We listened to the wind getting louder and louder. It made a terrifying screaming sound as it was blowing curtains off the rods even though the windows and doors were shut. My brothers told me the screams were that of a banshee and not the hurricane at all, I was livid with fear.

The rain came in around the doors and windows and Mom tried to mop and sop it up as it came in. My brothers were then telling me I was going to be drowned in our own home because the vacuum of the storm prevented us from opening any doors to escape the flood that was coming inside the house. Mom was listening to all the talk but I could see her priorities were elsewhere so I didn't go crying to her as I usually did.

The electricity went out but we had flashlights, a portible radio and jugs of water in case we needed them. I knew we were expecting the current to go out but when it actually happened I nearly had a laundry problem. Of course this brought a barrage of attacks from my brothers which I really didn't need at the time.

Now, I know everyone is familiar with the overstuffed chair in the living room that, for whatever reason, belonged to your father...only your father. I was convinced Dad's name was engraved on that old chair somewhere because if we came within five feet of it we would get fussed at. Maybe it was because it was taboo for us but we just couldn't resist the temptation to fight over the old chair whenever we had a chance...it was as if it would perform some sort of magical spectacle for you if you were the one lucky enough to get there first.

"What are you doing? Get away from there...that's your father's chair." Mom would holler. I could never figure out why we couldn't sit in that chair even when Dad wasn't home. I still don't know why but I found myself saying the same silly things to my kids when they were growing up.

Dad sat in that old chair with the radio close to his ear. He listened to all updates of Donna that were broadcast and he didn't move or talk for the longest time. I guess Mother Nature gave him a call because he suddenly got up, took a flashlight, a magazine, the radio and headed for the bathroom.

While my brothers and I were fighting over who would try to get to Dad's chair first the wind became deathly quiet, the rain stopped as quickly as it started and for the first time since the storm began my brothers were actually speechless.

My mom went to the back door and opened the jalousie windows on it. It was too dark, she couldn't see anything so she opened the door for a look.

That's all it took for my brothers and I to push one another out of the way and run screaming and yelling to the kitchen to have a look ourselves. In all the commotion we woke Terry and he wasn't happy about it for a few moments. He screamed as though his throat was being cut. As mom went into the living room to tend to him we three bolted out the back door.

Hey, this was our first hurricane, we were entitled to see what it looked like. At least that was our excuse at the time.

Because it was our first tropical storm we didn't know about the eye of the hurricane. We thought the storm was over and wanted to check out the shape of the tree house, make sure our bikes were still there and do anything in general for an excuse to stay outside a little longer in the middle of the night.

We were a full acre away when the storm began again and none of us were bright enough to realize the situation was dangerous. Bye that time Mom realized we were outside and began screaming for us at the back door. Oh we heard her, but we swore at the time we didn't. You know...because of all the wind and all.

We ran and skipped around the yard like a few fools when we suddenly saw our father coming after us...he didn't look as if he was coming to join the fun. We scattered like mice trying every direction we could to get around him and into the house. I silently chuckled as I realized the boys were caught. Dad had one in each hand by the back of their necks pushing them towards the back door. It's only part of what they deserved I thought at the time.

As he was pushing them towards Mom she was jerking them inside the house. Again, I snickered before I realized now he was looking for me. Oh no! I thought. I knew better than to run from him, that always made matters worse so I began my little dance of one step ahead, two steps back as he approached me. It was to stall the inevitable...I was too self-involved to see the worry on his face.

Just as my dad reached me he swept me up into his arms and began to run towards the house. What's going on? I thought. I'm in for it now, he's running...he can't wait to get me in the house for punishment. I remember saying something stupid like, "Ronnie and Jerry made me go outside and I didn't want to either because I knew you'd be mad."

With only a hundred yards to go the storm hit with full force again. My dad and I was thrown to the ground, I was nearly blown away, literally. Dad managed to get to his feet, grab me again and try to walk against the wind. At that point my mother was screaming at the open back door.

"SHUT THE DOOR...SHUT THE DOOR!" My dad screamed to her. From that point on I don't remember a lot except my dad somehow made it to the pump house door and slung me through it. I heard him tell Mom later it would have been useless to try to open the back door again because of the vacuum the boys teased me about earlier. They were actually right about something and never even knew it.

I remember how Dad clawed and grabbed at the walls of the pump house when he tried to make it in because of all the junk that was in his way. I remember some praying...a lot of cursing but we were safe for that moment.

As the storm blew on I watched my father's face. Everything he was thinking and feeling at that time was written there. How much he loved his family, the extents he would go to protect them, wondering, worrying about Mom and the boys inside the house.

My train of thought was interrupted by, what sounded like, kittens crying. We don't have any kittens. I thought.

"Daddy...do you hear kittens?" I asked.

"What? No...no, I don't hear any kittens, now stay still." He told me.

The storm raged on for a few more minutes then all was quiet and right with the world again. We slowly stood up and made our way to the back door. Mom jerked the door open and began suffocating us with hugs as her poor white face was drenched with tears. She didn't have to say a word, we knew what she was thinking.

I ran to tell my brothers about the kittens in the pump house but was stopped by my mom because they were being punished for running out into the yard. A punishment I thought I escaped at the time but found out the next morning I hadn't.

The next day we all had to help clean up the yard. There was Spanish moss in every corner of the yard. There was even moss embedded a good inch into the concrete blocks of our house. The force of the storm broke many tree limbs, toppled over and blew away many other things but, for the most part, the house wasn't damaged at all.

We were distracted by the sound of a car horn suddenly, it was our neighbors returning from the National Guard Armory. Dad insisted we rode the storm out at home and he must have had some sixth sense about it because we were told the storm blew the roof off the armory and a lot of people were hurt as the result of it.

The kittens turned out to be a litter of pups. It seemed a stray dog, either in labor when the storm hit or she went into labor because the storm hit, decided to hold up in the pump house for her deliveries. We gave the pups away when they were old enough and kept the mama. We named her Lucky because she was lucky enough to find a port in the storm.

I now think back to that time, more than forty years ago, and realize that was the period of time I began to grow. Not up as much as emotionally because I began to act more responsibly about life in general. I can't help but wonder if it was Hurricane Donna and the strife we all experienced as a family or if it was just my time to grow up. It's one of those things I will never know.

My brothers? Well...some of us grew up earlier than others.

~Webrings~

~Index~