It was the christmas after Dorthy had flown. Everyone was heading to my house to check out the new lab and to celebrate Christmas. My mom arrived first. She was alittle shocked to find out that I was actually inside a tornado, after what had happened to my dad many years ago. She was eager to see the lab right away, but I told her to wait untill everyone else had got here.
Sue arrived about 10 minutes later with Meg. Sue is an old friend of mine who I used to spend a lot of time with before Bill and I got married. Now we were getting together again. Next came Mellisa and Bill side by side, followed by the storm chasers. Dusty wasn't invited because he had been too busy teasing my mom lately. Now everyone was here, so I took my mom into the lab room. We looked at it for a while, but my mom wasn't as interested in it as I thought she would be. Soon we were back in the normal part of the house, and everyone was ready to exchange presents.
"Hi Sue!" I greeted her. "How has life treated you lately? Merry Christmas!"
I pulled out a copy of the pictures Dusty had taken when all the stormchasers and I were trying to get Dorthy to fly. I hadn't even known Dusty had taken these pictures untill Bill had told me a week ago in a letter. One showed Bill and me driving through that house, and another showed Jonas getting sucked up by the tornado. He would like those kind of stuff. Another showed the huge explosion after the truck had pushed us off that tree branch. So this copy of the pictures was for my old friend Sue.
"Here." I said to her as I gave Sue the pictures. "I hope you enjoy them. They are pictures of us trying to get Dorthy to fly. You can take a look at them later."
"Thank you." was all Sue could say.
"I also got you a book about tornados. It descibes everything you need to know about them in great detail." I told her as I handed her the book. "Here's a model of a nurse for you too. I thought since your a nurse you might enjoy it. I hope I was right."
"You were." said Sue as she accepted the presents I had given her. "Thank you Jo. I got you a model tornado. I know it isn't much, but-"
"It's enough Sue. I know you didn't know exactly what I wanted. Don't worry about it. I really appreciate this." I said to her. "Thank you very much." I took the model tornado from her. It was about as tall as my chest, and maybe about 4 inches wide. It looked beautiful to me.
Next Meg came up. Her hair was brushed back into a very neat pony-tail. In her arms she held a beautifly knit coat. She walked up to me like it wasn't enough. I pulled out another copy of the pictures to give to Meg.
"Merry Christmas Meg!" I said as she handed the coat to me. I held it up to see how it fit me. It was just the perfect size. "Thank you so much Meg. Did you knit it yourself?"
"Yes." Meg answered. "I hope you like it."
"I love it Meg." I told her so she felt alittle better. I handed her the copy of the pictures along with a thick cook book. "Here you go Meg. It's for you." I took a model tornado (not the one Sue had given me) and gave that to Meg too. I felt like I had gotten too much, but it didn't matter. I would continue giving everyone what I had intended to give in the first place.
"Thank you. And have a very merry Christmas." Meg said to me as she walked back to her chair by the fireplace.
Next my mom came up to me with something that was rolled up in her hands. I wondered what it was. When she unrolled it I saw it was a poster of a tornado. By sight it looked like a 20"22. The tornado was the main part of the picture, and as a background there were empty fields.
"Thanks mom! And Merry Christmas!" I said to her. I turned around to hang the poster up on the wall behind me. I turned around again to find my mom holding a newspaper article up for me to take. I took it.
"I was reading the newspaper and I found this." my mom said. "It's about you and the other stormchasers. You made it onto the front page."
I skimmed the article. There was a picture of me with the other stormchasers (including Bill) above the article, with Bill and me in the front. Here is what the article said:
Jo and Bill Harding take Dorthy who flies up in
an F-5 tornado to make history. Their mission is to
increase the tornado warning system to at least 15
minutes so people have a chance to get to safety.
When Jo was a kid, her dad got killed in an F-5 tornado
because her family didn't have enough time to get
to safety. Now Dorthy has flown...
"Thanks mom. I'll read it more carefully later." I said as my mom left me. Mellisa stepped foward with a huge package wrapped in bright pink wrapping paper. "Merry Christmas Mellis-"
"Ahhh! A snake! Help me! Ahh!" my mom started screaming! Jo! Look at this! Help me!"
"Whatever could it be to make you so scared and to interupt our cheerful present time?!" I asked my mom annoyingly. I followed my mom's gaze to the fireplace. "Oh, my, god! It is a snake! We have to get this- thing out of here! Someone, can someone pick this thing up? I hate snakes!"
I finnally took the nerve to pick up the snake and throw it out the window. The stormchasers were laughing like crazy. I started talking to Mellisa to try to calm her down. Finnally I succeeded in doing so.
"Let me try again. MerryChristmas Mellisa. I got you copies of the pictures too, along with a book about tornados. This book describes everything you need to know so you aren't as scared of them anymore. At least I hope It will help. Anyway here you go Mellisa." I gave her the presents.
"Thank you." Mellisa said.
"I also got you a cell phone so you don't have to carry around that big phone you have. This is much easier to carry." I told her.
"Thanks Jo." Mellisa said again. Then she pulled out a stuffed tornado and handed it to me. I looked at it and asked myself if I really needed something like this. But to be kind I said thank you. The stuffed tornado had to be as big as me! I would put it in the lab room I guess. But right now it was time to give my presents to Bill. He walked forward to me, so I gave him the weather book I had gotten him. I felt bad that I had only goten Bill one thing, and everyone else had gotten three. But since he was a weatherman I thought it would be appropiate.
"Here Bill. I hope you like it ." I said to him.
"Thanks Jo. I really can use this. I got you a couple things. First I got you this." He pulled out book. It was titled 'How to Stay Safe near Tornados.' "This will tell you how to stay safe near tornados, even if it is as close as one meter away from you! So, well you can read it and find a lot of important things about tornados.
"I already know a lot about tornados Bill." I told him, then reliezed that it was a mistake.
"Well, maybe you can find out more things about them if you read it. You can do whatever you want to do with it." Bill told me. "After all, it's your present. I also got you this puzzle. It's about two thousand pieces." He held it up for her to take it.
"Thank you Bill." I said. "I'll try to put this together when I have time between working on the lab and conclusions with you, and taking care of this dog Dusty gave me the other day. He already had to name him Twister for me. So, I'll try to put it together sometime. Thanks!"
"I also got you something else that's outside right now." Bill told me.
"Outside?" I was surprised to hear that one of my presents was outside. It must be big. He didn't have to do this for me at all!
I looked around the threshold to see a white bike with a tornado painted on it. "I bought the bike with my own money, and I painted the tornado on there. I hope you like it Jo. I thought you would."
"I like it. Thank you Bill. I'll use it." I told him. I know that he put a lot of effort into it, so I should use it. And I would most likely.
"Rabbit!" I called to Rabbit because I had something to give to him too. He came to me.
"What is it?!" Rabbit asked me.
"I got you new maps to replace the ones that got folded. Also I bought you a map book so you don't even have to roll them up anymore." I told him.
"Thank you Jo! I'll get some use out of these. I really appreciate this. You didn't have to get me anything." said Rabbit.
"I know." I said to him. "I know I didn't have to get you anything. But I wanted to. You deserved it Rabbit."
"Jo! Jo! Jo! Jo! You're the best Jo!" voices came from behind me.
I turned around to see the group of stormchasers yelling my name behind me. "Go Jo! Look what we got you! It's a tornado flag. Like it? We all thought that you would!"
The twister on the flag looked just like a real one. It said stormchasers above the tornado, with flat grassy plains as a background.
"Thank you guys." I thanked them for the flag. It really was nice. I went outside for a minute to hang up the flag in front of my house for all to see. "I really like this." I said as I came back inside.
"Look! It's snowing." Meg announced to everyone. "Just perfect for Christmas Day!"
