Rain (well, Tornado) on the Parade

So much for the first reading gig (non poetry, anyway)... at the appointed hour, I was huddled in our closet playing Go Fish with the kids as the tornado sirens (creepy, creepy things) sounded for the first and second times in a long evening that saw them go off four times when all was said and done. Still, my closet has carpet. The poor folks at Starbucks were in their safe room (a.k.a the toilet) for too, too long. And my critique partner Tiffany was shut down in Wal-Mart. I've ridden out one tornado in WM and it's both bizarre (shoppers frozen with trolleys, congregating in most un-shopper-like fashion) and relaxing (the towels and bedding all around us...nothing bad can happen when it's so soft ...). Given that we were dodging giant hail and the kids were screaming at the time, I just about wept with gratitude that store personnel had stayed up front to unlock the doors and let us in. But I digress.

Kind of a shame after all the "grass roots publicity" (I thought it was a master stroke to have a flier up at the aquatic center during swim classes and before they even opened for the day) but SB will reschedule and so watch this space! And no, it was not an omen. Nope. Uh uh.