Sunday, May 22, 2011. It began as a warm cloudless summer day in the Ozarks. I debated on whether to go to church or head for the Indigo Skies Casino near Seneca, MO.
The casino Won Out
I was living in Springfield, MO. with my daughter, Rossana, and her three children. The Sunday night poker game at Indigo Skies was a good one and I generally did well there.
Senaca was an hour's drive from Springfield. I stopped at a gift shop along the highway to buy some Ozark fudge because I knew the kids and my daughter would enjoy it.
As I neared the casino...
...I noticed some clouds building in the sky. I decided to valet park the car in case it was raining when I left the casino. That turned out to be a good decision.
The game went well and by the time 6 p.m. rolled around, I was a couple of hundred dollars ahead. Around 9 p.m., I heard a rattling sound on the roof. One of the security guards said it was hail stones.
'Bad storm outside,' he said. 'Lots of lightning and wind.'
The hailstones continued falling. Around 10 p.m., I decided to call it an evening and cashed in for $450.
As I left the cage, the cashier said:
'Better be careful going home. I hear there's a lot of wind and trees down out there. It sounds to me like it might have been a tornado.'
The 10-mile drive back to the main highway leading to Springfield was a nightmare.
Trees and tree limbs were scattered across the highway. Road signs are down and I could see some power lines lying on the side of the road. I kept driving.
Since I was down to a quarter tank of gas, I stopped at a service station to fill up. The attendant asked me if I was headed east. I told her I was.
She shook her head.
'You'll never get there,' she said. 'The tornado has the highway blocked. Better find a motel down the road and wait out the story.'
That was exactly what I did.
The Next Morning
After a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, coffee and orange juice, I walked into the parking lot and looked at the sky. It was dark, threatening and looked troubled. Another tourist walked up to me.
'That was a bad storm and it isn't over yet. It killed quite a few people. Parts of Joplin, including the hospital, were pretty well devastated,' he said.
I had always enjoyed looking at the sky before. Now it made me feel fearful.
Mother Nature can be devastating. Even today I feel for the people in Puerto Rico and the Southern states who suffered damage and death from those hurricanes. I went back inside the motel, called my daughter, and decided to stay another night.
The next day the highway was cleared. I decided to make a brief tour of the area before driving back to Springfield.
As I passed the areas hit hardest by the tornado, I was amazed at the amount of destruction it caused. Entire blocks were leveled as flat as a pool table. Houses had been flattened, trees sheared, and utility poles and wires flung blocks away by the force of the swirling winds.
The hospital had been gutted by the storm. The announcer on my car radio stated that as many as 100 people had been killed. Rescue workers were still in the process of digging people out of their destroyed homes.
As I eased my car onto the highway, the sun slipped from behind a cloud and my world lit up again.
I thanked God for my sun lightened world and prayed it would remain.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
