The First Chase
The skyline over the Ohio landscape had darkened
quickly. It was a quiet Sunday late afternoon when the three of us decided to
go for a ride in the country. Watching the sky transform into a giant black raincloud,
the three of us were staring with awe as one of us said “Oh, my God, this is
going to be a huge one.”
Minutes after saying this the wind picked up and the
rain drops began to fall on us as we had the top down on the brand new 1965
blue convertible Corsair 4 single barrel carbureted hot rod driven by my cousin
and headed straight to hell. Sticking his tongue out my brother said he could
feel the ice in the raindrops.
In a moment after peeking at the dashboard clock I said
it was five o’clock. It had already turned into the evening back when we were
kids in Ohio, hanging out with our cool and crazy adult cousin. We were riding
in his car when we spotted the sky dancing as we watched a transformation of twisting
and turning white puffy clouds into darkened evil looking funnel clouds in the
distance.
We had never been this close before and before we
knew it the spiteful winds coming from all sides were attempting to suck us out
of the car prompting us to use the seat belts for the very first time we were
in this car.
Instantly and without a warning, the sun disappeared
and the blackness became immense as it surrounded us quickly without a warning.
The corn fields went into motion as the stalks swayed back and forth at a rapid
rate keeping up with the wind and it’s whipping punishing force that ripped
corn right off the stalks. We began to realize we were headed straight into a
tornado.
Never before were we so close to a tornado as the
mere presence of this evil looking funnel cloud mesmerized us into coming
closer and created an unexplained obsession to drive even faster to catch up
with it and spend a few dangerous moments inside the storm.
Moments before the up-drafting wind caught us by surprise
as I saw my brother lift out of his seat. I grabbed him by his pants and held
him down so he would not leave us and join the wind. It was something most exhilarating
but at the same the scariest thing we had ever done.
Curious about the storm he
had leaned forward and practically put his nose on the windshield glass when
the storm swooped by us and attempted to take him along with the swirling
debris that surrounded us.
The wind appeared to be vertical and changing rapidly to a horizontal flow
without warning. Then the hail began to beat our bodies as the top was flat and
the wind was too much to try to put it back up as we slowed down a bit and
pulled the car roadside for a moment to attempt this feat.
Shearing winds caused us to slow down a bit as the force was rapidly
overcoming the ability to stay on the road. Before we knew it we were in the
midst of a severe thunderstorm as lightening lit up the sky and striking the
ground like the war god Thor’s hammer. The little car did the best it could but
the force of the storm was much greater than the car’s weight to stay on the
ground.
Like three fools on the open highway we took off again chasing the storm
and trying to catch up with it. The sky had changed colors again as it turned
orange like with mixtures of grey and black. It was like looking at a painter’s
easel as he mixed the bright and darkened colors with a brush and swiped the
sky with a broad brush making it all look dark and black.
As we bolted down the highway, we watched that tornado turn into two twin
funnel clouds deciding to follow the one on the right because it followed the
road as the other funnel cloud departed to the opposite side. The cloud resembled
a dancing rope dangling there and picking up dirt and anything else in its
path.
It didn’t seem to do any serious harm as we were in the open country and
no houses nearby the storm to do any damage. The warm air and the moisture that
soaked us was most prevalent as we watched the rotation rise and fall in a
counterclockwise motion crazed with a force that was most evil and with a most
destructive intent to find something to break.
Weary from fighting the wind at the wheel and keeping the car on the
road, my cousin said ‘okay, I’m going to stop because I am too tired to go on.”
The Corsair came to a halt as we watched the storm depart in the distance and
the wind howled around our heads telling us to stay where we were so we can be
safe and out of its reach.
Getting out of the car and standing at the edge of the road we squint our
eyes to rub out the dirt and moisture that the wind had lashed us wish and
watched as a smaller third funnel cloud coiled out of the sky. It was a very
long lasting tornado. A storm we would never forget.
It went on the ground for miles on this Ohio country road and luckily
there were no people barns or animals near it. It was a violent storm, a most
delirious storm and it was the very first tornado we had ever seen from this
close to its existence. The mystery of the storm was never revealed to anyone. We
kept it close to our hearts as we wiped our foreheads covered with sweat rain
and dirt. Suddenly the sun reappeared as the storm lumbered down the
countryside.
Lightening flickered and power lines were returning back to normal as
they had been swinging madly when this storm was near. The sun lightened the
sky again as it created a shadow of the three people in the car.
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