Day 1 — The Dream, the Storm, Tony, and the Neighbours

Yesterday was the same day I had the dream of the Devil.

Later that day, southern Manitoba was hit with a powerful storm. My phone received over 40 tornado warning alerts. Strangely, the alerts themselves did not scare me.

What concerned me was my son Tony.

Tony was working at Concordia Village from 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Shortly after he started his shift, the alerts began coming in one after another. By around the fifth alert, the weather started picking up, and I became worried about him.

Around 4:45 p.m., I went to Concordia Village to check on him.

When I arrived, the doors were locked. I tried calling, but no one answered. There was nobody at the front desk, and because the workers are not allowed to have their phones on them, it appeared that none of them knew tornado warnings were happening outside.

I rang the doorbell about five times, waiting 30 to 45 seconds between each ring.

No one came.

I started getting frustrated and rang the doorbell around ten times in quick repetition.

Still, no one came.

Eventually, I kept pressing the doorbell until a resident in a wheelchair came to the door and asked why I was trying to get in.

I calmly explained, “There are tornado warnings, and I want to see my son.”

The elderly man seemed reluctant, which I understood, but he opened the door for me.

I thanked him and told him how much I appreciated it.

Once inside, I went toward the server area and asked a worker where my son was. She asked, “Who’s your son?”

I said, “Tony.”

She looked confused for a moment and said, “Oh, Anthony?”

I said, “Yes.”

The female server then called over her supervisor, a young woman who looked to be about 20 years old. The supervisors wore black shirts, while the regular workers wore burgundy.

The supervisor approached me and asked what my concerns were.

I told her, “I’m not trying to make anyone panic, but there have been multiple tornado warnings, and I need to talk to my son.”

I then asked her why there was no way for me to reach my son during an emergency situation.

She seemed lost for words.

I asked who was in charge of everything at that moment, and she told me she was.

To her credit, she understood my concern. But I could also tell her hands were tied. This was not really her responsibility to handle, and she clearly did not have the authority to fix the bigger problem.

I almost felt bad for her because I could tell she meant well. She was trying her best, but she did not know how to respond.

She mentioned that there had been situations in the past with concerned parents.

I asked her, “Then why have there been no solutions put in place to prevent this from happening again?”

Again, she was lost for words.

I then told her that I had been let in by a resident.

I said, “What if I was a threat?”

That was one of my biggest concerns. A resident should not have had to be the one to open the door for me. There should have been someone at the front desk, or security available, especially during an emergency situation.

She agreed with me, but again, she did not have the power to enforce that.

She also mentioned that there had been multiple instances of people being let into the building, with things being damaged or stolen.

I asked again, “If this has happened before, why is there still no solution?”

At that point, I started sympathizing with her more. This was not her fault. She was just doing her job, and she had been placed in a position where she had to answer for a system that clearly had holes in it.

I asked who her superior was, and she mentioned Beverly, but said Beverly only works during the day.

I told her, “I probably embarrassed my son, but he means the world to me. I just wanted to make sure he understood what was happening outside.”

Then my son Tony appeared.

I could see embarrassment and concern on his face.

I asked him if he could talk to me privately, and we stepped aside to speak.

I told him that I had already received multiple tornado warnings on my phone, and that the weather was starting to pick up. I told him I wanted him to come home with me.

He resisted.

He was worried about being fired from his job.

I tried to explain why I was concerned and why I thought it would be safer for him to leave, but the more I tried to convince him, the more I could see how hard it was becoming for him.

His eyes started watering.

In that moment, I realized that, even though my concern was coming from love, he may have felt humiliated. He was at work. He was trying to be responsible. He did not want to look bad in front of his coworkers or risk losing his job.

So I stopped pushing.

I asked him, “Do you want to continue working?”

He said yes.

So I let it be.

I respected his answer and left.

I went home upset.

I sat there thinking about everything while scrolling on my phone. Outside, the rain started getting heavier, and the wind began picking up strongly.

By around 6:45 p.m., I went to pick Tony up.

The rain was incredibly heavy. The wind was strong. Then it started hailing.

I drove down a flooded Concordia Road as golf-ball to baseball-sized hail began hitting my vehicle. Every piece of hail sounded like a loud bang, but it did not deter me.

Tony means the world to me.

As I was driving, my windshield started getting damaged. Crack after crack appeared as the hail kept striking the glass.

When I arrived, Tony got into my vehicle. I was frustrated, and I showed it. I regret that, because it upset him to the point that he cried.

We made it home with my windshield cracked in multiple places.

But what mattered most to me was that Tony was okay.

After we got home, I went to my bedroom and fell asleep around 7:30 p.m. But I kept getting woken up by more tornado warnings.

By around 8:00 or 8:30 p.m., I could not take the warnings anymore, so I called Tony because he was not home.

It turned out Tony was outside helping our neighbours, including his good friend Hussam and Hussam’s family.

I went outside to see what was going on, and that was when I noticed branches all over the road. It seemed like the storm had gotten even worse while I was sleeping.

Then I saw Hussam’s father walking down the street toward me.

He told me his vehicle would not start. He was clearly panicked.

I told him not to worry, and that everything would be fine.

Tony, Hussam, and Hussam’s family were transferring items from their stalled vehicle into a friend’s vehicle. Their vehicle had stalled out at the end of our block.

I was then able to boost Hussam’s dad’s vehicle and drive it about 20 feet before it stalled out again.

I drove my truck around the block to get into a better position to give him another boost. This time, I let it charge a little longer.

Luckily, they were able to make it safely to their garage before something started smoking from the front end of their van.

Thankfully, the smoke cleared.

Hussam and his family were very thankful. They invited Tony and I over for dinner sometime in the future.

Afterward, I drove around for a bit. My phone was still going off with alert after alert, but strangely, I still did not feel afraid of a tornado.

It is hard to explain, but I truly did not feel like a tornado was going to hit where I was. I could feel the anxiety in other people, but I personally did not feel in danger.

Eventually, I went home.

When I got back, I noticed something odd.

The entire block I live on had no street lights working, yet the other blocks nearby still had theirs on.

What made it stranger was that, about a month earlier, I had noticed that the only two street lights out on my block were the two near my grandmother’s house. I wake up early every morning, so I had noticed it before.

But now the whole block was dark.

Another strange thing was happening with my phone.

Every time I was near my block and talking to someone on the phone, people told me they could not understand me. They said I sounded robotic and glitchy.

Either way, I walked into the house and saw Tony sleeping on the couch.

That was enough for me.

He was safe.

I went to my bedroom and wondered if I would have a continuation of my previous dream. I wondered why, in that dream, I had to go on a jet.

But unfortunately, I did not remember my dream that night.

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Day 1 — The Dream, the Storm, Tony, and the Neighbours