It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
All through the town the winds howled and the rains came down in
torrents as the storm pushed through the tiny village with
unrelenting and unrestrained fury. Moments earlier, what had
been an eerie calm, gave way to a sudden deluge and a rapid pick
up in wind intensity as the eye of the hurricane left and was
quickly replaced by the ferocious back side of the Category 4
killer. Electricity had been lost hours earlier as transformer
after transformer exploded and gave way to utter darkness.
Sergeant Robert Simmons laid in wait with members of his team
ready to exit the police station as soon as the winds dropped
below hurricane force. When the eye passed over, Simmons and his
team left the station long enough to see that the driveway was
blocked by a massive oak that had fallen during the height of
the storm. Special equipment would need to be brought in to
remove the tree and any calls for help would likely have to be
handled on foot as long as dangerous downed wires did not get in
the way.
With sun up approaching and the hurricane's strength showing no
sign of ebbing, Simmons and crew mapped out the day's strategy
in the dim light of the station's hurricane lamps. A hush fell
over the room as Simmons explained that the storm would likely
cause the most damage to the cottage homes located on the north
side of the town. Despite mandatory evacuation, Simmons new that
some of the residents refused to obey orders and were likely
trapped in their homes. Some even wondered if anyone would be
found alive, given the intensity of the winds combined with the
heavy rains. Certainly what the winds did not destroy, the
floods might have carried away.
By 7 a.m. the winds had eased enough to where Simmons and his
men could uncover the plywood panel protecting the door to step
outside and stand on the adjoining patio. With their backs to
the building and holding LED flashlights in their hands, the
officers waved their lights back and forth to survey the damage
at hand. Through the sheets of rains, the sight revealed downed
power lines and poles, roofing material on the front lawn, and
debris scattered everywhere. It would be at least an additional
half hour before Simmons would risk sending his men out to
explore the area.
Immediately across from the station was a house that had been
shuttered closed just hours before the storm arrived. The
Pearsons, an elderly couple whom the sergeant knew, had left
town to stay with relatives upstate, just far enough away to
escape the hurricane's direct hit. What the Sergeant saw next
stunned him as he realized that two sets of lights were shining
directly from the house, in the vicinity of the garage. Waving
his flashlight back and forth he seemed to attract the attention
of someone there as one set of lights blinked on and off and on
again.
"Those are fog lights you are seeing going on and off," reported
Detective Jack Odom, one of Simmons men. "Somebody is the house
and it looks like they are trying to flash an SOS!," he added.
Simmons instructed his remaining men to stay behind and,
together with Odom, they cautiously crisscrossed the station's
front yard climbing over the downed oak, jumping over fallen
power lines, and moving debris to the side obstructing their
path. As they drew closer, the sky lit up with lightning and the
men could momentarily make out the form of a man standing in the
open two car garage. Both vehicles were parked inside and the BMW fog lights and Volvo fog lights were on to help cut
a swath through the darkness.
After what had seemed like an eternity the officers made it to
the home where they found Mr. Pearson standing in the garage.
"What are you doing here?" shouted Sergeant Simmons over the now
gale force winds. "I thought that you had evacuated?" "We did,
but we had to return home soon after we left to retrieve my
wife's heart medicine. She forgot it and when...oh, never mind
she is upstairs... Come quickly, I think she may still be
alive!" The three men entered the house through the garage and
went to the living room where they found Mrs. Pearson slumped
over on the sofa. A solitary candle lit the room and even in the
deep shadows everyone could see that the elderly woman's skin
was blue due to a lack of oxygen. Touching her neck, Odom found
a faint pulse and immediately the sergeant began CPR. Within
moments, Mrs. Pearson let out a faint cough and her chest began
to rise and fall with renewed vigor.
It was more than an hour before help arrived in the form of a
makeshift Hummer ambulance that soon whisked Mrs. Pearson off to
the hospital. A shaken, but grateful Mr. Pearson thanked the
officers for their help, but the sergeant replied, "You should
thank God and be glad that you have fog lights on your car. If
the storm hadn't died down we wouldn't have stepped outside and
if you hadn't turned on your
fog lights we would have not seen a thing through the
darkness. Your wife will be okay, so go with her and we'll lock
everything up before we leave."