Tornado

Pete looks out of the cellar and reports that there doesn’t appear to be much damage but that the sky still looks ominous. He says they should remain in the cellar a bit longer. The narrator asks for another story about Tornado. Pete says that he remembers another story about the “saddest day of [his] life” (36).

Pete remembers going to town with his father in the truck. While they didn’t initially plan to take Tornado with them, the dog jumps in. Pete and his father go to the hardware store. When they return, a family is gathered around Tornado in the bed of the truck. A little girl is calling him “Buddy” over and over again. Pete’s father asks the man with the family what they are doing, and he says their dog, Buddy, was lost in the August tornado. He says his little girl was heartbroken as she loved the dog. Pete’s father mentions that his son loves the dog as well. The other man asks if he needs to go to the police to settle it, and Pete’s father says the dog rightfully belongs to the other family and to take him.