Kate was exploring, stuffing fallen coconuts and palm fronds onto a travois drag that she had fashioned from driftwood. She thought fondly of Kristie, her girlfriend and life partner. Missing her had become a national project, elevating the pain of loss from personal to catastrophic. She could remember her eyes, green with little dots of black, red hair, ruddy complexion but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember clearly what she looked like.<br/><br/>The soughing of the wind through the leaves was violated by an explosion that shook the ground under her feet. First glance took her eyes to the top of the volcano, but it was not leaking sulphuric smoke. Then the small hairs on the back of her neck stood up and Kate looked around to see a flaming ball of fire streaking toward the ocean. Another plane down. She shook her head and returned back to gathering. Better to stick to her routine than to let the screams overtake her. The screams that were locked in her head and in her heart. Three times in the last year, this same scene had taken place and three times nothing but dead bodies washed to shore. Bodies so badly decayed or eaten by marine life but bodies she had to bury, or burn. Either way, it was horrible.<br/><br/>The up side to the crashes were the supplies that also washed to shore. She would continue with her routine and maybe by tonight, the tides would bring in the flotsam from the wreckage.