The story of Reaching Home begins with the main character, Lee, alone on a road near Pine Grove [Oak Ridge, TN], in the area where the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Japan in World War II were created and where research on and development of nuclear devices continued to the morning of the first day of Passover 2013.
"When Lee awoke, the sun was high in the eastern sky. He was lying in a ditch on his stomach in his own vomit. He tried getting up, but felt sick again. Waves of nausea swept over him. Lee heaved again, but there was nothing left in him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his car. The engine was still running... He began to crawl toward the open driver's door... In his mind he could still see the bright blue flash that had lit up the entire sky, and hear the sounds of an explosion. He could see the flames and the smoke rising over Pine Grove. He looked to the west. Black smoke hung low over the town. The sounds of the previous night, the alarms, the sirens, the cars, the trucks, all had fallen silent. It was spring in the Valley, but there was no sound. Not the sound of a bird or the buzz of an insect.
Lee pulled himself into the car. The radio still worked, but the only stations on the air seemed to be playing the same announcement over and over again. 'Residents of Pine Grove and surrounding areas should remain in their homes. Close all windows and doors and turn off central heating and air conditioning systems. Please wait for additional instructions from the Department of Homeland Security. Remain calm.'
And then he heard it, the sounds of a school bus. It stopped, took on passengers and started again. As it came towards him, he thought he had truly lost his mind. He blinked as if to clear his eyes. No, his eyes hadn't deceived him. The driver was wearing... a spacesuit.
The doors of the bus opened and two "spacemen" got off and headed in his direction. He tried to speak, but he couldn't. The spacemen said nothing. They pulled him from his car. His legs felt and moved as if they were made of rubber. They dragged Lee up the steps of the bus and down the aisle to an empty seat. It was then he noticed the insignia: "U.S. Department of Homeland Security."
What the main character in Reaching Home is describing is a nuclear accident. Not in Japan, but in the southeast United States. Lee is suffering from radiation poisoning. He is being taken to a decontamination center. Lee is caught up in the ensuing disaster and falsely accused of being involved in the accident which the authorities suspect is a terrorist act. Lee manages to escape the facility where he has been detained and begins a desperate attempt to reach his home in Maine.
As he travels north, he hears that the fire is continuing to burn at Pine Grove. "A team of volunteers has been organized to go in and put it out. Although they would have protective gear better than that used at Chernobyl when the Russian reactor blew up, they would probably suffer a similar fate. Most of those folks were dead from radiation exposure within a few months after the accident. Not a pleasant thought.
From the reports it sounded like thousands of people in the surrounding area had already gotten a good dose of toxins from the fire and the radiation. A few hundred had died. The government wasn't releasing the exact numbers. Hospitals as far west as California and as far north as Boston were treating the victims of the explosion. The last explosion that had occurred at the plant was clearly the work of a terrorist group that had claimed responsibility for the attack and seemed also to be claiming responsibility for the "accident."
The account in Reaching Home, which was published in 2006, is a realistic description of what might happen if there was a severe nuclear accident in this country. Hundreds might die, thousands if not millions would have to be evacuated to other areas, and the whole country would be severely impacted.
Reaching Home has been used as a tool for teaching resilient skills through storytelling. It was used as part of the Duct Tape Isn't Enough resilience training program. It asks the reader to consider how they would react to such a tragedy by putting themselves into the role of the characters in Reaching Home.
What is happening in Japan is not fiction. What would you do if you were one of the Japanese workers trying desperately to put the reactor fires out? The Japanese people are resilient. An earthquake, a tsunami and now a nuclear accident that may go on for weeks, if not months or years.
How would you feel, behave? How would you bounce back?
