You are in your home
You are at the table reading the newspaper
Its calm outside
The trees are still
The birds are eating and picking worms from the ground
The sun is out
Your child is in the living room watching TV
You watch him intently
Everything is like normal
A normal Oklahoma day
Then you here sirens
They are loud
You try to place the type
Are they police sirens?
No
Are they fire truck sirens
No
Are they ambulance sirens?
No
Then it clicks
It’s a tornado siren
Then this nice calm normal day erupts into havoc
You get up a little too quickly
Your chair flips over backwards with a bang
Your child jumps and asks what wrong
You try to stay strong and calm
You say sweetie we need to take cover
Your child says why?
You say a tornado is coming our way
The child’s eyes get huge
You say it will be ok
Let’s go get into the bathtub
Why your child says
You say because it’s the safest place we have in our home
Next thing you grab your child’s hand
You both run to the bathtub
You place your child in
Then you get on top
Like you were taught
You can’t believe this is happening
10 minutes pass
The sirens are still blaring there distress call
Then you hear what can’t be mistaken
It’s a one of a kind sound
The tornado is here
The wind outside is horrendous
It’s loud
It’s a freight train
You try to hide your fear
But your child can hear it loud and clear
Your child takes hold of your hand
You instantly calm
You hold your child tight
Next thing you hear is a creak.
Then your house is ripped and torn
Right off its foundation
You so small in that tub compared to the tornado
It pulls the tub, you, and your child into the air
You spin around and around
You ask when will it end
Then the worst starts to happen
You feel yourself slipping
Your hand is suddenly no longer grasping your child’s
You are flying in the air
Spinning
Out
Of
Control
You finally start falling downward
You land with a thud
You can still move so that is good
You sit up and look to your left
There it is
The black tornado
Destroying everything in its path
It disappears
Oh what’s that?
It’s the tub you and your child were in
You run over
Your child is in there
Safe and sound
Your child turns to you but is bleeding
You hold back a scream and you pick your child up
You run
Run where?
Anywhere
To get help
Along the way you see people stray
From their tornado wrecked houses
They all run for help
Oklahoma
You are not alone
We will help
We will stand with you
We will rebuild with you
We will fight for you
We will turn that disaster day back into your normal day.