Tornado

It was a dusty place for the most part but it had tacky neon lights and cool reptiles of all sorts. I liked it. I was there on a mission to survive, so that land was as good as any other. One day, after work, I went to the local bar to have a chat with friends. There were talks of a tornado coming but it wasn't unusual in the region. Conversations span around other topics like low income and heartbreak. Then a foreign guy entered the bar. His attire was strange and called everyone's attention. Everyone's but mine, cause he also had this enchanting voice and an accent I couldn't fully figure out. That voice was all I could think of for days to come.

The foreign guy and I became inseparable and moved together to a tiny shack. From then on, time became something difficult to measure. They say time is ultimately the number of rotations electrons make around the nucleus of a certain atom, or something like that. I can't tell how many times the foreign guy and I went around each other, so I guess I can't really say how much time passed. It could have been years. 

One afternoon, back in the bar, some friends left the conversation and stood up to stare at the TV. I thought it was a football match but apparently it was the weather forecast. I never could bare the spaces left blank on the map with no suns or clouds, so I went to get some cashew nuts. As the barman was pouring them into a small bowl, the roof of the bar blew off. For a while the cashew nuts were in suspension right on top of where they were supposed to fall, but it didn't last long cause glasses began to crash into each other and I lost track of them. Everyone ran to their cars and the foreign guy made gestures for me to jump into his convertible 4 x 4. 

In hindsight I clearly understand how inconvenient a convertible is in a situation like that, but what can I say... I'd just seen the barman flutter horizontally. Anyway, we hit the road just like everyone else, but unlike us, they were stopping at the neon-signalled tornado shelters. I saw them pulling the ground doors open one by one and closing them on top of their heads, all very cinematic. That could have been a good moment to ask the foreign guy to pull over, but I assumed we were heading to the shack.

Some miles later I didn't recognize the landscape any longer. We might have left the shack behind. 'There ain't no shack no more,' he said with his beautiful voice and his intriguing accent.

'Then... Where are we going?'

The wind was full of seashells at that point, so I could barely open my eyes. It was all bumps, thunder noise and gritted teeth peppered with sand. He didn't answer. That's when I wondered how he was still able to see the road and keep driving. I opened an eye to look at him. For the first time I noticed his attire. He had aviator goggles, stuck tight to his face. He wore gloves, waterproofs and military boots. Different barometers and compasses were attached to his belt and he was holding a radio transmitter in his right hand. His smile was full of adrenaline and yet somehow peaceful. It left no shadow of a doubt: he was a tornado chaser. 

'Here EF Fiver approaching the eye, you copy me?' I could have jumped, or perhaps just unlocked my seatbelt and let the wind blow me away from the convertible. But instead I did nothing. I was beginning to understand a few inexplicable things that until then I had subconsciously dismissed, like what was he doing in this land? Or why did he keep the shack keys on a harness clip, for god's sake? What was that harness-clip thing all about!!? I thought of calling my friends to seek comfort and advice, but they were all in the shelters and perhaps there would be no signal underground. Besides, where was my phone?

The seashells were scratching my hands. Isolated and shocked I managed to scream, 'Stop the car, now!' The foreign guy immediately pressed the brakes. 'We need to talk,' I said. My hair was whipping in all directions.

'Don't you wanna see the tornado?' he asked with a perplexed expression.

I had to make a big effort to hear my own voice. 'What's there?'

'A tornado!' he said.

'I know, but what's in the tornado?'

'You never know. C'mon! let's find out!' He started the engine again; a tree flew by.

'No, wait!'

'What's the matter, sweet cheeks?' He seemed so surprised I wasn't keen on driving into the center of a tornado that I didn't know what to say anymore.

'Have you seen my phone?' I finally asked.

'Can't hear you.'

'My phone, I need to talk to my friends.' There were fish floating in the air.

'They won't be reachable,' he said.

'How do you know?' I asked suspiciously.

'I saw them going down the shelters.'

'What's in those shelters?'

'I don't know. New houses, babies, promotions? Just boring stuff. They won't pick up. C'mon, sweet cheeks. We're getting close!' His beautiful smile was the last thing I saw before a green sunfish slapped my face at 200 miles per hour.

I guess I blacked out.

I'm not sure how long I was unconscious for but the wind and the thunder were back at full volume when I woke up. The foreign guy said the spiky fins almost poked my eye out. I touched my face to make sure I still had two eyes. I had. Honestly, I think I was still feeling a bit bewildered from the slap. It's just one of those things you are not expecting, you know?

'Trust me, you'll be fine,' he said with that mesmerising voice. 'Just take this harness and hook it to the strings of the side bars of the car. Here's a clip. Don't mind the shack keys. We no longer need them, ha!' He was so excited... I didn't know how to feel anymore and that rarely happens to me, so I started suspecting everything could be just a dream. I smiled and hooked myself to the car.

A few more miles into the storm the sky had turned into a jurassic, grey sea monster. It was raining so much and with the fish floating and all I just pretended we were actually underwater, to feel less soaked. And then – while the foreign guy was singing the quiet part of Good Vibrations with his heaven-made voice, 'Gotta keep those lovin' good vibrations a happenin' with her' – I saw it! I saw it! I saw the smoky tongue, the hell-like tongue of the jurassic, grey sea monster, licking the life out of the earth, like a dragon.

'I can't,' I suddenly yelled. Unfortunately, my yelling coincided with the 'ahhh' crescendo that comes right after that part of the song, and the foreign guy didn't hear me.

'Hey, stop!' I said.

'What's up?'

'Listen, I'm sorry, I just can't do this, it's too scary for me.'

He looked so damned surprised. 'What are you scared of?'

'I don't know what's there, in the tornado. What if I don't like it? What if I like the shelters better, the houses, you know, the boring stuff.'

He looked as if he couldn't trust his ears. I mean, despite the rain and the spinning rooftops and the shells and all the things that were blocking the view, he was visibly shocked. I had to ask him, 'Have I disappointed you?'

'No, well, I mean... I thought you were curious about tornados, that's all.' The sky was fire-black.

'Listen, I see why you might have gotten that impression and I'm sorry about that. I'm genuinely curious about tornados, but I'm not a chaser.' The car began to move backwards.

'I'm not a what?' He couldn't hear me.

'A tornado chaser.' Backwards faster and faster.

'Louder, please.' The tires had left the road.

'I think I might die in this tornado shit!' We were suspended and still, like the cashew nuts above the bowl. 'I think this storm may be too much for me and I don't want to die.' Suddenly, all became silent. 'Cause I think I have more love to give, so I don't wanna die and waste it all chasing a tornado, as much as I'd love to know what's inside.'

The foreign guy seemed to smile and Zzzzzzztwissssssssssstttttttttttttttt!...