I was thankful that it was dark, because I was hating myself right then for crying. Having lived my whole life in the heart of tornado country, there was no reason, at twelve – almost thirteen - for me to be crying just because of a tornado siren. It didn't even mean we were going to have a tornado, as my dad had explained to me countless times before – it just meant that somewhere in our county there was something that was starting to look like a tornado, so everybody should get somewhere safe. He had tried time and time again to convince me that the siren was a good thing – making sure people stayed safe, rather than a bad or scary thing.

I never believed it back then, though, and I still didn't. The moment I'd heard it, my heart had taken off like a racehorse at the derby, and it kept right on going. My palms were sweaty and I gripped tightly on to the necklace and ring I had grabbed, not wanting to drop them and have to search around for them in the dark, on the dirt floor.

I was grateful to be among the last to descend the stairs - at least any spiderwebs that had been created since the last time we'd gone down had been cleared out of my way. I held the railing and got to the bottom of the steps. Soda was rummaging around on the shelves Dad had built under the stairs, looking for a flashlight and cursing anything that wasn't what he was looking for. I felt around for a chair, finally locating one and sitting, pulling up my knees and burying my head between them, wrapping my arms around the whole package. I wanted to be so small I could just disappear until it all was over.

I was grateful for the noise of the hail against the foundation and the small casement windows, and I struggled to stop myself from crying before anybody noticed. It wasn't even crying, really, it was that shaky, spasmic breathing that happens when your conscious mind is telling you to calm down but your unconscious is completely freaking out. I heard Darry asking Alison and Anna if they were okay and getting Anna a chair, then calling to me.

"Scout, where are you?"

I didn't answer, I didn't want him to know I was crying. I would have given just about anything to have had my dad sitting there with me right then, and I squeezed that starfish necklace so hard it hurt.

"Scout?"

"I'm right here," I said, finally, trying my best to sound normal. I guess it fooled Darry, because he went over and tried to help Soda find the flashlight, but Pony must have heard something in my voice, because in a minute he was there, bending down in front of me and prying my arms apart, holding me in a hug.

"It's okay," he whispered. "You know it'll be okay."

"I know," I whispered back, and I let him rub my back and hold me for a minute until I started to calm down.

"I'm okay now," I whispered after a minute or so, and he stood back up, standing by me and reaching out for my hand. I let him take it, still grabbing tightly onto the necklace, having slipped the ring over my thumb. He opened my palm and felt what I had there and I knew he understood, though he didn't say anything, just rubbed my back again with his free hand.

Finally, just as it sounded like the storm was letting up, Soda let out a victory cry and switched on the flashlight. He shone it around the room and illuminated Anna, sitting alone, while Darry was sitting next to Alison, his arm around her. I realized how silly I must look all balled up in the chair and I put my feet down, quickly wiping my eyes. Darry noticed, and I saw a look of concern cross his face, but I nodded my head and he didn't say anything. The absence of our Mom and Dad in the cellar right then was so blatantly obvious that nobody needed to say anything about it. I was sure we all just felt it, right down to the very pit of our stomachs.

Finally, the hail tapered off and there was just the sound of light rain and thunder, well off in the distance.

"Well, I guess we should go check out the damage," Darry said, taking Alison's hand and motioning up the stairs. "Ladies first."

Ali and Anna headed upstairs. I moved to follow and Darry grabbed my arm as I passed by. I looked up at him.

"You okay?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," I said. "I just hate this."

"I know you do," he said. "You did a good job being tough, though." He squeezed my arm and followed me up the stairs. We all spilled out into the kitchen and I saw Darry looking out toward the truck. If the storm damaged that, we were really in trouble. Nobody would be able to get to work.

We proceeded through the living room and stepped out onto the front porch, a light drizzle still in the air, but, at the same time, the sun peeking out from behind the quickly departing clouds. It never ceased to amaze me how these storms disappeared just as quickly as they came. One minute it was all wind and hail and the next, it was all sunshine and rainbows. Darry reached down into the crease of the front steps and scooped up a handful of hail.

"Sheesh, for stuff this little, it sure did make a lot of noise," he said. "It's good that it was little, though," he thought out loud, looking around. "Looks like it didn't do any real damage."

I went down the steps and looked at my flowers. A few of the taller stems had broken, but it looked like most of them had weathered the storm pretty well.

"Those look really nice, Scout," Alison said. "Did you plant them?" I noticed Darry had moved behind her and had his arms around her shoulders, so I guessed whatever argument they'd had was forgiven.

"Yeah, just trying to butter up the state worker," I said.

"Well, it must have worked… Darry said that went okay?"

"Yeah," I said. I was still in a little bit of a funk from the storm.

"I'm starving," Soda said, suddenly.

"You're always starving," Pony laughed.

"Well, it is dinnertime," Darry said. "Hey, Alison, how come you're not working?"

"I took the night off," she smiled at him. "I had some business I had to take care of."

"Well, then," Darry said, "You and Anna are staying for dinner. I insist."

Anna looked shocked. I don't think she had been expecting any sort of hospitality from Darry for quite a while.

"Okay," Alison shrugged. "Only if we get to help, though."

"That works," Darry said, and he and Ali headed inside, followed by Soda, who I was sure would drive them crazy with his grazing in the kitchen while they were trying to cook. I turned around to talk to Anna only to see Ben sneaking up on her from around the side of the house. He motioned to me to keep quiet and finally, about a foot away from her, he yelled.

"Boo!"

She screamed and jumped a good foot off the ground. Ben and I both would probably have fallen over from laughing so hard if the ground hadn't been so wet. As it was, we were both blue in the face and completely out of breath as Anna cursed and swatted at us.

"Sorry," Ben said, finally. "I couldn't help myself. Nice to see you, Anna." He was still giggling.

"It's a good thing I have a policy against killing my friends' boyfriends,"/. Anna said, smiling, and I was glad to see that she wasn't really mad.

"I was just coming over to make sure everybody was okay after the storm," Ben said. "I know how Scout hates them."

"I'm okay," I said. "I won't be sad if I don't have to hear another tornado siren all summer, though."

"I bet," he said. Just then Soda came to the door yelling at us to come in and eat. I guessed we were having pasta, I couldn't think of anything else they could have made so fast.

"Okay, we're coming," I said. "Ben, you wanna eat over?"

"I can't, Mom already started chicken. Can I talk to you for a second, though?" He didn't say "alone," but Anna got the hint.

"I'll just see you inside, Scout," she said, and headed off into the house.

"Everything okay with you two?" Ben asked, once she was inside.

"Yeah. You missed some drama though. Darry came home trashed last night. He and Alison had a fight but I guess they're okay now, too."

"Geez, you blink your eyes around this place and you miss something," he said.

"Pretty much." I was okay with the idea of things calming down for a while, to be honest.

"Anyway, I was wondering if you think Darry would let you go to the movies with me and Kevin and Kate tomorrow night."

"I don't know; I'll have to ask. Drive-in or movie house?"

"Movie house. Kevin wants to see Bonnie and Clyde."

"I'll ask and let you know." Darry yelled at me to come in and eat.

"'Kay. Go eat." He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and took off around the house again. I headed back inside, glad that all was forgiven among friends and family, and hoping for at least a brief period of calm.

…………………………………………….

A/N: A while back some readers said a short update was better than no update at all… not sure if that still rings true, but short is about all I had time for.

Oh yeah, and… about that calm? Not really gonna happen. ;-)