Surviving a Tornado
I had seen photos of one of these whirlwind monsters
This one was just a corn field away, and we were running
Furiously furious, it sucked up livestock and farm equipment.
There are probably rats down there, my aunt had said once.
Rattlesnakes too, said my brother.
I noticed him scrambling inside the second the hatch was flipped.
My parents and I were in our pajamas, I did not have on slippers.
Daddy flipped the hatch with a bang
It was totally silent and dark.
No light.
I could smell mold.
I wondered if a rat would bite my foot.
I had heard they can bite off toes.
My mother said “Listen”.
Except for heavy breathing, there was silence.
Maybe it’s over said my sister.
Then we heard a train
A train in a Nebraska corn field?
Something big landed on the cellar’s hatch.
BAM!
The tractor, Mommy said.
Or the combine, said Daddy.
We did not have much of a house left when we were freed a few hours later.
But we were all alive.
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