Weather

- There is a weather forecast saying that it is going to rain heavily today – warned Julia, the mother of my kids, but not my wife.

- Really ? – I asked her, trying to get some little time before I wake up from a night spent between two bottles of whiskey.

- Yes. So you better be careful when taking the kids to school.

- Don’t worry. I am as sober as a priest.

- Fine. In five minutes they are ready …

- Neither am I. 

- Go and wash your face. Take some coffee. You know I have to go to my job.

- Ok.I am going, I am going..

So, I put a coat on my kids due to that grayish and menacing sky – it is going to rain – I said.

I gave them their jam sandwich for lunchtime. Kissed them and goodbye.

And Bill, the father of my kids but not my husband, took them to school, driving that old tuna-can throughout the slippery road, as it had snowed a bit on the night before.

- Now, it is my turn to get dressed – I said to myself, chubby mom looking to loose some twenty pounds would be enough – resigned.

That was exactly when I looked through the window of the staircase.

And I saw a huge black cloud coming towards the slippery road.

Thunders and big rain drops falling from the sky.

Suddenly, the wind started to blow, faster and faster, so I had to keep my balance by gluing to the railing of the stairs, while the curtains were flying away, together with pans and forks left on the table of the kitchen

Cups, shirts, vacuum cleaner, fridge, pictures, cellphone, keys, blouses, shirts, bags, dog.

Everything that we used to have at home, was literally flying, including the whiskey bottles of Bill.

I tried to look through the window, as the wind was so strong that ip.to that moment I could not open my eyes decently enough. 

- It is a hurricane, for sure ! How about the kids? And my job? Do I have to loose everything exactly in this moment, when I do not have a husband by my side to help me ? – I cried, asking for help, from the sky, from God, or who ever else I could imagine.

What can I do ?

What can I do ? – I asked again, loosing my balance and my strength for staying grabbed on to that  railing.

How long more will I be able to endure this? 

I asked myself, thinking that maybe my kids were fine.

That is when I saw a coat flying and passing in front of my eyes.

That was the coat of Annie, my little daughter : a blue one, with a red ribbon in it.

- No! God! It cannot be ! – as the sadness filled my soul and my feelings , my bones and my heart, my dignity and my pride.

And threw them all. 

Away.

With desperation taking control of my rational thinking, I could not put up with it. 

So,  I got loose from the railing, feeling the wind taking me and hitting myself to trees and roofs, stones and sheeps.

For my surprise, the wind stopped.

And I fell on a soft top of a leafy tree.

I was alive, but I had to climb from that tree.

- Help! – I shouted, three times. 

Fortunately, a kind man that was trapped on a roof, listened to me, and threw a rope to me.

So, I tied it to my waist and to a branch.

And jumped to the cracking floor.

- Cracking floor ?

How come ?

In that moment, I saw the whole land opening, just in frin of my face 

In panic, I stood up so fast that I think I did not see that the car of Bill was in front of me, without passengers.

When I started to run away from the cracking, I saw a pair of shiny eyes looking at me from the trunk of the car of Bill.

- Mom ! Mom ! – it was crying in a loud voice .

Bleeding on my knees and my head because of the fall I had from the tree, I went to the car and opened the trunk.

- Mark ! Is that you? – and I happily hugged my eldest son, hiding.

- Mom ! Mom ! - sobbing, he hugged me, hurt and bleeding as well.

- Are you ok ? Where is your sister ?  

He nodded.

And your father? 

He nodded again.

And cried.

- Easy, babe – kissing him – we will get though this.

And the earth started to open under my feet.

Run! – I shouted.

And we run , as the whole place cracked, throwing hot magma to the ground.

That magma run to all directions.

I saw the rope that man trapped innthe roof threw to me.

And I took it again, with my kid hanging on my back, as a monkey, throwing the rope to a branch, hanging from that branch.

- Climb ! - I cried to him, so he fid it.

- How about you ?

- I will go after you.

But I was a bit chubby, so, the rope tore.

My son gave me his hand to lift me.

I climbed one upper branch.

And stayed there.

The magma almost covered my feet.

We stayed there till the night, praying for God to help us.

As we had no food that day , I began to look for some fruits in that tree.

Nothing. 

There was nothing to eat in that miserable hunger.

- Mom, my.lunch us still in the car !

- But how can we get there ? It is so dangerous, the magma is hot, you will burn.

- I will go jumping to the other tree over there, climb it and jump to the car.

- But the car is under the magma. 

- Not the back door, it is opened.

She kept in silence.

I knew she was going to think about it and finally say yes.

- Ok. But you have to be careful

- Don’t worry, mom.

So I did it.

And brought the sandwiches to my hungry mom and a piece for that man on the roof, but specially for myself.

Soon, the day was over.

We spent the night on that tree, singing the hymns we have learnt in the church, together with that man on the roof.

 Next day, the help came , taking us to the church, located on a hill.

People there were kind.

We had water and food, brought to us on helicopters 

The television showed up, and asked me about my list family.

They asked for help from the civil population. 

And we received, too days later, a new wooden house, furniture, food and a dog.

Given by my sister, found alive in the middle of the magma, together with Bill, my brand new father.

And we lived happily ever after.