“I know. I just caught it on the TV.” I dropped spoonfuls of cookie dough onto the baking sheet. “You keep a close eye on the set for further warnings.”
She paled. “Will it hit us?”
“I hope not.” I slid the cookies into the oven.
She stared at me. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Why?” I kept an ear tuned to the weather report. Well, maybe both ears, because I didn’t hear what she said. She looked worried, but then both girls had worn that strained, anxious expression frequently around me. We were going to have a long talk, as soon as I could get my thoughts straight. It was important to know what you were talking about before you started talking, and right now my thoughts were still tied in a knot and I couldn’t find the right string to pull.
“All residents in…are urged to take cover immediately.”
I dropped the spoon. It hit against the glass bowl with a clang. “Where? I didn’t catch that.”
“Us!” Kris cried. “That’s us!”
The telephone rang and I snatched up the receiver. My next-door neighbor Ron was on the phone. “Kate? I don’t want to alarm you, but I think you and the girls should come over here. Sally and I are going to the basement.”
“We’ll be right there.” I slammed the receiver down and yelled for Kelli. “Come on! We’re going next door.”
Kelli ran into the kitchen, clutching Sailor. I shoved both girls out the door. “Run.” The stove. I whirled and shut off the oven, opened the door and jerked out the pan of half-baked cookies.
The clouds had turned a dirty yellow color. I stood transfixed, watching them boil overhead. A sudden gust of wind whirled debris past me. Trees bent low. I froze, unable to move.
“Kate!” Ron yelled from the door of his house. “Come on. Hurry.”
I ran toward him like a scared rabbit scurrying toward the safety of a brush pile. He pushed me toward the basement steps. “Sally and the kids are already down there.”
I had started down the steps when he suddenly pulled me back. “What’s that you’re carrying?”
I looked down and discovered I still held the pan of half-baked cookies. My jaw dropped. I remembered taking them out of the oven, but evidently I had forgotten to put them down.
Ron laughed. “Give them to me and get downstairs.”
I shot one more glance toward the sky and saw a dark finger of cloud extending toward the ground. As I watched, it rose again. Tornado. Dear God, help us. It really was a tornado. I stumbled toward the stairs, aware Ron was right behind me carrying the cookies.
Sally and the kids were huddled in a corner of the basement away from the windows. Vicki, the Fowlers’ oldest daughter, had her arms around Kelli and Kris. Mark and Tommy, age thirteen and fifteen, were sitting next to Sally. Mark had brought his ghetto blaster and had it tuned to a rock station. If we didn’t already have hearing problems we would be permanently deaf from the volume by the time we got the all clear.
If we got an all clear.
If the tornado hit us we might all wake up in heaven.
Where Neil was waiting for us.
The thought stunned me. As badly as I wanted to see him, I didn’t want to die right now. The girls were young. I wanted to see them grow up and get married. I wanted to be a grandmother. The longing caught me by surprise. For weeks I had been mentally moaning that I was ready to die. Apparently that wasn’t true.
Kelli clutched Sailor so tightly he whuffled in protest. Tootsie Roll, the Fowlers’ yappy little Pekingese, kept running around us in circles, evidently thinking this was some sort of game. Between the dog and the rock music I was about to resort to some very undignified behavior, like yelling “shut up” to the dog and heaving the ghetto blaster to the far side of the basement. Not very wise behavior if I wanted to be invited back.
Since I didn’t have anywhere else to go in a tornado warning, I decided to keep my options open.
Ron shouted at Mark to turn off the music so he could catch the weather report. Tommy had picked up a guitar that was lying around, and plucked aimlessly at the strings. If he had a melody hidden in there somewhere I couldn’t find it. The kid had been taking lessons for several months. As far as I could tell, he needed a few more.
Ron managed to get a few words of the weather report before Mark turned the radio back to his music. The volume was loud enough to mask the roar of the wind outside, which was one blessing. Ron reached over and turned off the radio and motioned for Tommy to put down the guitar. The boys complied, albeit reluctantly, and their father reached out to grasp their hands. “Let’s pray.”
I stiffened, eyes wide. Did he think we were in imminent danger? He caught my eye and shook his head. “I don’t know if the tornado is coming our way or not, but if it doesn’t hit us it will hit others in its path.”
I felt tears sting my eyelids. Neil would have said something like that. He had been concerned about others. I realized I’d been concentrating on myself and my children. Me and mine. My husband’s death had reduced me to a cold, unfeeling half Christian. I felt chastened as I bowed my head and listened while Ron prayed for our safety and for the safety of those around us. A peace came over me. Not that I knew what was going on outside those basement walls, but because Ron Fowler was a good man; somehow I felt God would hear and answer his prayers. I had even whispered a short prayer of my own. I didn’t have confidence in any prayer of mine, but somehow I felt better.
Mark switched on his music again and Ron shook his head and turned the channel to a weather broadcast. The announcer’s voice came over the air and I thought I had never heard better news.
“It looks like the tornado system has passed for now, but high winds have caused considerable destruction and a twister did touch down on the north side of the city. No information on damage right now. However, it seems to be all clear for the time being. Stay tuned for further developments.”
Ron got to his feet. “Well, looks like the excitement’s over for now.”
Kelli had climbed into my lap, still clutching Sailor. She lifted a tearstained face to mine. “The tornado went away? We’re not going to die?”
I hugged her. “Yes, darling. The tornado went away. We can go home now.”
We sorted ourselves out and climbed the stairs. I noticed the boys staring at me with bemused expressions when we trooped through Sally’s kitchen. Ron appeared to avoid looking at me at all. I started to feel self-conscious. Was my face dirty, or what? Sally took one good look at me and burst into laughter. “What happened to your eyebrows?”
“What do you mean, what happened?” No one had said a word, and I hadn’t done anything to my eyebrows. She took my shoulders and turned me to the mirror. I stared back at my reflection in horror. My eyebrows and eyelashes were gone!
Kris was standing at my elbow. “I tried to tell you, but you didn’t listen.”
The stove. That rotten stove. When it exploded into flame it must have singed my eyebrows. No wonder I had felt like a marshmallow held too close to the flames. And I had to teach a class in Arizona tomorrow looking like this. I burst into tears.
Sally put her arms around me. “Don’t cry, Kate. They’ll grow back. Just be glad you weren’t hurt.”
Of course I was glad I hadn’t been burned, but I didn’t want to hear my eyebrows would grow back. I wanted them now. The idea startled me. That had been my theme ever since Neil died. Me, I, mine. I wanted my life put back together and I wanted it now. For the first time I realized it wasn’t going to be that way. What I wanted had little to do with reality. Life happened. Like it or not.
And I didn’t like it one bit.
“You