Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Twister

The sky was already darkening as my mom left to take my youngest sister to her violin lesson across town.

My dad was at work, and my middle sister and I were home. Alone.

It was our first year living in Jacksonville, Florida, and we had started to get used to some of the stranger quirks of life in the deep south. The slow pace. The accents. The endless strip malls. The wide open spaces.

But we couldn't get used to the storms.

Every summer afternoon around four o'clock the clouds started to gather, and the sky darkened. The wind kicked up, and the air grew heavy with ominous humidity. Lightning sizzled across the darkened sky, and thunder rumbled in the distance. It moved closer and closer until it was right on top of us.

Then came the rain.

On this particular summer day, as the elements did their daily dance, the garage door ground to a close, and the taillights of my mom's car disappeared down the driveway. As jagged bolts of lightning slashed across the sky, my stomach knotted in a vicious case of separation anxiety. I was fourteen, but I hated being home alone in the storms.

I sat on the couch and tried to focus on the TV. Four half-hour shows until my mom came home. Thirty seconds later I was up again, watching the gathering storm. I went up to my room and opened a book, but only managed a single page before I was back at the downstairs windows.

This storm seemed worse than usual.

I knew that standing so close to the windows was a bad idea. I had been in the south long enough to hear violent stories of trees and patio furniture flying through the glass. But I couldn't step away.

As the rain beat down on the house, my sister joined me at the window in time to watch half a tree crash down across our backyard. My sister was never afraid of anything, but at that moment her eyes were wide, and her face a deathly pale, mirroring my own, I was sure. We knew we should get away from the windows, but somehow, hearing the storm without seeing it was the scariest prospect of all. So my sister and I watched, as the battle raged outside.

And then it happened.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the funnel cloud make its way across my backyard. We watched, frozen in place, as the tornado tore through the grass, and brought down the other half of the tree. Smaller branches cracked against the windows, and our patio furniture blew around until it somehow all ended up in the pool. The tornado lifted up our heavy metal outdoor table with the glass top, and when the table fell back to the ground, the glass remained suspended in mid-air, as if by magic, until it, too, crashed to the ground in a million tiny pieces that mixed with the ferocious rain still beating down on the pool deck.

I thought frantically that we should make a run for the laundry room, the only room in the house without any windows. But before we could move, the storm was over, as quickly as it began. Relief coursed through my veins as the rain stopped and the sky lightened once again.

I thought maybe I imagined the funnel cloud, until I saw pictures on the news of the damage it caused to the rest of my neighborhood.

But our house wasn't touched.

We were safe.

Until the next storm blew through.

Obviously my mind these past couple of weeks has been on my move to the south when I was 14. So honored to share these thoughts with all the amazing folks at Yeah Write, the coolest blogging and writing community around. Go check them out. You won't be sorry.

29 comments:

  1. YIKES! such great, vivid details. i'm scared to hear what happened with the next storm! tornados scare the crap outta me.

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  2. I live in the Texas tornado alley and had to chase them as a young reporter. I never lost my respect of them, but some of the terror faded.

    But I can say that the storms in the south are crazier. The lightening seems so close you can smell it, and twice my stepmom's tv got blown out by lightening hitting the house. It's just more violent somehow in the south.


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    1. It really is. The lightning is the scariest I think, because you can see the entire bolt, and it feels like it is right in front of you.

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  3. I live in Iowa, which gets its fair share of tornadoes, but I have never been that close to one. So very glad you were safe even though you were right there...

    My son is suffering storm fear right now, thankfully I have outgrown mine so that I can comfort him. Poor kid spent a mild thunderstorm sitting in the basement playing DS "Just in case" this fall...

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  4. Wow. I can't believe you sat and watched that!! Maybe paralyzed by fear? At least you had your sister to lean on. Wonderful and suspenseful telling. I was right there with you.

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  5. Tornados are my biggest nature fear so this was scary for me to read! I've never been anywhere near one. So glad you were ok!

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    1. They are really scary. We never got another one after that, but whenever the storms would get really bad, I always wondered.

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  6. You tell this story well--nice pacing. Goodness, that had to have been scary. Thank God you were okay.

    How cool that you grew up in Squirrel Hill. They did have great porches there, from what I can remember. It's been a while. Good luck with this piece!

    Hugs,
    Kathy

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    1. They do have great porches. I just love Squirrel Hill, it was an amazing place to grow up. Our detour to Florida was a few years long, and my parents are back in Pittsburgh now, but I won't ever forget those storms.

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  7. Scary, and I love the suspence and hope everyone survived that and the next tornafo. In the SW, storms build slowly. I visited the MW snd wow thry build in a blink of an eye, like the south....makes you weary of every cloud. But perhaps you get used to it.
    So glad your family survived!

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  8. Whoa! That is crazy! I have never been that close to a tornado before.

    The storms are one of my favorite parts of living in the south. I know that sounds weird, but I love them. I've come to look forward to that late afternoon gathering of clouds and rain after an oppressively hot summer day. You captured the essence of them perfectly here. I felt like I was in one.

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    1. I actually grew to like them after a few years, but they never completely stopped being scary. I was always amazed that it felt hotter, not cooler, after the storms. A weird quirk of southern weather I think.

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  9. Tornadoes terrify me too! I am with you as far as the fear goes.
    I can't imagine watching one so close up... thanks for sharing this!

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  10. Great build of tension. It sounds as if you were lucky. In CA we don't get much weather other than rain in the winter. So weather fascinates me. I love it - storms, lightening, thunder. I'd like to see a tornado but maybe not as close as yours got. Quite a story. And very well told. I wonder if you're open to a constructive comment? I'll take a chance. Your paragraph, for instance, that starts, Every summer - you might consider changing the tense to get rid of all those woulds. More immediate maybe? The sky darkened, the air grew heavy, lightening sizzled. Only a suggestion. You write very well. I'm always open to comments, but I know not everyone is. I hope I haven't overstepped.

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    1. Yes, of course you can offer critiques, and I really appreciate it. Your are completely right about that paragraph. I am going to work on it a little more. Thanks so much!

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  11. I was on the edge of my seat, so worried about you and your sister. Thank goodness you were ok, and I assume the rest of your family was too. That last line has me a bit nervous though.

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    1. Everyone was fine, thankfully. The storms continued all summer long, and every summer until we left Florida a few years ago. They are scary from time to time, but never as scary as that one.

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  12. Wow, great story, and I'm so glad you were all okay. Those storms are so scary.

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  13. I've experienced the after effects of a tornado. I can't imagine watching one. They change the landscape for a long time to come when they touchdown.

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  14. You drew this out nicely and suspended us along with that glass table topper. Did you hear the telltale train sound of the approaching tornado?

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  15. I've lived most of my life with those Florida storms, and you captured them perfectly! Scary and powerful.

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  16. This sounds like something my husband would have done. I'm fascinated by tornadoes, but not enough to stand and watch one up close and personal. I would have been hiding in the basement by then for sure.

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    1. The problem is, there are no basements in Florida. Something about the water levels and the ground or something. So the only place in our house to hide out was the laundry room, but by the time I thought to go there, the storm had passed. It was terrifying, but in retrospect, a little fascinating.

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  17. WOW! That is scary and just crazy to see!!! wow. the only thing i like twisted is a chocolate/vanilla cone. :)

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  18. Southern storms ARE so sudden and violent. They don't happen this way in any other part of the country. I'm glad you and your sis were safe.

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  19. Wow. This is so vivid. I felt like I was there in the room with you, seeing that funnel coming toward you. I'm always amazed when I speak to people who've lived in areas routinely hit by tornadoes or hurricanes or earthquakes (I can only boast to having witnessed one hurricane, one earthquake, and two blizzards). I'm glad you didn't need to run to the basement and I can understand how the storm could have simply held your attention.

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  20. Tornadoes are so scary! I'm glad it was over quickly!

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