First Day in the Caribbean - DiveShop 05

Rick spoke first. "Lessee—ah, here it is!" and he flipped on a flashlight, bathing the room in dim light that would have been romantic except for the storm howling outside rattling the plywood.

Karen headed for the candles and lit several. Rick switched on the lantern. Nobody felt much like continuing the bridge game, but there wasn't much else to do. Everyone made desultory remarks about the storm, and Rick peeked out through a space he had left on the edge of the store window. It was completely dark. He shined his flashlight through the space and revealed horizontal rain with occasional debris flying or tumbling by. The weather monitor had indicated close to a direct hit. This meant the wind would be blowing mostly straight down their street until the eye of the storm, then it would blow up the street. Neither direction was directly against the front of the building, but the wind still rattled the plywood. Rick was glad he hadn't spared the nails.

"See anything?" Roy's voice near his ear startled him.

"Take a look," Rick handed him the flashlight, and Roy peered out. "Worse than what we get in Alabama, that's for sure. Reminds me of when my wife looses her temper!"

"You better watch out or I'll lose my temper in here, mister Janks. And we ain't got no plywood for that!" She pretended to look fierce.

"Yes, my dear," Roy smiled back. "Since there isn't anything else to do, maybe we should continue our game, eh?" He seated himself, "Um, where were we?"

The game picked back up, and Rick decided to see if he could find something to do in the shop. He put away a few things, stared into the blackness on the other side of the garage door window, and thought about what civic cleanup might await them tomorrow. Eventually he roamed back into the main room and idly watched the card players. The noise of the storm made it hard to carry on a conversation, and when that rubber was over, they quit playing. Karen pulled out some food and passed it around.

"Do you think we'll be able to get back into our store?" queried Giuseppe.

"Maybe," said Rick, but you'll get soaking wet in about one second, and the wind is something fierce. Both of our doors open into the wind, so they won't blow open. If we can even get them open." Rick looked thoughtful. "If you can wait a few hours, the wind will stop when the eye hits, and you can get back then." Rick experimentally pushed open the door a few inches. The howling seemed to triple, rain blew in, and it was obvious that Rick was pushing fairly hard to keep the door open that much. He let the door shut.

Dominic yawned. "Maybe we should try to go there now anyway? Yes? I think these nice people are staying up because they have company, and it's pretty late."

"I'm not sure we could sleep anyway with all that carrying on outside," said Mrs. Janks, and then she yawned.

Karen said, "well, we have lots of soft things on the wetsuit racks. Why don't we improvise something? My parents have a spot up stairs, Rick likes the door, I have my office, and you two can sleep in the pah-lah by the clothing."

With Rick and Karen's help, they arranged makeshift sleeping pads for the two brothers, and everyone tried to settle down.

The storm really was more of an inconvenience than a danger so far, but Rick worried about Gus and Bill.

About 3 AM Rick was awakened by the silence. They had taken the full brunt of the storm and the eye was overhead. He got up and nudged the two Italians to see if they wanted to try for their store.

Dominic was already awake, and he whacked his brother on the head. "Get up, you bum. It's safe to go back."

Giuseppe shook his head rapidly. "Momma Mia! You coulda just poked me!" and he dragged himself up.

Rick shook his head slowly. "I can sure tell you're brothers," he grinned. The three of them restored the wet suits to their hangers and headed for the door.

Except for distant flickers of lightning, it was pitch dark outside, and eerily quiet. He waved the flashlight left and right. Debris cluttered the street. He looked up. The moon was not visible, but stars were! The Milky Way spangled across the sky almost bright enough to cast a shadow. Rick couldn't help but stare at the sky while Giuseppe unlocked their door. With goodbyes and profuse thanks, they went inside.

Rick turned around to go back, and ran into Karen! She had deliberately placed herself too close, which Rick didn't mind a bit. "So. Ever kiss in the eye of a hurricane?" he asked.

"I wanna do more than that, but I don't think we'll get away with it. You brave man, you," And she put her arms around his neck and ground herself into him while they kissed.

They decided to walk around and look over the area. It turned out that only two stores hadn't covered their windows, and both had blown in, a coffee shop and a realty office, both small. They turned inland toward the residential districts, and the buildings there didn't fare as well. They saw several damaged and missing roofs. Some buildings had walls missing. Rick could make out part of his apartment building; that much of it looked okay. At least the roof appeared to be in place. Trees had fallen everywhere, sometimes onto things, and most branches on the standing trees were bare. Power poles and lines criss-crossed the roads. A few other people were also roaming around, and reported essentially the same things Rick and Karen were seeing. It looked discouraging; lots of work lay ahead.

A breath of air stirred. "We better get back inside. It's gonna start up again." As they headed back in, they spotted Mom and Dad standing at the doorway. "Come quick and look," Rick said. You have maybe a minute before it starts to blow again," and he led them out to admire the sky.

Rick pointed out a few stars and constellations, then shined the flashlight up toward the east, and they could just make out a wall of clouds nearly overhead. Rick could hear a muffled roaring. "Let's get inside!" They shut the door, and a few seconds later the storm picked up as suddenly as it had stopped half an hour before.

"You sure don't see that in Alabama," Roy said.

"It even beats my temper!" Mom agreed, to chuckles from her hubby.

Karen had turned on the lantern and was setting out some munchies. "Our Italian friends left the last of their wine," she said as she poured a spot into some paper cups. "Let's toast the storm!"

They lifted their cups to multiple cries of "To the storm!"

Karen's parents thanked Rick for the astronomy lesson and shuffled back upstairs. Rick and Karen sat down to the munchies.

Rick said, "Last time I was able to look, the boat still wasn't in its slip. I'm worried." They exchanged concerned looks. "I'm frustrated that we don't know and can't do anything about it. And we can't help."

"Yet." Karen tossed back the last of her wine. "Let's make a trip to the terminal our first order of business when we can get out."

Rick glanced at the window and saw that the crack was getting lighter. Dawn was starting. He got up and looked out. "What a mess! I don't see any broken windows, but nobody'll be driving down the street for a while. I hope we'll be able to walk it!"

Karen came to look. Rick was just too nervous about the parents to show the affection he wanted to, and apparently Karen was, too. They kept a chaste distance and presently they heard the shop door.

Roy said, "Couldn't sleep. Y'all see anything?"

They turned. Karen offered, "Come and look. I'd say it looks like Mom went on a rampage, but that's your joke." She moved aside so her dad could look out.

"I don't suppose we can peek out through the door, can we?" he asked.

Rick shrugged. "We could, but the door would come off. The wind's blowing the other direction and it would take it right off its hinges. Not to mention what the door would do flying down the street."

"Hmm. Guess we're stuck in here for a while longer, then," Roy muttered.

Karen joined in. "It's not all bad, Dad. I enjoy your company."

"Well then come back to Alabama with us."

Karen gave him a dark look. "Not a chance. Too hard to run a dive shop in Mobile." She gave him a patronizing smile. "But thanks for offering."

Rick got a couple shop towels out of the back and sopped up the puddle of water by the door. "I wonder how our next door friends are faring," Rick wondered.

"Let's don't try to find out."

To kill time, they had a leisurely breakfast. Finally the storm faded enough to chance going out. Rick bundled up in his rain gear, promised to be back in less than five minutes, and cautiously opened the door. It didn't pull out of his hands, and he slipped out without opening it any farther than necessary. Four minutes later he returned. "It's about like what we saw during the eye, only a little worse. Pretty soon we should be able to go out if you don't mind wind and rain."

"Not much we can do, though, is there?" asked Roy.

"Probably not, but before long I need to go up to the terminal and check on some things."

They finished off the coffee Karen had managed to heat on a tiny alcohol stove scrounged from the store inventory. "I got this emergency stuff as impulse purchase items for customers with more money than they knew what to do with. Came in handy, huh?"

Everyone was a coffee drinker, and they all agreed.

Eventually it became obvious that the storm was letting up. The wind had changed to gusts, and the gusts were getting weaker. Rain had devolved to windblown mist. Rick decided it was time to do a serious reconnoiter. "If you folks want to do anything outside, you can probably haul debris up to the curb at the intersection. Start making it possible for vehicles to get through."

Rick headed out, and Karen and her parents went out and started doing some cleanup.

When Rick got to the terminal, his heart sank. Gus and Bill's slip was still empty, as he had feared. Most of the sailboats had either broken their moorings and been blown ashore, or they had capsized. His workplace was undamaged, though, and Anthony appeared while Rick was still there.

"Let's go check out the harbor," He said, squinting toward the sea. "Give ourselves some idea of what's in store for us, eh?"

They opened the shop and pulled out a skiff and dragged it to the launch. Anthony fired up the outboard motor and they cautiously headed into the bay. They surveyed the shore, counting wrecks, and passed by some of the capsized boats.

Suddenly Rick grabbed Anthony to get his attention. "Go over to that one. I think someone's underneath!"

Anthony turned the boat. "What makes you think so?"

"I saw a running board move."

They pulled up to the boat and shut off the motor. Rick rapped on the hull. They got a weak rap in reply. Rick immediately dove into the water. Anthony thought he could hear some muffled sounds, then the running board moved strongly four times. A few seconds later Rick surfaced, holding onto a very scared and tired boy. They lifted him onto the boat where he lay on the bottom sobbing with relief. Rick pulled himself in and they headed for shore. "I see some people over there; they should be able to help." He pointed toward the pier.

"So young man," Rick asked, "How did you happen to be on that boat? Say! Aren't you the kid from the bakery?"

Still sobbing, the boy nodded. "I-I saw that movie where the-that guy rode out a-a hurricane on his shrimp boat an-and I thought I'd try it."

Rick rolled his eyes. "I hate to tell you this, but that was a hollywood movie. Do your parents know where you are?"

"N-no, and please don't tell them. I'll really get into trouble."

"I think they'll find out whether or not I tell them, and yes, you're going to get into a whole boatload of trouble. They'll probably kill you after they finish hugging and kissing you."

The boy smiled a shaky little smile.

They pulled up to the pier amid cheers and clapping, and eager helping hands. "I got the whole thing on video!" Exclaimed a man.

"How could you even tell what was going on?" Rick asked.

"You guys were the only thing moving and this thing has a pretty good zoom." The man held up his camera for inspection.

It quickly became obvious that the boy was basically all right, and a lady offered to make sure he got home okay.

Rick cautioned her, "Be sure to tell his folks he should get looked at by a doctor. He's been under there a long time and he's pretty tired. He managed to stack some cushions on the ceiling of the cabin so he was mostly out of the water, but he still might have hypothermia."

Someone found something to throw over his shoulders and they headed for his home.

The pier was mostly undamaged, and the boats in their slips showed scrapes and a couple had sunk, but it looked like the storm had concentrated its marine damage farther out. Rick walked over to Gus and Bill's slip to be sure it didn't have a sunken boat in it. It was empty.

Heart heavy, he figured he should head back to give Karen the news. And he'd get to work helping clear the streets.

Anthony stopped him. "Hey we're not done looking over the shoreline over yet. Why don't we finish?" So they spent the next hour putt-putting along the shore of the rest of the bay. It was more of the same, wrecked boats along the shore and capsized or sunk ones still at their moorings. Only three sailboats seemed to have survived the storm more or less intact.

When they finished, Anthony sent him off, "You head back—I'm gonna do some cleanup around the shop."

Rick got back to the dive shop and reported about the destruction and that the slip was empty, then they had to explain to the Janks about their friends. He made only passing reference to the boy's rescue: "They found a kid in a boat, but he was okay. They took him home." Karen looked at him, but held her peace.

Karen and her folks had taken down the plywood, and they and the two Italians had managed to clear some of the street. Rick pitched in, and the six of them plus a couple from another store managed to clear enough of a path that vehicles could get through. A couple more people came out down the street, but Rick and Karen figured most of the population were working on their residences. At one point a squad car came through and the officer told them the electricity would be coming on soon, part of the town at a time; and a dozen or so fatalities so far, mostly people in buildings that had collapsed.

Just as the policeman started to pull away, they were approached by a trio walking purposely toward them, a couple and a child.

Rick recognized the boy, and thought "uh-oh."

The woman ran the last several steps and threw her arms around Rick, weeping and repeating "thank you thank you" over and over, and the man shook his hand vigorously. The boy hung back a little.

Karen put two and two together and smiled, and her folks looked on, mystified. The policeman looked out his window, puzzled.

"I'm sure anyone else would have done the same," muttered Rick.

The mother looked around, not sure whom to address. "You people must be proud to know such a brave man." When she saw the puzzled looks, she continued, "Didn't he say anything? He saved Charlie's life!" and went on to describe her version of the rescue, adding details that increased the danger and difficulty of the event.

Everyone stood around open mouthed, except Rick, who looked embarrassed.

"Some guy got the whole thing on video," Charlie offered.

Roy looked at Rick with new appreciation. "I was beginning to think you're all right, but I guess I underestimated. I'm proud to know you!" and he shook Rick's hand.

Rick said, "Really, anybody would have done it, and the boy was smart enough to stack some cushions so he could get out of the water. It wasn't all that big a deal." He turned to Charlie's parents. "Your son is a brave young man. And I'm glad you didn't murder him when he got home. We liked the cookies he brought." He smiled a little.

The dad looked stern. "Well, he's pretty grounded for a while. We still have to figure out some community service or something."

"You could have me bake these guys some more cookies," Charlie suggested.

His dad snorted.

Roy looked at Karen and nodded his head toward Rick. "He's a keeper. Hang onto him."

Karen hugged her dad. "I'll try to keep the other dive shops from stealing him."

The policeman got a few details, and left to continue his rounds. By now it was dark. Electricity hadn't been restored yet, and once again the sky was magnificent. Rick loaned the family his flashlight and they headed back to the bakery. Everyone else said their goodbyes, too, and retreated for the night.

Rick and Karen settled into two chairs just outside the dive shop window. Karen said, "I can hear Dad snoring already. They had a long day. I hope they won't be too sore in the morning."

"Yes, that was heavy-duty work for an accountant. Your mom seemed to be pretty bushed, too. I imagine you're not too well-rested yourself," he looked at her sideways.

"What about you? You did at least as much work as anybody else, besides pulling that kid out from under that sailboat." She smiled at him. "You're everybody's hero, by the way."

He ignored the 'hero' remark. "Nah, I feel pretty good. I'm used to hard work."

"So you're saying everybody's tired except you?"

"Well, it occurred to me that I haven't been over to my apartment yet to check on things. I should go take a look. You could take a nap so if your parents wake up, you'll be here." In spite of himself, Rick looked disappointed.

"Well, come back if it's not habitable, okay?" She got up, ostensibly to hit the sack, and Rick headed for his flat.

He opened his door and flashed the flashlight around. The place wasn't quite a disaster. The building was sound, apparently. He had been wise to move his things out of the worst of the danger zones—one window pane had broken and a fair amount of water had blown in, even though the window hadn't faced directly into the wind. A stick on the floor betrayed the storm's technique. He picked up the stick, idly tapped his hand with it a couple times, and set it on the table. Then he took his towel and began sopping up the puddle-covered floor, wringing it out when it got full. It was a discouraging, lonesome job, but he was making progress.

Someone knocked. It was Karen, his sleeping bag tucked under an arm. "I left a note saying you had forgotten your sleeping bag and was taking it to you, and I'd be right back." She grinned, "if I get back before they see the note, they'll be none the wiser! And if they see the note, I have an excuse!" She moved closer, face up, batting her eyelashes.

"Aren't you the devious plotter," he said, taking her in his arms, relishing the feel of her next to him. When they stopped kissing, he said, "there's a dry spot over there.Want to see what it's like on the floor?"

"Let me lay it out." She set the bag down, then stood in front of him and took off her top, smiling. Then she pulled off her sports bra, and stretched, giving him a wonderful view of her already pretty wonderful view. "Ah! What a relief to get that thing off!" Then, still smiling at him, she unfastened her shorts and wiggled her hips as she worked them down to her ankles. Still looking up at him, she bent over and stepped out of them.

It was all Rick could do not to grab her and ravish her on the spot.

Then she picked up the sleeping bag and slowly unfastened the ties, as if they were on a garment. She turned away from him and bent over to unroll the bag, making sure he could see her behind. She turned her head back and smiled invitingly. Then she plopped down on her back on the "bed," knees spread. "Oof! It's hard!" She scowled.

"Might be better if you used me for a mattress," he suggested, unfastening his clothes as he moved toward her.