I have had the misfortune of being in proximity to a tornado three times in my life. I wrote about the first two in the Tobolowsky Files (Episodes 19 and 41). The third encounter was probably the closest. I never felt like it was as dangerous as the first two, but it was interesting in its own tornadoish sort of way. It was a few years ago in Dallas. I was at the opening of an art gallery downtown. There was a lot of commotion. The owner of the gallery said a tornado had touched down a few blocks away and it was moving through the area. He urged everyone to run down into the concrete basement. Instead of being sensible, I went up to the second floor to see if I could watch the twister from the safety of a big window in an old building. I watched the rain and the hail. Then I saw a flurry of debris moving toward my perch. Maybe this was the tornado. Then I saw a mailbox twisted and bent to the ground. Now I was pretty sure this was the tornado. The debris field was about three blocks away and something unexpected happeded. The big window began to vibrate. The air started being sucked out of the room. Within seconds it was difficult to get a breath. Once again I learned the lesson I never seem to grasp: Tornadoes are not cool. I joined the other humans drinking champagne and partying in the basement.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 22:51:28 +0000
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