The Cyclones

It all started in a small town. I lived on the edge of town with my grandparents. My house was a lovely two story house, with a badge siding. The shutters around the windows were a rusted red color. The house was rectangular in shape and wider horizontally than vertically. The bottom porch was a finished red wood which was painted the rusted red color to match the shutters and wrapped around the bottom part of the house. The living room had clear, double glass doors that led out to the porch. Additionally, the porch was screened in with a glass storm door that was outside of the front door.

In my narrow kitchen, I was sitting down to eat with my grandparents, my friend Paul, my friend David, and David's pug. My sister joined us along with my brother. My youngest sister was at work. I was arguing with my brother about a Futurama themed Adventure Time when we looked to the left of the wall. The wall used some kind of video game logic. when there was a threat of some sort, the wall would become see through, so that we could prepare for the threat. I looked up and the wall was gone, revealing a very wide and scary tornado.

The tornado was about five miles in width, darkish brown in color, and very, very terrifying. What was even more terrifying was the realization that we did not have a basement. My grandfather rushed outside to the porch, where the tornado's wind was already picking up and secured the storm door that was opening and closing with the wind. He inserted a key to the door which brought up a computer program, using the door and a screen. He input some numbers and his code. A voice thanked him and he ran back inside, securing the second door. He yelled at all of us to get down under the table and to hold on.

I grabbed David's pug with one arm and grabbed the table leg with the other. Then, the tornado hit and everything seemed to slow down and happen in slow motion. All of us were anchored down by grabbing onto the table but there was still enough force to lift all of our bodies off of the ground. My grandfather shouted at us not to let go for anything. The fact that my body was suspended in the air while holding a pug was quite difficult.

David glanced over at me holding the small, scared dog. The computer program was working as designed though, the house was still in tact. Finally, we were being lowered back down and the tornado made its way back into the clouds. My grandfather asked if everyone was all right. I nodded and told him that I was going to take a walk to check on our neighbors. He agreed with me and proceeded to help my grandmother back into her chair. I entered a code on the storm door and it released, leaving me free and out of the house.

I walked about a quarter of a mile, looking at all of the damage done to the houses whose families did not pay extra to the federation for the storm door. When you were living on a planet like this one, the storm door was well worth the investment. I had almost made it to the railroad bridge before I saw them. As I turned around and looked, there were three water cyclones that had formed in the lake a little further down the street from me but they were heading my way and quickly. There wasn't enough time to get to the bridge for cover. The cyclones were getting closer, passing over cars in the road, sucking up up, and spitting them out like candies.

Three cyclones, I thought, I'm not going to get to say goodbye to my family because of three cyclones. Then, it's as if they passed through me. The cyclones left everything in black and white that they destroyed. I died. It was quick.

As I lay there dead, my body started flashing red, in contrast to the black and white environment. The next thing I know, I'm sitting at the long dinner table with my family, playing cards. I see that both of my wrists have these weird black metallic cuffs that have wires hooked up to some sort of battery. My brother noticed the light (or life)in my eyes and explained that the three cyclones had killed me and most of the town. He was able to bring me back but told me that my life came with a price. I had such severe brain trauma and damage from the cyclones since I faced them head on and without any kind of shelter or shield, that I would never again be able to make my own decisions again.

He demonstrated this by pressing one of the many buttons on the battery and I played a card. He told me that the fashion cuffs were the receivers for the commands. Finally, he looked me in the eyes and apologized for doing this to me but he just couldn't let me go. I pressed a button on the battery that let me hug him and I said, "let's play some cards."

My husband and the Dinner Date

I was with my husband and we were staying with an affluent single father with three children, twin teenage boys and a girl about thirteen. The single father was going to introduce us to the neighborhood. It was gorgeous. It was a city built on clear, blue water. Dolphins swam through the water streets. The place was beautiful but my husband and I couldn't go anywhere since the place was so guarded.

We had a dinner date with our Fraternity. I woke up late. The dinner date was at 8pm at a restaurant across town. I woke up at 7:30pm. Jesse and I hurried to get ready and then we left the house with the family we were staying with. It was pouring rain outside. We got into the family's van and they took us to the wrong restaurant.

My husband and I didn't realize it was the wrong restaurant until we got there. The father of the family was a waiter there and he thought he was helping. However, he gave us directions to the restaurant Front Page News that we were supposed to be at. He gave us advice that we should be careful while running from one restaurant to another because if we didn't have a pass, we would be fined ... and heavily.

We successfully snuck over to the restaurant we were supposed to be at. Then, the Fraternity told us that they couldn't be seated until we were all there. One of the members said they wouldn't be there until 9pm and the reservation was for 8pm. Some of the restaurant patrons looked at us while we were eventually seated. I learned that they were lobbyists and reporters. They came over to share a tappas/family style dinner with us. However, the restaurant stopped serving food while we were in the middle of dinner since there were SO many people at the table.

My husband and I realized the time and had to excuse ourselves to meet the family back at the other restaurant. When we got there, we were still starving so we sat with the daughter and ate. The twin boys both applied for a job where their dad worked. There was an arcade game in the corner and the boss said that they couldn't work, it was against policy to work with family, unless you were "linked" to a video game. They both raised their hands which showed intricate tattoos and said they were linked. The boss told them to prove it, so both of the sons stepped up to the video game and played it. They both beat the game after linking up with it and playing it Tron style. So, they were able to get a job working with their father.

My husband and I ate the food and had great conversation with the family. Then, we went back to their house to change since the rain soaked us through.