Chapter Three
Disaster!
It was four-forty-five in the morning when Arthur Collins was
woke by the sound of screeching fire alarms. His young wife
screeched in a panic.
"Calm down!" Arthur screamed, "Calm down! Grab
your bathrobe, get down the hall, and out the exit. I'm going to
see what's wrong."
"No!" his wife screamed, "No. Come with me."
Arthur slapped her hard, across the face. "Go!" he
screamed again.
As tears ran down his wife's cheeks she ran out the door. Arthur
was not a man pleased at being rudely awakened. He was not a man
pleased with much of anything. His tremendous wealth and
political power brought him little joy. It was he who had
arranged with the government for the building of the bridges and
tunnels that now made the three large islands off Cape Glouster
easily accessible. It was also him who before anyone had known
the project was coming, had bought up all the most valuable land
on the islands. He intended to increase his net worth
considerably by selling the parcels off to his land hungry
friends to the south. Many of the locals were already complaining
about the way he did things. But he was so influential and
powerful no court in Canada would ever dare prosecute him. He was
untouchable, and he knew it.
The irritating smell of sulfur reached his nose as his aide,
Parsons, rushed up.
"Where's the fire?" Collins screamed.
"There isn't one, sir," the aide answered. It's the
damnedest thing! There's cracks in the basement floor and the
smoke is coming up through them."
Arthur sniffed again. "I'm going to get dressed," he
remarked, "have my helicopter warmed up. I'm leaving."
"Yes, sir," his aide answered, as there was a low
rumble, and the floor began to vibrate.
"Hurry up!" Arthur screamed.
They were the last words he ever spoke. Moments later his lavish
estate house and the rest of Tonomi Island were a cloud of super
heated ashes, ascending thousands of feet into the air. The
rumble of the blast shook Cape Glouster but it was only the first
shaking. Barely had the ground settled, than the REAL shock wave
hit.
The ground rolled up and down in three successive waves. When the
ground finally came to rest there was little of Cape Glouster
left!