My life will never be the same ...

My company for Memorial Day left this afternoon.  As soon as we had the house back in order, I jumped into the car to head for the grocery store ... the fridge needed replenishing.  At the first main intersection, I met a cop.  His car blocked the road, and he stood, looking bored, to the side of it.  He motioned me to a stop, allowed a car to pass from the other way, and then signaled for me to go.

As I turned, a large vehicle caught the corner of my eye.  It was an ambulance.  Checking my rear-view, I saw a mass of strobing red and blue lights clustered about a half mile down the main road.  Behind me came the ambulance, no flashing lights, no hurry. 

The thought came to me - someone's life has changed today.  Someone woke up this morning, went about their usual business, and in a few split seconds, without warning, their life changed. 

I know that feeling.  I think we've all had moments like that, even if it hasn't been due to an accident.  When your boyfriend breaks up with you, when you lose your job, when you find out you're expecting ... any number of things can change your life.  So let's hear about it.

Prompt:
A life changing experience
(Remember, it can be completely fictional, it doesn't have to be autobiographical.)

**********************************************************************

My response:

"When will Mommy be home?" Janie asked plaintively.

Cami sighed, scooping the tiny child into her arms.  "She's just out to lunch with some friends, then she'll be back."  The wind scattered the stray hairs that had fallen out of Janie's ponytail, and they flew chaotically around her pale face.

"Let's go back inside!" Danielle whined.  "I want to play Monopoly!"

Cami pressed her lips together, studing the clouds.  It looked as if a massive locomotive had driven back and forth, spewing tall, dark clouds into the spring sky.  Janie and Danielle lived in an old neighborhood, and it was hard to see much over the towering ash trees.

Then the tornado siern split the air.

Cami swallowed hard.  Janie started crying, burying her head into cami's chest, small tears dripping down onto Cami's tank top.  "Alright, Danielle, we're going inside."

Cami resisted the urge to check her cell phone as she ushered Danielle into the house.  She pulled the heavy door closed behind her and locked it.  For an instant, she considered calling her own mom, but the responsible part of her knew she could still do that when she'd gotten the girls downstairs.

The basement stairs were narrow and steep, and now Danielle was crying, too.  "I don't want to play downstairs.  There's spiders down there!"  Janie sobbed harder, and Cami shifted her weight to her other arm. 

Cami scanned the basement, her eyes locking on the bathroom.  She'd babysat often enough over here to know that the downstairs basement sat dead in the middle of the house, with no windows.  She dumped Janie into the tub, then shoved Danielle in.  A pile of pillows and blankets lay next to the downstairs entertainment center, so Cami grabbed as much as her arms would carry and pulled a handful of pillows into the bathroom behind her.

Then she shut and locked the bathroom door and sank down on the floor.  Janie crawled out of the bathroom and latched herself to Cami's side.  Danielle pouted miserably on the floor.  Cami pulled out her cell phone.  No bars.  Only the muffled sound of the siern from above gave her any idea what to do.  Stay put.

The first few minutes passed slowly, with nothing for Cami to do but listen to the cries of the two little girls.  Then the roar of the wind grew louder, thundering above them so even the concrete slab beneath them vibrated and trembled.  Danielle gave up her pouting and burried her face in Cami's lap.

Cami prayed.

Slowly, the roar of the wind died, and Cami could again hear the soft cries of the girls.  Cami watched the time on her phone.  When an hour had passed, she carefully opened the bathroom door and peered out.  The basemet was still in one piece, but it looked as if a whole preschool full of kids had spent the afternoon tearing the place apart, and sunlight streamed in from above the staircase.

Cami took each of the girls by the hand and led them upwards.