thunder, lightning, and rain

I don't like storms

     I live in perpetual fear of tornadoes.
     I run screaming when a storm hits.
     I go into the basement and "work."
     I pace the floor if it is night time.
     I also put on the weather channel on tv if it is night time so I can be aware of the storms.  I am a nervous Ned.
     We were visiting Emily in Des Moines when she was still in school.  Jackie, Julia, Emily and I.  All four of us.
     We had spent a hot, muggy day in the zoo and went out to dinner.
     When we left, the sky looked terrible.  We turned on the local radio and sure enough, tornado warning!  The sirens around us started screaming, the lights went out, the wind picked up.....I headed for the first building I saw.  It was a rescue mission, and the fam would not go in.
     So I drove.  And I mean drove.  No traffic lights, no street lights, nothing was working.  Lightning flashing...the radio blaring reports of touch downs north and south of where we were....I just kept driving, like a panicked mad man until I saw a Hy-Vee.   We parked and ran inside.
Emily and Julia were ok until they went into the bathroom and a woman was on her knees holding on to her child and praying in a loud, weeping voice, "God spare us from our impending doom."
     The girls came out of the washroom in a near panic mode.
     That's when the staff of the store ushered us all into a giant cooler in the back.  We were there for maybe half an hour, until the storms passed.
     There were tree limbs everywhere.  Des Moines was a mess, but we were safe.
     The next day, we went home and could not use a bathroom the whole way because all the power was knocked out and trees were down in rest areas all along 80.  The sky was a funny color.
     Making matters worse, there were storms behind us!  They chased us all the way back to Rochelle.
     When we got out of the car, I went into the basement.
     I don't like storms.  When they hit, look for me in the basement.  Holding a radio and flashlight.