Leterrible awoke to the sound of snoring. There was darkness but he could see someone seated in the corner of the tiny room. That’s where the snoring originated from. It was a short man sprawled on a chair, cross-armed with head bent towards chest. The huge Panama hat on the man’s head prevented Leterrible from seeing the stranger’s face.
Bladder calling, Leterrible moved to rise and search for amenities but soon realized his left wrist was chained to the cot he was on. Feeling the handcuffs rang an alarm in his mind that told him to remain silent until he could figure out how to get away. The room was too dark to give him any clue as where he was, no window but a faint light emanating from under the door on the right wall.
Night light in Cuba meant official business. Prison? Secret police quarters? No, it couldn’t be, there would be bars in that doorway. Remembering vividly the moments before falling to sleep told him he was in hospital... under guard? Why? But that stench?
Yes he was in hospital. Cuba was third world, there was poorness everywhere. This is why he had come here in the second place. Rich people from liberated countries where slavery had been banned came here to have a taste of power over mean-less human beings, recreating fantasies of monarchy; true terrorism in his mind. Disgusting. One day there will be freedom from this disparage. Leterrible had strong feelings that communism was about to launch relief on Cuba, that’s why he spent time spreading leaflets around the island. But who was he kidding, most people here could not read and the only communication medium around was word of mouth.
His thoughts soon veered to the main reason he was here. Not that stupid poker game he’d been paid to blow up but to search for clues about the disappearance of his wife.
Twenty five odd years earlier, Carole being pregnant again after giving birth to Cat their lovely daughter felt distraught at the bad times the family were living in at the time. Leterrible’s fledgling woodworking business was based on a mix of fantasy furniture creation and exotic, expensive material manufacturing processes. Nothing suited to the economic reality of Québec then. No jobs, no contracts, no money, period.
As her health was progressively dwindling, the couple decided that for the baby’s sake she had to take action and find relief somehow. Her rich sister was leaving for a two month cruise in the southern Islands and suggested that Carole should come with her. Reluctantly, the couple agreed to temporarily part... If only they’d known what was to happen!
Leterrible, as those memories came, still felt anger at the misfortune, seething rage giving purpose to his search, again and again.
It was deemed that the cruise liner had disappeared after twenty-two days at sea, with no clue to the position as where it could have been but a region called
The Bermuda Triangle, and a storm, a hurricane strong enough to displace time...