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    quokka
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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Tsunami - 3. Tsu Chapter 3

Shortly after noon, I stepped out of my final meeting in Penang, I noticed many staff gathered around a television, watching a live news broadcast, as I joined the gathering, I started to get a horrible feeling in my stomach, on hearing the words “Kuala Kedah, Tsunami and destroyed in the one sentence. I collapsed as I was in full panic mode, landing down hard on the ground. When one of the men – Kim, who I had been meeting with earlier, crouched down and saw me shaking in shock, with tears down my face, he just remembered me telling him earlier in the day that my wife and sons were spending the day at Kuala Kedah.

This according to the just announced news report was one of the names of small towns on the coast that had been wiped out by a giant Tsunami, just before 9am this morning, with Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka and Thailand affected in Asia, and Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa and Tanzania, affected in Africa. I was assisted into an office that has a large lounge, and I was encouraged to lie down and rest,

Kim dashed to the phone on the desk and made several phone calls, soon there was a doctor and a nurse in the office asking me some questions, loosening my tie and top shirt button, taking my temperature, pulse and blood pressure. After Kim got off the phone, he came up to me to say; “Mr Ashburton, the Australian Embassy in Singapore is dealing with all enquiries regarding Australian Citizens in Malaysia, who are being affected by the Tsunami disaster. I notified them that your family was expected to be at the beach at Kuala Kedah this morning, and there was no way of contacting them.”

Kim gave me a hand-held phone and the phone number for the embassy, and I called them back, as I had no idea what I should do. I informed the embassy that my name was Lukin Ashburton, and I was away from the family for the day, to conclude business in Penang, leaving the family back at the hotel in Alor Setar, & because the family had a great time on the beach on Christmas day, they were planning to do the same today. The embassy informed me that I was to remain in contact, in case any news arrives for him, and suggested maybe returning to Alor Setar, and waiting there for some news, but not to go anywhere near the coast.

After finishing the phone call, I ensured Kim that I would be ok, and that I wanted to drive back to Alor Setar, to be closer to where my family is, and I jumped into the hire car and made the long trip back up the coast, and it seemed like forever to get there. As I stepped into the hotel reception area, I was met by the Hotel Manager; who I had met just once since our arrival before Christmas, the manager said that he was sorry to hear that my family was in the area at the time of the tsunami. He said he would assist as much as possible and he was offering me my hotel suite for an unlimited time at a 50% reduced rate, I thanked the manager for his kindness and assistance, as I started to make my way towards the elevators, the manager stopped me to continue with more information or news.

He informed me that my wife had only taken the two older boys, and the twins were placed in the Hotel Day Care Centre, until she or I collected them. Once again I collapsed to the floor, both in shock and relief knowing that two members of his family were safe and well, as I was guided to a lounge chair in the lobby, I started to cry thinking of my lovely wife, who was caught in the tsunami wave and perished or is lost somewhere, along with my two oldest sons, aged 5 and 3 years old.

As I recovered from my emotional collapse, I was shown to the hotel day care centre, where the twins were happily playing, totally unaware what was happening in the outside world. Once back in the hotel suite, I put the boys to bed for a nap, and I tried to settle my nerves, by sitting on the lounge and trying to relax, I avoided turning the television on as I didn’t want to be reminded of the horror that I and my family were currently caught in, and I eventually fell asleep due to the exhaustion of the long drive and having to deal with everything that was happening.

Copyright March 2018 All Rights are Reserved Preston Wigglesworth
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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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That was the worst news that anyone could ever expect to see or get, stating that there was a natural disaster and that your family was supposed to be in that same area. When Lukin called the Australian Embassy in Singapore he was told to stay in contact with them as they may receive news at some time during this crisis. The Embassy also said it would be better to return to the hotel as well. Once he arrived back at the hotel he was told by the manager that they were going to give him a reduced price of 50% on his suite for a unlimited time and that his wife had only taken their older boys ages five and three, while the twins ages one year were in the hotel daycare. He was told that she had said that either she or he would pick them up later, he saw them playing with no idea what was going on around them. Lukin picked the boys up and took them back to the suite and put them down for a nap before he went to sleep as well from exhaustion. I hope that Lukin will get some good news from the embassy that his wife and sons are safe. I look forward to the next chapter to see if they made it or not and what he’s going to do next. Really great chapter quokka as always. Really great story so far, looking forward to reading the rest of it as well.

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That surely, is the worse news a parent can ever be given,that a partner and /child /children has gone missing or killed/died. A parent should never outlive their children, as the pain of loss and the void that is left, never heals. It is much more like a Cancer or cancre that while others don't outwardly, see it it is still there underneath, eating away and killing everything it touches .That he finds his two youngest ,is a blessing and very lucky happenstance, that they were safe at the hotel.

   It is going to be fascinating to see where this story goes!

Edited by Bushman60
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I am assuming from the prelude bylines to the story that the wife and older sons are lost in this tragedy and the father has to regroup with his two youngest boys. At least that  is what my understanding of what is in the introduction to the story.

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5 hours ago, Bushman60 said:

I am assuming from the prelude bylines to the story that the wife and older sons are lost in this tragedy and the father has to regroup with his two youngest boys. At least that  is what my understanding of what is in the introduction to the story.

No, it's says some gone, some lost...

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That's what I was alluding to to guess we just have to see where you and the story take us. However at this stage he is probablely still fearing the worst outcome because of where they were said to be.

   Its quite strange that you have chosen to write and put this story up within the time frame of another major quake and tsunami disaster in that region they seem to be coming in a very frequent occurrence in recent years along with volcanic disturbances. Such things do however make for a great read and a realistic one.

Edited by Bushman60
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