Waiting for Felix

Twenty minutes before midnight, Monday, with more than apprehension hanging in the air. Everyone knows that a hurricane is to hit us soon: will it be a bigger or smaller brother of Mitch -- that is the question on everyone's mind.

I went to buy gas this afternoon at 3 pm. Waited for 30 minutes. Those after me waited much longer. Felix is not supposed to be here for another 36 hours. People are getting worried. The line in the pharmacy was longer than I have ever seen. A friend of mine waited an hour in line to buy some groceries. No one has panicked -- yet. But the air has a greasy feel to it, like some sort of used motor oil slathered through it like an arid vapour. I bet it has a low flashpoint.

But here at Casa Verde, we have our foodstuffs, 15 gallons of fresh drinking water, a BBQ and whisperlite stove, medicine, two stories and a concrete building. But for the first time in the six months that I have lived here, I am wondering what the roof looks like.