“I started walking last night.”
“What?”
She laughed. Or more accurately, she cackled. “I drove, of course. I don’t have a license because I failed the eyesight part, but I know how to drive.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
She looked around the store. “We all alone?”
“Yeah. Storms always keep people home.”
“Not surprising. It feels like tornado weather. Lived through a few of them in my day.”
Gus walked over to the display window and glanced upward. Although it was only three in the afternoon, the sky was pitch dark. “Where’s Raleigh?” he asked, suddenly concerned. The store had a storm cellar stocked with plenty of provisions, and he wished Leigh was with them now.
“That’s exactly who I wanted to talk to you about.”
“What?” he asked, distracted as he saw the trees across the street begin to whip around.
“Raleigh. I’d like to know your intentions regarding my grandson.”
As soon as her words sunk in, he whipped his head around. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me, Augustus Rains.” She raised a finger and pointed at him. “Are you a player? His mac daddy? Calling him up just for a booty call?”
Gus blinked, unsure if he’d just heard this eighty-year-old woman using urban slang terms. And it was funny. He couldn’t seem to hold back his amusement and felt his lips twitch.
“Something funny, mister?” she groused.
He shook his head. “Um, no, Mrs. Hewes. I’m, uh, not a player. I’m certainly not a mac daddy, and no, I’ve never called Leigh up for a booty call. We’re just friends.”
“Don’t lie to me, Augustus. I may be eighty-one, but I’m not senile. Not yet. Are you ashamed of being with Raleigh?”
“What? No, of course not. Look, Mrs. Hewes, we’re just… friends.”
“Is that why he came home last night doing the walk of shame, looking like his world had just crashed down around him? How dumb do you think I am?”
Gus sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, not sure how to maneuver through this conversation.
“Are you ashamed to be gay?”
He flinched. “Come on now—”
“I’ve known Raleigh was gay since he was sixteen, Augustus, and he came home gushing about you. Ain’t no boy gushing over another boy like that without a reason.”
He looked around, although he knew there wasn’t anyone else in the store. “Please, Mrs. Hewes, drop it.”
She walked forward and laid a hand on his arm. He stood six foot three, and she was probably barely five foot. To say he felt like a giant was an understatement. “There’s no reason to be ashamed, Augustus. Especially if you love my grandson.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, the tornado siren blared through the town speakers. He snapped his mouth shut, hurried to the door, and stepped outside to see if the tornado was upon them. The sky was an ugly black, with thick clouds bubbling angrily. He couldn’t see a tornado, but that didn’t mean one wasn’t bearing down on them. He hurried back inside and began locking up, quickly moving displays back to secure the inside shutters on the windows. He locked the door and reached up to bring down the storm door.
He turned and looked at Berryl. “Does Leigh know you’re here?”
She shook her head. “He was out in the barns.”
He pulled out his cell phone and tried placing the call, but it rang and rang and finally went to voice mail. “Leigh, your grandmother is with me. Get to shelter.” He hung up and marched over to her to take her hand. “Come on, you’re going into the cellar.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to the farm to make sure Leigh is safe.”
She grabbed his arm and shook her head. “No. You stay here.”
“But—”
“Don’t be foolish, Augustus. It’s too dangerous to be driving out there.”
Gus thought about Raleigh, out in a barn with a tornado bearing down. What if something happened? What if Raleigh didn’t know about the tornado warning? What if he got stuck?
What if something happened to him?
His heart pounded and everything that had seemed so important about why they had to keep their relationship a secret didn’t seem so important now, because if he lost Raleigh… shit, he couldn’t stand to even think about that. It hit him like a ton of bricks.
He loved Raleigh Hewes.
Jesus, what if he never got the chance to tell Leigh?
“I’m going to put you in the cellar, Mrs. Hewes, and then I’m going to go find him.” When she began shaking her head, he put his hands on her shoulders. “I love him, Mrs. Hewes. But he doesn’t know that. I’ve been a coward, but not anymore.”
A small, tender smile graced her lips. “You keep him safe. You keep both of you safe, you hear me?”
“I hear you. Come on. Let’s get you into the cellar.”
Chapter Five
The day had started out gray and raining, and by afternoon, the sky was scary black. The wind whipped fiercely, and he’d lived long enough to be scared by a few tornados. He knew the signs. This wasn’t an ordinary storm.
He reached for his phone only to realize he didn’t have it and cursed under his breath. He’d been so out of it this morning that he must’ve forgotten to pick it up. He dismissed the rest of the ranch hands that hadn’t already left. He was on his own and knew he had to get to Berryl. She probably was already in the storm cellar, but he had to make sure.
As he ran to his truck, the rain slowed but the wind whipped harder. It was almost difficult to walk upright, so he bent over and dug his heels into the ground to make it to truck. The logical part of his brain was screaming at him to forget the truck and make it to the storm cellar behind the barn, but he had a burning need to make sure his grandmom was okay. She was the last bit of family he had left, and he didn’t want to lose her.
When he finally made it into his truck, he wasted no time in turning it on and stepping on the gas. The vehicle dipped and swayed, but the rain abruptly stopped, which made him even more nervous. The wiper blades finished whipping the water away, and when he looked out his side window, he saw a large umbrella-type cloud forming not too far away.
Shit!
He pushed the gas pedal all the way down, and the truck jumped forward, sliding a little on the muddy road. He kept glancing out the side window, keeping an eye on the funnel forming. The sky was an eerie green color, and The Wizard of Oz suddenly popped into his head, although he didn’t for one minute want to be in Dorothy Gale’s shoes.
As he bounded over the last ridge to the house, he ran into a wall of hail and flicked his wiper blades back on. The large ice balls made it difficult to keep an eye on the funnel cloud, so he just focused on getting to the house.
When he pulled into the gravel driveway, he was already throwing it in park. He didn’t even bother taking the keys out of the ignition. He just ran through the hail and up the porch.
“Grandmom!” he shouted as soon as he pushed the door open. “Berryl!”
He opened the closet door, but the shelter backpack was still there, which meant she wasn’t in the cellar. The pack had only the important stuff they didn’t want to lose just in case this very scenario crept up. He grabbed it and ran through the house to the back door. He hurried outside, back into the hail storm, to the storm cellar and threw open the heavy doors.
“Berryl!” he shouted, although he knew no one was down there. He threw the pack into the darkness and closed the cellar door before looking around.
Where was she?
Frantically, he looked around as best as he could in the hail, trying to see if she was hurt and lying somewhere. Shit! What if she’d fallen in the house? Or had a heart attack?
He ran back into the house and began searching through every room, but couldn’t find her. And that’s when the world was bathed in a loud, rumbling sound. The house shook on i
ts foundations as a roar screeched over the land. His heart pounded with fear, and he tried to push it aside long enough to think rationally. He had to get to the cellar because the tornado was coming. Every cell in his body was electrified, but he forced his legs to move, to run. The house was shaking and glass shattered, so he brought his arms up to cover his head.
Oh God, he was going to die.
He didn’t want to die. He pushed on, and as soon as he got outside, the rumbling of the house ceased. In fact, a creepy calm settled over everything, causing all the hair on his body to stand on end. A terrible gassy smell invaded his nose, making it slightly hard to catch his breath, and he looked up.
Smooth clouds floated all around him, bold colors of green, black, and gray all swirling together as if contained behind glass. Straight up, probably about a mile and half, he saw a circular ring of clouds, and that’s when his brain began screaming at him again to move, to get to the cellar, so he stumbled on while still looking up. He opened the cellar door and fell inside. Right before he slammed the door shut, he saw the tornado shift and the rumbling started back up. But he was safe inside, the door sealed behind him, and he slumped at the base of the steps, panting. The adrenaline spike abruptly drained, leaving him shaking and feeling like he needed to throw up.
Oh God. Oh shit. Holy fuck, he’d just seen the eye of a tornado.
****
Gus drove with the gas pedal pushed all the way down. He saw the tornado coming in the direction he was going and his heart hammered painfully because that was where Raleigh’s farm was located.
The rain was thick and mixed with hail, but on the horizon, he could see the faintest hint of sunlight. The tornado veered off, heading farther south and away from Cherry Falls, and he began to breathe easier. But as he pulled up to Raleigh’s house, his stomach knotted up.
Half the house was gone. Debris scattered far and wide, bits and pieces of identifiable items were all over the place, like blankets and pictures and dishes. It gave a morbid feeling to the whole place. He got out of his truck and his feet hit mud.
“Leigh!” he called out and moved jerkily toward the destroyed house, like he was a marionette with a drunken master manipulating his strings. He couldn’t feel his arms, and there was something screaming at him that he didn’t want to know if Raleigh was dead. He didn’t think he could handle finding his lifeless body.
The porch was still intact, although it was strewn with bits of wood and plaster. He didn’t want to move into the house, not because he was thinking of safety, but because he was afraid of find Leigh. No one could live through this. His body shook, and it took every ounce of control he had to not break down crying.
He couldn’t lose Raleigh. He loved him. God, why did it take him so long to admit that? Why did he even care what other people would think about them? He was stupid. He was so fucking stupid, and now… now it might be too late.
“Gus?”
Gus’s eyes opened wide, and he snapped his head to the side. Raleigh stood there, trembling, wet and bedraggled but alive. So very much alive. Life slammed back into Gus’s body, and he ran down the broken porch toward the man who made his life worth living.
Then they were in each other’s arms and he was kissing the lips he feared he’d never kiss again. Raleigh held him just as tightly, and Gus felt everything in world settle.
“I love you, Leigh,” he muttered against his lover’s lips. “I’m so sorry for how I’ve been behaving. I don’t care what anyone thinks about us. I’m not afraid anymore.”
Raleigh gave a weary laugh. “After staring up at the eye of a tornado, I’m not afraid of anything anymore either. I love you, Gus. God, do I love you.”
When they broke apart, Raleigh finally looked at the house that had been his home for his whole life. He’d had dreams of leaving the farm behind, but not like this. Tears flooded his eyes and choked his throat.
“I’ll help you rebuild,” Gus murmured.
He shook his head. “Not the same.”
“I know. I’m just so thankful that you’re here beside me and not somewhere in there.”
“Me too,” he whispered. “I couldn’t find Berryl.”
“She’s at my place. She came to see me, to talk.”
“What? But she can’t drive.”
“Apparently she can. She just can’t see.”
Raleigh snorted. “Good to know.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t know what to do right now.”
The sounds of sirens came, and they turned, watching as police and the one Cherry Falls fire truck came roaring up the driveway. In moments they were swarmed with people, and in the middle of it all stood Berryl.
“Raleigh!” she cried and held out her hands. He rushed forward and hugged her tightly. “I didn’t know what I’d find, so I brought the cavalry.”
“I was looking for you,” he admonished gently.
“I’m sorry. I had to talk to my other grandson.”
He pulled back. “What? Did you hit your head or something? I’m your only grandson.”
Gus walked up to them, smiling. Berryl grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “No, now I have two.”
Raleigh looked at him in surprise, and Gus felt his heart swell with love.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Kiss him!”
And right there, in front of dozens of people watching him, he pulled Raleigh into his arms and kissed him deeply.
“Well, I won’t be living with you two humping away all the time. I think I’ll retire to Florida.”
Epilogue
Six months later…
A blanket of snow covered the sidewalk in front of the strip of stores on Main Street. Raleigh shoveled it for all the stores and was careful not to pile it around the cars in the parking slots. The whole town was decorated for the Christmas holiday, which was fast approaching, and the hardware store was busier than ever.
A woman walked by, and he halted his shoveling so as not to flick snow on her. “Evening, Mrs. Brumthal,” he greeted.
The old woman gave a loud harrumph and stuck her nose in the air.
“Just walk on by, you old goat,” Berryl called out from the doorway of the hardware store. “We don’t serve your kind.”
Mrs. Brumthal turned a nasty shade of purple, but all she did was give another harrumph sound and hurry away.
Berryl cackled loudly.
“Cool it, grandmom,” he said. “I thought she was going to have a stroke.”
“That woman is too stubborn to get a stroke. I don’t want her brand of homophobia darkening our doorway.”
Raleigh grinned and continued shoveling.
Over the past six months, a wealth of changes had taken place, and not just from selling the farm. Berryl had had no problem cashing out the insurance policy from the tornado damage and setting up in a little cottage in town. Although she hadn’t moved to Florida, she now terrified the other old folks in the community center every Wednesday at bingo.
He had moved into Gus’s apartment over the store, and together they ran the business. At first people didn’t want to have anything to do with a gay couple, but Berryl had helped ease that transition with her adoption of Gus as her second grandson. Soon the community began to embrace them. Now, it was like they were a celebrity couple, with people going out of their way to invite them to parties and talking with them on the street.
Sure, there were people like Mrs. Brumthal that shunned them and their lifestyle, but for the most part, people in Cherry Falls seemed to like having their very own interracial gay couple.
Gus came out of the store and smiled at him. He held a cup of something hot because Raleigh could see the steam rising from the top. “Ready for a nightcap?”
Raleigh smiled and walked up to him, and right there, in the middle of the sidewalk, he kissed his lover and his best friend.
The End
Author’s Note
There have been two documented cases of people being inside the eye of a
tornado. The first man was William Keller from Greensburg, Kansas in 1928. The second one was Mr. Roy Hall from McKinnet, Texas in 1951. I recreated Raleigh’s experience from both eyewitness accounts.
Other Books by Elizabeth Monvey:
www.evernightpublishing.com/elizabeth-monvey
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Evernight Publishing
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Not Afraid Page 3
