A STORM'S A COMIN'! : POST #29

I hate storms! We had some experiences at home at Herman Junction that I did not like at all. In the middle of the night you would hear a big clap of thunder and then you would hear Mama's feet hit the floor. "Get Up, a storms coming up", she would say, "and we've got to get to the storm house." Man, that bed was warm and it was cold outside and I had been sound asleep and now the whole world is upside down.

One night the storm came up and we all took off to the old storm house. It had been built with some poles and stuff and covered up in dirt. We went flying out there and whoever opened the door and shined the light in there put it right on a BIG SNAKE lying across the back wall of the storm house. Now, we are in a pickle! We can stay out in the dangerous storm or go on in with that more dangerous snake. We elected to take off to Booie's storm house and the rain was pouring down. Scattering across the yard like a bunch of geese suddenly there was a cry like a panther but it was Smiley. He has stepped on the cycle that was used to cut weeds and tall grass and had almost cut his big toe off. We had to forget the storm and get in the house so the folks could take care of that toe. I'll bet he wasn't smiling then!

When Dad bought the place where the 'big house' was there was a little thing that had evidently been used in the past to hold water or something. There were four walls about three feet high and with a door in the right hand corner as you entered. After that fiasco with the snake and the toe cutting, Dad built some forms and built a concrete storm house. It was about 10x12 feet and he put a little pipe in the top of it for ventilation. He put a bed in that thing and said that when we had a storm we just go out there and sleep. SLEEP! That place was filled with such a musty smell that there was no way that I could sleep in there. Besides that it was half full of canned food and there was so many of us we had to almost sit on top of each other. I have spent many a miserable time in there. The thing that I never understood though was, Dad would put us in there and then he would stay outside and watch the storm. How in the world could you watch a storm when it was slap dark out there? I guess he could but I couldn't and still can't.

One of the things that really stands out in my mind about that storm house was when the worst storm we ever had came through the country up until that time, Dad and Clarence Rodgers got caught standing on the back porch watching it and when it really hit they couldn't get to the storm house. Mama and Grandma was screaming and hollering and Dad and Clarence couldn't do a thing but just watch it. That was when the tornado came through Bald Knob and Judsonia and all over the country. I think that it was 1953. There was only that one time that a really serious storm came and the other times we just came out and went back to bed and all was well. It reminded me of a story that Mama told us about an old lady that ran to the storm house just like we did and every time she came out all was well. One time she came out of the storm house and her house was gone! She said, "Now, that's more like it!"

I don't want to get blown away but I don't like storm houses, musty smells, and especially snakes in one of them. But, if that is what it takes to make everything well at Herman Junction, I guess it's worth it.