PAVING THE ROAD TO MY FUTURE (Part 9b appended)

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This is the first part (of two) of the original story that I had shortened in Part 9b. At the request of "badside" I'm entering it here.
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Back in the early 50's there wasn't much news about hurricanes. Television for our area was minimal,at best, so most people relied on the radio. Because we were so far from the city we mostly listened to Connecticut stations from across the sound. If there was something important happening in the news I'd usually hear about it from the customers at the market. I'd heard a few people mention that there was a hurricane out in the Atlantic Ocean but there didn't seem to be much concern about it. It started raining on Saturday which meant no car races and, usually, a whole evening with Elle. Not this Saturday. She'd promised Nan to help her pack for her move. So I worked at the gas station. Sunday was another gloomy day. Even though it was raining we raced the sailboats anyway. It was a good day for me as I won both races and clinched the club championship. I was looking forward to celebrating with Elle but she was still at Nan's. Normally, I wouldn't have a second though about going over there but, with the way things were for the past few days between us, I decided against it. It was back to the gas station for me.

I've mentioned that the area where I lived was a Summer destination for many families. There were three types... owner occupied bungalows, seasonal (Memorial day to labor day) rentals and monthly rentals. The end of August was coming up on Tuesday and with two days of rain and more predicted, a number of them decided to pack up an leave early. My decision to go to the station was welcomed by the owner, Cliff, (who usually worked alone on Sunday nights). We probably waited on as many customers from 6pm to 9pm as we'd wait on any given weekday. Normally we'd close at 9pm but Cliff, asked me to stay for as long as there were customers. We had a small radio in the office but we were never in there long enough to hear anything important. It was almost 11pm when I couldn't see any headlights from either direction so turned out the lights to the sign. As I was closing up up I did hear that the hurricane, named Carol, (It was the first year for naming hurricanes.) was off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. I'd just been to North Carolina and, to me, it was a LONG way away. I went home and collapsed into bed.

My brother had spent the month of August at a camp in New Hampshire. My parents left Sunday morning to go pick him up and my Grandparents had come to "oversee" my comings and goings. I awoke to a dull "thump-thump-thump" outside my bedroom window. I looked outside and a small cedar tree was right there, leaning againt the house. I ran downstairs to see the bay all roiled up with white caps. I looked towards the East and could see some of the boats that were anchored out in the bay had sunk. Then, almost scaring me, I heard someone knocking at the door. It was a young teenaged girl who lived down the road. She'd come to tell me that my boat that I kept down at the creek had turned over. I took off on a dead run. I didn't notice how hard the rain was as I was running with the wind. But I found out when I got to the boat. With the wind, it hurt! I surveyed the situation and, wanting to salvage something, went about removing the mast. No sooner had I gotten it out when a gust of wind picked the boat up and started it tumbling across the sand. I picked up the mast and headed home feeling much sorrow for the loss of my boat. I've never felt rain hit me that hard before or after. It normally took five minutes to get from the creek to my house. It was easily 20 to 25 minutes as I struggled against the wind. As I got up to Elle's house I couldn't believe my eyes. There were three trees completely down and a lot of broken limbs. I'd only been gone a little more than an hour. I finally made it to my yard and deposited the mast along side the house. Then I collapsed on the porch.

All the wind noise had finally woken my grandparents and when they couldn't find me they went into a panic. My grandfather finally found me and it was, again, another toungue lashing for me not letting them know where I'd gone. But, those are the things you do when you're 17. Hurricane Carol turned out to be a living science lesson. The "eye" of the storm passed right over us. When it did the wind stopped and the sun came out. I remember it happeneing very fast. By then the tide had risen so far up that the road was covered. I was outside surveying all the damage to the yard when I saw some of the kids from the east end (the original strip poker kids) rowing a boat down the road. I went out to talk with them and saw Elle and her mother on her front porch. I made my way through the debris and to her house. They hadn't lost any trees but there were a lot of limbs down. I asked if she wanted to walk down to the creek with me to see if there was anything left of my boat. She said she'd get her camera. I remember that she was wearing jeans and her rolling her pants legs up. We hadn't made it past the next house before she was in knee deep water. I asked if she wanted to go back and she said "no". By the time we got to the last house before the creek the water was over my waist and almost up to her breasts. I found my boat filled with water and sand but relatively sound.

About then, things began to change. Almost like a light switch, it got dark and the wind returned but from the other direction. It took about 15 minutes to get back but by then it was raining again. I left Elle at her house and headed home. The lights were out and there was no telephone. My Grandparents were concerned because there really wasn't much food in the house. My parents had been expected back that day and my Grandparents were to head back to their home. We had no idea where my parents were and if they'd been caught up in the storm. It was about 5pm when the wind abated and we all went out to resurvey the damage again. When I went over to Elle's I found them (Elle, her mother and Nan) carrying buckets of water out from their cellar. Elle's Father, a fisherman, had gone to be with his boat even before daybreak and hadn't returned. I took a look in the cellar and told them to stop as there was no way for them to get the water out. It would have to be pumped out. I mentioned to Elle's mother about my Grandparents concern about food and she said that she'd done her weekly shopping and was sure she could spare some things until my parents arrived. The tide had gone out to the point that we could walk in the road again. A quick turn through the neighborhood only stood to reinforce our original sighting. It was a mess!

There was little anyone could do that night. The next morning the clean-up began. It was clear and cool. One of the major problems was that there were so many trees down and some of the larger ones were lying across the road. No one in the community had a chain saw so we were severely limited. The men gathered to tackle the trees in the road as best they could. That, at least, would give us access to town. The rest of us started clearing away the tree limbs that were covering our lawns. My Father and brother showed up around noon time. They had to walk over two miles, climbing over trees and limbs all the way. My Mother had decided to stay at my Grandparents house (even though they were still with me) when my Father stopped there to survey the damage at their house. I went over to Elle's and Elle, her mother and Nan were still working in their yard when I showed up. As I walked up I saw the three of them dragging this big tree limb off into the woods behind Elle's house. I waited for them but only Elle's mother and Nan came out. I started walking in when I heard Nan call out to me. I stopped and she told me that Elle didn't want to see me right then. My first thought was it had to do with the panties I'd given her. I gave Nan a funny look as to why and she, surprisingly, pointed to her crotch and then to Elle. I sort of laughed as Nan had been with Elle when they peed in the boat so I kept going towards her. I was a bit puzzled as she knew I knew about her situation but when I got almost up to her it was very obvious what had happened. All of the times I'd seen her wet she was in shorts. This time she was in jeans and she was wet to her ankles. I did my best not to look in that area and took her hand and led her out of the woods. I know she was embarassed but we got right back to work. I stayed and helped until they all stopped to get something to eat. What really surprised me was that her Mother never said anything about it because it was fairly noticable. What excited me. though, was that she continued to work in the wet clothes, ignoring the obvious. It was hard to keep my "bulge" under control. When I got back to my house my Father was upset that I'd gone off when there was so much to be done around our own house and, more or less, "grounded" me.

I later found out what had happened. With the storm had come high water (totally around Elle's house) and the septic system had become filled with sea water. That severely restricted toilet use. Elle had been putting off going but in straining to drag the limb into the woods she overdid it and had leaked. Once in the woods she just let it all go, not expecting to see anybody, especially me. The scolding I got from my Father was well worth it for the lasting memory of working side by side with her in peed in clothes. I never did find out why she never went in the house and changed.

A couple of men had managed to get up to town and had gotten a chain saw to cut the road blocking trees. My father had tried to describe the damage to the town itself but it took a first hand view to really grasp it. Eleven Maple trees that lined the Main road as you approached the town had been blown over and across the road. When they came down they tore down the power and telephone wires AND the poles that held them. There was only one road open to head West and that was reduced to one lane in some areas. It was about 7pm when we got to town and nothing was open. In looking in the window of the market where I worked it appered that the shelves were pretty much bare. My Father guessed that the owner had made it in to town earlier and opened up. Unless you could get to another person's house there was no way to communicate at all. There were probably 50 or so people there in the heart of town at that time and nobody had any idea what to do... so we headed back home.

To be continued...