Angels' Watch

Angels’ Watch
Quizmo LaGrande

In a darkened living room, by a brightly decorated pine,
I sat on the floor behind huge plate glass windows
admiring the harbor view and wrapping Christmas presents.
As “Bowling for Dollars” loomed on the big color TV adjacent to the tree,
My gaze wandered to the lights of the waterfront.
Without warning or fanfare, a tanker, docked in close proximity,
was suddenly engulfed in a ball of flame,
a ball of flame that expanded and mushroomed before my eyes!
A nuclear blast? Were we being attacked? The thoughts were downsized quickly.
From my spot on the warm carpet, I yelled to my mother in the kitchen,
“The Tanker blew up! The Tanker blew up!”

My Angels were there.

I do not remember rising. I do not remember moving,
but I suddenly found myself furthest from danger.
A nasty noise deafened, a powerful percussion prevailed; glass was breaking everywhere. Moments later, my mother ogled at the ground where was sitting.
Huge shards of heavy plate glass window lay embedded in my place.
The whole glass front wall of our house lay across the living room.
In the same way every window facing the blast for miles
was gracing their respective rooms.
We were okay. Our Angels were watching.

Thank you, Angels.

Many angels were watching their keep that night.
As devastating as it seemed to those of us directly involved,
Few were injured, yet
Seven new angels rose.

* * *

On December 17, 1976, 7:38 p.m., the empty Liberian flagged tanker, S.S. Sansinena, blew up in Los Angeles Harbor. The cause was ignition of a hydrocarbon vapor cloud though the source of the detonation remains unknown.

On the morning of December 18th, the view from our home:

And a view from above:

(Please note in both views... the midship is missing!)