I am going to write about a rather scary experience that happened to me and my family when I was younger...
It was during the spring or summer of 1997..I don't exactly remember what month it was, but I DO remember the year very well.
I live in Nashville, Tennessee, with my adoptive family, and we were outside when the sky got dark and ugly and the wind started blowing like a storm was fixing to come up. Mom told me and my brothers and sisters to go into the house as a tornado was coming and that the weather radio that my little brother had was going off like crazy.
So I grabbed Ronee' (she is on crutches, and she can't walk very well without them), and I and my remaining siblings hightailed it towards the house, where we all quickly made our way to the basement, where we squeezed into the centermost location. Trying to stuff 40+ people in one spot was NOT EASY, plus we had our animals with us. They were all freaking out. Cats were hissing and spitting furiously, the dogs were barking and growling noisily, our giant macaw was pooping all over Johnny's head, the little kids were screaming or crying hysterically, and I was getting deaf from all of the maddening din.
Meanwhile, maman was busily trying to calm us down by saying everything was going to be alright, and daddy was praying in tongues, as he always does when he is scared or worried about something. (We are Pentecostals.) To hear daddy praying so ferverently to Jesus was calming; yet, inside, my heart was thudding a million miles an hour. We could hear the winds howling outside, and the sound of stuff being broken and then being blown against our house (a few times I was so sure our house would be the next thing to go).
It was also as dark as pitch, but with an eerie green cast to the sky.
It was quite frightening, to say the least.
I wish I could say it was all over in a few minutes, but it wasn't. It seemed that Johnny's damned old weather radio kept sounding off every few seconds, and the wind would only kick up again, stronger this time.
I thought for sure we were all going to be goners.
It ended up that several tornadoes struck Nashville that unforgettable day. But amazingly enough, nobody was killed; although there WERE people who had been injured from the deadly storms. We didn't sustain a LOT of damage, but we DID have some. And some, like our friend, Roberto, lost his house altogether. He came later, looking pale and shaken. And his pet lion, "Shange'" (who has since gone to our local zoo), was peeing all over the place.
They ended up staying at our place.
We put the lion into the one shed, where Roberto could keep an eye on him. Poor "Shange'" was NOT amused.
Roberto has since rebuilt his house, and we haven't had any more tornadoes come. (We are hoping that NONE EVER DO.)
But that Black Day back in 1997 WAS DEFINITELY one WE ALL would NEVER, EVER FORGET as long as we lived!!
Edie Batstone's first book of colourful picture poems invites us to jump into a child's world of wonder and possibility, just as a child jumps into a puddle - knowing only that it seems like a good idea at the time! Join her on this journey of disco
Young Sasha, a little bear orphaned as a cub, finds new friendships as he struggles to realize his potential. But as he does so, danger awaits in the jaws of an evil wolf * the much feared * Rasputin. In his time of need, can Sasha overcome his fears
Gary Grasshopper and friends travel to another field to celebrate the birthday of Gary's best friend, Freddie Firefly. While there they encounter a group of cicadas who have been underground for thirteen years.
