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Show Twisters . . . 55 Stacey, Arthur and I got in each other's way trying to explain what it was like at our place and the Darlington's, all over Grand Island for all we knew. We snuffled and wiped our faces on our sleeves, even Mom, then smiled through our tears and hugged some more. It was really something! Suddenly, Mom noticed how wet I was and tried to get me to put on her windbreaker, but I wouldn't. I told her I was used to it, which wasn't anywhere near the truth. Right away then she had to have Ryan, so Stacey gave him up and Mom started crying again once she had him in her arms, saying how thankful she was that we were all alive. "What about Smiley?" Arthur asked. "Oh, poor Smiley!" Mom said in a rush. "She's trapped downstairs in that house. I don't know how she's going to get out." We huddled there as she told us, rain running down our faces and into our mouths, all of us shaking. She'd taken Mrs. Smiley to the basement and was on her way back to the car-which she'd parked at Goldie's, having looked for her sister first-when she actually saw the tornado coming. She had run back to Smiley's, the funnel practically at her heels. She told us how she'd dived under the dining room table and held onto the legs as the storm raged on and on. "I knew when the roof ripped off-" I felt Mom shudder "-but I d i d n ' t k n o w u n t i l later that the back porch was gone, too, collapsed onto the stairs . . . When it was over I called and called, but I couldn't get Belle to answer." I thought she was going to cry again. "I'm so worried about her. She could have had a heart attack black, and down there and who'd know? It was pitch / I couldn't get to her . . ." |