Named after a character in her parents' favourite Jane Austen novel, Ellie is living and working in England to connect with her ancestral roots. One day by chance she meets a young jobbing actor and falling in love with him makes her question what s...
The Facebook groups were a priceless source of shared information and support as Ellie and Tom waited for news. They read that some telephone services in Christchurch had been restored, although people were being encouraged to use landlines rather than mobiles and a few lucky ones had heard from their families already. Ellie felt as if her phone were becoming like a second skin, almost as essential to her as her insulin pump.
They learned that a no fly zone had been put in place over the city, so that noise wouldn't interfere with the equipment rescuers used to detect signs of life, or impede cries for help from being heard.
"Eleanor, my dear, have you heard anything?" Ellie had rung her uncle Richard in Wellington.
"No, have you?"
"Not so far, though communication is still meagre from what I gather. We will call you as soon as we get any word and please let us know, should you hear before us."
"I will."
"We have room here for Alisdair and Sophie and everyone of course. Alec has a rental property that's empty at the moment, so we're keeping that for them and if they end up not needing it, he'll offer it to others."
"That sounds wonderful. I don't know whether mum and dad will want to leave Christchurch – I suppose it depends on the extent of damage to the house and all their schools...from the pictures we've seen here, it looks as if it's going to take a very long time for everything to get back to normal."
"I fear you are right, my dear. So, so sad, and coming so close after the last big one."
Ellie heard the beep that signaled she was receiving another call and rang off with her uncle after a brief goodbye, her heart leaping into her throat at the thought it could be news of home. It turned out to be Maggie, calling for an update.
"Nothing yet, Mags."
"Okay, hang in there chickie, I'm sure they'll be doing their best to get in touch as soon as they can."
"I know. Thanks."
About to leave the room, Ellie paused to watch a news item that gave her a whole new perspective on the awesome might of Mother Nature - an image of an iceberg in Tasman Lake. The iceberg, about the size of twenty football fields, was broken off the front of Tasman Glacier by the earthquake two hundred kilometres away.
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Her phone rang many times during the day and each time her heart seemed to miss a beat, but it was friends and relatives calling to offer support and wishes – her aunt in Chawton, teaching friends, Tom's sisters and even colleagues from New Delhi. Between calls they watched TV for further updates, which were scarcer now with each passing hour, and tried to find ways to keep themselves busy and not notice time dragging so endlessly.
Doctor Chandra had not seen any reason why Ellie couldn't fly to New Zealand but recommended seeing her London endo first to confirm, so an appointment was made. She hoped to hear from her family before that decision had to be taken. 'Air New Zealand has dropped its prices to almost nothing to fly those affected or immediate family members in or out of Christchurch,' one helpful person had put on the web page, and while they knew there would no doubt be a long list of those wishing to leave the disaster-torn city, at least there was hope for evacuating her family to Wellington if necessary. Hundreds of people from all over the country had offered temporary accommodation in their homes as well as much needed supplies and assistance in searching for loved ones.
