Earthquake in the Early Morning - Mary Pope Osborne [3]
The earth started shaking.
Church bells clanged wildly.
The whole street began to move. The cobblestones rolled like waves on the ocean.
“What’s happening?” Annie cried.
Chimneys fell off roofs!
Gaslights toppled over!
Bricks crashed to the street!
“Get down!” shouted Jack. “Cover your head!”
Jack and Annie crouched on the ground with their arms over their heads. All around them was rumbling, clanging, crashing, and breaking.
Then the world grew still. The rumbling stopped.
Jack and Annie raised their heads. The air was filled with dust.
“It’s over,” said Jack.
“That must have been an earthquake!” said Annie.
“I think so,” Jack agreed.
“I guess I should have let you do a little more research on this place,” Annie said.
“Yeah, probably,” said Jack. “Except I don’t know exactly what we could have done.”
Jack slowly stood up. His legs felt wobbly. As he brushed off his pants, the deep rumbling came again—louder than before.
Then the terrible shaking started. It was even harder than before.
Jack was hurled to the ground. The earth trembled and quaked. Jack bounced against the hard cobblestones.
“Annie!” he cried.
He tried to stand, but fell again. Through the dusty air, he saw the tall buildings swaying against the sky!
Roofs were caving in!
Up and down the street, bricks, glass, and concrete showered down!
It seemed like a long time before the dreadful noise and shaking finally stopped.
A cloud of dust billowed around Jack. He could hardly breathe. He couldn’t see. But he could hear Annie coughing.
Jack opened his mouth to call to her. But dust filled his throat.
“Jack!” Between coughs, Annie shouted his name. “Jack!”
“I’m here!” he said hoarsely.
“I think I’m in trouble,” she said.
Jack tried to sit up. He hurt all over. His clothes were ripped and covered with dirt. His cap was gone.
“Where are you?” he called.
“Here!” said Annie.
Jack started to stand. But he fell down again. His legs were like rubber.
“Wh-where?” he repeated. Jack cleaned his glasses, then looked around. But he still couldn’t see Annie through the thick haze of dust.
“I fell into the ground!” said Annie.
Jack crawled in the direction of Annie’s voice.
“Keep talking,” he said.
“Here”—she coughed—“here!”
Jack felt a ledge with his hands. He looked down into a huge crack in the street. Through the dust, he could see Annie right below him.
“You found me!” she said between coughs.
“I’ll pull you out,” said Jack.
He grabbed Annie’s hands. He tried to pull her out of the crack, but she was too heavy.
“I can’t do it,” he said.
“Bring me something to stand on,” Annie said. “Maybe I can get out by myself.”
Jack stood up and stumbled away from the crack. He gathered an armload of bricks. Then he went back to the crack and handed them down to Annie, one by one.
Annie carefully stacked the bricks on top of each other.
“I need more,” she said.
Jack ran to get more bricks. He was afraid there’d be another earthquake and the crack would close—with Annie inside!
He handed the bricks down to her.
“Hurry!” he said.
“I’m hurrying,” she said.
At last, Annie finished stacking the bricks. She stood on the stack. With her bare hands, she slowly pulled herself up.
Jack helped her stand. She was covered with dirt. Her stockings were torn. Her knees were skinned.
“Are you hurt?” Jack asked.
“A little scraped,” said Annie. “How about you?”
“A little shaky,” said Jack. Actually, he was very shaky.
“Me too,” said Annie.
“I think San Francisco just had a really huge earthquake,” Jack said. He coughed. His throat was clogged with dust.
Annie coughed, too.
“What’s the book say?” she said.
Jack pulled his research book out of his leather bag. His hands were trembling. He could hardly turn the pages.
“I’ll find it,” said Annie. She took the book from him and found a picture of a torn-up street.
She read aloud:
At 5:13 A.M. on April 18, 1906, the people of San Francisco were shaken awake by one of the biggest earthquakes the United States has ever known. Some called it “the Great