100 pts

Mother Nature’s Fury

Tracy Wilson

1 Looking back, I was sure that I was going to die that November afternoon. Tornado watches in Alabama are as common as eggs are for breakfast. So much so, that I had begun to ignore them altogether. This disregard for Mother Nature’s power nearly proved fatal for me and my sister. As we approached a fresh red light on a main thoroughfare through Huntsville, I glanced at the sudden peculiar coloring of the sky. The unusual hue and the stillness of the air gave me a sudden sense of uneasiness. The light changed and we made the left turn that would lead us home. It was after the turn that everything around me seemed to be occurring in slow motion. I heard it before I saw anything. At first I was sure that a train or a big truck was directly behind the car. Then I saw the debris, not the image of swirling winds we tend to associate with a tornado, but trash and wires and dirt. I remember a sudden feeling of weightlessness as we were lifted off of the ground. Strangely, she lifted us up like a feather on a breeze. It seemed more like floating than flying until she launched us from her grip with a fury few will ever understand.

2 While I cannot remember the actual impact, pictures from the aftermath tell the story word for word. The tin can that once was a car was belly up in the top of a 100 foot maple. We hung there for hours, oblivious to the disaster around us. When rescuers could finally get to us, power lines made it too dangerous to touch the metal car. I awoke first 32 days after my ride in the sky and remembered much of the ordeal. My sister however, after lying in a coma for nearly three months, has no recollection of any detail from her life before the accident. Lack of oxygen erased her past. My physical wounds have long since healed, but I spend many hours below ground. The slightest hint of thunder or an awkward colored sunset sends me racing to my life below to hide from her.

Based on the passage, what can you infer about the speaker's future?

A) She will become a meteorologist.

B) She will be hesitant to drive a car.

C) She will move away from tornado alley.

D) She will likely always take cover during storms.