“Toto!”
Barking comes from my left and I follow it to the end of the porch. I find Toto with his back rigid, his tail sticking straight up. He’s barking at the night. “We have to get inside! Aunt Em is waiting for us—”
The air changes.
The hair at the nape of my neck stands on end.
Toto growls.
I follow his line of sight and spot a cyclone making its way across the Gilbert cornfield.
Panic fills my body, making it hard to breathe.
Lightning flashes in the whirlwind and the night roars like a freight train.
But there is something different about this storm.
The tornado isglittering.
“Toto,” I say but my voice is drowned out by the rushing of the wind. “We have to get inside!”
Fighting against the wind, I bend down and snatch him up, hugging him tightly to my chest as the wind cuts across the porch.
Every step is agonizingly slow. The boards beneath myboots rattle against their fastenings. One finally gives and shoots upright and flies past my face.
Glass shatters somewhere in the house. I glance at the barn but don’t see Henry anywhere. There’s a cellar in the barn too. I can only hope he made it in.
“Dorothy!” Aunt Em screams.
I can’t suck in enough air to respond.
The thundering of the cyclone grows closer.
The metal shine of the door handle finally comes into view. I reach out for it just as a milk crate barrels past, slamming into my outstretched arm. My sweater tears. Something wet and warm runs down my forearm.
Hurry, Dorothy.
Hurry.
Hurry.
I could die out here.
I will die if I don’t get inside.
I reach out again, but the wind is so strong, I lose my balance and fall to my knees. Toto barks, squirming in my grip. Tears stream from my eyes.
I’m not going to make it. Why did Toto run? He never barks at storms, not like this—
The door flings open and Aunt Em appears in the gloom. “Take my hand!”
Relief floods through me. I grab hold of her and she fights against the storm, yanking me inside with everything she has.
“Stay down!” she yells, the ends of her tied silk scarf flapping around her neck.
A window shatters and glass shoots across the living room.
Aunt Em ducks down and crawls for the cellar.
