Crazy Afternoon

I told myself I would never be outside when the tornado sirens go off(when it's the real thing). Sunday afternoon, my sisters Anna and Lucia went with me to our Great-Grandpa's house. They took their bikes, and I ran along with them. It was muggy and warm. Our Great-Grandpa agreed with us on the fact that bad weather was in store for us. He had grown up in western Kansas, and had bee through more weather than any of us. Our grandparents got there like they did every Sunday. We visited for a little while. A little after three o'clock, we turned on the radio, and heard something about "a possibly tornadic thunderstorm in Sedgwick County". Grandpa told us to start heading home. "Take the most direct route, move as fast as possible, and don't stop." That was good enough for us.
We moved along at a quicker pace going home than coming to Great-Grandpa's house. Thunder could be heard. Previous times that I had been outside in thunder, I ran back inside. I didn't feel scared this time. About a block and a half from our house, I heard it. It started as a low wail. Tornado sirens! My pace kicked up. I hadn't felt that rush of adrenaline since my las Track meet a few weeks ago. I never before had the strength to scream while I was running as fast as  was. But deep down I had found it. "Go! Faster!" I yelled at my sisters. They were on the edge of tears. They were scared. One of my first thoughts was to protect my sisters. People were rushing out of their houses to look. All of their heads looked to where the sky was the darkest. I kept yelling at them. Whatever happened, I wanted to keep them safe. It must've been some sight for other people to see.Three girls running in fear.
We reached home. I saw that our big van was gone. One of the first things I thought was that the rest of my family had gone to my Great-Grandpa's to pick us up. I knew what I would do. See if we could get into the house. If no one was there, keep my sisters into the garage until I found a neighbor that could let us into their house. But Dad was home. It was Mom and my three younger three sisters that were gone. We were all out of breath and at the point of freaking out. Dad was trying to calm us.
Dad eventually sent us downstairs. There was a tornado not far off to the southwest of Wichita. We went behind the stairs. I tried to sing some songs to cheer me up. I sung a little of "Tornado by Little Big Town, "Blown Away" by Carrie Underwood, and "Storm Warnin'" by Hunter Hayes. It made me feel better.
The storm cleared out. We were okay. I found out about my mom and sisters. They were just pulling up to Kohl's when the sirens went off. It then started raining. Pea-size hail fell. Mom decided to go into Kohl's. My sisters started crying even harder than when the sirens went off. The doors were locked, and Clara started banging on the doors crying. Somebody was walking around in front of the doors, and let them in. Nobody in Wichita was hurt.
Thankfully, Wichita is okay. But other people aren't so lucky. People in the both the past and present. Pray for those people. Pray for the ones in Oklahoma. They need your prayers.

What the Freak????

Is Mother Nature going nuts?????????????? First, we get 14 inches of snow, and really bad road conditions. Then, we are going to get another 14 inches of snow!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????Okay Mother Nature, I really appreciate that you are finally listening to our pleas for moisture, but couldn't you have spread it out a little more???? That would have been appreciated very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The link for the National Weather Service and the Weather Channel websites is below.

We will just have to cooperate with this. There is a reason for all of this. We will just have to keep our hopes up. I know that I will be getting my workout just shoveling driveways!!!!!!!!!I will also probably get some cash for camp this summer.

National Weather Service

Weather Channel

I also have local weather for those of you in the Wichita metro area.

KSN

KWCH

KAKE


Good Luck those of you that will be affected by this winter storm!

Sick

The school year is up and running. My splint is gone, and I won't have to see the orthopedist again! I have also been sick since like Tuesday. I got home, and I was extremely cranky. Mom took my temperature, which was about a 102. I was sick up till Sunday night. My temperature has stayed normal, so I'm going back to school tomorrow. Lots of people missed me. I'll see you guys tomorrow!

Hurricane Isaac

Start praying for some rain! Hurricane Isaac is going to go through Eastern Kansas on Friday, and Wichita has a chance! The storm is really doing some damage in New Orleans. In fact, it is worse than most people expected. This is why you don't ever try to ride out a hurricane!

Sunny and Stormy!

I got two new gerbils in mid-June! Their names are Sunny and Stormy! Funny weather names!Sorry that I posted it so late. I must have saved it as a draft when I was writing this post. :s

Chance of Rain

I predict rain in the Wichita, KS area within the next 3-5 days. I'm not 100% sure, but I think tomorrow when I take in my observations, I should see the chance intensify.

Another Update on My Fractured Arm

Instead of strips, I got pink. Oh well. But there is good bone formation. Yessssss! Don't you guys think that we need some rain? I do.

Update

My arm is doing better now. We might be able to get a hold on some x-rays, then I could probably load 'em up on here. My next appointment with the doc is on Monday. I'm really hoping that I can get a hard cast on then. How does pink and orange strips sound?

Great

I broke my arm on the fourth of July. And it had to be my left forearm. I write, throw, and eat with that arm. I broke both bones, but not all the way. The docs did have to reduce my arm. Don't worry, I was asleep. When I was awake, everything was dizzy, and I was confused.

Chapter Seven

Clara sat on her bunk. She was at the home now. Some of the other teens had tried talking to her. But she ignored them. Clara didn’t want to talk to them. Her parents were both dead. How could she have any hopes? Maybe by next year, she would be in an adopted family.

          Clara then thought of how Agnes had freely given her life for that baby and Jason. That baby and family had been strangers to them. But she had given her life, so that they could have their baby. Where was Agnes in the hurricane? She hadn’t talked to her during the whole trauma.

          Forget it. Agnes was still helping her. And if Mom was still alive, Agnes was probably helping her. But Agnes had said that she would lose two loved ones because of the hurricane. Then again Agnes could have meant that one would die and the other was somehow alive.

          Jason continued to bang on the door. Where was Clara? A note fell to the ground. “Oh no!” breathed Jason. He didn’t want to pick it up. He already knew what it said. Jason ran back to the car. He could barely turn the keys in the ignition. The little Pomeranian in the back whined.

          He almost went way over the speed limit. It seemed like forever, but he finally got to the children’s home. He ran to the front. The lady sitting there looked at him. “What’s that Pomeranian doing?” the lady asked. “I need to see Clara Wildewood,” said Jason. “Sit in this room,” said the lady. “I’ll get Clara,”

          Clara looked up. The door had opened to the dorm. “C’mon Clara; you have a visitor,” Clara got up. Her face was red from crying. “You need to wash up first,” said the lady. Clara walked into the Lady’s Room. But even water couldn’t take away the pained look on her face.

          “Hurricane Ike is almost nothing now,” said the lady. “Hurricane Ike took my parents,” said Clara. No more was said. They turned into the room. Clara ran to Jason. “Why didn’t you stop them? You said that you had everything under control!” Jason bowed his head. “It’s my birthday, my parents are gone, I end up in the children’s home, and you come in with a Pomeranian!”

          “This Pomeranian is for you,” said Jason. Clara looked at the light brown dog. She held it in her arms. “Thank You Jason; and I am sorry,” she said. “It’s okay,” said Jason. “I’m going to adopt you,” said Jason. “It’ll take a while, but maybe they will let me take you out of here,”

          Clara looked at Jason with surprise. He was going to adopt her? That was just crazy. How would that work? But she remembered Agnes’s message, “Go with the flow,” Okay Agnes, if that’s how it’s supposed to be. Thought Clara.

          Clara waited. Jason received his first pile of paperwork towards adopting Clara. He would be allowed to take Clara out in a few days, but she would be checked on often.

          Everything had turned out alright. Agnes had guided them through the whole hurricane. She was with them. Even right now, she was with Clara and Jason. Clara knew in her heart that Agnes would stay with them.

The End

Chapter Six

          The shelter worked really well. It was an old building that was on stilts. At least it looked old. Jason guessed that the hurricane would continue blowing through until about midnight that night. That would be in about six hours. Clara laid down on one of the beds in the building. She had to get some sleep.

          Clara awoke hours later. Jason was shaking her. “Get up!” he exclaimed. Clara looked out the window. It was all calm. Dawn hadn’t arrived. Lightning flashed in the distance. “Say goodbye to Hurricane Ike,” said Jason.

          Jason and Clara were soon running through the island. There was major flooding in some spots. Other spots, the water wasn’t deep. When they were next to the ferries, Clara saw a boat. “Over here!” she screamed.

          Hours later, Jason and Clara were on a plane back to Kansas. The truck had been washed away. The sun shone in the late afternoon hours. Fireworks were seen in the distance. It was July 3^rd.  And what an exciting, yet sad trip. Her parents wouldn’t be with her to celebrate her 13^th birthday.

          Jason left Clara at her house for the night. He would check on her in the morning. Clara walked into her room. Everything was so familiar. But there were so many things wrong. Her parents weren’t there. But they had only found Mr. Wildewood’s body. Her mom might still be alive; hanging on maybe just barely.

          The next morning, Clara decided that she couldn’t take it anymore. She picked up the phone. “Jason” she said. “Hi,” replied Jason. “I really can’t take this,” said Clara. “What about the bills?” she asked. “It’ll be O.k.,” said Jason. “I have everything under control,”

          The door bell rang. Clara hung up the phone and walked over to the door. Great. It was the police. She opened the door. “Yes,” she said. The chubby police officer cleared his throat. “You are officially an orphan now. One parent has been found dead and the other is missing. Now it is off to the children’s home. You have twenty minutes to get into fresh clothes.”

          Clara began to shake violently. She could barely walk up the stairs. Great way to spend her birthday. In about ten minutes, she was ready. Clara walked out the door. The police officer escorted her into the car. Clara took one last looked around her neighborhood. Then Agnes’s voice was heard. “Don’t worry. Just go with the flow,”

          Clara climbed into the car. “So,” said the cop. “What happened?” Clara thought for a second. What had exactly happened? “We went on a chase with my deceased sister’s best friend, Jason, down in Corpus Christi. We went into Port Aransas, and that was where the real trouble started. The storm surge hit, and washed us apart. Jason was able to climb into a ferry, and found my Dad’s body. Mom was never found. I ended up on the same ferry that Jason was on. That was how we found each other. Then when the hurricane was over, we were rescued and came back here,”

          There was a long period of silence. A tear trickled down the cop’s cheek. “All kids,” he finally said, “that I pick up to take to the children’s home have a story. But I have never heard a sadder story then yours. You didn’t do anything, neither did your parents,” he finished. “Oh by the way,” said Clara,” Today is my birthday,” 

Chapter Five

          The wind blew so hard, that it hurt to face it. Every building on the island was empty. Jason groaned. “We should’ve bought the truck,” he said. The others nodded. “Or just stay on Corpus Christi,” suggested Clara. Jason pulled out the barometer.  The barometer read 29.50 in. It was falling speedily.

          Clara looked around the abandoned island. She spotted a small building with the door swinging open and close. “This way!” she yelled over the wind. The small group fought their way towards the building.

          But just as Clara reached the door, a terrific roar was heard. All looked to the right. A towering fifteen foot wave was looming closer fast! Before the group had time to think, the wave crashed over them. Clara was pressed to the ground. She bobbed to the surface seconds later. No one was in sight.

          Clara tried to tread the water. But she soon found that the water was carrying her. All she had to do was stay calm. She found it hard though. Clara wondered where Jason and her parents were. What two would she lose during this hurricane?

          Jason was washed out into the bay. He saw the ferries. He might be able to climb up the sides. He swam with the waves, using all of his strength. Jason finally touched the side. With great force, he swung his body up and over. He rested on the deck, breathing heavily. Another wave washed over minutes later. When everything cleared, Jason saw the body of Mr. Wildewood.

          Mrs. Wildewood found herself clinging to a palm tree. The waves thrashed about her. Her heart cried out to her husband, child, and friend. She was moving farther away from land. Her hopes for survival were weakening.

          Clara was soon gently slammed into a boat. Or was it a boat? She hoisted herself up. She didn’t have quite the strength. Just then, the water rose suddenly. She was now a few inches from the top. Clara breathed a sigh of relief. At least she was out of the water.

          Jason shook with fear. Who knows what had happened to the others. Could they have possibly drowned too? He shook his head. Clara was too young to die; like Agnes. He had to find them. He ran around to the other side of the deck.

          Clara looked up. In the faintly rising dawn, she was barely able to make out the figure. Something told her who it was. “Jason!” she screamed. The figure ran towards her. “Are you alright?” asked Jason as he knelt next to her. Clara nodded. “Where are the others?” she asked.

          Jason bowed his head. “I haven’t seen your mother; but I have seen your father. He’s dead Clara,” Clara couldn’t believe it. “We still have to find Mom,” she sobbed. “She can’t die,” Jason hugged her. “I know,” he said, “but for now, we need to survive,” Clara nodded. “Yes,” she said.

          Jason found a little room on the ferry. Inside were lifejackets! Both hurried to put them on. Suddenly, all was quiet. The ferry stopped rocking, and the thunder was silenced. Sunlight streamed in from under the door. Jason turned and opened the door.

          The whole world was in such peace. The dark clouds surrounding them weren’t dark. They were white; pure white.  “It won’t last long,” said Jason, “It’s the eye. We have enough time to find a substantial shelter and food,”

          The other side of the hurricane struck two and a half hours later. The winds were blowing in the other direction now. Mrs. Wildewood was still hanging onto the tree. But she was out of the hurricane. Every now and then, she saw someone else in the water; dead. Fortunately, none of them were from her party.

          Mrs. Wildewood finally saw a sight that meant rest. A tropical island. It looked deserted. At least she would be on land. Now all she had to do was get onto the island. Mrs. Wildewood jumped off the tree and began to swim for the shore. 

Chapter Four

In Wichita, they stopped in Wichita for lunch. Mr. and Mrs. Wildewood went inside, but Jason and Clara stayed in the truck. “Did you hear it?” asked Clara. Jason nodded. “Who could it be?” wondered Clara. Jason shrugged. “We’ll find out sooner or later,” Both of them climbed out of the truck, and inside McDonalds.

          Within thirty minutes, it would be time to get back on the road. That was just enough time for them to eat a quick lunch, and for Jason to check the hurricane; Hurricane Ike. So far, he was strengthening up steadily. Clara watched it intently. That voice whispered in her ear again!

          “It will stay at a Category Four, but it will almost hit Category Five. You will lose two people that are close to you, no matter what you do,” Then, the voice stopped. But Clara suddenly realized who it was. It was Agnes! Her head spun. She couldn’t stand straight. Clara collapsed to the ground.

          Jason heard something thump onto the ground behind him. He looked down and saw Clara lying there, as pale as snow. He bent down. “Clara,” he said, “wake -up!” Mrs. Wildewood watched nervously. She was shaking. Clara’s eyes opened. “Wh…wh…what happened?” she asked. “You fainted,” said Jason.

          Clara sat in the truck, drinking some water. “Feeling better?” asked her obviously concerned mother. Clara nodded. They had just passed over the Kansas-Oklahoma border. It was about three in the afternoon. She pulled out a book, and started reading.

          It was ten at night, and they were about an hour away from Corpus Christi. Hurricane Ike was approaching rapidly. Clara could see the occasional glow from the hurricane. She began to get excited. This was going to be probably the most adventurous time in the summer. But she remembered Agnes’s warning.

          An hour later, they ran into a stream of traffic going to the other direction; back north. The highway going southbound was completely open. No one would go towards the hurricane. The lightning bolts were seen over the ocean. Clara put on her backpack. They would be getting out soon.
          When they got to the ferry leading over to Port Aransas, all of the ferries were being closed down. One last one was going over to the other side to be rigged down. Mr. Wildewood asked if they could take the truck over with them. The ferry man shook his head. “With this wind; it’ll be dangerous. Ya’ll could leave your truck on this side and aboard the ferry on foot,”

          It was their only choice. Corpus Christi wasn’t the best place to watch a hurricane. They had to be right on the ocean. The four fought their way onto the ferry against the driving wind. The rain was beginning to fall in a light mist. The ferry made its way ever so slowly out to the bay. A wave occasionally splashed over the side. The ferry docked onto the other side. They waved their thanks to the ferry man, and headed for the beach. 

Chapter Three

They drove along a dirt country road. Thunder rumbled, and the wall cloud let out a funnel. Jason watched it nervously. The funnel twisted down. It touched the ground and began to dance. Clara snapped a picture.  The twister headed for an abandoned barn! Jason finally began to calm down. “You were right Clara,” he said. Clara smiled. She knew in her heart that it would work.

          Afterwards, Jason started storm chasing again like he used to. Clara sometimes went along. It was always good wall clouds that never dropped anything or thin rope tornadoes that spun for only a few minutes. But it was good anyway.

          A few months later, it was the official start of hurricane season. Jason was thinking about going to chase a hurricane, but no hurricane got higher than a category two. He began to worry. But Agnes always had faith in things like this. Last summer, she just waited, telling Jason that one would come along soon. About a month later, a strong Category Three came.

          Clara finished up the school season, and now her days were spent in almost complete boredom. She missed Agnes and Willow. Clara’s birthday was on July 4^th, which was in a few weeks. This year hadn’t been a good year for the Wildewoods.

          One morning, Jason woke to a cloudy Monday morning. He walked over to his computer. As the compute turned on, he walked over to the counter and poured his coffee into his cup. The computer finally finished loading. Jason looked down towards Corpus Christi Texas. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

          Clara heard the phone ring. She dropped her spoon into her bowl, and walked over to the phone. Clara picked up the phone. “Hello?” she asked. “Clara!” exclaimed Jason. “There’s an awesome Category Three hurricane on the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s coming for Corpus Christi!” Clara was a bit confused. “Are you positive?” she asked. “Yes!” said Jason.

          According to future track, the hurricane was going to strengthen in a few days. By then, the hurricane would be a Category Four, and 12 hours away from Corpus Christi. Traveling plans were suddenly being arranged. All the Wildewoods and Jason would be going. The National Hurricane Center wanted Jason to perform a study in the heart of the hurricane.

          Jason had to have one whole pack just for his tools. Half of them were weather instruments. The other half consisted of one box of granola bars, 5 water bottles, twenty – five feet of rope, and other necessary tools. All of the others had a backpack filled with everything, but only one weather tool. Each one had a barometer.

          On Wednesday, Jason came over. The Wildewoods had just finished up eating. Jason loaded his pack into the truck. As they drove south on Interstate 135, Clara prayed that everything would go smoothly. Hopefully, they could just get in there, watch the hurricane, and go home.

          As they came close to Wichita, Clara and Jason at the same time began to feel strange. A little voice spoke into their ears. It sounded so familiar. It said, “Don’t be afraid. I will guide you on this deadly trip,” the strange voice then disappeared. Jason and Clara looked at each other; filled with confusion. 

Chapter Two

Clara ate lunch, and then went home. She had had a full morning. She sat down on the couch. Something felt wrong. Their German Shepherd Willow would normally come in. Clara ran down the basement stairs. She looked at Willow’s pallet. She was lying there, breathing heavily. Clara knelt down next to her. “Hey girl,” she said with a trembling voice.

          Willow looked up at her. There was a sad look in her eyes. Both of them knew that it was time. Willow was a little over 10 years old. Clara placed her hand on Willow. Jason came down to check on Clara. “What’s wrong?” he asked. Clara looked up at him. “It’s her time, Jason,” she said.

          Without Willow, life changed for the whole household. Clara was used to seeing a dog sleeping at the end of her bed. It became hard for her to sleep those first few nights. She had lost two loved ones in the last month. There had to be a reason for this.

          Over the course of the next month, friends were sending meals to the Wildewoods. Jason hadn’t storm chased since Agnes had died. Somehow, tornadoes made him feel sad. Every time a tornado showed up on either the Internet or TV, Jason tried to ignore it. If it happened on the computer, he shut down the Internet. On TV, he changed the channel. He blocked the Weather Channel on TV. Jason was obviously running away from something that he had loved yesterday.

          Clara’s friends at school tried to be helpful to her. Even the kids that hadn’t ever talked to her were now talking to her. Clara was now troubled by something other than Agnes’s tragic death. She was worried about Jason. She had seen his attitude towards tornadoes.

          Later at home, Clara talked to Dad. “You know that Jason is running from his fears,” said Clara, “and we need to fix it,” Dad nodded. “I suppose that we could do something,” he said. “Let’s wait until there’s a good chance for tornadoes in the area,” said Clara, “and we can take him on a storm chase without him knowing,”

          In about a week, another chance for storms showed up. The probability of a tornado was high. All they had to do now was lure Jason into the car. Clara called Jason. “We just wanna take you somewhere,” said Clara. Jason was obviously unsure. “Alright,” he finally said.

          He showed up. As they drove down the highway, Jason became more and more uneasy. It was the menacing clouds that were frightening him. Clara watched him closely. Dad drove deeper into the storm. When a wall cloud showed up, Jason reacted in a way that Clara had never seen him do. He buckled over, and began to cry. “Just take me back,” he begged.

          “I will,” said Clara,” but you first need to face a tornado,” Jason still cried. “I can’t,” he said. “You are running from your fears,” said Clara. Jason was still looking down. “I just feel so guilty,” he said. Clara pressed some more, “It wasn’t your fault,” Jason quit crying. “But I feel like I could have done something,” he said. 

Story

Prologue

          Agnes looked at the sky. Clouds were boiling high into the atmosphere. The air was humid. The thermometer was at 97 degrees Fahrenheit. The barometer was falling. These were the ripe conditions for severe thunderstorms; the kind with hail, wind, torrential rain, and tornadoes. It was time for Agnes to call Jason. They had both been waiting for a day like this. Clara was in the house, watching the radar. Agnes had promised to take her on a storm chasing trip. Their mom, Mrs. Wildewood,   watched the clouds nervously.

          Jason arrived ten minutes later. “Dang traffic,” he said as he got out,” We’re going to have to find another way out of the city,” Agnes ran back inside.”Clara,” she said as she walked into the computer room, “It’s time to go,” Clara looked up. Even though she was only twelve years old, she knew a lot about weather. “We’ve got a hook trying to form,” she said. Agnes banged her head against the wall on accident. “What?” she snapped. “It’s already forming a hook? That thing formed only five minutes ago!”

          Clara and Agnes ran out to the truck. “We’ve gotta go Jason!” said Agnes as her and Clara climbed into the truck. Jason ran to the driver’s seat. He pushed the keys into the ignition. They all waved at Mrs. Wildewood as the truck backed out of the driveway. The traffic was Salina’s typical rush hour traffic.  Jason navigated the truck south onto the highway. The storm was moving to the East, and rotating. Clara watched the radar. They were only two miles away now from the storm. A solid hook had formed. There wasn’t really much time now.

          Jason turned down a country road in to the storm. Lightning flashed here and there; touching the ground. When the rain fell, it was almost impossible to see the road ahead. Clara continued watching the storm. An e-mail from a nearby storm chaser was received. Clara read it.

                   Agnes,

                             There’s a tornado on Water Well Road about three miles west of the turnpike. It’s a rope, barely doing any damage. You have to come out here and see it if you have time. If this one dies, I’m pretty sure that another one will form in the area.

See Ya!

Joshua  Pic

“Hey Agnes,” said Clara,” You’ve gotta hear this,”

          Clara read the e-mail. Agnes was surprised. “Who’s Joshua Pic?” asked Jason. “Never heard of him,” Agnes responded, “He’s a storm chaser friend that’s in my class,” Jason nodded as though that made perfect sense. “So are we going to head north or what?” asked Clara. “North?” asked Agnes and Jason. Clara said. “We’re a mile too far south of where the tornado is,”

          Jason found a road leading back north. When they came to Water Well Road, Clara confirmed that they were four miles west of the turnpike. Jason swung the truck the east. As they drove, the tornado came into view. Clara was breathless. She had been waiting for this day. The tornado swayed, as though it was dancing, across the field.

          The tornado died a few minutes later. Agnes, Jason, and Clara later met up with Joshua Pic. He was uploading the videos and pictures of the tornado onto his computer. “How ya doin’” he asked when Agnes stepped out of the truck. “Good,” she said. Clara walked around to the back of the truck. She sat down on the bumper. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Jason and Agnes were talking to Joshua.

It wasn’t until Clara looked up when she saw something. A funnel was twisting its way down. “Agnes!” she yelled. “Get over here!” Agnes and Jason hurried over with Joshua close behind. All of them stared in awe at the funnel. It twisted its way elegantly down. A few minutes later, it touched the ground. Everyone ran for their trucks. The tornado moved east, and grew bigger. It soon turned into a monster tornado. As it crossed the highway, cars were seen, flying into the air. Clara prayed that no one was in the flying cars.

          Jason sped up the truck. He would be able to outrun the twister when the speedometer hit 80mph. As they crossed the highway, Clara was in shock at the twisted scraps of metal. A few people were wandering around; dazed. Only a few noticed the two trucks, with squealing tires, and the dirt covering them, crossing the highway. They were only about 100 yards away from the tornado. The trucks past the tornado.

          “We have to find shelter,” said Agnes. Jason nodded. “It’s too big to keep wandering around like this,” he said. Agnes called Joshua and told him the plan. He agreed. They did have to find shelter. Clara spotted a farmhouse. They pulled into the driveway. The wind was screeching. The twister had grown larger. And it was still coming for them.

          Agnes led the group into the farmhouse. Good thing that it was unlocked. The stairs were found in the kitchen. When they went down them, the storm chasers discovered that they weren’t alone. A family of five was huddled in a corner. As the twister grew closer, the mother of the group realized something. She started with a scream. “My baby!” Agnes glanced up the stairs. “Stay here!” she yelled. Jason followed her.

          Through the living room they went. The twister was narrowing in on them. That was when Agnes realized that Jason was with her. “You!” she snapped. There was no time to talk. They hurried into a bedroom. Nobody was in that one. They looked into the next one. A little baby was in the crib. Agnes grabbed the baby, and handed the baby to Jason. At that moment, the roof began to tear away. Jason ducked down, covering the baby. Agnes was too late.

She flew into the air. She saw the shocked look on Jason’s face. This was probably the last time that she would see him, Clara, and the rest of her friends and family. She wanted to cry, but the tears didn’t come. A piece of glass scraped her forehead. She looked up. She saw the blue sky. God, if it’s time for me to go, please make it painless. She thought.

Jason soon felt the wind quit tugging on his body. The baby began to cry. He looked around him. The walls were sagging. There was no ceiling. He ran to the stairs. “Get up here!” he yelled. Joshua was the first one. Jason explained what had happened. He spoke quietly. He didn’t want Clara to know just yet. The family was safe.

The chasers got into their trucks. Clara was angry. “Why won’t you tell me where Agnes is?” she asked. Jason thought for a moment. “She flew up into the storm. I don’t know if she will make it alive or not,” Clara sat speechless. “There’s nothing we can do besides looking for her,” said Jason. His voice was trembling. Police sirens were heard.

After about ten minutes, Jason saw a group of police cars gathered in the middle of the road. An ambulance had just pulled up. Jason and Clara jumped out of the truck. Jason looked over the cops’ shoulders. Lying on the ground was Agnes. She was covered in mud. Her face was masked with blood. A paramedic was giving her CPR. She was soon loaded into the ambulance. Jason talked to a paramedic about Agnes.

They were going to follow the ambulance to the hospital. Agnes was in critical condition. Her spine might have been broken. Clara called her parents. They would meet them at the hospital. Once at the hospital, the waiting took forever. Those next few days were spent in prayer and hope.

Agnes died two days later due to her injuries.

Chapter One

A few months after Agnes died, Clara started going to Track. This bright morning, was her first meet. She was excited. Her best time for a mile was 7:30. She was hoping that she could beat it. Maybe just a little less than 7 minutes would be good. Her parents and Jason were in the stands, waiting for the race to start.

          Clara checked in, and then stretched a little. The sun shone brightly, and the wind blew a nice cool breeze. About five minutes later, it was time for her to line up. She would be in lane 2. The starter raised his gun. All Clara could hear was her heart pounding in her ears.

          BANG! A wisp of smoke flew into the air. All six runners took off. Clara gained on the first two. She started to have trouble when she got close to the front. She was in third place now. All she had to do was hold her place.

          At the third lap, Clara’s leg felt as though they were on fire. She had to keep going. Her family and friends were screaming at the top of their lungs. They were on their last lap now. Clara let it go. She sprinted faster then she had ever gone in her whole life. She was now tied with first place. They were fighting for it. The other girl was giving her challenging looks.

          At the last 100 meters, everything went in slow motion. Clara set her eyes in the finish line. Those last two steps were the hardest. As she past the finish line, her mind began to race. She didn’t know what place she had gotten. As she heard her time, she almost thought that they had gotten the times mixed up. That wasn’t possible! She had been one of the first two!

          Her time was 6:15. Such an amazing time! She had taken 1:15 off her original! Her timer patted her on the back as she headed towards her coach. “That was some race,” he said. Her parents were there to greet her. “Agnes,” said her coach, “Guess what place you got,” Clara didn’t know. “1^st!” exclaimed her coach.

          For the next few hours, Clara watched her other teammates doing there events. A few were doing High Jump and some others were doing Long Jump. No one was doing Pole Vaulting or Hurdles. Clara had high hopes to do Pole Vaulting next spring. Mrs. Wildewood, was highly against it. It didn’t make sense. She let Agnes go stormchasing, and she let Clara go stormchasing. That was pretty dangerous; more dangerous than Pole Vaulting.

          During the boys’ relays, Clara began to get ready for the 400m race. Her best was 1:15. She might be able to take 5 seconds off that. If she took more than that off, that would be impressive. She walked back to the stands and grabbed her cleats. They were a hot pink. That color made her look fast.

          After checking in, Clara changed into her cleats. This was her last race of the day. A few of her teammates lined up along the fence watching her. Jason was snapping pictures. Her parents were watching and smiling. She walked to her lane. Clara looked straight down the track. The starter raised the gun. He squeezed the trigger.

          The first 100 meters were easy. But then it got harder. Clara was barely hanging in third place for her heat. She needed to speed up. Where was that extra burst of energy? Unexpectedly, she began to speed into the lead of the race. Without even knowing it, she sprinted far ahead of the others.

          She was coming onto the finish line. She was so close. As she crossed, she wondered how well she had done out of all of the heats. She waited for them to record her time. Clara felt sick. They allowed her to go over with her coach. She felt something come up.

          Clara was brought a cup of water. After washing the bitter aftertaste out of her mouth, she walked over to her parents. “Are you alright?” asked her mother. Clara nodded. “It happens,” said Jason. Clara felt so embarrassed. She hadn’t seen any other athletes throw up after a race.

What'd ya think so far?

Who wants the next chapter?

Curiousity Killed the Gerbil

Really. I'm not joking. The gerbils got out of their cage because someone left the lid off. Dad discovered the empty cage early this morning. After a little bit of searching, he found Itsy in the sump pump.....dead. I really didn't want to go to school today. When I got homw from school, I convinced Mom to let me stay home and find the other gerbil...Bitsy. Let's see how this goes.

Track 2012

This is a picture of me starting off on the 1600m running event at BC. At the beginning of the Track season, I was at 9:06 minute mile. Yesterday, I ended at 7:19.








This is a picture of one of the other kids doing High Jump. This was probably at 4 ft. 6 in or a tad higher.

And her I am again starting on the 400m race. I started at 2:06 and ended at 1:30.

These next few are from the CO-ED relay. There were three heats, and we had two teams in two of the heats.

This is a paper that I had to write for school. It's a "One Wish" paper. Hope you like it!

No More Tornadoes

By Mary Beth Sauer

            My wish is that there will be no more tornadoes. I want this wish to come true, because tornadoes are scary and violent. Many people die every single year due to tornadoes. Tornadoes can, and normally do, cause millions of dollars in damage. Maybe even billions of dollars in damage in significant cases! They can take away some of our loved ones and our friends.

            With every wish, there are positive effects. I will name a few. One good positive effect is that money wouldn’t have to be used to rebuild the hit area. This extra money could be used for other things. Another positive effect is that the death rate for natural disasters would go down.

            My sisters wouldn’t be so worried when there is a storm. We could use the space that our tornado kit is taking up for other things. We wouldn’t have a really big need for a weather radio. We wouldn’t have to start all over again if a tornado came and took everything we had. A whole lot of people would benefit from this wish.

             Surprisingly, there are quite a few negative effects. In a way, tornadoes bring peace. After a thunderstorm, everything is normally pretty calm. Before a storm, everything is restless. The birds can’t seem to quit moving. Tornadoes bring that peace, but it lasts a lot longer. I notice one time, when I was watching a clip with a tornado that had just touched down, all the birds just quit chirping. Dead silence, except for the wind.

            When a tornado hits a town or city, people can learn about who really cares about them. They realize what their blessings are. Authors, who write about weather, would lose something to write about. Tornadoes are probably God’s way of teaching us a lesson about what is important in life. We all think that our Wii is important; our X – Box is important. After a tornado, we learn that those things aren’t really necessary. What is necessary, is food, water, clothing, and shelter.

            Tornadoes are violent. There is a great loss of life to tornadoes. Even though they can be bad, tornadoes are good in some ways that you haven’t really heard of. It might be cool to have this wish come true. What do you prefer after hearing or reading this paper?

Tornado Warnings

Another crazy evening in Kansas.
Tornado Warning in Kingman - possibility of a tornado near Nashville
Tornado Warning in Harper - possibility of a tornado 6 miles north of Amorita
Tornado Warning in Barber - possible tornado 2 miles SW of Hardtner
Tornado Warning in Grant, Olahoma - strong rotation 8 miles W of Jefferson. 2 tornadoes have been spotted with this storm.

In SW Wichita, we are getting pretty good lightining. It's kinda scaring the kids. I will try to keep you updated on these storms. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ict/. This is a link to go to for severe weather.

Adios!