On the Cecelia Avenue Bridge...

 

...Warren Mc Govern was taking his late afternoon break from his cook's helper job at the Rainbow Coffee Shop located just west of the bridge. The Rainbow is run by two women, Alison and Janel, who have built up quite a nice business. Warren likes his smelly cigarettes and they don't, so he often walks out to the bridge railing and stares at the bay, deep in his thoughts. (He smokes Rugby Lights, a local brand found no where else!) Warren thinks of himself as a "Modern Philosopher" and wants to write a book of his ruminations one day. He hasn't quite started it yet.

Warren grew up in tiny Spofford, a sheep-country town inland from Newport, down south. He got out of there as quick as he could, and has been working odd jobs, first in Victoria Harbor, then in Putney when he learned about the university, as well as Putney's more literary/bohemian culture. He likes the Rainbow because it attracts so many students, including a certain female philosophy major named Marjorie that he'd like to know better.

The day the tsunami rolled in, Warren was leaning on the railing as usual, and was probably the last person on the bridge to really notice the wave. He was absently watching the girl on the bicycle (Martha) and not until she suddenly swerved up the bank that it dawned on him there was something happening here. We see Warren just as he re-enters current reality...