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Show Twisters . . . 94 EARLY MORNING It was scarcely daylight when all those National Guard choppers made their first overview of the city. Though we didn't know it at the time, they were carrying the police chief, the city engineer, civil defense chiefs, and the mayor-all of them stunned to silence by what they saw. One of the officials was so shocked he later reported he hadn't even heard the sound of the rotors. "That was the quietest helicopter ride I ever took," he said. All we knew for sure in our cramped little jail cell was that it was morning and we wanted out of there. We didn't wait to ask permission. We just went ahead and used the John, which sure enough had stopped flushing, then tip-toed out of that women's section. Down below, Mrs. Minetti gave us dimes for the public phone so we could try to reach Grandma Hatch and the armory, but we struck out on both. "Some calls are getting through," she told us, "but if the lines are down you won't get more than a busy signal." She had changed out of her uniform into slacks and was about to leave for the nearby town of Doniphan where she lived. When she heard us talking among ourselves about walking to K Mart because it was closer than the armory, she asked the policewoman at the desk if she shouldn't just drive us in her car. "If we can't get through, I'll take them home with me," she said. I hoped not, though I could see she half-way liked the idea. |