It seemed to Martha that between the first splintering, shattering moment of suspension and the final terminating crash all time had been crushed. The lapse was endless. She waited, congealed, wondering in what form the catastrophe would descend. She wanted to grab up the children and run, hide, escape whatever was going to happen, but just as when a bomb is dropped and no one knows which particular spot is going to be the fatal one, she decided they were just as safe where they were as somewhere else. In the same split second she felt she ought to be separated from the children so that they wouldn’t all die and leave d**k completely alone.
She heard Peggy shout, and certain she would find the ceiling down and both children buried under the rubble, she spun back to the living room.
But t
