Chapter One
Looking back now, they should
have seen it coming. With advanced technology and accurate
forecasting, it should have never played out the way it had. As the
old cliché saying went – hindsight is twenty-twenty, and what Ryan
Gibson would have done to go back and redo it all. The difference in
a few seconds would’ve changed the outcome of everything that had
happened.
~~
“I really wish you didn’t
have to work today, Ry.” Cecilia Gibson flipped the pancake on the
griddle and tightened her bathrobe around her midsection. Arching her
eyebrow, she poured herself a cup of coffee and smirked. “It’s
already bad enough that we don’t see you when you get fire calls.”
“It’s not like we get tons
of calls, CeCe. And this is one Saturday out of the month that I have
to go into the shop. It’s my turn. Next week it’ll be Danny’s
and his wife will be the one complaining.” Winking, he ruffled his
hand through his son’s hair. “How’s the pancakes, Tye?”
The child shook his head and
gave a thumbs up, his mouth full of food and a small drop of syrup
dripped on his chin.
“You got a five year old’s
stamp of approval, hon.” Ryan wrapped his arm around Cecilia’s
waist, pulling her in for a hug, her back pressed into him. “I’ll
be home early. There wasn’t much on the list when I left
yesterday.”
“The National Weather
Service is anticipating that a tornado watch will be issued later
this afternoon for several counties in the area. A weather system is
brewing over the mountains and will impact us tonight. Keep it tuned
here for updates.”
Ryan and Cecilia turned to the
television, and she patted his arm. “It’s days like this that I
question you joining the fire department. No, you don’t get a ton
of fires, but they always want the volunteers to go out and storm
spot. And according to the meteorologist on channel five, it’s
going to be a hell of a storm season. Tye and me may never see you.”
Ryan leaned in and kissed her
on the lips. “You know the nickname of the meteorologist on channel
five, don’t you?”
“No. Do I wanna know?”
“Doomsday Donald. You know
how the man over-forecasts. About the only damn thing he gets right
is the wind. Don’t worry, Cece. We’ll grill those steaks when I
get home tonight. You know what’d be really nice?” His eyes
widened and he didn’t give her a chance to answer. “It’d be
awesome if you’d do those bacon wrapped cheese stuffed peppers to
go with it. What do you say?”
“Now I do want you to go to
work.” She pecked him on the lips again, walking with him to the
door. “Love you, babe.”
“Love you.”
Ryan climbed in his pickup and
merged onto the highway. There was definitely a change in the air,
and he parked the truck on the side of the road, watching the clouds
coming over the top of the distant mountains on the horizon. As a
volunteer firefighter, he was required to take storm spotting
classes, and he had just taken a refresher course a few months ago.
Maybe the possible tornado watch was plausible, but it was nothing
out of the ordinary. It was a little early, with storm season not
usually starting for a while, but it was Texas – the weather was
always unpredictable.
Drumming his thumb on the
steering wheel, he took in the spectacular view. The sky was purple
and orange against the sunrise, and the humidity was thick. There
would definitely be some storms and Ryan couldn’t wait – there
was nothing like a large system coming through, with lightning
flashing, thunder roaring, as long as the severe stuff stayed away
from the populated areas.
Watching for a few more
minutes, he headed into town. It was a ten mile drive from his piece
of land in the county, and it gave him time to wake up on the way in,
and leave work behind as he went home for the day.
The population sign on the
edge of Harper Springs read a little over a thousand people. The
rural county was home to mostly farming families, and though
sometimes the monotony was unbearable, Ryan couldn’t think of
anywhere else he’d want to live. Everyone knew him and it was
comforting to think about the tight knit community where he had grown
up, and was now fortunate enough to raise his family in a town that
was home.
Waving toward Mrs. McElroy, he
could smell the fresh donuts in her bakery located right next door to
the mechanic shop. She left the door wide open on purpose as a
marketing ploy to pull in customers. She had the best coffee and
baked goods in town.
Parking his truck, Ryan slid
out and tipped the brim of his baseball cap. “Good morning, Mrs.
McElroy. Sure smells delicious in there.”
“Just made some fresh
cinnamon rolls. I even iced some in chocolate. You oughta come grab a
couple. Aren’t those your favorite?”
Ryan patted his stomach and
smiled. “Cecilia made pancakes. Had I known you were gonna ice the
cinnamon rolls in chocolate, I would’ve saved some room.”
Mrs. McElroy wagged her finger
at him. “You know good and well that I do it every Saturday. I’ve
been doing it since you were about this tall.” She motioned her
hand close to the ground and laughed. “So it’s your Saturday to
work, huh? Got a lot going on?”
“A few oil changes and
flats, but nothing too horrible.”
“Good. You don’t need to
be in town late anyway. Supposed to be storms tonight.”
“So you’ve been watching
Doomsday Donald too, huh?”
Mrs. McElroy folded her arms
over her chest. “I’m sixty three years old, Ryan Gibson. Lived in
Harper Springs every one of them. I can feel it in the air. We’ve
had some big ones come through and we’re overdue for another.”
“You think so?” Ryan
cocked his head to the side and adjusted his baseball cap. The
temperature was starting to heat up and he swiped some sweat from his
brow.
“How old are you, Ryan?”
“I’ll be thirty seven in
April.”
“And you’ve lived all
thirty seven here too, right?”
He scoffed and edged toward
his shop. If he wanted to get home at a decent time, he’d need to
get to work. “I see where you’re going with this, Mrs. McElroy. I
know how the weather is, Ma’am. I’m not saying we’ll never get
another big one, but I don’t think it’s gonna be tonight.”
“Maybe not tonight, but
soon. You tell your daddy hello for me, okay?”
“Yes Ma’am, I’ll do
that. I might hop over later for some coffee and one of those
cinnamon rolls.”
Unlocking the garage, he
skimmed his finger down the work order log. Just as he anticipated –
three oil changes, a tire change, and one brake replacement.
Depending on if anyone walked in, he would be done in a few hours.
Starting on the first car, he went to work, half way listening to the
radio as he focused on the job at hand. His mind was on Mrs.
McElroy’s prediction. Hopefully it would be an active season. The
last few had been a bust, and he was ready to see some good weather
come through.
~~
“The steaks were fantastic,
hon.” Ryan sat beside Cecilia on the couch. The TV was on, but he
wasn’t paying attention to it. Clasping his fingers in hers, he
closed his eyes, relaxing into the cushions as he drifted off. She
tightened her grip on him and leaned in, kissing him.
“You cooked them. I can’t
take all of your glory.”
Opening one of his eyes, he
glanced at her. “You didn’t have to make the peppers. I know
they’re a pain in the ass.”
“I’ve had to make them so
much, it’s no problem. Besides, now you owe me.”
Sitting up, Ryan nudged her.
“Yeah? What do you have in mind?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll have
to think about it, and I won’t forget, so don’t count on that.”
“Oh, I know you won’t
forget. You’re still ruminating on crap that happened when we first
got married. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about you, CeCe,
it’s that you’ve got a hell of a memory.”
“We are interrupting the
scheduled broadcast for a severe weather report. The National Weather
Service has issued a tornado warning for Grant County, including the
city of Fox Lake. Residents are urged to take cover immediately, as
our storm chaser has spotted a tornado on the ground about ten miles
southwest of the city, moving northeast.”
“Fox Lake?” Cecilia
grabbed her phone, her eyes wide. “You think my parents are seeing
this?”
“Call them, but make it
quick. Probably shouldn’t be on the phone for very long.”
Ryan sat up and padded to the
front living room window. Fox Lake was about sixty miles away and to
the north, so they were out of harm’s way, but Cecilia’s parents
and some of her family lived there. Stepping out onto the porch, he
watched the twisting and churning of clouds. There was a drastic
temperature change from the mid eighties to the sixties, dipping
twenty degrees in a matter of a few minutes.
Looking to the north, the tail
end of the storm impacting Grant County lit up as lightning flashed
from cloud to cloud, the thunderhead so massive that it looked like
an atomic bomb had been dropped.
“They said they were in
their cellar. Did they even issue a tornado watch before?” Cecilia
joined him on the porch, still clutching her cell phone.
“I didn’t even pay
attention. Maybe it’ll miss them.” He pointed toward the top of
the thunderhead. “See what looks like an anvil at the top?”
Cecilia nodded, her eyes red.
Her brow creased with worry as she looked where he was pointing.
“If you watch that, it’ll
tell you which way the storm is going. Right now, it’s going
northeast, but by the angle, it looks like it may make a more eastern
track, and if that’s the case, your parents should be okay. There’s
nothing south of Fox Lake, so if it goes that way, it’ll just hit
some open farmland.”
“I hope you’re right, Ry.”
A flash of lightning and an
instant clap of thunder rumbled nearby and Ryan pushed Cecilia back
inside, slamming the door. “Holy shit, that came out of nowhere.”
Grabbing his scanner, he turned it on. No one had paged him to get
out and spot, but maybe someone in Grant County was out and reporting
the situation. There was nothing but dead air and Ryan focused back
on the TV.
“We are hearing reports
that Fox Lake and Grant County is without power. We are unable to
make contact with our storm chaser, but we are tracking the super
cell on the doppler, and it looks to miss Fox Lake to the south.”
Cecilia relaxed some, but she
didn’t move from the front of the television. Ryan scanned the
frequencies on the scanner, only able to pick up bits and pieces of
conversations, most from departments not even related to Grant County
and Fox Lake. Their electricity flickered but stayed on, and Tye
stood at the foot of the stairs, clutching a stuffed teddy bear as he
rubbed his eyes.
“Daddy, I’m scared.” He
was still half asleep, but another flash of lightning and clap of
thunder shook the whole house, making him jump into Ryan’s arms.
“It’s just a storm, Ty.
Everything will be okay.”
“It’s loud. How come it’s
not raining?”
Ryan didn’t answer his son.
He continued to try and find a weather report, but was unsuccessful.
It was a typical storm for the area, mainly electrical with high
winds and a small sprinkling of rain, but with Cecilia’s family
possibly in the path, there was a sense of urgency to find out more.
“The National Weather
Service has now downgraded the storm in Grant County to a
thunderstorm warning. It is still very dangerous, but we are happy to
report that it missed Fox Lake and is now dissipating.”
“Oh, thank God!” Cecilia
laughed and took Ty from Ryan. “I’ll give it a few more minutes
and try to call them to make sure. You were right, Ryan. I guess
those storm spotting classes are paying off.”
Ryan went back on the porch.
The dark clouds were fading and he could see a few stars showing
through the haze. Doomsday Donald had been right – was this a small
preview of what was to come? At least everyone had dodged a bullet.
The smell of rain was refreshing, and it began to pour, splattering
the wood at his feet. Rolling thunder and distant lightning
accompanied the rainfall, demoting the severity to just a typical
spring time weather pattern.
“Okay. Good. I’m glad
y’all were able to get down into the cellar. I’m sure there will
be plenty of insurance agents in the area.” Cecilia nodded to Ryan,
holding Ty in one arm as she cradled her phone against her ear. All
the tension on her face was gone. “Okay, Mom. Love you too. We’ll
come by tomorrow.” She ended the call and slid the phone in her
pocket.
“Well?” Ryan stepped
forward, offering to take Ty, but the child had his face buried in
Cecilia’s neck, unwilling to move.
“They got some hail and a
little damage, but the house is fine. Can’t say the same about
Dad’s truck.”
“That’s good. That was a
nasty storm. They were lucky.”
“I told them we’d come
over tomorrow. Things might look different when the sun comes up.”
Ryan nodded. “Sure. Anything
we can do to help.” Turning his attention back out into the yard,
he took in the fresh rain scent and humidity on his skin. “Sure is
beautiful, isn’t it?” Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed he
was alone. Cecilia had taken Tye back inside. Leaning on the porch
railing, he skimmed his hand through some rain that had pooled on the
wood. Mrs. McElroy’s words echoed in his head – they were overdue
for another big one. Tonight wasn’t the night. Maybe this year
wouldn’t be the year.
