The End Is Nigh (maybe)

Having been a resident of several different geographic areas of the country, I am quite used to a wide range of weather conditions. There's the Gulf hurricanes that swing by to visit every summer. The Tornado Alley twisters that roar through in the spring. Even an occasional blizzard. I've gotten used to these natural nuisances. Sure I know they're dangerous, but at the same time, they're just sort of there. There's nothing to be done when the sirens go off except head down to the basement. Asi es la vida.
Sometimes though, I forget that not everyone was born and bred in the good ole' South. Not everyone thinks tornados are something to be virtually ignored. I learned this a few nights ago, when the sirens went off in my college town. We all knew the drill and made our way down to the bottom floor hallway.
Most of the girls were pretty chill. They'd been doing the same thing in high schools across the state since they could barely spell "CAT". They were pros alright. Even I, a fairly recent arrival to the area (about four years ago), had long been accustomed to having my life threatened on a weekly basis in the springtime. We settled down and started bantering, or watching Netflix videos, or doing homework, or whatever we were doing before being so rudely interrupted.
Except that one girl who was starting to hyperventilate. Apparently they don't have tornados in New York. We tried to encourage her, but all she could think about was how she'd skipped church earlier that morning, which must mean that we were all doomed. The wind started to howl a little, and she whipped out her cell phone to send out her "goodbyes" to her parents. Great. Now some entire Northeastern township was going to be in panic.
But, it passed as quickly as it had come. We all shuffled back up to our rooms, leaving the poor Yankee with her head in a whirl. I don't know, maybe I would be just as frantic if I woke up to several feet of snow sealing me into my house. Probably not. I don't worry too much about the weather.