Angelica climbed for her life as her house was furiously being flooded. She did not know what to do. She had nothing in reach of her to lay upon once her house was completely submerged. Her telephone in her kitchen was already underneath the waters, so she could not phone Orlando. Angelica was scared vitally, she didn’t know if she would make it. She wondered if Orlando was alright, after all he did save her life from the daunting flames that had consumed their employer’s factory. Angelica felt the roof split beneath her legs and it gave way. She was now completely in the water and in desperation looked for something to climb upon. She grabbed onto the nearest piece of broken roof that she could reach and pulled it towards her. It was a small piece of roof, but it would do for the time being. Angelica seized the long plank of wood floating near and used it as an oar. From the view of the piece of roof, she could see the that entire town was flooded. Her mind was completely drained now. She had no idea what to do. The only thing she could think of at this point was Orlando and if he was alright. She sparked a brilliant idea. Paddle to Orlando’s house. Indeed it was a few miles away, but going over water, hopefully it wouldn’t take too long. Angelica headed east towards the suburbs of the town where Orlando was located. She could not stop thinking about him. Was he alright? Did he survive the tsunami? Is his house completely under the waters like mine? Why did two disasters have to happen too close in time to one another? Only two weeks apart they were. Angelica traveled a ways and spotted an Italian flag floating upon the water. Orlando was the only person to have an Italian flag outside of his house. She lost all hope. Where was she to go? She missed Orlando. There were heli’s flying overhead. The lot of them by the looks of it. It looked as if they were throwing down ropes to the people swimming below. People all over were climbing the ropes to the heli’s to depart for safety. She was so distracted by all of the heli’s flying overhead, she didn’t notice for a good while that there was a rope dangling no more than four feet from her head. In a sudden excitement, she climbed as the man above in the heli pulled. Soon she was in the heli with the two pilots and another person. A man, she thought. He wore a sweater with a hood covering his head and the side of his face. He didn’t turn towards her when she was being reeled in so she did not bother asking whom it was. So instead she asked him if he was alright. He said he thinks he may have lost a woman he cared for for so many years. His communication was completely cut off so he could not contact her.. “Orlando, I’m safe”, she said calmly. He pulled down his hood and turned his head towards her, and looked as if the flood had never even occurred and he saw her drained face and he kissed her. He hugged her as they sat in the heli flying wherever it was they were going. Orlando, after a good ten minutes looked a bit drained himself. Angelica asked him what the matter was. “I found out who it was that set the factory aflame”, he whispered. Angelica asked him who it was. “Lando.”
8 April 2014
T.P. Lanzarotto 