. . . dodged a bullet

. . . or, more accurately, a tornado. Just as we were sitting down to watch the NBA playoff game, the weather guy comes on with alerts, watches, warnings. I have in the past been pretty blase' about these things . . . not concerned enough, even when the sirens sound, to go to the basement. However, with the all the devastation and destruction in the general vicinity this week, I've become a bit more respectful (read scared) of the power of those storms. So we're sitting there looking at the multicolored line of tornadoes on the map. Here's the conversation:

Me: Gee it's getting pretty dark.

S: Yeah. Why's this guy on? I want to watch the game.

M: Wow, the tv says it's in Eudora. That's pretty close.

S: It's going north of us.

M: But Eudora. . . that's just five exits down the highway.

S: It's going north.

M: Now it's in DeSoto. . . that's just two miles away.

S: But north.

M: (Opening the door) Uh-oh, the sirens are going off.

S: Yeah.

M: Maybe we should bring the cat in.

S: Hell, no, it's not our cat, and look at her, anyway. She's sleeping. Animals know when something it going to happen, and she's not too concerned.

M: Look, it's getting all green, and now yellow.

S: Yeah, that means there's hail in the clouds.

M: I thought it meant a tornado.

S: Nope. You can start to worry when there's no wind, when it gets quiet.

M: There's not much wind.

S: Mary, look at the leaves on the trees. They're moving. There's wind.

M: Man, it's really raining in buckets. Listen, there's another siren. I'm going to the basement.

S: What's that you're taking with you?

M: My purse, my book, the cellphone, my secret cash stash, a diet Coke . . .

S: Okay, I'm going to take a shower.

M: What, are you nuts?

S: No, but I'm starting to wonder about you.

M: Just wait a while. And why don't you come on down here?

S: (Calling from the front door) Want to see a wall cloud?

M: Well, yeah, okay. Wow.

S: Where is it?

M: To the north of us.

S: Told you.

Weather guy on TV: "Well, that cloud is circulating, but not rotating."

M: What's the difference between circulating and rotating?

S: Beats me.

Weather guy on TV: "With the ground saturated, if it keeps raining, we have a good chance of flooding."

S: No shit. Master of the obvious. I'll tell you something: any farmer worth his salt could do that guy's job. I remember my dad getting me out of bed at 3:00 am and making me come to watch these storms. There would be lightening and then he'd say: "Look, there's the tornado," and I would say, "Uh-huh, can I go back to bed?"

M: Yeah, well, my mom would wake us up if it thundered a lot and make us go to the basement where there were rollaway beds and cots and we would sit down there and pray the rosary, while my dad went around the neighborhood and gathered up all the little old widows and made them come to our basement, too. It was kind of fun, in a scary way.

S: Are you going back to the basement?

M: No, it looks like it's all going north of us.