Text | Xu Shaoping
The tornado in the summer of 1968 was the earliest and most memorable scene of disaster in my memory.
After a few days of heavy and small rain, the river has risen a lot, and the water in the front bend of the village department (then called the brigade headquarters) has flooded to the top step of the pier, and if the water rises again, it will flood to the lower ground rice mill in the east.
That afternoon, it was still overcast. I was playing in my father's accounting room, and at about three o'clock in the morning light, the sky suddenly darkened, and the day was like night. Father said that there was going to be a storm again, so we went to see outside the courtyard door.
Before I reached the entrance of the courtyard, I heard only a loud "whine-hoo-hoo- Just when I was terrified, I saw the grass piled by the Agen family by the river, like being picked up by an invisible giant hand, circling in a circle in the sky, and in a flash, all scattered and flew all over the sky.
"No life, no death, the tornado is coming, my ship has overturned!" Cai Chunhai, the mechanic who drove the flushing machine boat in the village, shouted, and the machine boat overturned in the water, turned a circle on the river surface, and ran aground on the river beach.
tornado? The first time I heard it, and even more the first time I saw it. For a moment, the sky was full of straw, tiles, and clothes, and I was so frightened by the scene in front of me that I hid behind my father, holding his legs, trembling.
Before I could react, the seven or eight people standing by the river watching the bustle all fell to the ground. Some of the women cried: "Rush home, it is going to be destroyed, hurry up and go home!" ”
During the conversation, the wind had turned in direction, and a strange scene appeared: on the surface of the river, a huge column of water was suddenly swept up by the wind, swirling, carrying countless straws, tiles, and clothes, thrown into the sky, flew to a height of more than ten meters, and became a cone on it. Immediately after, the wind swept to Henan, and the grass house of the Guoting family by the river immediately lifted off the small half of the roof.
Looking at this side of the river, the shell trees and poplar trees in the east were shaken by the wind and fell into the river.
The tornado seemed deliberate. There were several billboards in the village departments, one of which read, "Long live the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution!" "A few words, my father just wrote a few days ago. It was this sign that was pulled up by the wind, and with a loud bang, it smashed into the southeast corner of the rice mill and became an eternal fragment.
One of the young men standing by the river, Chen San, was now naked and wearing short sleeves on his body, and he was looking around for it.
The fierce wind was like a dragon, starting from the Agen family haystack, circling the river bay and roaring eastward. The whole tornado is not long, about ten minutes before and after it.
Secretary Xue in the village was in his forties and had never experienced such a situation. After the strong wind passed, Secretary Xue immediately put on a set of shoes, told my father to stay in the village, and shouted: "Everything else will follow me to the field!" ”
This sudden tornado, there was no big loss in the village, the victims were all zhuangdong squad, the houses were damaged by more than a dozen, hundreds of trees fell, fortunately no one died, only a few people were hit by flying objects.
The captain of the Zhuangdong team is called Xu Guocheng, with big eyes and a loud voice, and he does things vigorously. After the disaster, Captain Xu immediately organized all male laborers and carried out self-help after the disaster. In Zhuangshang, we can all hear the voices of Captain Xu of Henan and the male laborers, "One, two, three, hey yo...", the sound is like a "Yellow River Chorus" sonorous and powerful, shaking the earth.
For a time, no matter whose family it was, relatives, neighbors, widows and the elderly, and even former enemies did not care about the previous suspicions, helped each other, and rescued each other. After that disaster, the village was particularly harmonious, and for a long time, I did not hear the news of the neighbors mourning, quarreling, and crying.
More than fifty years later, I still have a lingering feeling when I think of that summer, that disaster is no less than the current horror movie, and it is unimaginable without immersive people. But when I think of the scene of the villagers helping each other, my soul is full of emotions, although the disaster is merciless, there is great love in the world.
About author:Mr. Xu Shaoping, senior teacher, vice principal of wubao primary school in Xiaoji Town, Jiangdu District, member of Taizhou Writers Association, member of Yangzhou Poetry Association, winner of the first "Most Beautiful Charity Star" in Jiangdu District, Yangzhou City. Many prose poems have been published in provincial and municipal newspapers and periodicals. Now retired from the second line, living in Hailing District, Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province.