Fiftieth Anniversary of the Columbus Day Storm
When Laura and Mom came into the back door after kitchen committee, Pop stood up from the chair with his paper in light from the floor lamp. Glad to see you.
Guess Elizabeth has not gotten back yet.
No. The power is out in different places.
When Betty came back from the movie she told the story about the flashlight and the shadow puppets. Someone had a flashlight and did shadow hand puppets on the screen.
Laura and Mom were at the Valhalla Hall in the storm. That evening as they drove along the streets the wind had battered rain against the windshield. As they carried boxes of sandwiches to the door of the Valhalla Hall, they had to walk along hard and push against the high wind.
Then they were inside the swinging doors with glass windows and up the stairs to the foyer. In the dance hall, which was always locked on meeting nights, was a gallery that looked down over the dance floor. Off that third floor gallery was the main dining hall on the third floor. A narrow staircase led up from the foyer to the dining hall. Its small door was always locked on meeting nights. The Runeberg Lodge rented only a small dining room on the second floor and the meeting room on meeting nights. There was a piano in the dance hall and a piano in the meeting room and there was also a piano in the small dining room. The piano was closed and locked. Inside the small dining room they all reflected in the black night at the windows - herself, her mother and Aunt Pearl, with the long old tables and rolls of paper to cover them.
There should be thumb tacks under there. Where is Elizabeth? Aunt Pearl wanted to know. She had a small greenhouse in her yard where she grew her own seedlings. Uncle Gilbert always drove her where she wanted to go. Aunt Pearl had on a dress with a pleated chiffon skirt. After the meeting there might be dancing or song practice. They spilled dance wax over the wood floor and pulled back the straight chairs so everyone could dance, to the schottische or the hambo.
Elizabeth had a date tonight. They went to a movie.
Laura stood beside the window. Across the street in the streetlights and dark a window in another building shuddered and shook so that reflections of the streetlights shimmered. The wind blew the power lines around. It was very dark outside. The light shimmered on the window across the street. Then suddenly the wind shook the window very hard, the reflections shook hard, then there was a curtain of glitter and shapes, for the window had shattered and was falling in a glitter cascade down to the sidewalk.
The wind blew out a window.
Laura noticed that Aunt Pearl had moved back from the window. But Laura kept standing there, still watching the storm.
Var sa god! The lodge members from the meeting room crossed the foyer to the kitchen door. The kitchen counter swung up on hinges toward the wall to allow in the kitchen crew, and the lodge members put quarters into a cup on the counter, then each one carried a cup a coffee and a heavy white plate with sandwiches and cookies from the platters along the counter through the other kitchen door into the small dining room.
This storm is swinging all the power lines around. This is real hurricane. Covered my boat before I drove here. But everyone had to finish their sandwiches and cake while the wind kept blowing onto the windows.
