The Whirlwind

When Renee came to the island, she was married. When Chris came many years later, he was also married. They were not married to each other, but they did live on the same street, and on the same island. They noticed each other over the years as their lives unfolded; but surprisingly, they were strangers. They were too busy in the whirlwind of their lives to become anything but neighbors with cultural differences.

Renee came across an ocean and from a land where life was simple and people knew how to please each other. She came from a place where people knew their boundaries. Chris came across the same ocean and from a land not far from where Renee was born, but Chris was haunted by the mistakes of previous generations who had trouble keeping their boundaries. Chris was determined to work away any of the mistakes that might cast shadows on his past, but all he did was work himself out of a marriage.

Renee was warm and wonderful in almost every way, but over the years, her husband wanted more than a simple lifestyle could offer. She worked hard for what she believed but when the great ocean of time began a new tidal change, Renee fell into shock when she came home and found a note instead of a husband.

Chris worked three jobs because he felt he had to. Money was the answer to most conquests, Chris believed, so for him, time spent not working was foolish, and a waste of time. Chris’s wife after more than a decade began to agree; and she began working her way out of a marriage that had lost every thrill. When Chris came home and found an empty house with empty closets, he was not surprised when he also found a note that set his whirlwind turning. 

For more than a year Renee and Chris lived alone in their houses on the same street on the same tropical island. They were both lonely and far from their birthplaces, but they were still too busy to find each other as more than passing neighbors with grandparents that hated each other.

When the weather forecasters began tracking the storm in September, everyone on all of the islands began to watch, worry, and seek advice. At first, the storm track led the cyclone to the north, but as the advancing days began to merge into nights of fear, uncertainty, and unrest, the approaching monster moved closer. This was when almost all the islanders had a difference of opinion on what to do, but this was when Renee and Chris began to search the emptiness of their lives for what had gone wrong. 

The day before the most vicious hurricane in 60 years was due to arrive, all the houses on all of the islands were suddenly under a notification of mandatory evacuation. As most of the people in the neighborhood began to gather outside and load up their vehicles in a frenzy, Renee and Chris stood alone on their street, in front of their empty homes, and remembered each other as neighbors.

After Chris gave a cautious wave and Renee waved back, a gust of wind driven rain tore down the street and both fled inside for shelter.

The outer bands of the hurricane began to reach the shore and attack the islands about midnight, but by three in the morning, the winds of the cyclone were screaming over the street and everything that could move became part of the whirlwind.

Shortly after the electricity was taken by a squall that shook the timbers of the roof, Renee heard a pounding on the door at the front of her house. When the howling wind opened the door more than she intended, Chris was aglow with a storm lantern and a bright yellow raincoat. He was soaking from his hair to the flip-flops on his feet, and it seemed he was holding a miracle because the flame in his lantern was still burning.

“I came to check on you.” Chris had to be loud over the storm,” I think we are the only ones on the street.”

“I think so too!” Renee replied over the wind and the slashing rain. Although she was inside, she was wearing a raincoat and holding a flashlight. “How long have you been alone?”

Chris shook his head. “Too long,” he shouted. “Can I come in?”

“Of course,” she moved out of the way. “I’ve been waiting for you. I was praying for you, but I thought the roof was coming off before you got here!”

“I’ve been thinking about you too,” Chris offered, “But for much longer than this storm. Let’s forget about the past and whatever our grandparents fought about.” 

When the storm was peaking, Chris and Renee were huddled in the lamplight and sharing their stories. After a weak sunrise with low scudding clouds and sheets of rain that were finding ways through the windows, Renee and Chris began to realize that the whirlwind was bringing something unexpected. 

When the water began coming down the street and covering the pavement and the grass, the new couple stood in their raincoats side by side. After the water was in the garage, the couple fought together against the tide - with duct tape, towels, and buckets and mops - until they could fight no longer and the water began coming into the house. When they were together in the flood, and the wind, and the tragedy for thousands that was happening all around them, there was suddenly something more. There was an obvious new page and a new chapter, and enough to get through any episode of Mother Nature’s mischief or any whirlwind from the past or the future.

Renee and Chris’ grandparents might have had reason to fight each other as so many did during the tragedy of war for the Greatest Generation, but the boundaries of the past and the limits of the future will always be wrecked by a whirlwind of the heart.

Renee and Chris have been steadfast friends of the Marco Beach Boys and Girls for many years. They both lost their houses to Hurricane Ian, but they now live together in a newly remodeled home and are planning their wedding vows for this Valentine’s Day.