It got very quiet. This was very odd for a pet store. At any given moment birds are squawking, puppies are barking or growling, and rodents are chasing each other or running on squeaky wheels. There weren’t very many customers in the store, a woman with two kids were back in the fish alcove.

The silence was eerie, but not as odd as the color of the sky outside. For 3 in the afternoon, it was ominously dark. The parking lot light blinked to life. I walked slowly toward the windows, which was probably not the smartest thing to do. The heavy clouds flickered with electricity.

Lightning suddenly struck nearby. The thunder ran through the store like a hyper-active two-year old. Puppies whined and rodents cowered, some buried themselves deeper into their fluffy cage linings.

Then I saw it. The largest funnel cloud ever, spinning and looming. I shrieked some nonsense about a twister and ran for the customers when the power went out. In a wild game of Marco Polo we located each other and the employee bathroom.