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her eyes. She holds the bundle forward slightly, with both hands. A
four-month-old baby girl is in the bundle, looking up at her mother and
waving her free arm a bit. Finegan is choked up.
Oh my . .
The baby suddenly jerks its head in Finegan’s direction, looking
startled. Finegan smiles and looks at the seamstress.
It can hear! . . Ah, not an it . . a boy or a
girl?
The seamstress is placing the baby girl into Finegan’s arms. She points
to the baby and then to herself, meaning, a girl. Finegan is all
smiles, goggling and cooing to the baby, who is cooing and blowing
bubbles in kind.
A deaf man is walking down the path, carrying a suitcase and a bundle
of cloth diapers. He has a smile on his face also. He begins telling
Finegan the story, in sign language. He puts the suitcase and bundle of
diapers down, and motions in a sweep from the hilltop to land,
indicating that everyone moved to the mainland. He points to the water
then raises his hand slowly, indicating that the water kept rising.
The deaf seamstress, seeing that Finegan is looking over her shoulder
steadily, only now becomes aware that the deaf man has arrived. She
turns to watch his story too. The deaf man points to the seamstress,
then frowns and crosses his arms, shaking his head in the negative,
meaning that she had refused to go. He points to Finegan, then to the
seamstress again, holding his hand over his eyes and scanning the
horizon, indicating that she was waiting for Finegan to return. Finegan
says,
Well, we’re here now, and not leaving until she
comes along.
Joey has come round behind Finegan, a big smile on his face too, and
picks up the suitcase and bundle of diapers, taking them onboard. The
deaf man points to the rowboat nearby, then points to himself, then a
sweeping gesture from the mainland to the seamstress, then opening his
arms to encompass her and himself swooshing back toward the mainland.
He is relaying that he came for her. Finegan smiles affectionately one
last time at his baby girl, then hands her back to her mother, stepping
toward the rowboat.
We’ll take this along.
Finegan points to the deaf man, indicating with a wave of his arm that
he should get onto the houseboat.
______________________________
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As the houseboat approaches a narrow inland bay, the dark, dead trunks
of trees can be seen sticking up here and there at the entrance. Waves
are slapping the pontoons of the houseboat, the wind is starting to
whistle. The sky is darkening. Joey is standing on the roof in his
usual position, his clothes starting to whip now and then in the wind.
He is signaling Finegan, pointing to the water to the side and
motioning with his hand to move in the other direction when he sights a
flooded tree that could snag the houseboat.
The seamstress and the man who vacated the island had been sitting in
the rear, facing Finegan, but now go into the house on the boat. The
seamstress covers the baby’s face with the blanket edge. The baby can
be heard starting to cry due to the wind in its face.
______________________________
The houseboat is now moored well into the inland bay, where the
waterway is so narrow the houseboat barely made it between the flooded
trees. Finegan is tying the houseboat as well as mooring via the
grappling hooks, anticipating a hurricane. The gangplank has been
lowered.
The seamstress and baby are hustling up the hill toward a farmstead in
the shelter of the hills. Joey is carrying her bundle of diapers and
the deaf man from the island is at the lead, carrying the suitcase.
Their clothes can be seen blowing in the wind now and then, but not to
the extreme as out on the open water. Finegan is pulling the gangplank
back onto the houseboat and jumping down into shallow water, wading
ashore, hustling to catch up to the group going up the hill.
______________________________
Twenty or so people are huddled under the shelter of a barn roof, which
has been hoisted up by posts to form a large lean-to. The group
includes children of all ages. The straw that had been in the upper
floor of the barn has spilled out onto the ground, so forms a soft
seating area. Twenty or so sheep are also huddled under the roof, to
one side, a section of fence pulled around them. This fence had been
pulled from a field, is made of posts and wire fencing between the
posts, and has been rolled up to make it portable.
The sheep are lying down, almost on top of one another, and include
spring lambs. Blankets have been thrown on top of the straw in the
seating area for people. The people are likewise very crowded, trying
to stay out what is becoming hurricane force winds and torrential
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rains. The wind can be heard whistling and moaning amid the thunder of
raindrops on the roof.
The seamstress is in the middle of the group, which includes normal
folk as well as the deaf that came from the island. Several women are
crowding around her, admiring the baby and cooing at the baby. There is
a particularly strong gust of wind and the seamstress pulls the blanket
up over the baby’s head, moving her body to shield the infant. Finegan
is to the open edge of the lean-to, trying to pull some planks up to
create a windshield. He finally gives up as the planks keep blowing
down, and comes to join the group huddled further in under the roof.
______________________________
The storm has blown over and sunlight can be seen beyond the shade
inside the homestead barn. Birds are singing again. The seamstress is
sitting alone on a blanket in the middle of the straw, nursing her
baby. The afternoon sunlight is shinning into the barn, so mother and
child are in a beam of sunlight. The sheep have been released to return
to grazing, and no one else is around. It is a madonna and child
moment.
______________________________
Finegan and Joey are being given a tour of a community of survivors,
numbering around 300 folks. This is a rural area, so the makeshift
homes are of various materials and styles. One has stacks of used tires
for walls, with a piece of plywood over the top as a roof. Over the
plywood is a tarp, to keep it all waterproof. The doorway is simply
open, with a cloth tied up at top to be dropped at night for privacy or
for warmth. This is true of a couple window openings on either side,
where the top tires are missing but a cloth can be dropped as a
curtain.
Several homes are bermed into a hillside, a former pasture. The earth
that has been dug out is used to form walls on the open side of the
houses, hobbit style. The walls are braced by various boards taken from