Adventurous Weather

Today the rain comes in gusts that alternate with the whine of sirens. We think we can drive at normal speeds. Twice, my fictional character Mariah experiences dangerous storms, a tornado in Columbia and a blizzard in Stoneville. I learned a lot through my research on tornados, and I found descriptive language that is authentic and figurative. Then, for some reason, I chose to write humor!

Above: Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Unsplash

     The churning clouds had twisted into a beaver tail with a skinny white funnel under it. Mrs. Starr and the girls had better expect strong winds and head for the storm cellar if the twister comes too close. 
     Mrs. Starr looked at the same sky. “Vulcan on Mount Olympus, that’s an anvil!” 

     Fifteen girls and two young teachers trouped from the darkened rooms carrying their favorite pillows, books, and dolls. Some came from their sickbeds with blankets and handkerchiefs. Before they got into the cellar, the wind snatched some of the rag dolls out of their hands and girls screamed. One teacher lost her glasses and the other lost a book of poetry after it smacked her in the face and lodged up in a tree. 
     As the first rain fell, Mrs. Starr closed the cellar door from inside. While I secured the stables, I could hear the commotion down in the cellar and decided to wait as long as possible before going in.

The Compromise, “The Storm, 1845”

Mariah returns to the cabin in Stoneville a second time to start a disastrous marriage to George. The last dramatic action of the novel takes place there. First, her brother-in-law Richard comes in a snow storm. He is burdened by family news, but difficult truths have to be rekoned with to turn unhappiness around.

     In November 1846, a rider came up the road, bundled against the wind and hunched in the saddle. As the rider came up the rise, I stood in the doorway with my hand close to the hunting knife. But I knew Dolly when I saw her, the bay mare that matched Molly. She was trudging up the hill like a saint with a pitiful load of mankind. I wondered for a moment if Pa had come home after all these years. But no, it was my brother-in-law, Richard Fowler ready to fall off the horse with cold and hunger and years of dissipation.

The family seems to have fallen apart. The parents are gone and the siblings are separated, probably forever. There is too much to deal with, and Mariah walks out to tend the horses. Her mittens and trousers get wet in the barn. Then she walks into a blizzard, a whiteout in which a lot of snow is blown by strong winds until nothing is visible. She knows there is grave danger for her in the cold. Hypothermia causes mental confusion, but at one point she sees humor in it. I’m apparently poking fun at Romantic sensibilities again.

     I could not tell if I was inside or outside the pasture going east or west.  Maybe it was the north-south fence along the road. In a few months there might be a field of daffodils and buttercups with me still in it.

The Compromise, “The Blizzard, 1846”

In London’s “To Build a Fire,” the victim of the blizzard is incompetent, dignified in death, but of little consequence to nature.

I will not give too much away, but readers could compare this blizzard to Jack London’s “To Build a Fire.” In London’s story, the man is incompetent and brutal, dignified in death, but of little consequence to nature. Mariah’s story is about being blind and unable to orient amid the perplexity of grief and shame, fear and love.

Then I stood there talking nonsense to those horses while the storm blew around us.... But there was too much sadness and shame to know what to do with either one.

The Compromise, “The Blizzard, 1846”

Nature can be harsh and mankind can be kind.

One reader of the blizzard scene wants Mariah to save herself through her own competence. It will be ambiguous. To some it will feature a magical rescue and to others, a story of heroism. I hope it can be interpreted multiple ways. No, she does not make it alone in the wilderness though she is competent. Nature can be harsh and mankind can be kind. And she is heroic when she choses to live and start again. The heroism is there in her will to live.

An insistent noise penetrated the white air. My unfettered mind rose to see from high above where it came from. It was howling, wailing, long as human breath allowed. At the same time, light was moving side to side as a lantern would in a person’s hand. It was Richie come after me. He stood on those stones his brother laid yelling his head off and swinging a lantern until the wind blew it out, until he could see me inch my way up the road on my hands and knees. Then he ploughed the snow with his long legs.

The Compromise, “The Blizzard, 1846”

Mariah does not escape the blizzard without serious frostbite. Readers have shared their stories and Wikipedia provides good accounts of people who survived hypothermia. The pain of frostbite increases while extremities thaw. It is hard to avoid gangrene.

     As I thawed out, the pain started in my fingers and toes. They burned like the wicks of candles. I had to imbibe what was left of the corn whiskey. Richie laughed at me, the teetotaler, but he knew how bad it was. He worked my toes in his hands. In a few days, he laced my boots and brushed and braided my hair while my fingers came back to life.

Beyond surviving the blizzard, Mariah learns that she can be cared for by a man. Richie proves he is worthy of her love. In this case, love is welcomed with humor. Richie delivers a disarming proposal of marriage with the children’s song, “Froggie Went A Courting.” They exchange a pair of simple vows. By the time they leave Stoneville in the bright sunlight, Spring, 1847, they are lovers on their way to California. These two, Mariah and Richard Fowler, are my self-created maternal ancestors: flawed, a little crazy, a little silly, hard working, and devoted to … me, here and now, in the world they could only imagine. There is no compromise in love, and they never look back.