My first tornado

I was born in tornado country but moved to the West Coast when I was 1yr old and came back 8 years later. The only thing I knew about tornadoes came from The Wizard Of Oz and some pictures our new neighbors showed us of our house which was destroyed 2 years before we moved in. The house didn't have a basement then and it didn't have one when it was rebuilt. We didn't have a tornado siren in those days,instead they would have a cop car drive up and down each street with it's siren on a single pitch. We lived across the street from the grade school I attended and I would always look over at my house during recess. One day we were all outside playing " Kill the man with the ball " and the weather began to change. First thing I noticed was the wind started coming from the opposite direction and was very strong, the sky turned a mean green color and the clouds were really low. I then saw the cop car going up my street with the siren on that eerie sounding pitch. All the kids stopped playing and were watching the sky. Then the teachers began blowing whistles and calling for everyone to get into the school. I knew what the procedure was because we had numerous tornado drills, everyone was supposed to sit down in the cafeteria against the wall with their heads between their legs. While everyone began racing toward the school I thought to myself, " My mom is home by herself and we don't have a basement " So rather than sitting on the floor next to a bunch of booger pickers I decided to go to my house to keep my mom company. I don't know if that school had a record for the 100 yard dash but I know I would have shattered it that day. I got to my house just as the hail began to fall. My mom was startled when I came in but was glad to see me, we waited in the hall because the bathroom had too big of a window. The storm lasted about 20 minutes and we were lucky, the tornado touched down in another town. I normally walked home from school with my younger brother and when he came home at 3:30 and saw me sitting on the sofa eating Quisp cereal and watching Speed Racer he yelled for my mom " Why did he get to come home early? ". Preparing for tornadoes is a lot better these days then it was back then. Every house I lived in since has had a basement.