Chapter Eight

It was a few weeks after the geese's attack on our family and everything had been quiet and peaceful for a while after their permanent removal.

We were used to occasional thunderstorms in the summer. I looked up again. It looked like it might rain. The weatherman on the radio had said there was a tornado warning in our area. That meant that a tornado had been sighted somewhere around here.

Mom was in the house cleaning for a Girl Scout slumber party that Amy was having tonight. She hadn't paid any attention to the weather because there was a lot to do to get the house ready for the ten Girl Scouts who were spending the night.

Oh great, I thought gloomily. My thoughts were as depressing as the sky that loomed darkily over me. Just what we needed in our house more girls, and another slumber party. Maybe I could run away for just the night, and become a member of that tornado-tracking group that went around the country searching for tornadoes. We had seen the movie just yesterday and it looked exciting, being in the middle of a tornado, cows flying by, startled-looking chickens practically whacking you in the face in mid-air as they were flung by the violent winds of the storm. Of course I would be unscathed as I stood on the back of the truck and bravely defied the killer tornado.

The wind that was blowing right now was laughable, nothing compared to the huge gales in the movie. Although, I had to admit to myself the sky was getting darker and darker. It looks like we might get a good rain after all.

Huge raindrops were starting to fall and even the dogs were heading for their doghouses. I moved under the eave of the house for protection as the raindrops became faster and harder. A sudden gust of wind blew my bike over and pushed me hard against the house. A crack of thunder came and then another and the trees made creaking noises as their branches were scraping each other, and bowing to the forces of the wind.

A torrent of rain hit me square in the face and the wind slammed the front door open as I was pushed inside the house. Maybe the weatherman was right.

"Hurry up and shut the door," Amy said, annoyed at having her hair messed up by the wind.

"A tornado is coming!" I shouted excitedly.

The roaring of the vacuum was louder than my voice.

Mom looked up and her attention was drawn to the window. The rain was starting to come through the open window in the den. She dropped the vacuum and rushed to it. Amy tried to help her but the wind was blowing harder and the screen fell into the room. Mom finally managed to close the window and she and Amy picked wet leaves off the screen and carpet.

"Well, this is going to be a great slumber party," Amy grumbled sarcastically, looking through the window at the sky. It looked like nighttime outside but it was still early afternoon.

"A tornado is coming!" Jake yelled as his big body came bounding down the stairs, taking them three at a time. Sometimes you could feel the whole house shaking when he came down in a hurry, "Haven't any of you heard about the tornado warning yet?"

"That's what I was trying to--" I was suddenly cut off. The power went off and it felt like the earth had suddenly stood still.

"Did you say there is a tornado warning?" Mom asked Jake as we seached for flashlights, "Who took the flashlights off the closet shelf? That's where they are supposed to be."

"I didn't take them," The three of us said in unison.

"The weatherman on TV said there was a tornado sighted in town only a couple of miles from us," Jake told us as he opened the kitchen drawers, looking for matches, candles, anything that would help us in the darkness, "We should be in the basement where it's safe."

"It's creepy down there," Amy said when Mom opened the basement door. We had finally found some flashlights in the junk drawer in the laundry room and we pointed them down as her voice echoed bleakly over the dark basement stairs. Our small group peered anxiously into the blackness.

I saw a snake down there once when the house was being built and sometimes I hear strange noises when I'm down there. Mom says that's just the sound of the water heater working and the sound of water running through the pipes but I think that the basement is definitely haunted.

"It's scarey up here, too," Jake said in a somber tone. He had found a flashlight in a drawer gave a shriek as he pointed it at Amy's face.

"Your're blinding me! Get that light out of my face!" Amy slapped the flashlight away, "Mom tell Jake to leave me alone."

"Knock it off you two!" Mom was in no mood for bickering, "Let's go down. I'll go first."

Mom pointed Jake's flashlight at the steps and the four of us carefully made our way down the dark stairs, feeling for the handrail as we went in a small, tight group. We crowded into a tool closet in the center of the basement, under the stairs.

"Quit pushing me," Amy growled at Jake.

"Your're taking up too much room," Jake snapped back at Amy, "Tell Kevin to move over."

"Move it, Kevin," Amy pushed herself against me.

"I can't. I'm already against the wall," I shoved back. It was damp and cool in the basement and I hated being down here even with the others around.

"You know," Jake said in a low voice, "I don't want to alarm anyone but if we have to stay down here without food for too long, we'll end up having to resort to cannibalism and I wonder who will be the first one we'll choose," Jake pointed his flashlight down at me with an evil smile on his face.

Leave it to Jake to think about food at a time like this.

"No, I don't think so, Jake," I returned his smile, "Somehow, I have a feeling that you'll be the first one we'll choose for a snack because you have more meat on you."

Mom groaned and put her hand to her head like she had a headache, "After all this arguing I think that I would rather take my chances with that tornado. Does anyone know where a radio is around here?"

"We keep a transistor radio in our backpacks for camping," Jake said, "Shall I go get it?"

"Allright, I guess," Mom was hesitant, "Are you sure you can find it in the dark?"

"Sure, no problem," Jake waved his flashlight, opened the door and walked out into the dark basement. I could see vicious sprays of water plummetting against the basement windows and leaves and branches were piling up against the basement door which was mainly glass.

"What if the tornado comes while he's out there?" I asked, yelling to be heard over the howling of the wind. Mom watched Jake till he disappeared around the corner of the stairs. She closed the door and my question went unanswered.

We waited only a couple of minutes in the tool closet but it seemed like hours.

"Where is he?" Mom grumbled to no one in particular, "It's not like I sent him to the store or anything." She cautiously opened the door and looked out, "Jake! Jake! Where are you?"

More torrents of rain slammed against the windows and the little light that was coming into the basement produced shadows that made old chairs and furniture look like monsters ready to pounce.

We walked a couple of feet and were getting ready to move towards the area where the camping equipment was kept. All I could think of was that snake that I'd seen that one time. It was long, really long. I hadn't been able to tell what kind it was, the basement had been dark then too. What were the chances of my seeing two snakes down here? We walked another step and at that moment I felt something graze against my ankle. Gigantic images of snakes with venomous tongues race through my mind and I gave out a terrified shriek and I backed away, falling against the stairs. Mom and Amy jumped in their tracks and turned, pointing their flashlights at my prone figure.

"What? What is it?" Mom looked down at me.

I picked up the flashlight that I had dropped and pointed the beam of light towards the floor where I had been standing. A box lay open against the wall and the flap was turned outward.

My light cut off then, and I jiggled it, trying to make it work again gave me time to try to figure out how I would explain to them that that box flap felt just like a snake? Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about answering Mom's question because Jake took that moment to jump in front of us.

"Good evening," Holding a flashlight pointed upwards under his chin, Jake tried to sound like Dracula, "May I help you?"

Mom and Amy jumped, and I would have too, except I was still sitting against the stairs.

Jake doubled over with laughter, putting his hands over his stomach, "You should have seen your faces!"

When Jake saw the look on Mom's face he sobered up.

"What happened to you?" She demanded, "We were looking for you."

"I couldn't find the radio in the camping equipment so I was looking in the yard sale stuff, that's when I heard a scream from over here," Uh oh they were looking at me again. Mom, Amy and Jake looked down at me, "I never did find a radio."

"Here," I said impatiently, eager to change the subject from me again, "I know there is a radio over here."

I grabbed Jake's flashlight as Jake loomed over me with his hands on his hips, "What makes you think you can find it, runt? If I can't find that radio, I know you, the puny one, can't."

I searched the shelves, moving a camp stove and a backpack, "You looked on all the high shelves," I told him, "But did you look down low, here, on the first shelf behind the canteens?"

I pulled the radio out from under a canteen and held it out triumphantly to Jake.

"You were just lucky," Jake said, snatching it from me. He took it over to where Mom and Amy were.

Mom turned the dial of the radio and heard static. She turned the dial again and heard a voice say, "The tornado is moving to the--" and then it's volume died out.

"You dimwit," yelled Jake, "You would get a radio with bad batteries."

At that moment, the door at the top of the stairs slowly opened up with a slow creak. This time even Jake jumped.

"Maybe it's a burglar," I whispered loudly.

"Burglars don't come out in tornadoes," Amy hissed back at me.

"Anyone down there?" Dad's voice was loud, "Anyone home?"

We ran up the stairs and straight into Dad's arms.

"But what about the tornado?" I asked Dad, looking at his wet raincoat and the soggy newspaper he had in his hand, "Aren't you worried about the tornado?"

"Oh, it's long gone," Dad said, "It went over our house a while ago. Several of our neighbors just told me they had seen it moving east about ten minutes ago."

"Hooray!" Amy and I cheered.

"How long will it take for the power to come back on?" Mom asked.

"Well, I don't know," Dad said, "It could be a few minutes or several hours."

"Great," Mom groaned, "What am I going to do with a bunch of Girl Scouts coming over and no working bathrooms?"

Since we live in the country we have a septic tank that is powered by electricity.

"I guess they will just have to rough it," Jake said helpfully.

The Girl Scouts came over one by one and the house was filled with the sounds of shrieking laughter and the annoying giggling of girls who were scheming. Things did not look good for me. The group of Girl Scouts were in Amy's room right now. Every now and then one would open up the door and look out at me to make sure that I wasn't listening. I laughed to myself scornfully. I had my own plans, and they didn't involve any of those silly girls.

It was late at night. The girls had spent the evening eating hamburgers cooked on the grill and telling ghost stories. I had left downstairs early because the time was right. I was ready. I had a working flashlight and everything was perfect. I waited patiently. I could wait all night if it took that long. I could feel a hiccup starting to creep within me. I held my breath and clenched my mouth together tightly. Oh, please hurry up. The feeling of anticipation within me was so strong that I started shaking. I had to go to the bathroom. Then, I heard the noise I was waiting for. THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! I turned my flashlight on. It took only a second and then the door to Jake's room opened up. I had the flashlight pointed up under my face, "Good evening," I said in a low voice, "May I help you?"

This was the last thing in the world that Jake had expected to see. I could tell by the look of horror on his face when he opened the door and saw me standing in his bedroom. He looked like he wanted to hit me after a few seconds but he must have changed his mind. Instead, when I had started laughing at the look on his face he crossed his legs, pushed me out of the way and ran into his bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

That reminded me. I had to go, too. I went runing downstairs into the arms of eleven Girl Scouts. I tried to free myself but they had one of the girls hold my hands behind me. One of the others shone a flashlight on me while they pulled me into Amy's bedroom. The girls gathered around. Jason's sister, Amanda, was standing in front of me, smiling.

"You should always apply mascara with a light touch," Amanda's hand with the mascara brush came towards me. I jerked my body away, leaving a long, black streak running down the side of my cheek. The girls laughed.

"How about some lipstick for that 'hoping to be kissed look'?" They smeared red lipstick all over my mouth. It smelled terrible and felt sticky.

"Well, obviously Kevin wants to look good for that special someone, so how about a facial?" Amy asked. The girls got some cream and started smearing it all over my face. I struggled to get away from them and the cream ended up in my mouth. I spit it out, yelling "Help!" and the girls laughed so hard I was able to escape finally.

I ran into my room and spent the rest of the night trying to get all that junk off my face and afraid to come out. There was no telling what they would do next. Girls were scarey when they got together in numbers. I would get back at Amy tomorrow. I wonder how she would like it if I brushed her hamster's fur with her toothbrush? I grinned evilly to myself.

Go back to Chapter 7
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Go to Chapter 9
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Go to Chapter 13
Go to Chapter 14
Go to Chapter 15
Go to Chapter 16