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Well, it is Kansas after all. I have three grandsons here. Two of them were at separate venues last week-end. The eldest, eighteen, was at one of his jobs running a concession stand at a sports complex. At the time, there were three of them running the stand. The clouds formed, the air became still, the sirens stared to wail. My grandson, one other young man, and a young girl, took cover in a rickety old bathroom ------ not one of those great concrete bunkers so often available. It was so unpleasant, I suppose, that they stepped outside only to find that it was not only not all clear, but the funnel cloud was quite close. They made a run for it ------ to a nearby church ---- gained entrance, and started to calm down. Actually, as my grandson told his mother, the calming down part is not exactly true. It seems the girl was, and had been, in total melt down. This was my grandson's first experience at instilling confidence in someone who had become dependent upon him. He was determined to get her through this terrifying experience. He might have even surprised himself. What he didn't know was that his younger brother was doing the exact same thing, at the exact same time at a different venue.
The younger grandson is sixteen. He was at the high school at football practice when the sirens started to wail. All the young men were herded inside to lower level hallways. This grandson found that he was sitting next to a boy that he head never met before. The new face was terrified. He had never ever seen such terror on another child's face. The boy said he had just moved here from JOPLIN! All that my sixteen year old could think to do was suggest they start talking and keep talking about football. They should share everything they could think of on the subject, and try to block out the sirens. I was told it seemed to have helped a great deal, and our new friend from JOPLIN made it through.
I think I can say that both of my young men will never forget their Kansas afternoon. It is quite possible that the young girl, and the young boy they helped will also remember. You know, basic kindness goes a long way, and sometimes it actually can be found here ----- at least in the young.
