Since I speak fluent Deborah, I suppose I should have accepted her telephone call as a kind of formal apology for her recent pointless hostility. Quite possibly she had come to accept the Dark Passenger, especially since it was gone. This should have made me happy. But considering the day I had been having, it was just one more splinter under the fingernail for poor Downtrodden Dexter. On top of that, it seemed like sheer effrontery for a hurricane to pick this moment for its pointless harassment. Was there no end to the pain and suffering I would be forced to endure?

Ah well, to exist is to wallow in misery. I headed out the door for my date with Deborah's paramour. Before I started my car, however, I placed a call to Rita, who would be very nearly home now by my calculations. "Dexter," she answered breathlessly, "I can't remember how much bottled water we have and the lines at Publix are all the way out into the parking lot." "Well then we'll just have to drink beer," I said.

"I think we're okay on the canned food, except that beef stew has been there for two years," she said, apparently unaware that anyone else might have said something. So I let her rattle on, hoping she would slow down eventually. "I checked the flashlights two weeks ago," she said. "Remember, when the power went out for forty minutes? And the extra batteries are in the refrigerator, on the bottom shelf at the back. I have Cody and Astor with me now, there's no after-school program tomorrow, but somebody at school told them about Hurricane Andrew and I think Astor is a little frightened, so maybe when you get home you could talk to them? And explain that it's like a big thunderstorm and we'll be all right, there's just going to be a lot of wind and noise and the lights will go out for a little while. But if you see a store on the way home that isn't too crowded be sure to stop and get some bottled water, as much as you can get. And some ice, I think the cooler is still on the shelf above the washing machine, we can fill it with ice and put in the perishables. Oh-what about your boat? Will it be all right where it is, or do you need to do something with it? I think we can get the things out of the yard before dark, I'm sure we'll be fine, and it probably won't hit here anyway."

"All right," I said. "I'll be a little late getting home." "All right. Oh-look at that, the Winn-Dixie store doesn't look too bad. I guess we'll try to get in, there's a parking spot. Bye!"