WHAT TO DO AFTER A TORNADO

3 5 R W H A T T O D O A F T E R A T O R N A D O B E N J A M I N M Y E R S Tell them it sounded like a freight train – they like that – even if it sounded like your stepfather taking o√ his belt, even if it sounded like the crying baby born in the gym bathroom during prom. Tell them you never saw it coming, even if that black wind had been turning just over your shoulder since sixth grade. Then excuse yourself to gather photos scattered through the rubble, but don’t pick up your own. There are happier families. Look for one of a girl in blue shorts, aged ten, standing beside a Ferris wheel with a pink storm cloud of cotton candy hovering over one hand. She will be you. Watch the crows pick through piles of broken sheetrock and wet carpet. Throw them what’s left of your lucky deck of cards. When the newspaper man asks you to pose beside the lone standing closet where you hid beneath winter coats and Christmas decorations, try not to smile for the camera: no one else should know that you are about to walk clearly, cleanly, completely away. ...