09.S04 Chapter Nine, Snippet Four

Miss Dinky Marie: Not a happy camper, Dinky preferred her life
in California.She was not a fan of the snow and cold temperatures.

New Prairie Woman

Susie Rosso Wolf

Chapter Nine, con't

After dragging myself away from my mountains we walked back to the trailer and I looked forward to sweeping and mopping the tiny floor space, making the beds, dusting and straightening up in general. Since we had moved in to our new residence I discovered early on that daily maintenance was vital for our health and comfort. Having three large dogs in the eight by twenty space was a breeding ground for creepy stuff to grow and dog hair flying around clinging to everything would drive me crazy with no doubt about it so I tried these wonderful new microfiber products for the floors and dusting and polishing that worked so well and saved me time, effort, backache and knee pain. The trailer was a very small area for an overweight woman of my size; it wasn’t easy for me to navigate around in there in attempt to make a home for us out of a pop can. Minute by minute I was reminded that I had ballooned out into a huge thing.

Eventually that morning our space was clean and spiffy so I decided to read for a while. I sat on the kitchen table bench with my book and a bottle of water. Not too long after reading a page or two, I hear a loud banging outside. Then I heard it again. And again. I got up and looked out the window and realized that our cab-over camper that was sitting on top of Old Blackie had been left open and the door was banging back and forth in what was now a strong wind. The sky was blacker and more ominous than what it had been up at the prayer post and the sound of the wind was howling a vicious song through the prairie. I began to panic a bit, could feel my insides flip flop and decided to call Kurt again but there was no answer. Leaving another message was all I could do other than to continue to pray that he was okay out on that lake.

Less than twenty minutes later I heard louder howling and what sounded like hail pounding the roof of the trailer. I got up and opened the door and was shocked to discover a wild hail storm and my dogs standing outside the trailer with their ears flying upwards in the wind, “Come in, hurry! Come on you guys get up here!” I hollered to them over the locomotive  sound that now had me scared to death. Cutter really struggled up the steps and seemed to be terribly upset, angry actually, that he was being exposed to this kind of experience. I bent down and placed my hands under his belly to help hoist him up the steps. Lilly and Dinky followed the old boy jumping up on the beds the moment they passed by him. Lilly was woo wooing and Dinky was barking and Cutter was laying his head between his two paws. They were afraid, and annoyed. I was afraid too, and worried. I bent down to hug Cutter and then I felt the trailer shake violently. I held onto the walls and made my way to the front window. Looking out, I witnessed an event I’d never seen in my life; as the hail hit the ground, it was stacking up in piles above the ground, freezing in its place, covering the entire property with a solid block of ice. The hail kept coming and the trailer kept rocking. I quickly sat down on the edge of my bed and held onto the dividing wall between the living room/kitchen area and the bedroom area with both hands. I felt inside my pants pocket for my cell phone, pulled it out then dialed the big house. Their phone rang and rang and rang. Where could they be? I was just there.

Lilly jumped up on the bed then Cutter followed. Dinky lay on the floor between the beds. All of us were scared. Then the sound seemed to die down and the rocking subsided. I waited a few minutes then decided to look out the window. Rolling over near the wall to move the curtains Cutter moaned a sigh of discontent. I rubbed behind his ears for just an instant and said “I’m sorry Honey Bear, it’s going to be all right, you’ll see.” I reached the window, looked out the curtain to see an unholy picture of a frozen tundra in hell. A moment later I heard a loud screeching noise of metal on metal and became alarmed beyond fear. And then the crash of glass and cracking plastic of some kind rose above the siren of wind and violence. I had no idea what was happing, I only knew it was happening to the trailer, right above my head.