Watsonville Storm

I sit in my warm house
While the hail pours down
Hitting my roof loudly.
My dad turns on the news
While muttering how this weather will ruin
His strawberry fields on Lakeview Road.
The news says that some houses by the Parjaro River
Have been flooded.
I gaze out the window at trees bending as the hail pours down
Harder and harder.
The wind threatens to snap them in half like a toothpick.
The news shows the Pacific Ocean
Waves towering over everything
Then crashing down on the wet sand.
All of the residents of Plum Hill Drive are snug in their houses.

While the hail pours down
The poor men outside the stores
Still pick up aluminum cans to recycle.
Their beards are tangled and soaked in the rain.

On Elm Street, my school flag billows
Wildly in the wind.

A loose board in my fence
Creaks and groans
As it slams into the fence
Again and again.

At the slough,
The grass in the marshes lashes around like whips.

All of a sudden
The sky which was dark gray
Is now blue.
I walk outside to see the water dripping
From the trees and smell the fresh air.
I see my mom’s car pull up the driveway from the hospital.
As I walk in the door with her
I notice something:
Our family is complete.

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Alison Uyeda, Age 10
Linscott Charter School
Watsonville, California
Teacher: Maybelle Kagy/Linda Cover