Here is the next chapter in the Book
Chapter 6
One unpleasant activity that Toby and I both hated was dodging tornadoes. We lived right in the heart of tornado alley, so every spring there was a constant stream of severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings.
The house we lived in didn't have a basement, so my parents purchased a small, metal storm shelter that was supposed to hold four people. It was creepy. When I was in that thing, I felt like I was is some sort of a coffin.
My Mom was so afraid of tornadoes that she would have us go down into the storm shelter all the time. I couldn't stand being down in that shelter, so I would wait in the house or I'd stay out and see if the storm was coming. I tried to put Toby down in the shelter in advance, but he hated it too. He would try to climb the ladder and get out of there to find out where I was. Usually, we just waited it out together. There was one time, when the two of us were together while I was doing school at home when we almost waited too long.
There had been a tornado watch issued early in the morning, which is rather rare, so we were expecting bad weather. My Mom kept calling me about every five minutes from her work to see if any storms were coming. I wasn't too worried about the weather, so I wasn't really paying too much attention.
At about 11:00am, the tornado siren went off in town. Toby went crazy barking, and I jumped up from behind my desk and went to find out what was happening. The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for my county.
I picked up Toby, and the two of us headed for the storm shelter. When we got outside, I really didn't see much. I decided to wait with Toby above ground and see what happened. The two of us walked around to see if we could spot anything in the distance. It wasn't even raining.
We were across the yard from the shelter when almost immediately the entire sky turned green. The two of us ran as fast as we could to the storm shelter. I opened it up just as the rain started to absolutely pour down. I picked Toby up and made my way down the ladder into the shelter pulling the door shut behind me.
Just as I pulled the door shut, the hail started. From the sound of the pounding on the shelter door, I could tell that the hail was huge. Toby and I went to the far end of the shelter and huddled there together. We could hear the wind picking up and it was roaring like a furnace.
I was scared, but Toby was never afraid of anything. He was growling at the hail, wind, thunder and lightning. Holding on to him, I wasn't afraid anymore. We waited down in the storm shelter for about thirty minutes. After that time, curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to stick my head out and see if it was clear.
When I emerged, the sun was already back out. It didn't reveal a pleasant site. I picked up Toby and went up the ladder out of the shelter. We had missed the tornado. That tornado went just north of us through farm fields. However, the hail and the wind caused a lot of damage. Two of our air conditioning units were pounded to bits. Our garden was totally ruined. All of the tomatoes were destroyed. Also, one of our apple trees and one of the pear trees in the orchard were uprooted. In town, several trees were uprooted and the siding was blown off one of the businesses.
The major damage was to the agricultural interests. All of the corn in the surrounding area was destroyed. The large hail stripped all of the ears right off of the stalks.
I sat with Toby on the back steps, and I just held on to him. I was glad we made it to the shelter, and that we were together.
That's the closest I've ever come to a tornado in the state of Kansas. The closest I ever came to a tornado was in the state of Wyoming when we were out visiting my grandparents. I watched that tornado absolutely destroy the Buffalo Ridge section of Cheyenne.
No matter what the storm, I was glad that Toby was around. Like I said, he was never afraid of anything. When he wasn't afraid, it helped me not to be afraid.
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