Frankly Speaking- Eric, Dorothy, Toto, Me & the Tornado
Eric and I had hiked from the thriving metropolis of Plainville KS to the lake to enjoy a day’s fishing and whatever else two 13 year old boys could get into. Other than the fact that I managed to pretty well lob off the end of my right index finger opening a can of Vienna Sausages the first part of the day was uneventful. Granted, the finger did need stitches but I was young, bullet-proof, macho and tough. Hey, I was 13! That was a real wound! I even had to briefly explain it when the U.S. Navy fingerprinted me.
As the day wore on clouds began to build on the western horizon. Not concerned we continued our fishing expedition. However I should note that the only fish I ever saw caught in the lake were when it was going dry and the authorities opened it to seining, netting, gigging and any other fishing techniques save poison and dynamite. The city swimming pool seemed the logical place to deposit all those fish. But that’s another story.
As the day wore on the clouds on the horizon weren’t on the horizon anymore. The clouds were moving toward us. They weren’t just clouds anymore either. They were thunder boomers! The clouds turned green; Eric and I decided we needed to head for home. Too late; it was two miles to our houses and we only had enough time to go a mile and a half. The old wives tale about green clouds warning of impending hail is not an old wives tale! When we were one half mile from Eric’s house the sky opened up and pelted us with marble sized hail. But we journeyed on!
We arrived at Eric’s and went upstairs to dry off and warm up. It’s funny, but I can still remember the record we were playing on Eric’s phonograph. “Wipe Out,” by the Ventures. Oh, and for those to young to remember; phonographs were the ancient predecessor to the CD player which was preceded by the cassette player which was preceded by the 8-track, and hi-fi wasn’t and I don’t think any of us had stereo anything. But there we sat unwinding from the rigors of the day.
Suddenly the siren sounded! Now for those not used to life in rural Kansas, the siren was the town’s warning system. It sounded to summon the volunteer fire department when some ole man’s barn caught fire. It sounded at noon every day (I always supposed it beat all the lady folk having to call the men folk to lunch). Finally, it was the imminent warning that a tornado had been sighted and the community was in danger. In the event of a fire or lunch the siren wailed then waned and then wailed again. In the event of a tornado it just wailed, and wailed, and wailed. On this day it did the later!
Being the good son I was I immediately called home to see if mom wanted me to come home. Otherwise I’d just wait it out at Eric’s house. Mom’s decision was that I should come home. Today that would probably be construed as child endangerment. But it was only about 100 yards from Eric’s house to ours. So off I went.
It was 100 feet to the gate at the back of Eric’s yard and I was walking out the gate when I heard something breaking or crashing. I looked over and saw the next door neighbor’s antenna crashing to the ground. I then looked up. OH MY GOD!!! I was looking up into the vortex of a tornado. Ok, so it was about 100 yards home. I guarantee that had someone had a stop-watch on me I would still hold the world’s record for the 100 yard dash. And Eric’s back yard was directly behind Dorothy’s. And I was scared!
I ran into the kitchen where mom stood with my brothers and my baby sister. I babbled and blubbered insistence that everyone get down into the basement, but they weren’t listening to me! We watched as Scotty (the High School Janitor) and his wife (Leonna, I believe) made their way down the alley that separated our yard from the high school. How long did that all take? A couple of minutes I’m sure. And unless I ran faster than a tornado and/or time moves the tornado had to be long gone.
The Civil Defense Siren stopped its loud obnoxious song! We all wandered out into the backyard and there to the east was the cloud. As I recall it had 5 funnel clouds dangling from it. It may have only been three but it’s my story and I’m sticking to five. Four (or two if you prefer) of the twisters were your basic run of the mill tornados. But the other one was a monster!
We didn’t have F1 through F5 category tornadoes at the time. We had monsters, tornadoes and possible tornadoes. If there were no witnesses, then any damages the storm generated were at the hands of tornadic winds. And that’s exactly the way the news media reported them. Not possible, probable or likely tornadoes. The damage was caused by tornadic winds.
Eric and I lived to wreck havoc on the community another day! Dorothy, her house and Toto her dog were not influenced by the day’s events. We found no yellow brick road, no ruby slippers and no witches. Except possibly Miss Rounder, the elderly matron, that was our English teacher and the school librarian. Oh yes, life on the plains of Kansas!
As the day wore on clouds began to build on the western horizon. Not concerned we continued our fishing expedition. However I should note that the only fish I ever saw caught in the lake were when it was going dry and the authorities opened it to seining, netting, gigging and any other fishing techniques save poison and dynamite. The city swimming pool seemed the logical place to deposit all those fish. But that’s another story.
As the day wore on the clouds on the horizon weren’t on the horizon anymore. The clouds were moving toward us. They weren’t just clouds anymore either. They were thunder boomers! The clouds turned green; Eric and I decided we needed to head for home. Too late; it was two miles to our houses and we only had enough time to go a mile and a half. The old wives tale about green clouds warning of impending hail is not an old wives tale! When we were one half mile from Eric’s house the sky opened up and pelted us with marble sized hail. But we journeyed on!
We arrived at Eric’s and went upstairs to dry off and warm up. It’s funny, but I can still remember the record we were playing on Eric’s phonograph. “Wipe Out,” by the Ventures. Oh, and for those to young to remember; phonographs were the ancient predecessor to the CD player which was preceded by the cassette player which was preceded by the 8-track, and hi-fi wasn’t and I don’t think any of us had stereo anything. But there we sat unwinding from the rigors of the day.
Suddenly the siren sounded! Now for those not used to life in rural Kansas, the siren was the town’s warning system. It sounded to summon the volunteer fire department when some ole man’s barn caught fire. It sounded at noon every day (I always supposed it beat all the lady folk having to call the men folk to lunch). Finally, it was the imminent warning that a tornado had been sighted and the community was in danger. In the event of a fire or lunch the siren wailed then waned and then wailed again. In the event of a tornado it just wailed, and wailed, and wailed. On this day it did the later!
Being the good son I was I immediately called home to see if mom wanted me to come home. Otherwise I’d just wait it out at Eric’s house. Mom’s decision was that I should come home. Today that would probably be construed as child endangerment. But it was only about 100 yards from Eric’s house to ours. So off I went.
It was 100 feet to the gate at the back of Eric’s yard and I was walking out the gate when I heard something breaking or crashing. I looked over and saw the next door neighbor’s antenna crashing to the ground. I then looked up. OH MY GOD!!! I was looking up into the vortex of a tornado. Ok, so it was about 100 yards home. I guarantee that had someone had a stop-watch on me I would still hold the world’s record for the 100 yard dash. And Eric’s back yard was directly behind Dorothy’s. And I was scared!
I ran into the kitchen where mom stood with my brothers and my baby sister. I babbled and blubbered insistence that everyone get down into the basement, but they weren’t listening to me! We watched as Scotty (the High School Janitor) and his wife (Leonna, I believe) made their way down the alley that separated our yard from the high school. How long did that all take? A couple of minutes I’m sure. And unless I ran faster than a tornado and/or time moves the tornado had to be long gone.
The Civil Defense Siren stopped its loud obnoxious song! We all wandered out into the backyard and there to the east was the cloud. As I recall it had 5 funnel clouds dangling from it. It may have only been three but it’s my story and I’m sticking to five. Four (or two if you prefer) of the twisters were your basic run of the mill tornados. But the other one was a monster!
We didn’t have F1 through F5 category tornadoes at the time. We had monsters, tornadoes and possible tornadoes. If there were no witnesses, then any damages the storm generated were at the hands of tornadic winds. And that’s exactly the way the news media reported them. Not possible, probable or likely tornadoes. The damage was caused by tornadic winds.
Eric and I lived to wreck havoc on the community another day! Dorothy, her house and Toto her dog were not influenced by the day’s events. We found no yellow brick road, no ruby slippers and no witches. Except possibly Miss Rounder, the elderly matron, that was our English teacher and the school librarian. Oh yes, life on the plains of Kansas!
posted by Frank at 2:09 PM
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