i told the storm

“Go away. I command you to move today. Because of faith, I have a brand new day. The sun will shine and I will be okay.”

Mommy always took me to Church on Sundays. We would get up early and could only eat cereal for breakfast and had to put on uncomfortable clothes and tight shoes. Then we would to go to Church. She said it was important that I go and so it must have been even though I didn't really like it. There were lots of people I didn't know but they all acted like they knew me. People that liked to pat my head and give me hugs. Mommy always gave me a special smile when I didn't squirm away from the people. And Church was long. People talking and people singing. On and on and on. Mommy would never let us leave early no matter how nicely I asked.

But I always tried to listen because Mommy said Church was important. Whenever I looked at her she was listening hard, watching the Preacher talk or singing with the Choir. The only time she wasn't watching was during the Prayer, when Mommy said we had to put our heads down and close our eyes. The Prayer was special time because that was when we talked to God. That's what Church was all about. God. And his son Jesus. Whenever I listened hard like Mommy, the Preacher was always talking about God and Jesus. About how God created the world and how Jesus saved us. I wasn't really sure what he had saved us all from but it must have been pretty bad. The Preacher also told us that God would protect us if we said the Prayer to him. I remembered that from the last time I was at Church and listening hard.

And last night I said my first Prayer alone. I did it quiet so Mommy wouldn't hear me. We were squished in the bathtub, me, Mommy, and my dog Basil. The rain was was so loud on the roof that it sounded like a hammer. And there was a lot of wind too. There weren't any windows in the bathroom but I could hear stuff banging against the side of the house. Mommy was holding my hand so hard it hurt and was using her other hand to find a signal on the radio. It was all staticy. So while she was doing that, I closed my eyes and said the Prayer. I did just like the Preacher said and asked God to protect us. And Jesus too, after all he had saved us once before. I did the Amen at the end just like in Church.

I remembered falling asleep on Basil in the bathtub and when I woke up there was no rain or wind. I woke Mommy up when I tried to get out of the bathtub and she got out first. The door was stuck at first but we both pushed together and finally got the bathroom door open. All the stuff in Mommy's bedroom was all over the place. The window was open and there was stuff in here that looked like my toy car parts, except for real-life cars.  Mommy looked out the window, then ran outside. Me and Basil followed behind her. All the other houses looked bad. A tree had fallen across two of them. There was truck sticking out of one of them. Big chunks of some of the houses were missing.

But our house looked the same. No trees or cars or missing pieces. I guess the Prayer worked.