Late at night, Romney Queens was startled awake by flashes of lightning outside the window. He climbed out of bed and stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows smoking, as the sky remained ablaze with lightning and thunder.
He couldn't quite distinguish whether it was the nightmare or the lightning that had woken him up. In this dream, Gale Summer was covering her ears and screaming loudly on a thunderous night. Unexpectedly, upon waking up, the roar of thunder was indeed coming from outside the window.
Inside the window, the cigarette butt between his fingers flickered with a red glow, while outside, the thunder accompanied the lightning in a concerted performance, and the storm wind pelted the rain against the glass window, creating a relentless tapping sound.
After finishing a cigarette, Romney Queens sat down on the sofa, and Kezia Reed, with her noticeably bulging stomach, emerged from another room wrapped in a silk sleep robe.
