Hide and Seek

“Daddy, please….! I promise I won’t ask for nothing else!”

Earl smiled to himself, with his back turned to Emma. “That’s what you have said the last three days, hunny.” Emma did a twirl as her father turned around. His smile broadened.

“You can’t catch me daddy!” Giddy, Emma swung around and headed out into the pasture.

Earl stood for a moment, watching his young daughter run into the hay field, and thought of all the wheat they had lost this year to the winds. It seemed as though it never would stop. Even now, Emma’s black curls rode furiously behind her little shoulders as she ran. Earl glanced as the sky, darkening it was, and started after Emma.

“Daddy… look at me! I am running as fast as the yee-haws! Even they can’t catch me.”

Emma hopped over a big rock and looked back to see where her daddy was. He was groaning right behind her and stumbling as though he couldn’t figure out where to go. “Where has that…. I can’t seem to find… Ah-ha!” he hollered as he scooped her up in his arms.

“Aie! Daddy!” Emma’s words were almost lost in the giggle coming from within her.

“Now where is that moose hiding?” Earl said while pinching and poking his daughters’ armpits. “Perhaps you have an elephant hiding right here!” Emma’s giggles turned into laughter.

“No” Emma said breathlessly,” Those... are my hammies!” She struggled to free herself from his grasp. As he set her down, she took off into the side yard, glancing back every few seconds to be sure she would be able to dodge her daddy’s big hands.

“Fee, fi, fo, fum….” She could hear him growling out as she skirted around a group of chickens pecking the ground. Her daddy’s voice was growing fainter as she moved into the flower gardens along the road and hid next to a rose bush.

Earl looked back to the sky and wondered why there was such a sudden shift in the temperature. It had been sunny all day, but now the wind was picking up and the sky was a strange hue of grey. “Emma! Where are you hunny!”

Earl listened to the silence and scanned the side yard. The chickens were pecking among the house scraps Emma had tossed them from lunch. He thought he heard a giggle around the front of the house, and hunkered down to surprise Emma.

The wind blew Emma’s hair into her face, and she decided it would be best to move further from the roses since the sharp little hooks kept catching and knotting her hair. Peeking to make sure daddy wouldn’t see, she slowly moved through the gardens, avoiding all stones and bushes her momma had been working so hard to keep alive during this drought. She came upon her favorite color flowers and decided this was the best place to hide from her daddy, especially since there were no prickers on these.

Earl became a little distressed as he searched for Emma. Jane was in the frontroom folding laundry. “Jane, has Emma come in there?”

“No darlin. I haven’t seen her since you two went out to feed the horses.”

Earl asked, “Have you heard a weather report this afternoon? The wind switched. I’ve never seen the sky have such a color.”

“No, the T.V. has been off all afternoon. I put on that record your daddy sent us from the garage. It makes good folding music.”

“Hm. Well holler if you see Emma. I’m gonna look in the gardens and see where she may have run off too.”

“Okay dear.” Jane turned and flipped on the T.V.. The weather channel wasn’t showing much of anything, just a slight chance of rain.

“Come out, come out, come out wherever you are!” Earl hollered into the corn stalks. “Emma! Ollie-ollie-oxen-free!” As he walked out of the vegetable garden the skies massive expanse opened in front of him. And what he saw sent chills up his back.

“Emma! You need to come out now!” Fear tinged his voice now, as he ran into the pasture once again. “Emma we can’t play this game any longer. It’s time to get up to the house now! Your momma is waiting!” Silence was all he heard.

Emma felt a stray drop of water fall on her cheek. She looked into the sky and thought how she loved the color green. She wondered when her daddy would come to get her, since now it was getting late, and he still hadn’t found her.

Earl raced through the side yard and yelled at Jane, “Get the baby and get in the cellar! The sky looks all wrong. And I can’t find Emma!”

“What do you mean you can’t find her? She was just with you a while ago.” Jane glanced at the T.V. but no special weather was being reported. “There ain’t nothing on the weather chan-“

“Jane! Get the baby and get in the cellar!” Earl yelled as he caught a glimpse of black curls in the flower garden.

Emma rolled over on her back and watched the sky twist and turn above her. She felt the air swirl and pull at her curls and clothes, feeling as though she were being lifted off the ground.

“EMMA!” Earl screamed at his daughter. She didn’t seem to hear him. She was on her back looking straight up, and as Earl glanced, his stomach fell. The sky was green now. And the clouds above the flower garden were twisting together.

Emma reached over and plucked a flower from its stem, just to see if it would be pulled up into the swirling sky. As she let go, she could hear her daddy screaming her name. She looked to see him running to her through the garden. She glanced up and saw the petals swirl and dance above her, as though they were on a string. Earl reached his daughter and scooped her in his arms. She laughed and tried to get away. “Emma, listen to me very careful,” he yelled, “we have got to get into the cellar. Those twisting clouds mean bad things to come. This isn’t a game anymore.”

“But daddy, you promised hide-and-seek!” Emma whined as she pressed her face into the crook of his neck. The wind was whipping her hair, dirt stung her bare legs and arms as it flew by. Earl kept running.

Just then the twisting clouds descended into the flower garden. “Daddy!” she screamed, but the wind tore the words from her lips before she could finish saying them. As Earl cleared the trees, his heart sank to see another cloud descending into the wheat field. Jane was calling the dogs to her as she held the baby to her chest, running across the yard. The wind was pulling and pushing Earl every way but to the cellar. He ran on, reaching the doors just as Jane began to shut them.

As they sat in the darkness, the baby nursed, and Emma held her eyes shut tight.

“There wasn’t a warning, why wasn’t there a warning?” Jane whispered as Earl stroked her fingers with his.

“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen the clouds come that fast.” Emma jumped in his arms as the doors banged against the chains holding them shut. “Shhh hunny. It is gonna be all right.” He squeezed her just a little closer as he listened to the howling wind.

After what seemed like ages in the musty cellar, Earl slid the peep hole open to check on the conditions. “Well I’ll be…” He trailed off, turning to look at his small family.

“What daddy?” Emma asked, turning towards the light coming in. He waved her over and opened the doors.

As she stepped out, all around her there was nothing left, no house, no trees, no wheat, no gardens. But floating on the wind and covering the now bare earth were the petals of her favorite yellow flowers, marigolds.