AN ADVENTURE IN MAINE!

This is a series about a bizarre vacation that takes place in Maine.

AN ADVENTURE

IN MAINE.

By Dick Clifford.

PART ONE.

“FIRE WRECKS

  THE START.”

After driving 2 hours from a hot and humid Boston, Dave Kelly, his wife Danielle, and their daughter Fiona Maggie, find themselves in beautiful downtown Periwinkle Point, Me., located just south of the town of Wells.  Their summer home is located just a few steps from the beach.  Just across the street is a small grocery store that sells beer and wine.

“Well,” Dave says, “we’re here.” 

“I can’t believe it,” Danielle says.  “It’s still hot as blazes.”

“Come on, Danielle,” Dave says, “let’s get these things into the house.”

As they take in their belongings, Fiona starts crying.

“Is that you, Figgie?” Danielle asks. 

Fiona Maggie, known in this tale as Figgie, is only a year and 2 months old.  Danielle takes her out of her car seat and brings her inside.  Figgie starts to babble something.

“Are you okay?” Dave asks.

“I think she needs a diaper change,” Danielle muses.  She takes out her diaper bag and brings her over to a nearby table to change her.  As they unpack their luggage, thunder is heard in the distance.

“Looks like a storm’s coming up,” Dave "I hope not,” Danielle says.  “Figgie’s scared of thunder.”  Suddenly, it begins to rain heavily.

“Well,” Dave says, “so much for summer weather.”

After they finish unpacking, they settle into the living room where they turn on the TV to the local news station.

“The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for all of Southern and Southeastern Maine until 6:30 p.m.,” the meteorologist on TV warns.  “These areas will also experience locally heavy thunderstorms with heavy rains, damaging winds, hail and vivid cloud to ground lightning.  If you’re in the watch area, get down to the basement.”

Danielle turns off the TV and says, “Come on.  Let’s not take any chances.”

“You got it,” Dave says.  They head down to the basement while the heavy storm rages on.  A twister touches down to the South of their location and wrecks the area.  Meanwhile, heavy rain and damaging winds rock their beach house.

A half hour later, the storm is over and cool winds blow from the Northeast.  As the three come outside, they see the waves rising up and causing white caps on the ocean.

“Let’s survey the damage,” Danielle says.

“Okay,” Dave agrees.  They put Figgie in their stroller and walk around the neighborhood.  Several cottages are knocked down and a number of trees have fallen.  A few power lines are sparking on the street.

“This is bad,” Dave says.  They walk into the general store which has been unaffected by the storm.  There, on the TV, they see a shocking report.

“An EF5 tornado has touched down in downtown Boston,” the reporter says.  “As many as 23,000 people are dead and 150,000 are injured, many of them with life threatening injuries.”  The screen shows their house in Winthrop, which is burning down to the ground.

“That’s our house,” Danielle says.  “Oh, my God.”  The report goes on to say that over 30 communities from Maine to Rhode Island have been flattened by tornadoes today alone.

“Wa wa wa wa wa wa,” Figgie starts saying, but Danielle interrupts her.

“Sorry, kid,” she tells her, “but we may have to go home again.”

“What a bad start to our vacation,” Dave says.  “Our house is burning down in Winthrop and we’re really in

trouble.”  He makes a phone call to home, but he hears, “All circuits are busy now.  Please try your call again later.”

“Everything all right?” Danielle asks.

“The phone lines are dead,” Dave tells her.

“That stink,” Figgie says.

“You can say that again, kid,” Dave says to her.

“Our President has already given orders for massive retaliation,” a nearby speaker says.  “It will be exciting! Some of us may die first!  Statistically, it is not likely to be you!”

“Would you mind turning that off?” Danielle asks the counter man.  “There’s a baby in the store.”

“Sorry,” the counter man, a forty something man says.  “It comes from Spotify Radio.  The channel’s called ‘End of the World Songs.’”

“Well,” Dave says, “it’s not appropriate when a baby’s in the store.”

“Sorry,” the counter man says.  Meanwhile, the song has been replaced by a MacDonald’s ad.  “It’s over, anyway.”

“Thank God,” Danielle says.  Figgie starts babbling again while Dave gets through to his neighbor’s house.

“Tell the counter man a story, Figgie,” Danielle says to her.

“Jeez, man,” the voice on the other line says, “I’m glad you called.  A lightning bolt hit the house and caused it to explode.  It’s totaled to the hilt.  Nobody was in there at the time.

“What do you suggest I do?” Dave asks.

“Go ahead with your vacation,” his buddy says.  “I’ll see if I can salvage anything at my end.  Did you take your passport and other documents?”

“They’re at the house,” Dave says.  “They’re in my suitcase.”

“Okay,” the man says, “just stay in touch with us and I’ll see if I can get someone to take you in when you get back.”

“Okay, John,” Dave tells him.  “Thanks.  Bye.”

As he hangs up, Danielle asks, “What do we do now?”

“We just go ahead with the vacation,” Dave says.  “We can stay with your Mom when we get home.”

“Thank God,” Danielle says.  “We should call Mom when we get back to the cottage.”

Once they get back to the cottage, Danielle calls her Mom’s house, but she receives some bad news.

“Your mother was killed,” a voice says.  The voice is that of her brother Mike.

“What happened?” Danielle says.

“The twister caught Mom’s car and swept it up,” Mike tells her.  “It landed in the Charles and submerged.  They recovered her body just an hour ago.”

Danielle bursts into tears.  “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Mike says.  “The cops identified her body immediately.”

“Oh, My God!” Danielle says.  She turns to Dave and says, “First our house is burned down, and now Mom’s dead.”

“We’ll have to go back and plan her funeral,” Dave says. 

“Oh, God,” Danielle says.  “We were gonna spend six weeks up here and now we’ve suffered tragedy.”

“Let’s pack up and leave for now,” Dave says.  “We have until Labor Day to take this trip.”

“Okay,” Danielle says.  Instantly, the two of them pack up the car and take off. 

Their vacation has gotten off to a tragic start.  They thought they could get away from it all for several weeks, but now it’s gone to pot.  They decide to keep some of the stuff in the house until they come back. 

Within an hour, the three are back on the road for Boston.  Looks like their vacation is over, but you’ll hear more about it soon.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note

This is a story inspired by a vacation in Maine a few years ago.