Deeper Look: The Hurricane Lee
The short story Hurricane Lee was initially concocted from the twisted mind of a seven year old child- me- who wanted to write about the worst possible hurricane ever.
As with most of my short stories, this one was concocted on a seemingly harmless and innocent day at Summer Camp back in the 90’s, where we were tasked to write a short essay/ story about a hurricane or a storm.
I of course- with very limited knowledge of the real destructive power of such a weather system described a real monster of a hurricane!
It was fun to just throw terrible things on a page and give this an unrealistic apocalyptic timeline for the mayhem.
As an adult who not only now understands what a hurricane is, how it can affect people and most importantly, understands the difference between an essay of terror and a full story of misery, editing this story was wild!
In this improved story, of
The Hurricane Lee, not much can scare 25 year old Amy, who has just become the legal guardian of her little sister 8 year old Carey, but Lee might prove to be the terrible exception.
Amy has only just buried her mother who had been battling cancer for years, which has made huge changes in her life, including raising her pre-teen sister all by herself, despite initial assurances from her relatives to support and help her when needed, as well as finding a minimum wage job to make ends meet.
She is somehow keeping it all together, but a category 5 hurricane called Lee might just be the disaster that breaks Amy’s hardwon resolve after all this time.
When Lee hits the island at unforeseen speeds, drowning it in torrential rain all the while threatening to destroy the only home the sisters have ever known, Amy and Carey have to decide to either continue to endure, or be swept away in the chaos.
When the category five hurricane shockingly ravages Barbados- an island that had not been hit so severely by a hurricane of these speeds and devastation since the 1950’s,- the two sisters, must not only weather this destructive tropical cyclone as it threatened their home, -sadistically flings things onto the house, while the high winds threaten to give Amy a heart attack by ripping and tearing at her roof-, but also find the courage to pick up the broken pieces of the house and their lives again.
Will Amy be able to comfort her sister and keep them safe?
Will Carey be able to handle the horror of seeing her once cheery and safe neighbourhood be transformed into a flooded river of debris?
“Something enormous slammed into the side of the house with enough force to make the frames shudder.
The impact jumped Carey to her feet faster than her mind could have caught up and she screamed to rival Lee’s high-pitched howls, eyes wide and unfocused, shocked fear radiating throughout her small body.
"Amy! Amy!" She shrieked frantically, searching for her sister in the dimness of the living room.
It was early afternoon, but thanks to the huge, dark gray clouds that had blocked out the sun, the house was now too dark, but Amy could see how Carey’s body was violently trembling, her breathing erratic from the shock of being so abruptly plunged into fear.
"Shh, Shh, Carey," Amy tried to soothe her terrified sibling, rushing over to her from the window to where her sister was standing trembling, just inches from the couch, and embracing her.
Carey’s skin was chilled to her touch and Amy tried to warm her up, hugging her closer to her chest.
It didn’t work.” -excerpt from The Hurricane Lee.
‘The Hurricane Lee’ is a very wholesome short story, about family bonding, facing adversity together, learning what’s really important and of course, giving hurricanes the appreciation they deserve for being able to spark dread, fear and all manners of anxiety into the hearts of mere mortals.
Will these sisters endure the hurricane safely and come out with an even stronger bond?
Read the short story to find out.
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