Swept Away

Nothing beats the 4th of July at the beach, except a new experience with a dash of adventure.

I was alone in my parent's camper preparing for a night out with the family when I glanced out the window. How strange, the sky got dark quickly and people were running from the beach. What could cause that? A weather alert went off on the television. Bold proclamations of thunderstorms, floods, and tornados ran across the screen.

“That’s odd,” I said to my parrot, because he was the only one there. “It was sunny a few minutes ago.” I heard Dad's truck pull up outside the camper. Good, they were back. I stuck my head out the door.

“Did you know there’s storm and tornado warnings out?” I asked.

“No kidding!” My husband said, pointing toward the beach. Following the puzzled gazes, I saw what all the excitement was about.

There was a tornado coming off the beach.

“How about that! That’s fascinating,” I said.

My husband and father were too stunned to reply.

“Run! Get to the bathhouse!” Mom screamed.

“Yes, everybody head indoors,” a man said. Turning, I saw him standing in the middle of the road with a video camera.

The dialogue brought me out of my shock long enough to realize it was heading our way and we were in a camper that could be thrown from here to Emerald City. I was pulling my parrot out of his cage and wrapping him in my shirt when I heard my husband say “Never mind.”

The tornado was roping out. It was here one minute and gone the next, just like that. My parrot cackled at the silly humans standing around and gawking at – nothing.

Word Count: 287