I am cowering under a blue patchwork quilt that belonged to my Momma. I wonder if I am really going to experience a tornado. The city alarm system sounds as I imagine God would sound…it has the dogs howling! It orders me to take cover….take cover!!
I go to the window and take a peek at the sky. Is that little cloud a funnel? Are those clouds weird? They are white…aren’t tornado clouds supposed to be another color? As the dogs howl, I retreat back to the sofa …but my mind won’t settle down. Normally, weather doesn’t scare me, but today I am unnerved.
I saw pictures on television. I saw crumpled roofs, overturned vehicles, trees slung about like Tinker Toys, kids crying and clinging to their parents.
I saw mobile homes crushed into dust. I saw dogs sniffing through ruins, and cats peeking out from under piles of siding.
The thunder blasts from the skies, and shakes the house just enough to make me get off the couch. Our trees are bending over, almost touching the ground. My dogs cower beside me, trembling. Do they really sense more than humans sense?
I imagine my husband coming home to rubble, searching for me, crying out my name while I knock on a wall and scream, “I’m in here!!!”. Should I carry water and food to a closet and stay in there? I am a bit claustrophobic….I imagine myself trapped in the downstairs bathroom closet, surrounded by three shedding, trembling dogs. If we stay in there long enough, I may start looking like Alpo to them!
For a while, I rattle all this around inside my head. I have several days worth of food and some great books to read. My dogs will keep me warm and love me till the husband gets home. If he finds our house in rubble, he won’t stop until he finds me. If I am dead, he better not waste our insurance money on women!….And hey!! We have insurance on the house, which needs some work anyway. If I live through this, a sun room would be nice!
I settle down in the dining room, which is really meant to be a game room, does not have windows, and is on the lower level of the house. Momma’s quilt gives me some comfort…I know she is watching me..I pray a little…just in case.
I go through my books. Because this may be the last book I ever read, I decide it better be a good one…so I pick “To Kill A Mockingbird.” I read, and wish my husband would hurry up and get home.I would feel better if he was with me. He is my Atticus Finch.
