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3 Weeks ending May 2, 1998 A.D.
The Mighty Fist
Dear Diary,
O, the mighty, mighty fist of Nature.
Unless you have been treed for the last few weeks by a bunch of rabid dogs you are no doubt aware of the pack of tornadoes that has chased through TN and AL. Many of the areas hit now look like only so much kindling. With screaming destruction of property came cries form the horrible loss of life.
Awful is the destructive force Ma Nay wreaks when she's terrible upset. The F5, the monster kind that hit the Birmingham area, will tear the asphalt off the roads and suck people out of the middle of their houses. The cluster that hit Nashville was "only" an F3. Yet they still were enough to ruin neighborhoods and shake downtown steel and girder.
While a twister touched down only a mile or so from where I live and even closer to Dibble, our sound man, random luck hit our number. Us and our property were out of harm's way. And though the hundred year old trees we saw lying around neighborhoods looked like weeds plucked by some careless giant, the sight left me with more of a sense of awe than horror. I later felt terrible for the people of Edgefield here in Nashville whose homes got swept by a giant broom, but I was still a tad detached. A mile just wasn't close enough to sweat.
I was due an education.
Day 3 of last week's swing through Alabama had us headed from Montgomery to Tuscaloosa. We were on our merry way playing football on our Sony Playstation ands yakking it up devil-may-care. The sky was blue, it was Spring. We were pretty what- the- fuck. Dibble got us out of Montgomery 40 or so miles. Then we stopped at the store to change drivers and fuel up. Mom (our RV) had gas. We had stuff that gave us gas.
I was in my "stateroom" in the van with the blinds down oblivious to all when Chris, band meteorologist, came inside and said there was one badass cloud headed our way. A storm, I thought . Big deal- fun, really. I didn't even crack the window to see. Then Dibble came in all in a hurry and said we needed to get out of Dodge RIGHT NOW. OK, so we go, I said and then went back to writing a book I'm working on. Crow, second shift , put her in drive and away we drove.
Into a mess.
10 seconds later calm broke like an October twig as rain and wind hammered the van. Bad juju happened 0 to 60 faster than any car. Then a big fat gust slapped thin skinned Mom and I got worried quick. Everybody else was, too. But we weren't shitless. Yet.
It all came harder. From which direction was anybody's guess. The sky was in spin cycle. We came up to a red light in a daylight dusk. Mat it, Tony. Crow did.
We hauled down a country road as best you can in a 16,000 pound box with Mad Mama bearing down and closing in. It looked like we were going to get disciplined, and disciplined good.
When a generator we were passing blew right next to us I got a whole new respect for what it must've been like. You feel...,helpless. You pray even if you don't normally. No atheists in foxholes.
We didn't know what direction to go so we pulled off on a side road to take stock of things, The storm's big black heel was above us and that was all we could figure. Dibble, ace driver, took over from Tony after and the toughest 10 minute shift ever and we headed the direction of the wind. Not all opinions were the same on that decision, though.
This was a kind of fear that takes all kinds of directions. Nobody was yelling and all seemed calm relative how real uncalm the weather was. But sentences were too short and nobody could talk without looking outside and up. We told Lucky to get down from the bunk above thew cab. but he stayed. He said if the tornado hit us it wouldn't matter where we were. Because he was right this was not real comforting to hear .
We got to a toll booth before a bridge. It was the closest thing to any type of shelter and I wanted to stay but he others wanted to pull over and wait it out. We did. Crow was antsy and looked like he wanted to bolt for the sturdy looking brick toll building as did I. The others had a bunker mentality. They would stay.
I couldn't just sit there and wait for the big bad wolf to blow the house down and told the guys I was headed for better cover. Crow was standing beside the door. I thought he was with me. He told me to be his guest. I jumped out thinking he would follow. I wanted them all to but knew I couldn't make them and they seemed satisfied that staying put was the right move.
One step out and I was drenched head to toe. The rain was coming down sideways. Each drop stung. I made it 20 yards to a toll booth but then the winds picked up. Suddenly the van looked safe and the brick fortress too far away. I sat there eyeing my options. I half expected some big branch to come flying past. Then I saw the van drive away, My reaction was mixed big time. I was glad they were getting out of it but sorry I was not with them.
More huff and puff . I felt like a little ant. I kept looking for the van to disappear around a curve but it swung back. They pulled up, I ran to the van and hopped in. In just a few seconds the wind died down and there were blue skies where there had been coal. We were going to be OK.
We never saw a tornado but heard later that there had in fact been one.
I resolved to quit looking for better solutions and stay the hell put next time. I was really happy Nature just played with us, but that was plenty.
And I was even closer to the band than I thought. There was a togetherness I had deeply sensed, but for years I had felt like a leader. I realized that day I was one of them.
I would stay with them next time.
Mel
