Serendipity

Chapter 19

Carmen

It's insane. It's a category four hurricane. Winds is over 100mph. According to the police, who are using satellite radios to get stations from the city, cars all over Long Island, which is where we are, are underwater.

Water started to seep in here. So we're all in the second floor now, in the halls.

It's been a week and a half, the water is about halfway up the wall, it's probably a good four feet of water.

The wind has stopped, the sky is gray, but it's not raining.

I see people on canoes in the street.

It's very early in the morning, so I venture downstairs and force open the doors.

Police officers are in boats and walking around in the streets, looking for people to help.

Some guy in a monster truck comes rolling down the street.

The police officer and I make direct eye contact.

"Arethere people in there?" he asks.

I nod.

"It's a shelter. The school is flooded, but people are upstairs."

He nods and radios. I move to the BMW.

The engine is probably flooded. The windows are all smashed.

I sit on the roof of it though, and officers start arriving on foot and in boats, helping people out.

I don't care what it takes.

I'm going home today even if I have to walk.

I haven't bathed in a week in a half.

I miss the air conditioner.

I miss my windows in my condo.

I miss my bed. The cot is painful, and every single person in there is uncomfortable, but none of us bitched.

We're thankful to be alive.

<><>

It took hours for them to safely transport everyone, my family included, to a non-flooded area.

The cell service is back.

The second we got the chance, Mom called somebody and had them show up in a huge truck with a boat.

She insisted we all go, and we took our two person canoes, and canoed all the way across the Hamptons to Mom and Dad's.

The gate was broken down.

Mom bitched about that, but the ground is just puddles here, so we ditched the boats and walked up the driveway.

We pass the trees, and Mom lets out a horrified cry.

A tree fell, and the wind picked it up, and it feel right into the middle of the house, allthe way through to the first floor.

My sanctuary on the roof is gone.

Mom's room, everything.

The house is soaked.

It's ruined.

Nobody says anything.

Mom worships this house.

The look is pure horror.

"No, this is fake!" she shrieks, running across the soppy grass to the house.

She doesn't dare go inside.