Roxanne entered the conference room and took a seat. She was attending a course at another production plant and was one of the first to arrive. As others entered, Roxanne recognized a few of them from previous process courses and then met a few new people. One of the people she met for the first time was to be her neighbour and class partner for the three days of the course. His name was James and Roxanne was immediately smitten with him. His skin was darker than most, from some Asian and native ancestors as she learned in conversation. He had a great body and an amazing rear end. And when he smiled, Roxanne couldn't help but smile too.
As the course progressed, they worked well together and had a lot of fun. Several times, Roxanne wondered if James was flirting with her or if she was imagining things as wishful thinking. On the last day, they were supposed to apply their new knowledge by doing a mill audit. Doing such an audit required taking readings and samples at regular intervals and all participants were assigned an area. Teams remained as they had all week so Roxanne and James were paired.
As they put on their safety gear, one of the plant people came to see them and said that they were under a tornado watch for the afternoon and informed them that if the watch turned into a warning, they'd announce it on the radios and that if a tornado became imminent, they would hear a siren. They then learned that if they heard that siren, they were to take cover immediately. While a few teams had to be shuffled to ensure there was a local person on each team, James and Roxanne stayed together. James had worked at this plant before so knew the layout well.
Roxanne and James made their way to their assigned location and started working. Now that they were alone, there was no mistaking the flirting. Several times, there was touching and winking and smiling. In between the sampling, they'd talk. Roxanne found out that James was now working at a plant not too far away from where they were and he knew exactly what to do if the sirens rang. He reassured her that the chances of that happening were pretty low.
As the day progressed, they saw dark clouds forming and the humidity got even worse than it had been. Roxanne had never felt such humidity before and despite the heat, she shivered at the sight of how dark the clouds were getting. Laughing, James put his arm around her shoulder and said "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe."
And that's when they heard on the radio that the tornado watch had now become a warning and that everyone should scout out safe places. Again, James reassured her and said "I know a place we can go to, we will not get hurt, I promise."
They took another round of samples and then looked up at the sky. Roxanne shivered and asked "Is that cloud rotating?"
James also looked up and nodded. The wind was picking up and rain started to fall. They took cover from the rain and kept looking at the ever-darkening clouds overhead. The rain got worse as they took another round of samples and Roxanne could swear there was something harder than rain pelting her arms. When the sirens started, Roxanne nearly jumped out of her skin.
James grabbed her hand and pulled her towards a concrete building. There was no mistaking that what was coming down had turned to hail. They could see the clouds rotating and churning as they made their way to the door. James pulled opened the door and pushed her in. The room was not big and was a storage room for cleaning supplies. There were brooms and shovels and such. James closed and secured the door behind them.
Then, he surprised Roxanne by pulling her into his arms and holding her. "Don't worry. I've been through several tornadoes and I'm still fine. We'll be fine."
As he said that, he soothed her hair and kissed her temple. It was all very sweet. As the noise got louder outside, Roxanne simply held on to him, feeling safe in his strong arms.
Within a few minutes, the lights went out. They could no longer hear any sound from the nearby machines and equipment, only the hail pelting against the heavy metal door. Then, they heard other objects banging against the door. To her relief, the door held fast and kept them safe.
They had no clue how long they were there. It seemed like an eternity. However, eventually, the noise died down. They waited a while and then James pulled back and asked "You okay? I think the worst is over. We made it. I'm going to try opening the door, okay?"
Roxanne nodded and then realized that he couldn't see her in the dark. "yes, I'm okay. Thanks. But how do you know that it's safe?"
"No more noise, just rain."
James made his way to the door and unbolted it. He carefully tried to open it but it would only open about 2 inches. It was enough to let some light in. It was also enough to see that there was a huge piece of debris blocking the door. They couldn't tell what it was, only that it was big and not moving.
