2020: After losing three straight games without cheating, I went out to check the scene and was startled by the light — brighter than all the nights of the past 5 months put together despite the lack of electricity ... and steady, like batteries of 1,000-Watt bulbs illuminating a dozen Polo Clubs and the Yankee Stadium together. Unable to tell where one ended and another began, I gave up trying to count the fires — it was useless. MANILA WAS BURNING.

2030: Sharp explosion ... and another — bound to go on now and then. I'll be off to bed after a tour in the swing to cool off. G'night.

2047 (Can't help it): Three of the biggest explosions to date followed by reverberations of 10 to 14 seconds each cracked something in our kitchen. WOW! A fourth "earthquake" — I'm calling them earthquakes from now on.

2150: THE GREATEST EARTHQUAKE OF THEM ALL!!!

...ooOoo...