So, there they were, four children, they had made their decision to hang at the hizzy rather than go to the dreaded Wally World. There was of course another child, young Jacob, he was nearly 2, and had no real say in what he would do or where he would go. In this case he was going to Wal Mart with his mommy. So, Adam, Jessi, Jared and Anna were hanging in the basement about to start a heated game of handball. They were among that lucky group of children who's parents did not forbid them to play ball in the house. They usually snickered at the Brady children on tv who were denied this privilege. There had been a few broken windows in the Nelson basement from these games of handball. They usually came from the hand of Jared. He had the power to hit it to the windows, but not the aim to keep it away from them, like his older siblings Jessi and Adam. Then there was Anna. She was only interested in handball because she had to be. It was essential to her survival. She was needed for the sake of even teams, therefore she was not allowed to say no. Anna was nothing if not compliant (at least as a young child. She quickly grew out of this trait by the age of about 8). So, the game started up, all the while, unbeknownst to the four, a storm was brewing! The Braves had come on earlier that day, but after the game was over, Jared had switched off the tv. Living as far out in the country as they did, the kids had no sirens to warn them of the impending tornado, and even if they had heard a siren going off, chances are, they would have thought it was sounding to alert them of an escaped prisioner from the Limestone County Correction Facility that was just down the road. So, on they played, making it to the 3rd inning before anything out of the ordinary happened. Jessi and Jared were just switching up from defense to start batting, and Adam and Anna were taking the 2-5 steps it took to "take the field." Out of the blue, the very same window that Jared had cracked about 2 weeks before shattered, causing Anna to jump back into the "infield."
"That wasn't me!" Jared said quickly, his eyes as wide as saucers. Of course Adam and Jessi knew it wasn't Jared, the ball was in Adam's right hand. But neither of them had a clue what had actually happened. All of the sudden they heard the most deafening wind that had ever met any of their young ears. Then an almost whistle like sound that wouldnt stop! They all looked to Adam, who already had a guess as to what was going on outside of their house.
"Tornado!"
He said confidently. Adam was always sure of his assessments, whether they were right or wrong. This time he was right.
"Adam, Jess, what do we do??" Jared's eyes were even larger than they had previously been.
"I'm scared!" Anna said quietly, not really expecting an answer.
"We have to stay in the basement for one thing." Adam said with authority.
"We've gotta have blankets for the flying glass!" Jessi blurted out somewhat frantically.
"I'll get them, you guys stay down here, in the very middle of the room, stay down low." Adam called over his shoulder, already on his way out the basement door." Jessi started moving to the middle of the basement, herding Anna and Jared along with her.
"Is our house gonna be swirling around inside the tornado?" Anna asked worriedly. She was probably recalling The Wizard of Oz.
"I don't think so, that's not a real movie y'know?" Jessi answered her, recalling the Wizard of Oz herself, and assuming correctly that this was the image floating around in Anna's head.
"I'm gonna go up there and help Adam!" Jared said all of the sudden, with a determinded gleam in his eyes.
"Oh no you're not!" Jessi said, grabbing him by the arm and holding him in place. "He'll be back any second now."
As she finished the sentence, Adams burst through the door with 3 large blankets filling his arms.
"Its crazy up there!" He panted. "The sky is black, and I think I saw a tornado, who knows if there's just one out there! It felt like the windows were gonna shatter any minute!"
Anna ran up to Adam and wrapped her arms around his knees, relieved that her big brother had survived his brave blanket mission. Jessi and Jared looked a tiny bit dissappointed that they had not gotten to see dramatic scene Adam had described. Little did they know that they would get to not only see this dramatic scene, but experience it very very closely.
Just as they were huddling in the middle of the basement under the thick blankets, Jessi let out a yell.
"Oh my gosh! Rocky's out there!"
To Be Continued.....................
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