A strange multiplicity of sensations…

...as I woke somewhere in the late morning on Thursday. Emanuela had already gone for a morning swim and I could hear her splashing around in the pool on the other side of the shutters of our bedroom. There was something else there. In the air. Stepping out on the deck next to the pool, I was pretty sure I knew what it was.

We had been invited by some very good friends for a few days at Cap-Ferret. While most of the group was family and partners, we were old friends from another period, another world. We were not family, nor tribe. We shared decades of life and written stories of living. We felt at home and enjoyed the crazy family experience whenever we happened to cross paths, on vacation or elsewhere.

We walked on the beach alongside the Atlantic, swam in the pool late into the night, and I started re-reading Frankenstein (the Original Frankenstein with Percy Shelley’s additions/corrections in italics). I also started reading Lecercle’s little book, Frankenstein : mythe et philosophie. The reading wasn’t typical poolside material. Vancouver, and the Artificial Muse residency, was going to be part of my summer… We arrived on Saturday around dinner and immediately began the fun. As the wine ran out, the whiskey came out and we started to catch up, or introduce ourselves to the newer additions to the family. Boat rides were planned, and we sorted the menus and assigned chefs for the coming days. Bicycles were explained, codes provided. A formidable summer in spite of the exceptional heat was shaping up. While we were scheduled to leave on Wednesday, we were being coerced to stay until the end of the rental the following Saturday. We didn’t refuse.

While we were on one of the scheduled boat trips in the Arcachon Bay, jokes were passed around about how hard it was to live like this... There are moments when nothing can make anything better than the moment you are in. It felt like that... until the captain broke out some rhum he brought on one of his roundtrips to Martinique. Life got better.

Wednesday was far niente day. We read, swam, read some more, and finished with a nightcap or two.

Thursday morning we could smell smoke. The inexperienced thought it was a barbecue. Having spent a lot of my younger life in Southern California I knew what it was. As Marines based at Camp Pendleton, we were used sometimes to help fight the fires. We learned that indeed a fire had been set off by accident (human) in Saumos and was spreading. There was a cloud of smoke stretching out over the sky in the north. But the smell of smoke was lifted away with the morning winds. Discussions and concertations amongst us followed. My first reaction was to leave now. Others were confident that we could stay until the end of the rental on Saturday. We followed some friends to the beach, that was oddly empty. While we could no longer smell the smoke, the cloud of grays was still growing in the sky a ways from us. We returned to the house. I stayed with Emanuela while the others went out on a boat, or off to the beach. While we were sitting by the pool, ash started to cover us and the blue water. The smoke cloud was growing. I said we needed to leave today. She agreed but wanted to wait until our friends got back from the boat trip. I said fine, and we packed our bags. Our friends got back late from an ash-filled outing on the bay. We pointed out the ash-covered deck and pool. I pointed to the sky that was now totally covered as far as we could see with ash-colored clouds. It was not getting better.

We said our goodbyes, and wished each other courage and left around 22:30. Our leaving made the others more acutely aware of the fact that maybe this was bigger than they wanted to believe. On our way out, we had expected to see maybe some smoke in the distance as the only road out came close to where the fire had been reported. We were surprised to see just how totally empty the streets were. Nothing was open. The rare sight of people grouped together made the emptiness more palpable. No cars were entering the Cap, and for company we had one car behind us and none in front.

As we approached the upper peninsula, and safety, we did see smoke and the reddish glow on the horizon. But instead of passing it quickly, we were heading straight for it. Or so it seemed. The road did begin to turn more eastward just as we began to see the billowing clouds of fire, and flames. Not nearly as far from the road as had been imagined. The fire was expanding further than had been expected. For some kilometers we saw fire light up the line of trees along the edge of the forest. The tree line stood out, silhouetted by the fire, red and kinetic behind...

I tried to take pictures from the passenger seat, but finding the angle, the focus, all while controlling the very real fear the Dantesque scenes created, and trying to reassure the driver, my wife, my everything, gave me the impressionistic photos I did make, and not the reporter-ready ones I may have preferred… but I’ll take the impressionist…

Once through the danger, I sent back pictures of what we had seen and described the Walking Dead atmosphere of where we had passed:

We made it through. The roads are blocked coming in, but going out there is not a soul on the road. Everything is closed. Everything quiet. The fire along the road must be 20 km, with some places pretty close. Lots of smoke as you approach. After leaving the area, you can see the glow in the sky for even more kilometers. I don’t see how they can stop such a monster. It is very far from you guys, and the road is not in any clear danger. But, it is closer than you might think... We will keep our fingers crossed for you guys tomorrow.

At 4:30 in the morning, the entire Cap received notification to evacuate. We were already back home in bed when our friends sent the message that they were leaving.