7 • Continued from previous page the bed and nestled next to his greatgranny. Christine and I scrambled behind Chelsea and Tishan into the safe room with only enough time to slam the door behind us before we heard what sounded like a massive explosion. In one fell swoop everything north of that room, including the two bedrooms and the living room, was no longer standing and the daylight previously shut out by hurricane shutters, walls and a roof poured in. The house was an open sepulchre. There was no time to take in what was happening around us, only time to save our lives. We put Mom and Micah as far back in the room as possible and immediately threw ourselves up against the doors. I held one door while Chelsea, Tishan and Christine all pressed against the other door which faces the north. With the rooms beyond it gone, the door was taking the full force of Irma’s winds. Peeping through the louvred door into the kitchen, I watched as the wind and rain joined forces to completely trash our home. Nothing remained in its place; even heavy bookshelves were hurled around like matchboxes. The two doors to the safe room (taken months after Hurricane Irma). Chelsea, Tishan and Christine pressed up against the solid wood door at the left which faces the north while Diane held the louvered door at right which offered a view into the kitchen. Credit: Kamaal Lettsome, November, 2017. Not satisfied with the havoc she wreaked in every other room in the house, Irma wrestled ruthlessly to get into our safe room. I could feel the interior Credit: Kamaal Lettsome, November 2017 (taken months after Hurricane Irma and clean-up. sheetrock wall of the room vibrating violently. I remember standing in fear that the wall would fall in and crush us. I looked across at Chelsea and she was shaking like a leaf. Somehow, she said I managed to appear calm. I think she described best how we all felt in that moment; “That level of fear is equivalent to being held at gunpoint!” Completely helpless and fearful for our lives we did the only thing that we could. We each prayed out loud, crying out to God for mercy and help. For as long as Irma raged on we kept our prayers up and we worshipped without ceasing. Then, in answer to prayer, the eye came. The winds died down and we relaxed our hold on the doors. We were in ankledeep water and knew we had to get out. We simply couldn’t stay there for round two and we didn’t know how much time we had. The girls rushed ahead to scope out an escape plan while Christine and I figured out how to get Mom out safely. We climbed over mounds of rubble that represented our lives and out the front. The vehicles could offer no help; they were pinned in by a section of roof. Tishan suggested we try to find a neighbour on the street who might just be checking on others while it was safe to do so. We each had a “to go” bag packed with important documents and that’s all we took. Again, Chelsea expressed it well; “In that moment you realise you only have two hands and so you can only take two things. It’s a reality check. You are forced to ask, ‘What are the two most important things to me?’” She took her son and her • Continues on next page
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