Chapter 2

Before Kate Windsor reached her campervan, the darkness was lit up by a blinding flash; a bolt of lightning! Then came a bone-shuddering clap of thunder! The Diner block had been hit and began to burn! The wind continued to batter the place and Kate was transfixed as she witnessed a part of the diner collapse!

She saw some people coming away from the mess of the building too! She made her way toward a small group of people who had gathered there. One of them was Winston, a tall well-built black native, “Have you any folk still in there Ma’am?” he called to Kate!

“No! No, I don’t; I’m here on my own; but is there some folks still in there?”

“Well, I’m not sure Ma’am! But I’m Winston; assistant manager of the Diner; I gotta see people are safe!”

“My name’s Kate; can I do anything to help here at all Winston?” yelled Kate.

The big black man smiled at her accent, “Er, you a Limey, Kate?”

Kate stared saying, “Well, a Lesbian ... dose it matter?”

Winston stared back; “Hhu, well, if you can get through to emergencies on your phone, I would really appreciate it Kate; I’m stranded here for now! Ask for any help they can give us; Ok!”

“Shure thing; my phone’s in the camper; come-on Guy!”...

Kate had learned from her efforts on the phone that Grand Bemuda was in a state of emergency; that any help would be a long time coming! Some places on the Island were already devastated and more was expected before the storm was finished. The advice she was given boiled down to hunkering down as best as possible and hoping for the best until the hurricane passed on. Kate left Guy in the Van and went out to tell Winston what she’d learned.

The storm had calmed slightly, and she found him near the Diner with a few others who were stood sombrely round a recovered body of a woman; and now laid out on the ground?

Kate learned from Winston that the woman had been killed by a falling beam when the lightning had struck the Diner, and the group gloomily established she had arrived earlier in the day with her teen daughter; who had not yet been found? Winston wearily thanked Kate for her assistance and she pointed out where she was parked in case her needed her. She was also bushed and returned to her Van to be with Guy.

It had been a hell of a day; what with the storm; oh and strangling that girl! Yet the rocking of the Van due to the wind, had the effect of sending her to sleep; as if in a nursery cradle.

It was the tapping on the door of the Van the following morning which eventually bought Kate from her slumber; to find it was Winston once again needing her help! He looked as stressed as ever; she asked him in and put the coffee on. Inside the Van his big black frame seemed to take up lots of space.

“I’ve traced the dead woman’s teenage daughter; but I’ve been sparred having to inform her of her mother’s death.”