Day 3: Natural Disasters

Topic: So, I was going to do something else today, but since I was so drunk last night (and my computer shut down), I didn't get it in.
This morning (noon counts as morning, right?), I woke up from a dream about being in a town where a small volcano exploded. My brain took lots of strange things and put them together to create the reality of this experience, which ended up involving dinosaurs, antique stores, and banana cream pie milkshakes.
Natural disasters are something that almost all of us will deal with in our lifetime. Earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, tsunamis. They are also great elements in literature, for if it there were no tornadoes, how would Dorothy have made it to Oz?
Today, write about a natural disaster. Either write about your experience with one, or write about a fictional event from a character's first person point of view.

It's Saturday afternoon. Me and all my cousins are at my grandma's house. This is a usual occurrence. We are all under the age of 16 so this is an easy way for our mothers to baby sit us all at the same time. All our moms and Gram are in the kitchen doing whatever it is that grown women do. Cook, drink wine, gossip. I don't know. And all the cousins are in the living room competing in the "Tickle Tournament." The boys get really into these tournaments. They have even made out a tournament chart.



Every one of us are in for the tournament with the exception of Chloe. She's never won a tickle fight to date and has become a very sore loser. Instead, she locks herself in a bedroom upstairs and turns the stereo up loud enough to drown out the fun she's missing out on.
It's down to the last match between Zeke and Cameron. Zeke is the oldest and wins almost every time. Cameron is second youngest. His wins and loses are about half and half. He's the most fun to watch though, because he's got quick moves and the best laugh of us all. Near the end, it's obvious Zeke is going to win, so we all join in and dog pile Cameron. The best part about Cameron is that he pees his pants almost every time.
Cameron squirms out the bottom of the dog pile and runs to the bathroom. The rest of us all giggle and high five as John throws and extra pair of sweat pants into the bathroom.
Gram hobbles in with her cane and hollers at all of us to get to the basement. Living in tornado alley, most everyone has a basement. Zeke grabs Cameron from the bathroom and we all trudge our way down to the damp, dark, rarely used basement. Our moms grab a few boxes of snacks and some water bottles on their way down.
The basement is a six by eight sq. ft. room. It serves its purpose, but its a small space for fourteen people. Even if nine of them are kids. The floors and walls are cold concrete. There's a small window at the top of the room just barely big enough to slide through if you had to. It sits just above the grass outside and looks out to the above ground pool about six feet away. After a few minutes of situating everyone in the small space and laying out blankets on the floor for an attempt at comfort, someone realizes there are only thirteen people down here.
CHLOE!
No one even remembered that Chloe had gone upstairs. Gram starts freaking out because the sirens have now stared blaring across town. Zeke, being the oldest and most trustworthy, gets sent up two flights of stairs to get Chloe from her cocoon of self pity. Once they return, they join us crowded at the window hoping to get a glance at a real tornado. After a few minutes, it's obvious there's nothing to see, yet. We all find our spot on the blankets and settle in for a long haul of sitting and waiting. And maybe a few card games.
My mom and I are in a corner together. I lay my head down on her leg as she strokes my hair. I listen to the others laughing and teasing, filling Chloe in on Cameron's soggy pants.
Next thing I know, I'm laying on the couch upstairs. The tornado came and went. Everyone watched it go by from the window in the basement. And I slept through the entire thing. Happens to me every time.