The flood waters had finally receded and the danger was over. However, the tragedy that was its arrival had left incredible devastation and despair in its wake. The townsfolk emerged from their shelters and other places of safety to survey the damage that the disaster had imposed on their modest city. Parents covered the eyes of their children, as the sight was too much for the youngest members of their families to behold.

Debris and wreckage was strewn about everywhere mournful eyes could see. Broken, dilapidated homes covered the once pristine city streets. Timber, bamboo shafts, clay and other materials used to build houses of the villagers, were all that feline feet stepped upon. But, it was not the remnants of destroyed homes that made parents censor the sight of their children. ...it was the remains of people, friends, neighbors, family and others that urged despairing adults to usher their children back to their shelters.

Bodies broken and disfigured by the sea's torrent littered the town. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, no one was spared, be they young or old. Babies clutched tightly in their mothers' arms, fathers holding firmly to their children's hands, lovers wrapped in the tenacious embrace they shared and many more made up the array of victims. So many lost, so many gone, so many never to smile again in the light of day.

It was by the grace and charity of the Great Spirit that Boomer, his mother, Keemeome and his youngest brother, Malki, were not counted among the departed. Likewise, Sweetheart, her precious sister, Amber and her father, Bellen were also spared from the watery hand of death. Both families were recovering at the Calico City hospital.

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