Storm Stew

She took down some cloud from the
shelf and folded the sky in two: one
half clear, the other clotted with wind

and rain. She stirred the whole thing
with a lightning bolt, until it thundered
---she vaguely remembered her Mom

telling her that it was when it could get
tricky. About that time, she heard a
sound behind her: it was only Daddy.

He sniffed the air and said, "Is that
what I think it is? Storm Stew?" She
pushed him out of the kitchen: "You

ruined the surprise! You've been
working so hard and I wanted to do
something nice." All of a sudden,

something flew past her ear and
stuck into the wall! Oh, no...her
mother's warning came back clearly

now: you have to be careful how you
stir, Daughter. Too little and it will boil
over; too much and chaos will result.

Either way, there's going to be a mess.
She, with Daddy in tow, ran back into
the kitchen. A tornado greeted them,

a BIG one, the largest they'd ever seen.
If it got loose...folks s t i l l talked about
'96 like it had happened only yesterday.

And that's why they hadn't eaten Storm
Stew in a while. Daddy took off his
coat (a prodigious size) and waved it

in front of the twister. She couldn't help
it: she began to laugh: what did Daddy
think he was, a bullfighter or something?

He was trying to shoo it back into the
pot, but it wanted nothing to do with it.
Besides, the tornado had other plans ...

(c) 2008, Karla Dorman