“Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them?” - Rose KennedyDuring a severe storm, the best thing you can do is find a place with few windows and settle in with a good story. See, whatever is happening outside, you must remember that there is nothing you can do about it. Worrying will not stop the wind and the rain. You cannot reason with it, or bargain for it to come back on a day you are more prepared. Just hunker down and wait for it to pass with a strong roof over your head, a story at the ready, and maybe if you are lucky, someone to tell that story to.
During the last big storm, I was alone. As Katrina raged around me, sat in a small exposed apartment and drank beer after beer. A few times I stepped outside for a smoke break. One of those times I recall flicking my cigarette out into the darkness and seeing the small cherry fire vanish into the wind. My neighbor called out to me, “Kinda windy, itn’t it?” I agreed.
As of this storm, I found myself with a fairly large group huddled in the library’s sub basement computer lab. The wind lashed at the high windows and rain beat at the steel doors that lead outside into the parking lot. Water pooled around the bottom of the doors, but we shored it back with several sandbags already made for the occasion.
I would have sent everyone home earlier, but the madman with the gun would not let us leave.
