Tornado off the Lake
I remember vividly an event happening early morning in July of 1949. We lived a little over a half mile from Lake Erie in Ohio. Our road was called Big Ditch Road because there was a big ditch that came off the lake and ran along one side of the road. We lived along the ditch side of the road and lake water often flowed over its bank into our yard which was sunk down from the bank coming off the road. My Dad, wearing his waders, once placed me into an old wash tub and "boated" me out to the large orange school bus... I was not allowed to go in the ditch alone but I must confess I did at times while hunting for asparagus. My Ma always knew when I had been in the ditch hunting for asparagus. Once I asked her how she knew. She told me that when all the tender tops were snapped off she knew I had been there foraging for my lunch.
It was just a few days before my seventh birthday. This was a memory I have never forgotten to this day. The cool morning air was pleasant feeling to my skin as I play in a sand pile making little roads and hills for my toy cars and trucks to drive over while lining these roadways with small rocks. I was using my empty small Ohio Blue Tip matchboxes that I had saved for my “funerals" I always made for deceased bugs I buried under a peach tree. The boxes became great make-believe homes along these roads. Twigs from spent flowers were the trees and bushes that decorated the yards while tiny figurine dogs and cats, given to me by one of my Ma's friends, added a playful touch to the scene. Further back from the road was my beloved barn where I placed a large Ohio Blue Tip matchbox with larger twigs and actual flowers and greenery because to me they were the big trees. I placed the greenery alongside the silos I created by filling Campbell’s Tomato soup cans with wet sand and scoring square marks on the sides to make the silos look real. Actually I wanted the silos to be cobalt blue china but could not think of a way to turn the sand blue. I would have gone inside and pilfered my brothers airplane paints again but I surely did not wish to get the pussy willow switches across my legs.
I was playing in the sand pile when suddenly the gentle wind seemed to stop. Everything got so still and quiet. A shadow crossed the ground around me. I looked up to see the sky was no longer blue with bright fluffy clouds. Now the color was an ugly yellow, almost like sulfur with large patches of odd-looking gray. …It was eerie but I stood there just amazed at the color. The wind picked up but I still stood there mesmerized at those odd colors. My long curly blonde hair was tossing all over my face and the cute pale green dress with tiny pink rosebuds my Ma had made me from a cotton flower sack was billowing up and down showing my sandy covered undies. Of course I was shoeless which my normal thing in the summer was. The wind seemed to come up from nowhere stronger and stronger I looked up seeing the sky darken. I felt the wind shove me and I fell to the ground. My hair ribbon was starting to come untied so I stood up and was trying to tie it when I heard a loud scream, “Julia Anna you come in this house immediately.” Of course I was too busy with that darn hair ribbon I knew she'd be upset at me for losing so I ignored all her calls to come inside.
Soon Ma came running outside carrying my little sister in her arms. Millie Jo, my sister was 4 years of age but soon she would be taken away from me forever to live in the children's home in Columbus, Ohio but I did not know about that place until many years later. Ma looked so stern but comical too. She had on her work clothes with nylons and high heels but there also was a large white apron with tomato stains all down the front. I knew she had been canning tomatoes so she must have spilled some of the juice while preparing the cans. I looked at her as she screamed to come inside but my mind was on that darn ribbon. Finally she bodily picked me up, which was a rare thing for her to do, carrying me into the kitchen. I said the ribbon flew away. She tells me to forget the damn ribbon and to go inside to her and Dads bedroom closet and wait for her. I did as I was told and waited. Soon she came in the closet with sister and 3 quilts. She wrapped one around me and the other two around sis and herself. The door was shut and we stood still. For once in my young life I obeyed Ma. There was a horrific roar over that old farmhouse sounding to my ears as a freight train went roaring over the roof. The shingles were flying off the roof and we heard bricks being tossed into the bedroom windows. We were safe in the closet and sister was wailing as Ma, who was trembling, tried to quiet her. I just stood up straight as my little frame could and kept still with no questions. I stood alone but next to them feeling as I were a brave little soldier.
Soon the wind died down and Ma and sis ventured out the closet door. I peeked out and saw broken glass but stayed put like she told me to do because when she called me Julia Anna I knew I'd better be good or get the pussy willow switch sans the catkins. She put sis in her crib and came and got me but carried me out the bedroom closet as I had no shoes on and she did not want me to be cut from the glass. Auntie called Ma to see how we were saying only the pony barn roof was blown off at their place a half mile away. Their home was made of brick and was much sturdier than our stick built house. Dad came home from work and they cleaned up the mess while I was allowed to climb into sister’s crib and play dollies with her. I never knew what the reason was that she could not grow up a normal little girl. She was quite beautiful with no features to her body looking like there was anything wrong with her. All of her limbs were intact but she could not sit up or walk. Her vocal cords worked but she had no speech patterns or even a sentence. She did laugh and giggle when I play with her but she did not recognize her name when spoken too. It was a mystery hidden from me my entire life. I gently played with her letting her have my favorite teddy bear calming her as best I could but of course she was an angel then as she is now.
Finally the house was clean and we sat down to a plate of vegetable soup and cornbread. Dad gave me a big cup of coffee with lots of top cream and brown sugar for being a brave little squirrel. He went outside and got the ladder out to climb to the roof to examine the damage. I climbed right behind him and went up on the roof. He was showing me how to replace the shingles when we heard Ma screaming at him for letting me climb up on the roof. He looked at me with his laughing hazel eyes and gently said I had better climb down. When I reached the bottom rail there was Ma saying " Julia Anna sometimes I don't know what I'm gonna do with you.".... I smiled but thought it best to keep quiet...at least .for a while.
© Julia A Knaake