beaming smile.
"Hello, My Lovely Boy! How are you?"
"Better than you look, Dad."
"Phaw! This?" Jon waved his hands around. "This is nothing. Just superficial injuries and a burn or two. I've lost my hair, but it'll be back, unfortunately."
"A burn or two or three hundred, more like." Bobby came in behind him.
"It's nothing! A few days and I'll be good as new."
"Billy?" JH croaked. "Where is Billy T? Is he all right? How did I get out of there? Did you save me, Dad?"
"No, not me. I couldn't even find you in there. Billy T is fine. He's in the next ward with his granddads. He looks better than you do.'
"I'll tell them that you're back - he's been hanging out for news and, at last, it's all good." Bobby hurried out again.
He came back towing a hospital bed. Justin and Billy were pushing it from behind and Billy T lay on it, beaming his smile.
"Hey, JH! Welcome back."
"Thanks, Billy. Oh, Billy, it's so good to see you!"
"Good to see you too!"
They lay in their beds, smiling and crying as they looked at each other. Most of Billy T's glorious red hair had gone. His head was covered in a short stubble and there was an angry looking pink-flesh patch on the side of his head. He had a bandage on his right shoulder and both of his hands were bandaged. He was a mess, but he was beautiful - so, so beautiful.
A nurse was fussing behind Justin. "You just can't do this. You can't move hospital beds around! Doctor is going to go ballistic."
"Settle down, Girl," Justin said. "It's done now. I'll deal with the doctor, don't worry. Hello Handsome, how are you?"
"I'm good, Granddad, really good. Oh, Billy, it's so good to see you."
"You already said that, Dork!" Billy T grinned.
"Well it is! I thought that I'd lost you."
"I thought that I'd lost you too, but that was not going to happen - no way!"
"But I couldn't get up. I couldn't move. Who got us out of there?"
"Oh, nobody," Billy T smiled.
"Nobody? But we're here. I couldn't save us. Who did?"
"JH," Granddad Billy said. "Billy T saved you. There was nobody else, so he did it himself."
"You did? But. But, how?"
"How, we'll never know," Justin said. "His hands are burnt because he pulled that bloody great rafter off you. He picked you up and he carried you, down the burning stairs and right out of the front door of the theater. I couldn't believe my eyes. Nobody could."
"You carried me? Did you walk out, Billy?"
"Yes, I walked. I had to, so I did. I've lost so many people who I loved; I couldn't let that happen again, not to you - especially not to you. I love you, JH. I love you very much and I'm not going to lose you - ever! So there."
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