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Prologue
The Year 1975
Susan stretched out her legs on the old rocking chair and took a deep breath. She couldn’t see too much of the ocean over the railing and across the street, but what she could see did seem to look a bit rougher than it had this afternoon. Or was that just her imagination?
It had been a very busy day; unexpected in that yesterday, Thursday, no one seemed to be overly concerned about the storm that was somewhere in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Georgia. But overnight, the idea that it might just veer off to the east seemed to diminish, and now there was concern for the North Carolina Coast. No one was thinking about a direct hit, but if it came close enough, the tides would be a huge nuisance.
She had arrived at the motel office that morning to the sound of the phone ringing and had to scramble to answer before the caller hung up.
“Hey Susan, it’s Annie,” said the voice on the phone.
“Annie, it’s early for you. What’s up? You sound out of breath,” asked Susan.
“Just got a call from the district office and all of us seasonal employees have to evacuate,” she replied. “Just thought you should know.”
Annie was from Pittsburgh, down for a summer season with the National Park Service. They’d become friends over the course of the summer as Susan occasionally ran into her on beach patrols. This evacuation order meant that someone somewhere thought this storm might be a bit more than a glancing blow.
“Thanks so much, Annie. I’m sure you’ll be back tomorrow, so have fun doing whatever you do when you evacuate,” Susan laughed.
“I will,” Annie responded. “But maybe you should check in with your folks to see if they want you do take any special precautions. It wouldn’t hurt.”
“I hate to bother them, but you’re probably right,” Susan admitted. “See ya then. And thanks again. Bye”
They rung off, and Susan hesitated for a moment before calling her parents to get their take on things. They were off the island most of the summer in Richmond taking care of her grandmother, and had given her the chance as a nineteen-year-old college student to manage the Hatteras Hideaway Motel for the summer. It had been an uneventful summer up to this point. The weather had been good all summer long. The guests seemed happy to be on the island, and she’d had plenty of free time for walks along the beach to observe and study the tides and the marine life, which fit perfectly into her Marine Biology major at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. She had garnered a huge collection of shells, and was quite proud of the Scotch Bonnets she had lined up on the porch railing at home.
“What should I do, Dad?” Susan asked. She relayed Annie’s message and also told him she noted everyone was already busy with storm preparations when she peddled to the motel at half past seven that morning.
“I don’t think you need to worry too much,” her dad replied. “From what I can tell, this storm will move off from the Cape and you might get a bit of wind and some small issues with storm tide, but other than that, not too much. How many guests do we have right now?”
Susan didn’t need to look at the reservation book. “Three reservations which wrap up Saturday. Two older couples who are repeat customers and one family with small children,” she replied. She reflected silently that the low number was one good thing. As it was into August, things had started to wind down. Labor Day was still a ways away. “Do I need to tell them to leave?”
“Probably wouldn’t hurt. I know they’ll be disappointed, but they would be leaving tomorrow anyway, so hopefully it won’t be an issue. You can give them their money back for the one night or maybe they’ll take a credit on a future reservation. If two of them are repeats, they must like us,” her dad chuckled. “But seriously, since the Park Service seems concerned enough to evacuate staff, I’d clear out the motel, and then have Scott do the usual storm prep. Have the cleaners get those rooms in order so that tomorrow, when the new visitors arrive, it will be all good.”
“OK,” Susan sighed. “I’ll try to catch these folks now to give them time to pack up. I have your ‘storm to-do list’ on the tack board, so I’ll be sure to check everything off. Don’t worry, but I’d better get going. Give Grandma my love and same to Mom.” She’d ended the call then, mindful of the long-distance charges. No need to talk at length. She’d tried to make sure the motel made money during her stint as Manager.
Scott, the maintenance man, was driving up as she hung up the phone. She stepped outside onto the porch and called out to him. “Scott, Dad says I’ve got to tell our guests to leave and you need to tape up the windows and do anything else you need to do for this storm.”
Scott looked up and nodded. “If he hadn’t told you, I was gonna,” he said. “My barometer is falling a little too fast for my likin’. And every place I passed drivin’ here was taping and boarding and moving stuff up and out of the way. I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry, huh?”
Susan nodded, hollered out, “Thanks,” and went back inside the office. The older folks swore by their barometers. They knew plenty about what the weather was going to do before the forecasters did. She had plenty to do as well, but the first things was to talk to the guests and give them the bad news. The couple with the small children was easy to convince. Apparently, the kids had been a handful all week and had more than their share of sun and sand. Since the family lived in Richmond, they didn’t have a long drive. The older couples were not as easy to deal with, claiming it was much ado about nothing. But after promising them a night’s refund and reminding them about what salt water could do to their car, they agreed to head home. By about one that afternoon the parking lot was empty and Susan moved onto other things.
Working with the housekeepers, she got all of the rocking chairs off the porches and helped Scott tape up the doorknobs to keep the salt water and sand out. There were a few umbrellas and chairs left by previous guests that needed to be placed in the storage room, and she stacked all the chairs on top of one another by the pool to keep them from flying around. Periodically, she stopped to look up at the sky.No indication of anything being amiss today, she thought. It was a gorgeous day with a light breeze and blue skies, albeit with some clouds gathering on the horizon. Maybe the weather radio people had it all wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time. But like Scott had said, “Better safe than sorry,” so here they were, all over the island, shooing away visitors, taping windows, stashing away loose items and looking at the sky.
Yes, it had been a busy day. As Susan stretched out even further on the rocker and let her muscles relax, the resident motel cat, High Tide, jumped on her lap.
“What do you think, High Tide?” she asked. The cat lazily flicked its tail and began purring. “Guess you’re not too worried, so I won’t be either.”
She closed her eyes and reflected again on how well the summer had gone. And it wasn’t just from the motel’s perspective. It had been fun in other ways. There were young people her age, some a bit younger, and some a bit older, all over the island. Summer help, vacationers, and a few of the locals had managed to find each other and make the most of the long summer days and warm starry nights. Every night, it seemed someone had a bonfire. There was beer, sometimes a bit of alcohol someone had pilfered from somewhere, guitar music, and casual sex. Romances came and went with the tide. She hadn’t given in yet, but when she thought of Chris, she knew she would if she ever had the chance.
Chris was from somewhere up north, no one was sure where – Baltimore? He was the first mate on the SeaAnna, Captain Terry Neal’s boat, the best boat in the fleet, word had it. Chris had a reputation of being good with the guests, great with the boat, and a lot of fun in general. Captain Neal was very picky about whom he kept on as a mate, she’d heard, so apparently, Chris has passed the test. But also, he was amazingly good looking. Tall, tanned, and in great shape from his work on the boat, with bleached hair and a grin that seemed to extend from one end of the Pamlico sound to the other, he made her catch her breath any time she was around him. Could she find a way to be around him more before the summer ended?
“Hey, sleeping beauty, you’d best finish up whatever you need to do in the office and then get home and take care of stuff there,” Scott called.
Susan jerked up and High Tide scampered off her lap. “I just was resting my eyes, Scott,” she said just a bit defensively. “I’m kinda worn out.”
“You and me both,” he replied. “But I think everything is in order now, so I’m headed on home to Miss Maggie to be sure we got our place all tied down.”
“Oh, Scott, thank you for everything,” she called out. “I really do appreciate it and I know Mom and Dad do too. You give Miss Maggie my love.”
