This night owl stuff had to stop. Not only wasn’t Avner waking in the morning. He was potentially violent when we tried to wake him. He would lash out with hands or if someone was at his feet, he would kick. At the same time, it was evident that Avner was waking at night to eat. Sometimes, he would deny it. We would find plates and bowls under his bed, along with sport drink bottles. On one occasion, he even drank most of a bottle of maple syrup.
As we got closer to home, a car in front of us stopped to wait for a break in oncoming traffic. I stopped a safe distance behind. Seconds later, the rear windshield exploded, showering everyone with glass.
Being unfamiliar with hurricanes, my great grandfather and my grandmother’s brother, John went into the store to see what damage there was. The eye of the storm passed over Miami while they were still in the store. Realizing that the winds were too strong to simply walk back to the car, Abe took his six year old son under one arm and held a concrete block in the other hand as ballast, to stay anchored to the ground. That’s how he made his way back to his family.