Show I Didn't Like Storms By LOLA STOUT first thunder storm of the season is sweeping across the As I watched the clouds build and grow blacker and I felt the foreboding stillness that precedes an electrical MY BODY my palms grew as I waited for the first flash of lightning and clap of I've had a fear of electrical ever since I can Occasionally I do enjoy a but it is usually after the crackle and pop is over and the thunder has quieted to a distant rumbling across the MY MOTHER was terribly afraid of and not without We lived in which nature used for special electrical with sometimes disastrous Gunnison where I later lived with my also played host to some spectacular One day when I was home a strong wind began to Above the I could hear a peculiar roaring I looked out the window and saw what appeared to be a dark gray moving swiftly from the I WAS but watched in dreadful fascination as the wall advanced from Centerfield to across the fields and into the As the great cloud engulfed the the noise was Large hailstones bombarded the roof and pounded against the Lightning snaked across the yard in crazy Thunder split the Leaves were stripped from the and every green thing growing from the earth was flattened under a layer of marbled Swift as it the storm moved but it left a trail of devastation AUNT MAUD and and our little used to hide in the clothes closet during but Grandma never showed any fear and went about her work as Her steadiness probably kept me from becoming a complete After my children were I vowed I would overcome my fear so I wouldn't infect I I really But I didn't fool Perhaps watching my struggle had a positive for they are not afraid of TWO YEARS we drove into Yellowstone Park and straight into one of the worst storms to hit the park in As we entered the east the sky was darkening and a few drops of rain spattered the I felt a slight chill of but the ranger waved us saying there would be camping space at Pelican As we climbed the gusts of wind slammed into the car at every It began to The mountains across the canyon looked massive and and snow swirled around The wind grew stronger and we knew it had passed limits for an ordinary As we rounded a curve where a huge cut had been made in the sand and gravel filled the air and large rocks rolled down the hill and blocked our lane of As we tried to hurry around them while we could still get several cars came speeding from the other People were fleeing the park in trying to outrun the and one driver out for falling WE REALIZED we were in real There was no On one side of the a high covered with hundreds of shallow-rooted loomed above On the other was a canyon so we couldn't see the As we took stock of our a calm came over perhaps a feeling of I was no longer We decided to- go on rather than attempt to the trailer and perhaps have it tipped over by the THE CAMP at Pelican Point was a Tables were picnic nalia was scattered everywhere and trees were being snapped off or uprooted by every push of the A new trailer had been smashed by a falling which barely missed the occupants of the towing It seemed we'd be tempting fate to stay We drove THE LAKE was churning five foot waves and spilling water onto the But we came to a small sheltered place at and waited for the storm to we drove to Fishing where we spent the There was plenty of for hundreds of people had fled the WHEN morning the sky was washed to a brilliant The day was pristinely as if nature were apologizing for rampage of the day I hoped the calm I found on the mountain would stay with But I'm back to my quaking and TODAY'S storm is almost over The thunder is rolling itself Clouds are and momentarily the sun will break It's time to go outside and look for the |