By Caroline Clemmons
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I remember walking home from school in
a sand storm with sand stinging my legs. Worse were the dust storms. Dust snuck
in every window. Our home had wooden frames that admitted more sand and dust
than modern metal frames. I remember my mother hanging wet sheets at the
windows of my room during a sand or dust storm when I was home from school very sick. My mom was amazing (for many reasons)!
Once Hero and I were visiting my mother-in-law, who lived in a new and quite lovely assisted living facility in Lubbock, Texas. (This was after my mother had already moved from Lubbock to an apartment near us.) A black dust storm blew in from somewhere far away from West Texas. The dust in that area is reddish brown, and we had no idea where the black dust originated. This was by far the worst dust storm we had ever encountered. The street lights came on even though it was mid-day. Visibility resembled a heavy London fog. The local newspaper dubbed it "Black Sunday."
Lung problems are my Kryptonite. Even in my mother-in-law’s apartment, the dust created the sensation of too little air. I became so ill that we either had to leave or take me to the ER. We left, my Hero driving faster than usual until we descended the Caprock and left the storm behind.
For writers, every event is food for a book. In The Most Unsuitable Courtship, a similar storm occurred. The hero and heroine had rescued three orphaned children, one of whom had an asthma attack in the middle of nowhere with killers chasing them. Of course, the hero and heroine were able to cope and help the child. I like the story, by the way. If you haven’t read that third book in the Kincaid series, a western historical romance, here’s the e-book link:
https://www.amazon.com/Most-Unsuitable-Courtship-Kincaids-Book-ebook/dp/B00G5YXI6I/
It’s also available in audiobook and
paperback and is enrolled in KU.
Have you been in a bad sand or dust storm?
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Thanks for stopping by. Happy March.
