Darkness descends. Lights dance up and down on the promenade like mad red imps at a drunken orgy.

At the end of the promenade, a high sea pounds its fury at the mouth of the dock where anchored boats threaten to leap out and over clanking metal chains.

The stench of oil and fish, like the reek of a teasing banshee, wafts on briny cold air; an ominous stench that catches in Tess’s throat. On her right a cluster of men shriek into the howling wind that shakes masts rattling them like iron teeth about to snap off into broiling water.

Unseen, beyond the dock, a small boat flounders, dipping and swaying its futile and erratic course towards the haven of the dock. She remembers the recent explosion and stream of white smoke, its flare now long extinguished. She weeps as the lifeboat men scramble into their solid dinghy that appears too flimsy for such an endeavour they’re about to face.

She hears its powerful engine roar, the sound weak like an smothered apology to her ears. Now the lifeboat, its bow almost erect, plunges out through the mouth of the dock into a sea that roars with uncontrollable vengeance.

Tess crouches on her haunches, hugging herself, waiting for the futile attempt at rescue to reach its finale. In her mind’s eye, Jon’s boat capsizes, tossing him, his cousin Gary and Uncle Jim out into a sea that will show no mercy for foolish part-time sailors.

Time drips by like the rain dripping down onto her neck as she waits in the darkness. In the near distance, onlookers straddle along the promenade to view and discuss a certain tragedy unfolding before them.

When the lifeboat returns, orange life jackets and helmets of its crew glow an eerie glow. They stop at the slipway’s edge. Ashore, someone throws a rope, and a jeep reverses downwards to tow the lifeboat up onto concrete and safety.

Two men are helped out of the craft, wrapped like silvery beacons. She runs forward. Grabs her husband, Jon, and hugs him tight. She takes hold of her Uncle Jim’s cold, wet hand and squeezes silent, heartfelt grief and sympathy for the loss of his son, Gary.