I started in on the "big box" but instead of taking things out, refrigerator style, I began putting things inside. Everything, it seemed, had to be given attention - all loose things from outside - lawn table and chairs, flower pots and the mailbox from the porch; and the furniture from the screened Florida room. Garbage cans and other heavy outside objects were to be put in the garage. A mop and bucket must be put in a handy place inside the house, the bathtub and containers filled with water, the refrigerator turned to high and extra ice made. Candles put in holders and matches and flashlight and extra food, along with things that might be needed, were to be checked. Windows were to be examined to make sure they could be tightly closed and locked at the last moment.
The Tyree women had to batten down - for the men were out of town. Virginia left the office for home in mid-afternoon. Eli was busy at her house, and Houston arrived home just before the squalls started and was able to help me with the last minute details. We listened to the Democratic Party Convention after making sure Virginia and Eli were all set for the storm. In the early hours of the evening we felt the outer winds lightly touch the house and when they reached hurricane force the lights went out. We were careful in using the candles as a fire would have been disastrous.
We pulled the blinds to the top of the windows and watched - the fury of the wind was awesome. There was a moaning sound, the tall coconut palms bent like reeds and their fronds swept about in strange ways; our enormous ficus tree in the backyard dipped and shook its branches in a way not unlike the grass skirt of the dancer. It was fascinating but frightening.
Luckily, we in Miami Shores, had telephone service through the night people in some parts of the city were not so fortunate, we kept in touch with relatives and friends throughout the long evening.
Virginia was nervous. Eli claimed she and little Bobby were asleep until my telephone call awakened her. The little boys next door were up enjoying the excitement, I was nervous, Houston was outwardly calm and Mrs. Rollins, an old-timer with hurricanes, was very calm.
Finally, the eye of the storm came over. Never have I felt such stillness - not a flicker of a single leaf. We checked the house, mopped water from around some of the windows and from one door. Water can be blown through the smallest of cracks. Virginia reported a lost awning. After an hour of quiet - no sounds at all from outside - the winds started from the opposite direction with greater force than before. There were gusts that made the house tremble and the plate glass in the living room window seemed to press in, to bend. What a relief, after a while, to feel a lessening of the power. We stayed up all night.
The morning after was clear and calm, although the radio announcer begged people to stay indoors, Houston was worried about conditions at the plant and felt he must report to Andy who had not made it home. We saw huge trees uprooted, lines down, plate glass windows from business establishments broken, and a pretty big mess all around. At home the grapefruit tree was standing, but underneath, the ground was littered with partially ripened fruit. The little boys from next door counted over three hundred lovely green grapefruit and helped us pile them in the alley. (Later, when the fruit turned yellow I thought that it had ripened but it never became edible). Our neighbors lost their wonderful old avocado tree - it was uprooted as was our lime tree. There were tree branches and pieces of shrubbery everywhere.
The neighbors rallied round. The Quinns cooked the Tyree's meat over charcoal. Mrs. Rollins' electric power came on first and she boiled water for Helene's coffee. Houston was able to get old Mr. Robertson's electric eye garage door open. Tyree's electricity came back on in time to save Lehman's frozen meat and everybody cleaned his front yard first so the street would be passable and would look nice for the Thorpe's wedding reception scheduled for two days later. And so it went.
As the sun went down there was the most gorgeous sunset imaginable. The last rays seemed to have been made of spun gold. The storm had passed, the "big box" had been mopped dry and all the stuff put back in place. Everybody was bone tired.
Helene Tyree
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