Introduction
On August 25th, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall thirty miles northwest of Corpus Christi, Texas as a Category 4 storm. The first major hurricane to strike the United States coast since 2005, it would stall over Southeast Texas for four days, bringing record-setting rainfall and devastating flood to an area the size of Maryland. In just under ninety-six hours, Hurricane Harvey would drop forty inches on the city of Houston and its suburbs, making it not only the wettest tropical cyclone in US history, but tying it for first as the costliest, with estimated damages ranging upwards of $125 billion USD. By the time Harvey dissipated on September 2nd, 107 people lay dead and some 30,000 homes were severely damaged, with over 1,000 of these completely destroyed. It was a storm the people of Texas would never forget.
1.
August 25, 2017
Shannon
I wake up to thunder crashing overhead and the creak of a limb from the 100-year-old oak outside my bedroom window scratching against the pane. Already the rain has started, though for now it's no more than a light drizzle.
I lie there for a while, unmoving as I work to blink the sleep out of my eyes. The alarm clock on the bedside table reads just after 6:30 a.m.
How long had I been out? Three hours? Four? Not long enough, that much was for sure. I’d gone to bed well after midnight.
Oh well, I sigh to myself. Wasn't much I could do about it at the moment. Not if I didn't want to miss Kyle before he left for work.
With a deep, steadying breath, I push myself up, my weary bones cracking as I slide out from underneath the warm sheets. Outside, lightning flashes, for the briefest moment everything in the room painted a stark white. The day is just beginning to rise, though thanks to the coming storm, when the lightning fades, it’s nearly as dark as midnight.
In the darkness, I inch my way to the restroom, taking a couple of minutes before heading out to the kitchen for a cup of coffee to splash water on my face and examine myself in the mirror. The light is so bright I have to wait for my eyes to stop tearing up first.
Ugh, I think when I finally see myself. I look like death not only warmed over, but frozen and reheated a second time. Well, at least I knew Kyle wouldn't mind. As he liked to say, and like I sort of believed, I could be dressed in a paper bag and he'd still find me to be the most beautiful woman in all the world.
I sure hope he still thinks that when the two of you finally meet in person. What if he sees you and is disappoint—
No, I cut myself off vehemently. I promised myself I wouldn't think like that. I couldn't. It was hard enough as it were. To go down that path would make it unbearable. I had to believe that the man I'd been talking to every day for the last six months meant what he said, that he was as invested as I was. Besides, what did meeting someone in real life have to do with whether or not you were meant to be together? It's not like I didn't know what he looked like. We had spent more time talking on video chat in the last six months than I’d probably spent sleeping. It was obvious he liked what he saw!
Feeling a bit better, though I know the voice will return sooner rather than later, I shut off the bathroom light and pad down the dark hallway towards the front of my little trailer. As I enter the living room, a strong gust of wind, a preview of what is to come, shakes the house, the windows and the plywood over them rattling. Only one small square of the main living room window I’ve left uncovered and unprotected, and this so I can have a view of what's happening as Harvey moves in and hopefully quickly through.
I flick on the kitchen light. Two minutes and I have a pot of coffee brewing. It's nearing seven now. I have about ten minutes before I need to sign on. While I wait, I make myself a quick breakfast of wheat toast slathered in jam to go with my coffee. Everything ready, I go to the desk in my living room, plop down into my seat, and hit the power button on my laptop. By the time I finally get logged onto my messaging app not half a minute later, Kyle is already waiting. He’s early.
Hey beautiful, arrives his message the very next second. I've been waiting for you. How are you?
Fantastic now that I'm talking to you, I hurriedly type back. Can we video chat?
Of course we can, my darling. Call me!
Though I've talked by now to Kyle more times than I can count, as always my heart begins to pound as my computer dials his. He picks up on the third ring, his voice coming through a moment before his face materializes on the screen. He's already dressed for work, his heavy-duty work shirt buttoned to the neck, his hair still damp from his morning shower. At the sight of me, his face lights up with that smile I know so well, his teeth sparkling from within the midst of his close-clipped beard.
"Well, hello there," he says, raising his coffee mug into the air in cheers. "Top o' the morning to ya!"
"Good morning, my leprechaun,” I say, making sure to over-exaggerate the eye roll I give him. “You're rather chipper this morning, aren't you?"
"Of course I am. Just another day in paradise."
"Busy day?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary. Have to go out to Grapevine and install a few hundred yards of pipe. Should keep me and the boys busy until six or so. And you, how are you? You holding up okay?"
"I'm alright."
"You look pretty tired. Didn’t sleep so good, huh?"
"Not really. I ended up staying up until almost three. I couldn't stop worrying whether I'd boarded everything up properly."
As I say this, Kyle's face darkens.
"You know," he says quietly, "you really should have evacuated like everyone else, Shannon."
"You know I couldn't do that."
"I'm not so sure I know that. What I can say for sure is that my baby sure is stubborn. We both know it's not safe for you there.
“I know, I know,” he says, holding up a hand to stop me as I go to interrupt. “You're on some of the highest elevation in the county and your house has survived plenty of hurricanes before. It's just...baby, I don't know. I'm really worried. The weatherman this morning said already it's looking like Harvey is going to drop more rain than expected. The mayor called for more evacuations and—"
"I know, baby,” I interject. “I know you're worried. I promise I'm going to be okay. I hear you. I do. It's just...well, you already know why I'm staying. This place is the only home I've ever known. I can't bear the thought of leaving it to the elements. And my mother and I promised each other after the last big one that we'd never leave our home again. Remember what I told you happened, how the roof had leaked? If we had been here we could have plugged it. But we weren’t. And as a result my mother lost all sorts of precious mementos, things that had been in the family for a hundred years, well before her grandparents had immigrated from Czechoslovakia. I can't let that happen again. There’s so much stuff here I couldn’t bear to lose."
Kyle sighs. He knows there's no use in arguing.
"Well, at least I tried," he grumbles. "Just promise me, Shannon, you'll get out of there if things start getting really bad and you still have the chance."
"You know I will, babe."