THE STORM

THE STORM
by: Gregory

It was July in the middle of Minnesota. Prime tornado season.

The sun had set a couple of hours earlier behind some ugly black clouds. You could hear the thunder and the lightening to the west. The thunder got louder and louder at the storm came closer. It began to rain so we ran into the house.

The lightening flashes were blinding and the terrible thunderclaps followed almost instantaneously. The wind was picking up, snapping of the raindrops against the windows sounded like bebe gun pellets hitting the glass.

Mommy took me in her arms and sat in a rocking chair in the middle of the living room. Looking out the window the lightening flashes silhouetted a cloud that looked like a huge monster wearing a black Dracula cape with devil horns.

The wind was howling and the rain was parallel with the ground. The radio was forecasting tornadoes in the area.

I asked Mommy, "Why can't we go to the basement?"

Mommy said, "Remember, Daddy said never to go into the cellar during a bad storm. If the house is pushed off the foundation the old logs in the floor will fall on us."

Gusts of wind made the windows rattle. The trees were bent half way to the ground.

"Where's Daddy?" I cried.

"He's in the barn trying to keep the cows calm. This weather is scary for them too."

The lightening flashed and lit up the south side of the barn. Thunder cracked making the house shake. The storm was on top of us.

Lightening strrck a big tree in the front yard creating a huge fireball. We could see the silhouette of the tree in the lightening flashes. The tree split apart in two pieces. The fireball engulfed its entire base.

What a horrifying spectacle it was.

Mommy told me stories from the bible to keep my attention off the storm. She said we have to trust in God in times like this. She prayed the rosary with me. All fifteen mysteries we did.

It seemed like the storm lived on for an eternity. In reality it lasted but a moment.