Tilt-A-Whirl

 

            Claire stomped off angrily after she read the text. Tears filled her eyes as she mumbled, “Why would he do that?”

            Claire had been waiting for half an hour to meet Thomas at the fair. They had planned to go together, but Thomas said he would be a little late. Claire said that would be fine and she could just meet him there later. She loved to shop at all the little stalls where people were showing off what they had brought to sell. She and Thomas could always go on the rides together later. So, Claire had spent the last hour wandering among the stalls, waiting for Thomas to arrive.

            Claire and Thomas had been best friends since he had moved next door to her when she was six years old. They had stayed friends all through elementary, but junior high had been a little trickier. They still hung out, but they also had other friends and interests. One thing they always did, though, was go to the county fair together. It was within walking distance of their houses in their small town.

            Now Thomas had just texted that he wouldn’t be able to come at all today. Claire fumed as she thought of his reason why. He was in the middle of a Minecraft campaign with his friend Josh. Claire could feel the heat coming off herself as she stomped toward where the rides were. She would still ride the rides without Thomas.

            Claire got in line for the Tilt-A-Whirl. This one had always been one of her favorite rides, and it was so fun to ride it with Thomas. He always went out of his way to squish her into the side of the seats more than necessary. Then, as it moved, Claire tried to squish him back.

            She walked on to the ride and chose a seat. She buckled herself in and waited for the ride to start. She tried to shake off her anger at Thomas, but she continued to get more and more mad. The ride started and Claire slowly started to slide around. Instead of helping her calm down, the ride seemed to intensify her anger. She felt her hair being blown by the wind. Faster and faster, she twirled from side to side. Her hair was all over her face and the wind was getting stronger.

            But the ride was slowing down. Even when it stopped completely, the wind was gusting stronger and stronger. Claire had a hard time getting off the Tilt-A-Whirl. The wind was tossing her around like a doll. She made it off the ride and past the line of people who were still strangely waiting instead of running for cover. Claire looked closer at them and realized that the wind wasn’t affecting them at all.

            Claire stared in shock as she saw that the only one the wind was pushing around was her. Everyone else was staring at her struggling against the wind.

            Claire panicked as the wind turned into a gale. She started running away from the ride area. The wind followed her. She ran toward the vendor stalls with her hair blowing wildly all around her face. As she ran, she no longer felt like she was pushing against the wind. She was at the center of a miniature tornado. She stayed in the center as the vortex around her widened. People screamed as they tried to take cover from everything that was blowing wildly around Claire.   

            Claire kept running until she was away from the fairground. Where could she go with this whirlwind? She headed toward the only place she could think of – home. She ran as she had never run before. She usually hated running, but adrenaline fueled her on.

            Finally, her house came into view and Claire saw Mom just getting back from somewhere as she drove the car into the garage. “Mom!” Claire cried as she ran toward the garage.

            One look at Claire, and Mom knew exactly what had happened. With a wave of her hands, the tornado surrounding Claire slowed down and died.

            Claire stood in shock, staring at her mother. “How did you do that?” she asked in awe.

            Mom lowered her hands and said, “There’s something you need to know, Claire.”

            “What?” Claire asked, wondering what on Earth this was going to be about.

            Mom took a deep breath and said, “All the women in our family have the ability to control the weather. Our power manifests around our teenage years. Usually, some strong feelings trigger it.”

            Claire was stunned – she had the ability to control the weather? Why didn’t she know about this before? “Come again?” she finally asked.

            Mom smiled and put her arm around Claire. “Let’s go inside. I’ll explain all about it.”

            Claire missed a week of school while she struggled to control her newfound power. Eventually, she was able to return, but she still had several incidents whenever she experienced any kind of strong emotion. Mom had explained that it was all part of a magical weather wielder’s growing up experience.

            Their small town experienced a lot of weather anomalies that couldn’t be explained away by normal weather patterns. Some of the older residents weren’t surprised, though. It seemed like this had all happened here before. After all, the town hadn’t been named “Eye of the Tornado” for nothing.