5.15.2003

 

I wrote this last night.

I have lived in this area of the country for the last six or so years after moving away from the sunny shores of southern California. In that time, I have seen some rather severe thunderstorms, some saturating rain that once plugged up the storm drains on the streets in about three minutes. Actually one of the more incredible things I have ever seen. With the exception of the extreme cold, I generally like the weather out here; I have a soft spot for thunderstorms because I love the rain and watching lightning flash above while the thunder cracks can do anything from putting me in a very calm state to making me really horny.

But until tonight I have never really had any tornado experience.

I actually started writing this before the actual “experience” kicked up. But three sentences into it the local authorities activated the Emergency Broadcast/Notification System and the sirens started ringing outside. Things grew pretty dark rather quickly, and rather than seeking shelter somewhere, I climbed up onto the roof of my building and watched the clouds developing to the northwest.

I’m not dumb enough to think that standing on the roof in the middle of a full-fledged tornado warning is a good idea, but I live in a single apartment over a storefront. Meaning I have no basement nor any other underground place reasonably within my access. So I had the option of sitting inside and watching the television shows get interrupted every three minutes and hope for the best or at least watch and see if trouble had decided to make its way toward me.

A call from my concerned girlfriend changed things a little. She told me I could come over for a little while. To her underground apartment.

The sirens had freaked her poor little boy out quite a bit. The ice cream she proffered did little, and as soon as he heard our opinion that the bathroom, without any windows, was the safest place in the apartment. Not much time passed before I accompanied him in there while mom cleaned the place, and then later joined us in the head and performed some cleaning there. Very efficient, that one.

While the news informed us of funnel clouds and two confirmed touch downs in the geographic area, we read stories until the danger passed, bedtime approached and the thunderstorms rolled in. No problem.

Any way, part of me feels a little disappointed that we didn’t have a real tornado touch down around us that I could see and experience, but that smart voice in my head says, hey, tornadoes = bad, bad things for someone you probably know. Still, I feel a little sad that I didn’t have the opportunity to check out a funnel cloud with my own two eyes.

Or an old cranky woman riding a bike with a basket on the front glaring me as she rode by. That would have been perfect.