bad things happen

over the weekend, there were bad, bad storms in the midwest. at least i call it the midwest 'cause that's the way it was taught when i was growing up.

anyhow, south dakota, minnesota, wisconsin, kansas, indiana, illinois, missouri -- they all had some really crappy weather going on, causing monstrous damage and taking lives. one young man saw his neighbor die -- “The trailer came down right on top of her” -- and i had this confused vision: did a huge 18-wheeler fly down out of the sky? did a travel trailer come shooting down? did a little put-two-chairs-and-a-dresser-on-it trailer come blowing along into her? did a mobile home overturn onto her?

and then another image popped into my mind .... way back in the 60's or early 70's, there was a 'tea dance' at a new building in kansas city. it was a very upscale affair, with big honchos and their wives attending, everyone in beautiful clothes and best manners. there were airy walkways and balustrades two or three stories high, and a big open area if i remember right. anyhow, there were serious shortcomings in the underpinings and all of a sudden, everything started caving in. a lot of people died, but the image i retained is that when the emergency personnel came in and started trying to find people, a concrete column was raised and the woman who had the misfortune to have been under it was raised, too, because her face was embedded in the concrete. what a macabre memory.