the wizard of oz

We were sitting on the grass in the little local park, right next to the playground. There were six of us, five children and i. We had set up the tent, trying it out in preparation for much camping this summer; we had spread our blankets, picnic, crayons, ant-catching equipment, buckets, spades and books. Next to us stood our bicycles, including the massive bakfiets that we used to transport all of the above. The sun was shining and the sky was as blue as the eyes of the princesses in Isabelle's drawings. All was quiet on the western front.

Suddenly the most incredible thing happened. First of all the entire contents of the sand-box of the playground was lifted up into the air, formed neatly into a whirling column and started to move towards us at great speed. An incredibly cold wind hit us in the face, and our eyes and mouths filled with sand. Then we saw the bicycles lift up into the air, move forward in Mary Poppins style and drop heavily onto the ground. I heard the children scream, and maybe i screamed too, and then the tent which was right beside us was lifted up really high into the air and flew away. I stood up and ran after it, managing to catch up with it just as it fell to the ground 100 metres from where we sat. The whole thing lasted less than 10 seconds.

And there we were, in shock. The children were crying, and all i could think of, as i tried to gather our stuff which had been spread all over the park, was that whatever it was, if its path had run 1.5 metres more to the left, i would have had five children lifted up into the air and dropped down again. Not a pretty thought. The most insane thing though, was the way everyone at the park just pretended that nothing had happened. The other children kept on playing, the mothers kept on sitting on their benches. If it hadn't been for my five little witnesses, i would have doubted my own sanity (yes, i know, i already have enough reasons to doubt my sanity...).

The internet tells us it was a dust devil. All i can say is, it's time to get the Wizard of Oz out of the library. Again.