P is for Peculiar

It was springtime in the south again. One never knew from day to day what the weather would be like.  One minute it would be a beautiful, perfect day, and the next minute the heat and humidity felt as if it could suck the life right out of you.

Julie opened the door of her classroom and stepped out.  As she turned to lock the door behind her Julie closed her eyes, inhaled and smiled.  Only a couple of more weeks and school would be out for the summer.  She could hardly wait to set sail on the cruise she booked six months ago.  Shaking her head she turned back around and headed to the car.  Julie spotted her canary yellow jeep in the usual parking spot and was glad she had decided to take the top off. 

As Julie made her way to the jeep, she thought of how it would be a perfect ride home this afternoon.  Suddenly, a swarm of bees came from out of nowhere. It was the most peculiar thing. In a matter of seconds, the bees hovered together in thin air then all at once lifted higher and proceeded to fly away together.  They seem to be communicating with each other about something important that was about to happen.  After finally coming out of her dazed state, Julie drove forward and headed home.  Unknowingly to her the bees were a warning sign of what was about to happen that evening.

That evening the weather began to change. It had been cloudy, warm, and humid all day. The rain began and turned into quite a thunderstorm.  As Julie listened to the storm outside she could tell it was getting worse.  Just then she heard the soft lyrics of Brown Eyed Girl singing on her cell phone. 

"Hello," she answered.

She recognized her aunt's voice at once.

"Have you seen the news, dear?"

"No, I'm just finishing up with dinner."  "Why?"

"I'm calling to warn you that a tornado is about to touch down in your area.  Drop whatever you're doing and find a safe place to wait it out in!  There's no time to waste.  You have to hurry!"

Julie started panicking and when she turned on the TV discovered just how bad the storm really was. There were tornadoes touching down all around the area.  She quickly made her way to the hallway closet to wait out the remainder of the storm.

 Luckily, the tornado her aunt had called to warn about had skipped over her neighborhood.  After a few hours everything outside started calming down.  Julie began checking on family and friends to make sure they were safe.  Once that was taken care of she could finally relax.

She thought back to what had happened that afternoon when she noticed the bees.  She would never question odd insect behavior again.