# "Where the wind comes sweeping down the Plains" - gypsysue fiction



## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

It was an ordinary shopping trip on an ordinary Saturday morning in April. The Duncan family had just loaded their purchases into their van when the skies opened and the storm released it’s fury. In a flash of lightening they saw the tornado heading for the parking lot. Cars were tossed into the air, and then they felt their van sliding…

In the aftermath, the Emergency services personnel were busy dealing with the dead, dying and trapped. The Duncans and their four young children had to get home. Home was 17 miles away.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

OH GOODY! A new story.  I'll get to this tomorrow.


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## kilagal (Nov 8, 2011)

Nice to find another one of your stories Sue. I read it tonight while rendering pig fat down into lard. So it gave me something new to read while doing it. Thanks again.


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## Clarice (Aug 19, 2010)

Loved it like all the rest. Keep up the good work..


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## Dove150 (Jun 5, 2011)

I really enjoyed this story, mainly because it didn't happen to me. You sure gave me a lot to think about and I need to make some changes to what all I have in my car.

You are so talented, thank you for sharing another of your stories with us.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Thanks Kila, Clarice, and Dove! I'm glad you enjoyed the story!  I try to really put myself in the place of my characters to make it more "real".

UncleJoe... it's only 21 pages, it won't keep you up too late!


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

gypsysue said:


> UncleJoe... it's only 21 pages, it won't keep you up too late!


Nope. Only took about half an hour. 

Hope I never have to deal with a tornado up close and personal. :thankyou:


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## CulexPipiens (Nov 17, 2010)

Another great story. Short and to the point. Your situations are all valid and are something many of us could find ourselves in given similar circumstances. (I'd say more but don't want to give it away to those who haven't read it yet)


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

GypsySue, I really enjoyed the story and it really made me think about things I keep in my truck.

Thank you very much.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Thanks, Culex and lilRedHen. I'm glad you liked the story and I appreciate you letting me know. The feedback is nice.

UncleJoe...half an hour? Not 31 or 29 minutes?  I'll try to make sure my next story keeps you up half the night!

But I didn't say whether it would be because the story will be long, or whether the content/plot will keep you up! lol


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## Rain23 (Jul 18, 2011)

This was a little different from your longer stories where people are better prepared. What do I have in my purse if I lose my carry bag, and do I just assume it all works because I've used that type of thing before? I did go tuck another clean handkerchief in there -- I had a sudden vision of having to use my t-shirt as a prefilter in front of everybody, treating them to the sight of my 50-year-old figure and homemade lingerie. Using a foot-powdered sock is just not an option, either. 

Thanks for another good, thought-provoking story.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Wow, Rain, awesome input! I never thought of a handkerchief to filter water! (Keeping in mind it just filters out debris, it does not purify the water for drinking). It would be easy to throw one or two in a pack or kit! Thanks, and I'm glad you enjoyed the story (or should I call it a "story-ette", since it's only 21 pages?  )

One of my daughters, who is 25, read the story and said "Why didn't they just stay with the van until the police got there?" :scratch: Well, good question. In a lot of cases, that might have been best, especially if they had NO preps at all with them. If I were to suggest an alternative, I would have moved out of the area and kept trying to call someone to pick us up, or tried to hire someone there to drive my family home. 

But the point of writing the story was to bring up possible things a family could experience if they chose to take what supplies they carried in their van and walk home. I often see questions in the threads on this site about how to bug out or bug home with kids. It's hard enough to think of taking care of ourselves when something happens, but when we have children along, we want to know how to do our best for them. 

One of the reasons we're here is to think ahead and find solutions to possible problems. I would love it if others would write stories, or even suggest other possible outcomes to the ones I've written. Most of you could imagine a scenario and think about what you might encounter. Start there and write it down. It doesn't matter if it's one page or one hundred pages. Someone could suggest a scenario to me and I'll write a story. That's how most of my stories came about. Someone wondered how they'd survive a particular thing. I ran with the idea and wrote a story. Someone else could start with the same scenario and write a completely different story.


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## HarleyRider (Mar 1, 2010)

Yay..... a new story!!! Loved it!


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## Rain23 (Jul 18, 2011)

GS, just wanted to respond to your daughter's question of why they didn't just wait until help arrived. This is the most common mindset today; with our cell phones, texting, computers and other media, our society's experience is that help is always on the way. She asked an insightful question. Wondering about that and developing her own answer could save her life some day as she explores what she could do if no help is forthcoming. Your story is engaging and it makes the reader think "I wouldn't have done that. Wait, what would I have done?"


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## HozayBuck (Jan 27, 2010)

*Sorry I'm late with my input, been busy for an old retired coot... I liked the idea behind the story...and like others I see the good and not so points..
In a big city I'd be torn on getting out of it and staying put, in a smaller town I'd be inclined to stay put..

All of us who write things find the comments to be both enlightening and sometimes nit picky... but both make us better

Me ? I'd never start out with a baby and 3 smaller kids and my wife on a 17 mile walk unless it was flat impossible to remain where I was..but that's just me...

I know that GS don't think a second on making a 14 mile round trip on foot just to check the mail.. hell I doubt I've walked 14 miles in one shot since I left the Corps!! in fact I know I haven't.. and that was almost 50 years ago..

So I say good story GS ! we can all " Coulda , Woulda , shoulda all day but it is a good little read about the desire to get home and the willingness to do the hard work to get there..

Good one!
*


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## HarleyRider (Mar 1, 2010)

*Closer To Reality*

I really like the idea of writing stories showing how preppers and non-preppers would deal with scenarios that are most like to affect the majority of us. Tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, heat waves, loss of power for extended periods of time, floods, obscenely high gas prices, etc. are very likely to happen, whereas TEOTWAWKI is not quite as likely.

Most of the above are what I primarily prep for, and I have been able to put my preps to good use during them (however I still prep for TEOTWAWKI ).


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Thanks, everyone, for your input! It's great. We all have different strengths, weaknesses, backgrounds, and so forth, that come together to form the choices we make. Hozay is right, for me it's nothing to head off on long walks or bicycle rides (A pleasant afternoon on my bicycle can cover 50 miles or more, and the 14-mile round trip to the post office on foot is a nice way to spend a day in winter for MMM and myself!). We're raising a grandson that is 14-months old now, and he spends time in the baby backpack every day as I go about my work. It's easier than carrying him or having him holding onto my pantleg! We've been out hiking and snowshoeing with him in the pack, and he loves it. When our kids were growing up we occasionally walked 4 miles to Wal-mart (across town) and 4 miles home. It was wonderful when they got old enough to ride their bicycles across town with me! Walking and bicycling was and still is as natural to them as riding in a car.

So it didn't seem unreasonable to me (to me. Maybe not to others) for a family to hit the road on foot to get home after any SHTF situation. I'd have never stood around in the parking lot waiting for help, unless one of my family was injured and shouldn't be moved. Then I'd be at the front of the line demanding medical personnel to tend to my family memeber! If no one was injured I'd move away from the destruction zone and then attempt to get a ride home. The wife/mother in the story had a sister in Oklahoma City, just a couple hours' drive away. It wouldn't be unreasonable to ask her to drive over and pick up the family. They might even have been able to rent a car for a day, drive home and get their other car, and return the rental. 

As for what would happen along the walk home the possibilities are endless. I just wrote whatever came to mind. I could write the same story a dozen more times and come up with something different each time. That's one reason I wish more of you would write. You all have shown me through your comments that you're able to think of what you would or wouldn't do. Run your mind through the scenario, then write it down. A lot of the details fill themselves in while you write.


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## oldvet (Jun 29, 2010)

Sue,
Just finished the story and read some of the posts about it. I will have to agree that it makes you stop and think about your emergency supplies or BOB that you should be carrying in your vehicle and what you absolutely need and what would be nice to have in an emergency situation. A very well thought out and well written story. Good on ya. :congrat:


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

Great story. Thank you!


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## AzDesertRatMarine (Jan 6, 2011)

Sue - Thanks in advance! I'll read it tonight.


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## HozayBuck (Jan 27, 2010)

HozayBuck said:


> *Sorry I'm late with my input, been busy for an old retired coot... I liked the idea behind the story...and like others I see the good and not so points..
> In a big city I'd be torn on getting out of it and staying put, in a smaller town I'd be inclined to stay put..
> 
> All of us who write things find the comments to be both enlightening and sometimes nit picky... but both make us better
> ...


Had to correct something


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Thanks, Oldvet, mdprepper, and AZDesertRatMarine! Glad you enjoyed it (assuming AzD.R.M. enjoyed it after reading it!  )


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## oldvet (Jun 29, 2010)

You know there are times when I get ate up with the dumb a$$ and after reading Sue's story I realized that I had been ate up with it for a while concerning my BOB's. I have several BOB's in the house ready to toss in the truck and boogie, but I had nothing in the truck on a daily basis except my tool box. Well thanks to Sue's story my dumb a$$ finally realized that if something happened while I was on the road/away from home I would be screwed, so I now have a BOB in my truck.

Thanks for the jolt of reality Sue.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

:threadbump:


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## Donald (Sep 1, 2010)

another good read........thank you...............Donald


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Glad you liked it, Donald!


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## DKRinAK (Nov 21, 2011)

(Blush) One of the first stories I read on the board. Late to post a comment.

I enjoyed it because the characters _didn't_ sit around and wait for someone else to bail them out of a bad situation. I've walked long distances before, so it made a kind of sense to me.

Loved the car hood sledge! An easy read, it should give the reader some good ideas, and better yet, provoke further study...

Good show.


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## BuggingIn (May 31, 2010)

Wonderful story, Gypsy Sue! Got me thinking, for sure.


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## Phil_evans (May 12, 2016)

gypsysue said:


> It was an ordinary shopping trip on an ordinary Saturday morning in April. The Duncan family had just loaded their purchases into their van when the skies opened and the storm released it's fury. In a flash of lightening they saw the tornado heading for the parking lot. Cars were tossed into the air, and then they felt their van sliding&#8230;
> 
> In the aftermath, the Emergency services personnel were busy dealing with the dead, dying and trapped. The Duncans and their four young children had to get home. Home was 17 miles away.


Hello:
All I get is - not a valid pdf document.
What do I do ?


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

It loaded just fine on my computer just now.


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## cybergranny (Mar 11, 2011)

Once again you didn't disappoint. Great realistic story. Thanks for Sharing your talent with us.


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