She came within a foot of us, her hands nearly touching Dooley. Then her body twisted sideways before folding in half, and in a snap, shot backwards right up the ramp.
Dooley’s father removed one hand from Skip’s leg, reaching out, as if he could have saved his wife or grabbed her. That caused an immediate imbalance and his vulnerability. The suction pulled at him and he dragged us all along, swirling us around counterclockwise. I went from being nearer the exit to facing the bottom of the ramp and a desperate looking Lane.
He was reaching for me, Martin and another man were holding him back, not letting him go any farther.
His hands were so close and all I could think of was Dooley.
It took all of my strength, fingers digging into Dooley’s midsection, I lifted him from me, aiming him at Lane.
“Take the baby!” I cried out.
I felt Lane’s fingers brush against mine when he grabbed Dooley.
Dooley’s weight.
That thirty-some pounds made all the difference in the world. That small amount of body weight tipped the scale, and like Dooley’s mother, out we went.
I never felt the concrete of the ramp, my chest was a few inches above it. Arms reached out, all I saw in that second was Lane and Martin, the look on their faces as I flew backwards.
I went into darkness, tiny flashes of light around me. I felt like I was flying, not in control. I wasn’t whipping around. In fact, I didn’t have a clue if I was high in the air or how far I had gone.
I just knew at that second, I was done. I closed my eyes and I felt … released.
Whether on purpose or out of his control, Skip let go.
My body moved with the momentum of the wind for a second, then with a slight turn of my body I dropped.
I was closer to the ground than I thought. I felt the sensation of landing in a shallow pool of water, before my hip and elbow met the ground, bouncing me out of the puddle, and rolling me violently.
Finally, I stopped. There was no severe pain or ache from broken bones. The scraped skin on my arms and legs were somehow soothed by the cold rain that poured relentlessly down on me.
The wind was still in control, moving my body, fighting to get me back into the funnel. I couldn’t see where I was or what was around me. All I could do was what I had learned and that was not to move. I did my best to lay as flat to the ground as I could, scared to death and fearful for my life. Chest against the pavement, covering my head with my hands to protect it, I screamed at the top of my lungs. I cried out shrill and long, and I knew no one could hear me because I couldn’t even hear myself.
THIRTEEN – ENTRANCE RAMP
There was one other time in my life I thought I was going to die. Thinking back, I realized how unfounded and silly it was in comparison to what I faced now. Lane and I were on a flight to Cleveland and there was a ton of turbulence. Of course, I didn’t fly much and any bump in the sky was unnerving to me. I remember Lane laughing because I was so scared, my hands in a prayer fashion, praying with everything I had.
Loudly, too.
Lane just laughed.
“You’ll thank me when we live,” I had told him.
But I learned, when truly faced with the prospect of death, something internally clicks letting you know there’s nothing you can do. After my initial panic attack, my screaming as if that would help save me, a calm took over.
I listened to the sound of the wind, tuned in to the feel of it and how it pulled against me and whipped at my back.
There was a slight stinging to my body, nothing much. I didn’t know if it was the adrenaline covering up any real injuries I had. I could feel the cold, that was for sure as icy rain beat against me. Exhaling short breaths through my nostrils to shuck any water that seeped in my nose from the puddle beneath my face.
Finally, I listened as the wind sound faded and I could no longer feel it against me. The rain let up some. Thunder still clapped loudly, although in the distance and with each sequence getting farther and farther apart. When the lightning flashed it was green bright specks through the dark of my tightly closed eyes.
Then that too stopped.
Quiet.
I didn’t know where I was or how far I traveled. For all I knew I was right outside the ramp to the garage. I wasn’t in a field; I knew that by the pavement.
It was time to get up.
I dreaded it, thinking as soon as I moved I would feel a world of hurt. That wasn’t the case as I slowly stood. The tightening and stinging of my skinned knees and elbows, that was it.
I shivered in the cold; my arms wrapped tightly around my body to try to stay warm. Somehow, I lost my top. I was wearing a pink tee shirt and it was gone. Wind had whipped it from my body leaving me in only my bra.
It was so dark when I stood. My eyes would adjust, I was certain of it. It wasn’t raining as hard.
Staggering some, I turned left to right, trying to gauge where I was in this strange town. I couldn’t tell the extent of the damage in the night. Cars were flipped, telephone poles down. Taller buildings looked like shadows of partially erected
