So I found ten dollars this morning.
Then things got complicated.
[12 March 2006 4:45pm]
I.
We couldn't sleep, though eight-thirty on a Sunday morning is perfect for it and Tyler and I had caught maybe three hours between us. We had to go out and walk. Everyone did. We left his basement apartment and walked round the fifteen feet or so of splintered foliage to get a good look at the power line, which lay on Stu's car and was somehow intact.
Our cars were parked on the street, so we started by checking on them. Both were fine, though later, during the cleanup for the enormous oak that lay next to Tyler's car, someone would shatter his rear windshield. As that was still to come, he pulled half a sixer of Boulevard Wheat out of his trunk. He, Zach, and I had, we felt, earned a drink this morning. The law had more important things to do than care if we had open containers in public. We joined the crowd in its pajamas, blankets (though it was, and is, warm) and hastily thrown-on jeans and tees as it drifted downtown to see what else had happened.
II.
Storms don't give a lot of warning out here sometimes, but this was something entirely other. I was asleep by 7:15am after a night shift. The sun peeked through the clouds a little then. An hour later the wind rose enough to wake me and kept rising. Like breath, you expect wind to bate now and again for an inhalation before another gust, but this one wouldn't relent. The house rattled a little, then a lot, as if the wind planned to peel off the walls and pull us out. The groans of supports were the only thing the roar outside didn't drown out.
When after a full minute it relaxed its grip, car alarms began to be audible up and down the street. Half a minute later the tornado sirens sounded, which in retrospect is kind of funny.
When I felt more or less certain the window was a safe place to be, I peeked through the blinds. It was no darker than overcast. I spoke for the town under my breath: "What the fuck was that?"
Lauren's voice, a little plaintive, called my name from the living room. She and Sterling were already dressed, and she had in her arms an utterly stupefied Shade. I pulled on real clothes, grabbed my hat and jacket, and followed them down and around back to Tyler's. "Jesus," I said at the bisected tree, which had somehow missed everything but the power line on the way down. Near misses and small causes for thanks were the order of the day.
III.
The clouds came and went all day, and with them the rain, which, speak of the Devil, has started back up again. We tried to come down from everything. It took all day.
Trees are down everwhere. They did almost as much damage as the wind that broke and/or uprooted them. We wandered downtown for an hour. Smashed windshields, busted porches, bent streetsigns, decapitated stoplights, storefront windows and awnings smashed, the odd tree through a kitchen. Zach took pictures of South Park, whose gazebo is untouched but whose younger trees were slaughtered wholesale, leaving the older few standing among the carnage. The middle school by 14th and Connecticut used to have two enormous fans on its roof. Nikki got a picture of us with the first one, standing in the parking lot in a spray of concrete shards, and we had a good look at the second fifty yards off, kissing the soccer field fence.
IV.
They say it touched down at thirteenth and Kentucky, about a block and a half away from my house if you cut across back yards. With much of the city, my neighborhood included, without power, the rumor mill is going strong. We all thoguht "microburst" at first, huddled rubbing our eyes in Tyler's living room. Felt like the Almighty had smacked us awake. It could easily be tomorrow before I can find out for certain that it was, in fact, a tornado, but that'd just be a curiousity matter. We're fine, we're all fine.
Tyler's and my parents both have hail all over their lawns. What hail we got was small, short-lived,a nd propelled horizontally like frozen bullets, from what I'm told.
V.
We made it down to 8th and Mass, then caught a lift home from Sterling and Lauren, who like many had piled into their cars to stare and increase the already problematic traffic situation. When we got back I crawled into bed again, street clothes hung over a chair, at the ready.
A little after one, the police rolled through, sirens on for half a block at a time, followed by a megaphone voice telling us that there was another storm headed this way from Baldwin and that we should take shelter immediately. Hell with it, I thought and grabbed my clothes again. I packed my bag with a few necessities: paper, pen, book, flashlight, blanket, and a banana for later. Not many others appeared to heed the warning, at least not with a sense of immediacy. As I walked outsie again to join my housemates downstairs (our floors aren't connected by a staircase; I should have said), I saw sidewalks full of excited fraternity brothers and camera-toting townies interested in local color and aftermath shots.
"Hell with it" seemed to be the general feeling; Nikki and Zach rejoined Tyler and me and we drove around looking for somewhere to eat and watch the Big 12 championship game. That turned out to be Bigg's Barbecue on the west side of town. Great game, and I don't even like basketball.
That we won added a new dimension of oddity to the day; where earlier everyone had piled into their cars to see what had happened, who got damaged, now they were out en masse to honk their horns and hoot uproariously. To the joy of survival was addded the joy of victory, and we felt entitled to a run in the rain for our troubles.
VI.
The sun's dipped behind the HIll and campus, whose beautiful landscaping and trees suffered the worst for being highest up, and the clouds have rolled back in to cover the yellowing sky. Still, it's warm to the unseasonable degree that it's often been this winter, which has made this the longest and least predictable storm season anyone can remember--it's managed to bridge the winter and extend itself into a second year. It ought to keep warm through the night, which is good because I'm sleeping without artificial heat regardless.
Hate to break the fourth wall, but: it didn't. It got cold, and it stayed cold, and I'm just cold.
My sister rolled over and went back to sleep, my parents went to church, and I wandered around and marvelled at it all, each as he or she is wont to do. The anthill got flattened and we all did what we do anyway, because we're not ants.
I'm exhausted, you can no doubt tell, but have resolved not to sleep until tongiht, the better to sleep solid until work in the morning. The front porch is relaxation enough for now. The intersection's busy, more so than usual since the stoplight's out and it's defaulted into a three-way stop, which in this town is a shaky system of do-I-go-nows and after-yous under the best circumstances. Car tires over wet pavement (though the rain stopped a couple paragraphs ago, abruptly as it came) and earthy smells are good enough for me. Maybe I'll get in some reading while there's still light, or see if there's enough hot water for a much-needed shower. No one's in any real hurry today, it being an understood Take the Rest of the Day Off, and I'm not about to be the first.
----
*There was, and it was great.
[12 March 2006 4:45pm]
I.
We couldn't sleep, though eight-thirty on a Sunday morning is perfect for it and Tyler and I had caught maybe three hours between us. We had to go out and walk. Everyone did. We left his basement apartment and walked round the fifteen feet or so of splintered foliage to get a good look at the power line, which lay on Stu's car and was somehow intact.
Our cars were parked on the street, so we started by checking on them. Both were fine, though later, during the cleanup for the enormous oak that lay next to Tyler's car, someone would shatter his rear windshield. As that was still to come, he pulled half a sixer of Boulevard Wheat out of his trunk. He, Zach, and I had, we felt, earned a drink this morning. The law had more important things to do than care if we had open containers in public. We joined the crowd in its pajamas, blankets (though it was, and is, warm) and hastily thrown-on jeans and tees as it drifted downtown to see what else had happened.
II.
Storms don't give a lot of warning out here sometimes, but this was something entirely other. I was asleep by 7:15am after a night shift. The sun peeked through the clouds a little then. An hour later the wind rose enough to wake me and kept rising. Like breath, you expect wind to bate now and again for an inhalation before another gust, but this one wouldn't relent. The house rattled a little, then a lot, as if the wind planned to peel off the walls and pull us out. The groans of supports were the only thing the roar outside didn't drown out.
When after a full minute it relaxed its grip, car alarms began to be audible up and down the street. Half a minute later the tornado sirens sounded, which in retrospect is kind of funny.
When I felt more or less certain the window was a safe place to be, I peeked through the blinds. It was no darker than overcast. I spoke for the town under my breath: "What the fuck was that?"
Lauren's voice, a little plaintive, called my name from the living room. She and Sterling were already dressed, and she had in her arms an utterly stupefied Shade. I pulled on real clothes, grabbed my hat and jacket, and followed them down and around back to Tyler's. "Jesus," I said at the bisected tree, which had somehow missed everything but the power line on the way down. Near misses and small causes for thanks were the order of the day.
III.
The clouds came and went all day, and with them the rain, which, speak of the Devil, has started back up again. We tried to come down from everything. It took all day.
Trees are down everwhere. They did almost as much damage as the wind that broke and/or uprooted them. We wandered downtown for an hour. Smashed windshields, busted porches, bent streetsigns, decapitated stoplights, storefront windows and awnings smashed, the odd tree through a kitchen. Zach took pictures of South Park, whose gazebo is untouched but whose younger trees were slaughtered wholesale, leaving the older few standing among the carnage. The middle school by 14th and Connecticut used to have two enormous fans on its roof. Nikki got a picture of us with the first one, standing in the parking lot in a spray of concrete shards, and we had a good look at the second fifty yards off, kissing the soccer field fence.
IV.
They say it touched down at thirteenth and Kentucky, about a block and a half away from my house if you cut across back yards. With much of the city, my neighborhood included, without power, the rumor mill is going strong. We all thoguht "microburst" at first, huddled rubbing our eyes in Tyler's living room. Felt like the Almighty had smacked us awake. It could easily be tomorrow before I can find out for certain that it was, in fact, a tornado, but that'd just be a curiousity matter. We're fine, we're all fine.
Tyler's and my parents both have hail all over their lawns. What hail we got was small, short-lived,a nd propelled horizontally like frozen bullets, from what I'm told.
V.
We made it down to 8th and Mass, then caught a lift home from Sterling and Lauren, who like many had piled into their cars to stare and increase the already problematic traffic situation. When we got back I crawled into bed again, street clothes hung over a chair, at the ready.
A little after one, the police rolled through, sirens on for half a block at a time, followed by a megaphone voice telling us that there was another storm headed this way from Baldwin and that we should take shelter immediately. Hell with it, I thought and grabbed my clothes again. I packed my bag with a few necessities: paper, pen, book, flashlight, blanket, and a banana for later. Not many others appeared to heed the warning, at least not with a sense of immediacy. As I walked outsie again to join my housemates downstairs (our floors aren't connected by a staircase; I should have said), I saw sidewalks full of excited fraternity brothers and camera-toting townies interested in local color and aftermath shots.
"Hell with it" seemed to be the general feeling; Nikki and Zach rejoined Tyler and me and we drove around looking for somewhere to eat and watch the Big 12 championship game. That turned out to be Bigg's Barbecue on the west side of town. Great game, and I don't even like basketball.
That we won added a new dimension of oddity to the day; where earlier everyone had piled into their cars to see what had happened, who got damaged, now they were out en masse to honk their horns and hoot uproariously. To the joy of survival was addded the joy of victory, and we felt entitled to a run in the rain for our troubles.
VI.
The sun's dipped behind the HIll and campus, whose beautiful landscaping and trees suffered the worst for being highest up, and the clouds have rolled back in to cover the yellowing sky. Still, it's warm to the unseasonable degree that it's often been this winter, which has made this the longest and least predictable storm season anyone can remember--it's managed to bridge the winter and extend itself into a second year. It ought to keep warm through the night, which is good because I'm sleeping without artificial heat regardless.
Hate to break the fourth wall, but: it didn't. It got cold, and it stayed cold, and I'm just cold.
My sister rolled over and went back to sleep, my parents went to church, and I wandered around and marvelled at it all, each as he or she is wont to do. The anthill got flattened and we all did what we do anyway, because we're not ants.
I'm exhausted, you can no doubt tell, but have resolved not to sleep until tongiht, the better to sleep solid until work in the morning. The front porch is relaxation enough for now. The intersection's busy, more so than usual since the stoplight's out and it's defaulted into a three-way stop, which in this town is a shaky system of do-I-go-nows and after-yous under the best circumstances. Car tires over wet pavement (though the rain stopped a couple paragraphs ago, abruptly as it came) and earthy smells are good enough for me. Maybe I'll get in some reading while there's still light, or see if there's enough hot water for a much-needed shower. No one's in any real hurry today, it being an understood Take the Rest of the Day Off, and I'm not about to be the first.
----
*There was, and it was great.