Storm Runners

A week after Chase’s father is struck by lightning, the economy falls into a recession, and the construction business goes into a tailspin. Chase’s dad sells all his properties, pays off his portion of his construction company’s debts, and signs over his half of the company to his partner, Chase’s Uncle Bob. He and Chase drive around the country in a 4x4 pickup that pulls a small house trailer, “The Shack.” They’re followed by Tomás, an extremely capable assistant who drives a big truck and trailer called “The Shop” that contains Tomás’s living area, “two dirt bikes, an all-terrain quad, and enough tools and supplies to build a three-story home” (6). The trailer, in turn, pulls another 4x4 truck.

As they drive, Chase and his dad play challenging games. About once an hour, his dad, who wears no watch, tells Chase the time, and Chase, reading his highly accurate watch, confirms it. Usually, his dad is correct to within seconds. Another game is “How to Get Out of Doom City” (6), in which Chase must find an escape route from a randomly selected city street.

The team travels south down Florida’s Gulf Coast, searching for John and Tomás’s next job. They always park their rigs on high ground 40 miles from a job site. Today, Hurricane Emily threatens.

Since the lightning strike, John is fascinated by weather and quickly becomes an expert at predicting it. He also now sleeps a mere four hours per night, not the eight hours of old. He’s filled with energy as if the lightning bolt put “electricity in his veins instead of blood” (12).

The team stops at a farm owned by Tomás’s brother, where they’ll store their trucks and trailers. They park in front of a group of metal buildings, from which steps the farm manager, a very small man named Marco Rossi. He introduces himself: “I have dwarfism. But the acceptable term if you want to be politically correct is little person” (15).

John and Tomás park the rigs inside a sturdy building, load up the 4x4 trucks, and drive off toward St. Petersburg. Chase plugs the Shack into the building’s water and electrical systems and then searches for Marco. He heads over to another building and enters it to find a girl his age and height with long, black, wet hair, feeding a giraffe. She introduces herself as Nicole Rossi, laughs at his confusion, and says that little people can have “regular-size” kids. Her hair is wet because she was in the pool; she’s a competition swimmer.

A roar shakes the building. Nicole says that’s one of the lions, Simba. She explains that the farm is the “Winter quarters for the Rossi Brothers’ Circus” (18). Other family members are on tour with the circus in Mexico; usually, Nicole stays here, where she has school.

Simba was retired from the circus after mauling a trainer. Outside, three lionesses and a young rescue lion prowl an enclosure; they trade places with Simba on alternate days. The Rossi animal facility rescues and rehabilitates many animals; a few enter the circus, but most are sent for further rehab or to zoos. Nicole expects to join the circus when she’s older and then become a marine animal veterinarian.

Another building holds Hector, a rescued leopard who’s smart, fast, and dangerous. Nicole senses his lethal nature and hopes he is transferred away soon. Other cages hold a bear, zebras, and ostriches; an aviary contains colorful parrots. Chase begins to think that the most interesting being at the farm isn’t one of the animals but Nicole herself.

The largest building is a rehearsal space for the circus; nearby is a bunkhouse for the “roughnecks,” or circus workers. Inside the rehearsal building are three circus rings; within one, Marco washes down a very pregnant elephant—normally, elephant births are handled at a different facility—and Marco and Nicole are nervous about it but excited as well.

Nicole takes Chase toward the farmhouse on a hill overlooking the property. At the house is her grandmother, Momma Rossi, who’s packing to leave because she thinks the hurricane will strike the farm.

The farmhouse is piled with boxes of circus memorabilia waiting to be moved to a waterproof storage container on the property. In the kitchen—its counters, appliances, and cupboards lowered below regular size by two feet—Momma, a little person, peels sweet potatoes at a sink, accompanied by a diapered green monkey. She welcomes Chase, then offers her condolences on the loss of his mother and sister.

The memory of that rainy day returns to Chase. He was at Boy Scout camp, waiting to be picked up by his parents, who were very late. His troop leader finally drove him down the mountain; halfway down, amid a traffic jam and emergency vehicles, they found his parents’ overturned car.

In St. Petersburg, John and Tomás canvass residents, offering for free to help them prep their homes for the coming storm. They then hand out business cards for the inevitable cleanup calls afterward, when they’ll get hired for pay.

Nicole and Momma argue genially about Nicole’s chores and pool practice. Momma shoos the monkey and gives Nicole a potato peeler to help prepare her own patented sweet potato pie. Chase volunteers to move the memorabilia boxes to storage. He’s used to organizing the travel trailers. The storage unit is a mess, so he starts by removing all the stored items and placing them on a tarp with a second tarp to cover them in case of rain. His work is delayed by interesting items he feels compelled to examine or read.

Marco appears and explains some of the items, especially old photos of family members like Marco’s father, who died when gored by an elephant. Marco still misses him decades later, and thinking about his deceased mother, Chase understands.

Chase warns Marco that the storage unit isn’t leakproof; Marco asks if he can remedy that, and Chase says yes. Two hours later, he’s finished loading the unit; then he caulks it and stretches tarps over it, lashing them down with bungee cords. He hurries to clean up and return before the sweet potato pie gets cold. Inside the Shack, he wonders why there are no pictures there of the Masters family.

In the Rossi kitchen, Chase sits down to a family feast that’s so delicious “it might have been the best meal he’d ever eaten” (39). In the background, the TV news reports Hurricane Emily’s approach. The storm, already a Category 4, lies stalled 150 miles to the southwest and could land anywhere along the coast: “At this point it’s up to fate…” (40). Both Nicole and Chase might have school tomorrow unless the storm heads their way.

Chase gives Nicole a tour of the Shack and Shop. She asks why he always carries his backpack everywhere; he explains that it’s for emergencies. She thinks it’s strange that he travels from disaster to disaster; he suggests that it’s probably no stranger than circus life.

While dressing and eating breakfast, Chase listens to news reports on Hurricane Emily. At 6:00 a.m. exactly, his father calls and asks for the time. Chase asks why there are no family pictures in the Shack and Shop; John answers that they’re safely stored at Uncle Bob’s so they don’t get lost on the road. Chase wonders that the name of the hurricane and his mother are the same; his father assures him it’s a coincidence.