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!