The Conner Family

The Conner Family Stories:

01-"A Gift On Christmas Eve"

02-"Gifts On Christmas Morning"

03-"Nightmares Of A Broken Promise"

04-"The Request"

05-"Love Across Town"

06-"The Photo - In Retrospect"

07-"Miracles In The Storm" - current story

Prolog:

This story is part of the continuing Series 'The Conner Family.' This story is in the Category: of Non-Erotic Stories. In this story you will learn of the events that take place on the day that two babies were found alive by brothers Robert and Sam Conner and their wives, twin sisters Sharon and Karen, beneath some wreckage after an F3 tornado passed through the towns of Brentwood and Lindon. This story takes place forty two years before Chapter One of 'The Conner Family' series - "A Gift On Christmas Eve." And the events in this story are the foundations of the characters in the series. - Please understand, this is out of sequence - but - creativity comes when it does. - As always all comments are welcomed. - Rugrat60 -

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"Miracles In The Storm"

Brenda Marie Peters looked at the outside of the small two bedroom house that was for rent. Sitting in the front seat of her ten year old, well used car, parked in the driveway. She was waiting for the owners to come and to show her the house.

She looked again at the ad: 'Rental Furnished House on sml lot, 2Bdr, 1 bath, kitch, livrm. Near schools and parks. Nice yard.' There was the number which she had called. The owners were willing to let her see the house. She looked at her watch. She was thirty minutes early. But she did not mind. The time gave her a chance to look at the neighborhood. Time to listen to the sounds of the area. It was quite. Comforting she thought. She did not miss the near continual background noise of the city where she grew up. She smiled to herself. A great place for raising kids.

The driver's side window was rolled down and she could hear the birds singing. There was a gentle breeze blowing along carrying with it the scent of spring flowers. And it was comfortable.

Brenda glanced into the backseat at her two babies. She smiled looking down at them laying side by side in the passenger side foot well of the car, bundled up in blankets. Janice and James were both asleep. Two weeks ago she had given birth to her fraternal twins, at a clinic back in some small town in Ohio. She tried to call home, but her father was still so angry with her that he had hung up as soon as she spoke.

She sighed. Then she was busy with her children. She would try again later, perhaps tomorrow. Maybe catch her Mom alone after her father went to work. And then let her know she had two grandchildren. She had sent a postcard from the clinic with the news. She had signed it simply: Brenda - heading west.

Picking up the other ad she glanced through the employment notice again. It was what had brought her here. Brenda read: 'Second Accountant wanted. Light bookkeeping. Family business. Mother's hours.' She had been planning on traveling further west, putting more distance behind her. But the ad had caught her eye yesterday and she had called. She remembered she had run out of change for the payphone. But Mr. Kincade told her to call back collect.

Mr. Kincade was so nice, but he wanted to meet her and her babies before deciding. But, he had told her she sounded perfect for the job. Brenda remembered that he had also said that once his wife met her, and her twins, he would have to hire her. She set the ad with the other papers on the passenger seat. She smiled again. She sighed. Brenda was beginning to feel like things were changing for her.

And once things were settled, she would mail a letter to Carl at his APO address and let him know were she was. And tell him he was a father.

Closing her eyes, she breathed in the quiet still air. She could really enjoy the quite here. So different from the city she had grown up in. Open yards. Room for children to play outside. Again she smiled. And a yard, she thought. A real yard. She could already see Janice and James running and playing together. Being inseparable.

Again she smiled. Brenda liked the idea of them being inseparable. Always having someone to depend upon. She nodded and smiled at the idea. She could only wish it would happen.

Better than her own family life she thought. Her being the youngest of four. Her parents had not expected her at all. There was seven years between her and her next oldest sibling. Her brother Kevin, who had no time for her. Now at 21, she knew things would be different. It would be different with her twins. She would see to that, she had decided. One of the many reasons why she had left with her few belongings, packed into the trunk. With room to spare.

Brenda then realized that it was quiet. Too quiet. She opened the car door and stepped out and listened. Nothing. No birds. No wind. "How odd," she muttered as she slowly looked around. Everything was so still.

Then, as she looked over the roof of the car, she saw a black swirling mass of a cloud that was churning upwards into the dark clouds high above. For a moment she just looked, stunned. She knew it was a tornado. She had seen a couple of films in science class. But this one was huge. "I can't be here," she said aloud.

Brenda quickly got back into the car and closed the door. She turned the key. Nothing. Damn she hated the clutch and standard shift.

Then the rain started to fall. It was heavy and gray. With it came the hail pinging on the car's hood and roof.

She quickly got the window rolled up.

Brenda reached for the key again, but something moving to her left caught her eye. She turned and watched the house at the end of the block explode as it vanished into a black moving mass.

My babies, she thought, in fear, knowing they could not stay in the car. She quickly slid across the seat to the passenger door and climbed out. Brenda opened the rear door and got her blanket wrapped babies in her arms. She turned towards the house and moved the few feet and got down behind the cement steps leading up to the front door.

There was no where else to go that she could see. There were not even windows in the low foundation.

The sound of the wind was a roar now. The near freezing rain had already soaked her. The hail was hitting her back and her head as she bent over protecting her babies. She huddled down behind the steps hugging her babies tight against her. Trying to stay low to protect Janice and James.

There was sudden loud crash behind her.

Startled, she turned and saw that her car was crushed beneath what looked like the roof and attic of a house. She watched as things started to fly through the air.

Then she could feel and hear the house she was against beginning to move and groan. The sound of breaking glass. The sound of wood snapping. And there was the loud roar of the wind.

Still holding her babies she felt the steps she was hiding behind shift pushing her back. The house behind her was making more noises of things breaking. Then a gust of wind tried to rip the blankets from around the babies, but Brenda crouched down lower behind the steps, facing into the corner.

Again she could feel the cement steps move, pushing her backwards.

Looking again at the roof top and the smashed opening of a window of the attic, Brenda could see into the back of her car. She knew they would not survive out here in the open. She rose and crouched down against the wind and driving hail. She quickly moved the few feet to the small opening. She had to lay down and she quickly pushed Janice and James through the small opening of what was left of the attic window, into the rear of the car. In away from the wind. She knew the opening was too small for her, she prayed for a miracle to save her children, even as she pushed Janice and James further in as far as she could stretch.

Brenda Marie Peters never felt the broken brick traveling at close to ninety miles per hour, thrown by the tornado, when it hit the back of her head. She was dead before the winds picked up her body and it was carried away.

A gust of wind moved the wreckage of the house out into the street, dragging the car with it.

Within the ruined car, under the wreckage of the house, the two babies were safe from the storm as it passed close at hand.

Then the tornado moved on leaving destruction and death in its wake.

Then everything became still and quiet.

Then, not to long later a pickup truck drove up with a station wagon close behind. Both male drivers quickly got out and grabbed gloves, pry-bars, axes and flashlights from the pickup. The two women got out and from the back of the station wagon they got large first-aid kits. Then they were soon standing together, in the terrible silence, looking at the destruction.

For hundreds of yards there was not a single structure standing within the path the tornado had taken.

"Oh, my," said one of the women who stood with who appeared to be her identical twin sister. She reached out and took her sister's hand.

One of the males was shaking his head. "Don't know how anyone could have survived this."

There was not a sound heard. It was awful to hear nothing.

"Listen!" stated the other woman. "A baby! Crying."

"I hear it," stated the other male as he pointed.

"Lead the way," said the first male.

Soon one of the men was on his stomach reaching into the wreckage of the house. He then backed out and rolled over holding a small naked baby. One of the women quickly took the baby and held the child close to her. "It's a girl."

"I'll get a blanket," said the other woman as she ran back to the car.

The male on the ground rolled over and he reached back in. "There's another baby here!" He quickly came back out with a second baby. "This one's a boy." He held out a dirty slightly ragged blue blanket. "This is all I found."

The woman holding the baby girl spoke up. "Keep it. It looks like the ones we give out in maternity. We might be able to trace it. And get a name for these two."

The second woman came back with two large heavy blankets and the two babies were warmly wrapped up and were being securely held in the arms of the two women. They moved back to the station wagon to tend to the babies while the men began looking for others in the wreckage.

And Brenda's asked for miracle had arrived.

The End

"Miracles In The Storm"

"The Conner Family - Ch 07"