Thunder

Meadow Garden Township never even seen it coming. The sun went down so fast, everything was so quiet and then boom, bang and then the winds came up so fast.

Winds that were tossing things around, knocking things over. Even worse trying to round up the animals and get them in the barn was unbearable.

Carl, my brother and I did our best. The worst part was the only bull we had was loose. With the kicking and fear that came over him, Reggie the bull was angry. We ran after him the best we could, the wind just blew us both so far away.

Fear was the only feeling that overcame me. I could not even see my brother, Barn boards were flying, the roof shingles were tossing off the barn and the house.

Safety is all I had on my mind. Not just for me but my brother and our family.

Faintly I heard my brother, he looked terrible. He said the same thing about me. We hung onto each other until we could get to the cellar of the barn.

We had a little crack of light to see outdoors, it was impossible to see anything. Darkness had fallen over us and the winds were so strong.

The cellar always had water and food supplied in it for cases like this, but this had never happened in Meadow Garden Township.

Carl and I had to stay awake and stay focused. Anytime the barn could have fallen down on us. We kept thinking of our family caught in the house, hoping they made it to the cellar. Then there was our bull, Reggie.

We raised Reggie since he was a calf. He was quite large at birth. Our pops always wanted to get him ready for Market but that never happened. After the old bull, Eugene had passed we had to keep Reggie.

Reggie came from a very rare breed, great bloodline. We had to name him after our Grandpa. Both of them were raging men, the bull was so stubborn and our Grandpa was in the war and nothing would ever stop him.

By now it was like the winds would pick up and then everything was calm. The moment it was calm we both wanted to run to the house to check on the family. Only for louder and stronger winds to pick up and shake the doors above us.

This was no Thunderstorm - This was a Tornado.

People were screaming all around us. We saw a cow fly over us. This was bad and we were scared.

The clock ticked every second, we heard it like it was our heart. We had something that landed on top of the door, how would we ever get out?

It Was Time

Like two raging bulls we used all our power to push the door open. I heard a few cracks in my shoulder, Carl was moaning too. We needed to get out of there, the wind had stopped for over an hour. We knew this was the time.

Disaster everywhere, a few of the cows were still in the barn, what was left of it.

Our goal was to get to the house. Walking to the house was terrible, the top of the house had been blown off.

There was very little sound when we reached the door, calling out to our wives and children we only heard soft quiet voices. Opening the basement door, there all curled up in the corner sat our family safe and sound. The best feeling ever.

We had a problem getting to them as the stairs had collapsed so we found a ladder for them to come up.

We could not stop hugging each other. Nothing is of greater value than your family,

We went out to see the damage, the tractor was in the tree, my truck was nowhere to be found. Our house and barn were totally destroyed.

Looking down the street, everyone had damage. The sirens were coming from all over the place. We were told to take shelter by an officer, go somewhere with our family that we would not get hurt.

Thank goodness the steel barn was all in one place. A fridge full of food and water, lots of straw and blankets. We were lucky.

Once we were all settled in and the children stopped shaking, we heard this great big crashing sound.

It was Reggie.

He was ready for a bullfight too.

We both grabbed a large blanket and he was raging right at us. Snorting and angry. We managed to throw the blanket over him and hook him to the one and only steel fence we had. We took him some food and he seemed to be happy to be home.

We were so lucky, compared to others. We could rebuild and help others. It was times like this that make you think. How lucky we were to live in Meadow Garden Township, have so many people that knew us as we knew them. That we could rebuild our community, as for Reggie the mysterious bull.

He made his way back home.