TORNADO ALERT
[NOTE: I wrote this story as an Institute of Children's Literature assignment. Enjoy! K.G.]
Eeeeeee!
Danny Taylor shot up in bed and covered his ears. The tornado siren! He switched on his table lamp, then leaped out of bed--only to trip over the pieces of his train set that were scattered all over the carpet. A few hours earlier, he and his ten-year-old sister Dorothy had played with the train set in his room.
He rushed to the bureau and switched on his transistor radio. A deep male voice crackled, "Tornado located ten miles southwest of Springville, Oklahoma. Take cover immediately!"
Springville! he thought. That's us!
Leaving his radio on, the twelve-year-old boy raced to Dorothy's bedroom, aware that the responsibility for their safety rested on his shoulders. Their parents had left for an overnight trip to Riverside with their neighbor, Mr. Davis, and the children had begged to be left alone.
Treading on Dorothy's scattered clothes, Danny dashed into her bedroom and shook her shoulder. It didn't work. Dorothy lay sideways with her hand curled against her cheek. Outside, the rain pounded the roof. The wind whistled and howled, and the thunder crashed and rumbled. The siren had ceased to screech.
Danny raced to the foot of Dorothy's bed. He grabbed Dorothy's ankle and jerked her onto the floor.
"Danny! What'd you do that for?" Dorothy lifted her head and glared at her brother.
"Get up! There's a tornado coming."
Dorothy scrambled to her feet, her eyes wide with fright. Danny darted back to his room to fetch his transistor radio.
After snatching it, he raced to the living room. There, Dorothy fidgeted by the couch, twisting the skirt of her pink nightgown. She had tied her blond hair into a ponytail with a bright-red satin hair ribbon. "We should have let Mom and Dad get us a babysitter." Her voice shook.
"I'll take care of you," Danny retorted. "Come on! Let's go to Mr. Davis'." I wish we had a cellar! he added silently.
Danny and Dorothy rushed out into the pouring rain and raced through the neighbors' yards. The grass felt wet to Danny's bare feet. The night covered the children like a blanket until a bright flash of lightning lit the sky, silhouetting the dark trees and houses.
Sheets of rain pounded their heads and soaked Dorothy's nightgown and Danny's striped pajamas. Puddles formed little rivers with white bubbles floating on the surface. The strong wind howled, whistled, and shoved the children from behind. Silently, Danny wished that Mr. Davis had stayed home to let them into his cellar.
Several minutes after setting out, the children arrived at Mr. Davis' white frame house and dashed to his backyard cellar. It was padlocked! Danny jerked the padlock chain, but it refused to budge.
The wind suddenly bellowed and nearly knocked the children down. Danny held his radio's left side to his right ear. Dorothy cocked her head toward it, loose strands of wet hair dripping in her ears.
"The tornado has passed Jonesboro Lake and is moving in a northeasternly direction," the announcer warned.
Danny switched off the radio. He and Dorothy gaped at each other and trembled. Jonesboro Lake lay to the southwest, less than five miles away. The tornado was heading right at them, and it was close!
"Come on!" Danny gestured. "Let's hide in the house."
"No!" Dorothy shook her head. "That's wrong!"
Danny scowled and shook his head. He knew it would be useless to argue with her; besides, there wasn't time. Oh, why hadn't they accepted a babysitter?
An idea clicked in Danny's brain. The drainage tunnel! He and Dorothy often crawled inside it when they played hide and seek. It would make a perfect shelter.
"Come on!" Danny shouted over the bellowing wind. "Let's go to the tunnel!"
He seized her arm and off they went, the gale blowing into their faces. To the side, a towering elm tree crashed.
Soon, the gale's roar became a deafening shriek. Like the roar of a thousand freight trains, Danny thought. It's almost here!
The gale slowed them down and tried to shove them backward. As Danny clutched Dorothy's arm, the children staggered onward and bowed their heads.
Danny wondered if they'd reach the tunnel in time. The tornado was so close!
Danny glanced up and saw a high embankment of hard-packed dirt up ahead. A drainage tunnel, wide enough and tall enough for a child to sit in, was carved into it. A stream of water poured out of its edge and into a shallow ditch.
The children crawled inside, Danny following Dorothy. Wet, ice-cold steel lined the tunnel; the water pouring out of the tunnel felt frigid as soon as they sat in it. The children's hair and nightclothes dripped, forming puddles. Danny's teeth chattered as he hugged his radio.
An earsplitting boom hurt Danny's ears. He covered his ears and cowered. Dorothy screamed and clutched his arm.
A few minutes later, Danny uncovered his ears and switched on his radio. It did no good; the tornado's shriek drowned it out. The children hugged each other and waited.
Dorothy leaned against Danny's shoulder and closed her eyes. Her red hair ribbon hung limply and dripped water on Danny's shoulder.
Meanwhile, the shriek subsided and the rain slackened. Soon, the radio announcer said that the tornado had dissipated.
Danny switched the radio off. "Come on. Let's go home."
"First, let's go to Mr. Davis's."
The children crawled out of the tunnel and darted to Mr. Davis's house. As they came within sight of his home, they froze. The house had become a flattened pile of lumber.
Danny's hands grew moist. "You're right, Dorothy. If we'd stayed in the house, we'd be dead."
Dorothy nodded. "It's lucky for Mr. Davis he went with our mom and dad!"
The children dashed home and relaxed when they found their house standing. As they trod inside, the children grinned at each other. Mom and Dad are going to be proud of us! Danny thought.
"We got to change our clothes." He shook his head at the puddle spreading at his feet.
"And clean our rooms!" Dorothy brushed her hair out of her eyes and grimaced.
©1995 by Kathryn D. Green
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