Chapter One
I didn't see her until I was about fifty yards away. I was walking slightly uphill, so my head was down. When I did see her I stopped involuntarily. She was standing on the edge of the road at her garden entrance, at least I assumed it was her garden. It was bordered by those two-wire fences so common in the States. It was fairly untidy as gardens go, the small shrubs needed pruning and the lawn was so bare it was only just about right to give it that name. She was petite, dark-haired and slim but well-proportioned. I could tell that because she was standing against the afternoon light which was shining through her thin dress silhouetting her body beautifully.
I walked closer so I could see her more clearly. She was lovely. Her face was oval, her nose small and slightly upturned, her lips straight and red. I was instantly attracted.
"Good evening, miss", I ventured
"Mrs.", she answered, "And it don't look so good to me." She had a strong southern accent.
"Sorry, Ma'am," I replied, noticing that her eyes, dark and gorgeous, were fixed on the horizon behind me. For the first time I noticed that the quality of light was very strange. The air was superclear; there was a yellowish tinge to everything. I looked behind me. I took a sharp breath. On the south-western horizon was a huge mass of cloud stretching from east to west. It was blue- black at the base going greenish-yellow higher up. There were visible lightning flashes within it and the world under it was already obscured by rain.
"Wow! It looks like we're in for a storm, ma'am".
"That ain't no storm. That there is a hurricane!" She pronounced it hoo-ricane.
"I'd better get on then. Is there a hotel in town, ma'am?"
"There's more'n one. But won't do you no good, the town's been evacuated. Everyone's gone."
"Except you!"
"Ain't got nowhere to go."
I could see now that she was very frightened, she was trembling and her eyes had widened.
"Perhaps you'd better go in, ma'am. Is your husband coming to help you?"
"I sure hope not. He's been dead and buried a year." (She pronounced it "daid"!)
"Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am."
"I ain't. He was a mean son-of-a-bitch." She said this quite casually as though she were discussing the weather.
"I still think you should go inside, ma'am."
"What about you? Where y'all gonna go?"
"I'll find shelter somewhere, ma'am, don't worry."
"Shelter from a hurricane? I don't think so. Y'all better come in." I didn't argue. The thought of sitting out a hurricane in the open was not a pleasing one. Sitting one out with this lovely woman was, though.
I followed her into her house, a small, single-storey block-built place set in what we in the UK would call a large plot, but average sized for around here.
Perhaps I'd better give you some more information about myself here. I'm British, from Totnes in Devon, 28 years old, a carpenter by trade. I left school at 18 with no desire to go to University or for a career in business. I just wanted to work with wood. I talked my way into a job with a local carpenter who worked very traditionally. It was a very good grounding. After a couple of years I moved on to a more modern outfit which trained me up to a higher standard, not cabinet-maker standard perhaps but definitely higher than your average chippie. After a couple more years and a personal crisis which I'll leave until later in this narrative I left England and travelled. By the time of this story I'd been travelling around the States for over a year, working my way around the country in an RV. So far I'd travelled south down the East Coast, slowly. I'd reached Greensboro, Alabama heading for Montgomery. I'd pulled into a motel for the night, for a change from camping, and gone to a local bar for a meal and drinks. Foolishly I'd had too many beers and upset some locals. They didn't do anything there and then but they followed me next day until I was out of town, stopped me and at gunpoint took my RV which contained my tools and all my belongings. They left me my wallet, cell phone and passport, so I had cards and some cash. I had money in the bank for when I needed it. They didn't harm me physically, so I hoped they'd leave my vehicle somewhere up the road. After they drove off, I began walking. Some hours later, with no sign of my RV I approached Marion, a small town, or city as they insist on calling it here, on the road to Selma. And there, tired, hungry but philosophically accepting that you shouldn't get involved in political arguments in a foreign country I met the love of my life.
"I don't know what to do," the woman almost wailed as I entered the kitchen.
"I'd suggest putting on the TV, ma'am. Let's see what the situation is and how long we've got before it hits."
The local TV station was broadcasting nothing but the approaching hurricane. It gave us perhaps two hours before the storm hit. I suggested that she start putting breakable things on the floor, and after that to fill every available container with water.
"You think we're gonna catch fire?"
"No, ma'am. But it's likely the mains water will be off for some days. The electricity too. Do you have candles?"
"No, I ain't. I got nothin'. I ain't never been in no hurricane before. I come from further north where they never reach. I'm frightened."
"This is a good solid house, ma'am. We'll be fine. The hurricane itself will only last a few hours. Do you have any tools?" I sounded very knowledgeable, I hoped, but I was just making things up to reassure her. I had no idea what would happen in a hhurricane.
"There's some sort of stuff like that in the shed. It ain't locked."
I encouraged her to start on the things I'd suggested then I went out to the shed. There were a few general tools there and some large sheets of plywood. I was able to shutter off the windows of the house facing South and West, the direction I believed the winds would come from. I found a camping stove and a couple of gas cylinders in the shed also. I didn't fancy the shed's chances in the hurricane; it was quite rickety. I threw a couple of ropes over it and tied them down to wooden stakes I hammered into the ground. There was also a tarpaulin in the shed. I considered putting it on the roof, but decided it might be more use after the blow. The house roof was shingled; I guessed there would be some damage. After fetching the car keys I moved her car into the lee of the house.
I couldn't see any more to be done outside, so I went back into the kitchen.
She was filling things with water as I'd suggested.
