(Sis discovers a unique therapy to overcome her fear of storms)
*
From early childhood until the present my twenty year old sister Katie, who is one year older than me, has had an unrealistic, uncontrollable, and in my opinion, an unhealthy fear of thunderstorms. The slightest sound of distant thunder in the night, or a glimpse of faraway lightening, sends her scurrying to jump into bed with mom and dad for them to provide her safety and security. If a storm hits in the daytime she seeks out family, friends, coworkers, or even strangers to hang out with until the real, or imagined danger passes. Years ago mom talked to a therapist friend of hers who advised that as children grow older they normally overcame their childhood fears. She suggested that mom and dad should give it some time; she was sure that Katie would come to realize that her fears were unfounded. She never has.
Mom and dad left this morning to visit her parents who live about seventy miles away and would be returning sometime late in the evening. Katie had volunteered to cook dinner for the two of us and I did not put up much of an argument. While she was busy in the kitchen, I was relaxing in dad's recliner, reading the latest Patterson novel. The television was on, but the volume was turned down low. I barely heard the familiar beep-beep-beep sound, warning viewers of the potential for severe weather.
The local station had interrupted regular network programming to give details about a massive thunderstorm system moving across the state. The meteorologist warned of strong damaging winds, localized flooding in low lying areas and lightening strikes, with the formation of tornados being a possibility. The warning would be in effect for the next twelve hours. Viewers were advised to remain tuned in for updated information. The anchor ran through the standard instructions for actions to take if the anticipated storms hit in your vicinity. The local radar was scanning a radius of one hundred miles and tracking the storms speed as it moved movement from west to east.
Katie came rushing in from the kitchen yelling, "What's going on Stevie? I heard one of those weather alerts."
I said, "It's really nothing sis, I'll listen and let you know what they're saying, you can go ahead and finish dinner."
She ignored me and pulled a chair closer to the television. I continued to tell her that it was nothing for her to get all alarmed about. She said, "Shut up Stevie, I want to hear this."
My cell phone began ringing and I knew before I picked it up that it was either mom or dad. I looked at the ID screen and said, "Hey dad!"
"How is everything there? Have you heard the weather warnings?" He asked.
I replied, "Yeah dad, I saw the weather alerts, but everything is quiet here. I think we are on the outer edge of the storm system and it is really not tracking in our direction."
Katie gave me a hard look and asked, "Do you feel your nose growing?"
He said, "Oh, Katie is in the room with you, right."
I said, "Yes sir, we're watching the weather report right now."
Dad said, "It's pretty bad here; trees and power lines down, limbs all over the place, and flooding in some places. We'll spend the night here; hopefully this will pass through quickly."
I replied, "No need to take any chances dad, like I said everything is quiet her, but I'll keep you posted, OK."
Dad replied, "You do that, and try to keep Katie's mind occupied. You know how she gets when there's a bad storm."
I said, "I know, I'll take care of things. I'll be in touch. Say hi to gramps and nana for us, goodbye."
Dad said, "I know you will Stevie"
Katie had gone into the kitchen and returned with a TV tray, she said, "Dinners ready, I'm eating in here so I can keep an eye on what's happening with the weather."
I said, "You should eat at the table with me: all that's going to do is keep you upset."
She responded, "Asshole If you'd been watching the live shots from other towns across the state, you'd be upset too. The area where mom and dad are now is taking a real beating."
I said, "Dad told me that, but he said all of them are fine and that they have moved to the basement as a precaution. Maybe you should give mom a call."
She said, "I'll talk to her, gramps and nana in a little while"
I returned to my book and recliner; Katie sat across the room from me fixated on the TV screen. About every fifteen minutes she would walk over to the window and stare out into the darkness and then return to her radar tracking vigil. At nine-thirty she called mom and talked to her and then nana for a few minutes. They assured her that everything was fine there and that the storm might be losing some of its punch, or moving on. They had returned to the main floor of the house.
At around ten-fifteen I called dad's cell phone and told him that Katie was keeping a close eye on the storms intensity and movement. I told him that there was some light rain falling outside, but no wind, thunder or lightening. For Katie's benefit, I repeated my earlier comment that we were not going to get much out of this storm system. I talked to gramps for a few minutes, told him that Katie and I would be over for a visit in a few days. Dad returned to the phone and I told him I would not call again tonight. He reminded me to try to occupy Katie's mind with something other than the storm. I assured him that I would.
Sis gave me her hardest stare and said, "If there is such thing as a lying contest you should enter; you'd win hands down. Nobody watching all of this damage and destruction could be fine. It's fortunately there hasn't been fatalities reported."
She walked toward the window again and as she passed me she grabbed my ear lobe and gave it a yank. She headed back toward the television but stopped abruptly, turned to me and said, "I'm going to go to bed now Stevie. I'll put on my headphones, turn on some music, put a pillow over my head and hopefully when the storm gets here I'll sleep right through it."
I said, "Good idea sis, you do that, but I don't think the storm is going to amount to much here. You'll be just fine. I'm going to read a few more minutes and turn in myself"
She yanked on my hair, planted a kiss on top of my head and said, "Stevie you are so full of shit."
I responded, "Goodnight sis, I'll see you in the morning, love you!"
Katie said, "Love you too baby brother. Goodnight."
I said, "If it does get bad later just yell, we'll go down to the basement and ride it out there."
At eleven-thirty I took a last look outside and saw that the rain was much heavier and the wind had picked up significantly. I heard the distant roll of thunder and saw lightening flashes several miles away. I climbed the stairs, looked in to check on Katie and saw that she did indeed have a pillow over her head. I thought she was sleeping, so I quietly moved down the hallway to my bedroom, stripped and crawled into bed.
I was jolted awake by an elbow being plunged into my back. I turned my head and saw my sister lying on her back beside me with a blanket pulled tightly around her chin. She said, "You're snoring like a damn bear while the house is blowing away."
"You scared the she out of me sis!" I said
She replied, "Good, this storm is scaring the shit out of me. Can't you hear how bad it is out there?"
I said, "Yeah, It's getting worse, maybe we should go down to the basement."
She said, "No way, we're going to stay right here so I can hear what's happening and see out the windows. I wouldn't be able to hear anything in the basement."
I said, "Well, it might be better if you couldn't see and hear it."
She responded, "No it wouldn't," as she pushed her hip against my butt."
She asked, "When did you start sleeping in the raw?"
"What?" I asked.
She said, "I feel your hairy ass against my leg."
I replied, "When I started jerking off; if you really want to know."
She giggled nervously and said, "I guess that makes some sense, I'm not sure."
I said, "It's a freedom issue. Where else can you go completely naked for seven or eight hours? You should try it, not the jerking off, the sleeping nude."
She said, "I've slept nude before asshole, but I was in bed with a naked guy at the time; A much better reason than your freedom bullshit."
I responded, "Well you should give it a try when you don't have any real reason. It's primitive, liberating."
She said, "Guys happen to like my sexy lingerie, turns them on when they get to remove it!"
She began to wiggle under the covers and I knew that she was removing her panties and gown.
Another nervous giggled and she said, "It's going to be real strange when they find our naked bodies tomorrow amongst all the rubble; that'll give our neighbors a lot to talk about."
At that moment a tremendous clap of thunder rolled across the sky followed by several streaks of mean looking lightening. Katie's body shuttered as she grabbed my arm and whispered, "That was a strike, and it was close. I need you to turn over and put your arm around me Stevie, that's what mom and dad would do if they were here"
"Not a good idea sis." I said.
She yelled, "Not a good idea my ass, I'm doing everything I can to keep from having a full blown panic attack here. The last damn thing I'm worried about is that we're in bed together naked. Just remember, I know what you're really scared of, spiders. Tomorrow I'll find the biggest one I can and shove it down your fucking pants."
I said, "Hey, don't threaten me with the spider thing, spider bites kill people."
"Asshole, tornados kill a hell of lot more people than spiders do." She replied.
There was another tremendous roll of thunder and the room brightened from what seemed to be a half minute long flash of lightening. I rolled over on my side facing her and she pulled my arm across her bare breast. I tried to keep my stiff cock from touching her but she pushed herself against my body.
She said, "Fuck Stevie, how can you have a boner when we may have just minutes to live?"
I responded, "It's a guy thing sis, it just happens sometimes when were sleeping. I'd think you'd know about that."
She said, "I know about it, but hell, not in the middle of a tornado."
I said, "It's a bad storm sis, not a tornado."
She replied, "Whatever."
I said, "I think my cock stands erect and on guard at night to protect the rest of my body, especially my balls. Got to take care of the family jewels, you know?"
"Well my pussy isn't think of anything but itself. " She replied.
