Winds from Hell - Part two

     I waited a few moments to make sure this was all over with, then I headed for the phone to call Kinley. I was relieved for her. The tornado was moving across the street, I got hit full force, so I felt like there was no way it could have hit her, also, DOWN the street  half a mile away.  Little did I know. Just as I picked it up, it rang. It was my brother, Harry, saying he had just heard that downtown Arkadelphia was just blown off the map.  I told him I was OK, but now I had to call Kinley. He hung up, and I was thinking, we're OK, but he won't be OK. Harry was worrying about me, and he was dying of Cancer. Before our lives normalized and our business was put back together from this, he would be dead. I tried a couple of times to reach Kinley, but I got a busy signal. I headed that way. When I got to the door, I saw a bright, sunny day outside. But Arkadelphia was pink. The town was covered with pink insulation. The trailer was also on my car out front, and the front door was a hard squeeze. A car in the street had a ton of bricks on top of it, but I could see nobody inside. I just cannot describe the town, and do it justice. Buildings everywhere were in rubble. Dazed, silent people were beginning to emerge. Screams from trapped individuals were coming from all directions. A couple of hundred yards down the street, the large brick shoestore was just a pile of rubble in the street, and amazingly, people were beginning to emerge from the rubble. I headed down the street toward Kinley's house.

       Half a mile down the street when the tornado hit, Kinley was still in her closet, sitting cross legged on the floor, Spankey in her lap, a pillow on her head. Only that small portion of her wooden house she was in remained on the site. The rest, except for scraps here and there, was blown to who knows where. As the old, very heavy wooden walls began to collapsed on Kinley, and old chimney that we knew nothing about that was in that wall fell apart, bricks raining on her head, which was covered by her pillow. A large chunk of the chimney fell beside her, and as the walls fell on her, forcing her face into the dirt, that chunk of the brick chimney held a small portion of the walls  up slightly, just enough. As her adrenalin rush hit, she was able to push the walls up slightly. A woman she didn't know helped dig her out.. She headed up to the studio, accompanied by the woman who helped her, and Spankey. The first thing she saw lying by the street was our business sign, Barbara's Photography.

      When I got a couple of blocks down the street, I saw her. She was coming up the street, Spanky in her arms, being escorted by and Angel. No, I'm not speaking figuratively, I'm dead serious. This woman beside her had, I later found out, helped dig her out. She had told Kinley she lived across the street, but neither of us had ever seen her before. As Kinley and I ran to each other, hugged and cried, the Angel was smiling. We looked around, and she was gone. We've never seen her again. To Kinley and me, she will forever be "her Angel."

Kinley seemed to be all right, and so was Spanky. I led her to a clear space in the street, and told her to not dare move from that spot. I had to try and help some of the screaming, trapped people.

I found a wrecked building with a woman inside. I talked to her. Yes, she was OK, but could not get out. I heard a scream near by, different from the others. It was filled with total agony. I found out later it came from a young man who had just found his mother's body.

      As I started moving boards, to try to help this trapped woman, a strange thing happened. A squad of fully dressed National Guardsmen, complete with camo on their faces, moved into my area. How could they be here already? We were 10 minutes into this thing, yet here they were. I later learned they were returning from a drill, and had to take cover on the edge of the tornado, just as it hit. Anyway, their leader told me to step aside, they would get the woman out. They formed a line, and started moving the boards, one by one. Later, I never had a chance to tell the trapped woman that I didn't just desert her. I've always felt bad about that. As I worked my way back toward Kinley, I saw a man. A merchant. He had cleared out a little spot beside his door, and was standing fast. He was later declared one of the heroes of the tornado, and maybe he was. I only saw him for a moment, and no telling how many people he rescued before or later. But when I saw him, at that moment he was just guarding his stuff.

      The alarms were going off at all the banks. I never knew if any unofficial withdrawals were made that day, but I do know of a hundred dollar bill being found nearby.

When I got back to Kinley, the excitement was beginning to wear off, and she was not feeling good. I had to find help. I saw a police car in the distance, finally got him as close to Kinley as I could, and loaded her aboard. He said he would take her to the hospital. She was finally moved on to Hot Springs, because our hospital was overflowing. I later caught it, full force, from wife Barbara, for not going with her. I should have. But I reasoned at the time I was needed more here.

Walking up the street, I saw a strange thing. A unit of national guardsmen were marching down the street, in perfect formation.  At each intersection, the leader halted them, one went forward into the intersection, and held up his hand, first up the street, then down, to halt traffic. Well, the streets were full of wreckage, and there would be no traffic on them that day. Oh well, I guess if you ain't got discipline, you ain't got nothin'.

Continued in four days. Thanks for reading!