A dribble, a drabble

Shooting the Eye

Jude clutched his camera, too awed and surprised by the tornado to shoot the picture that might earn him a magazine spread. Even from this distance, the howling winds were almost deafening, drowning out the pounding of his heart in his ears. Raising the camera, he finally started clicking.

When a cow, legs running on empty air, swirled by in the storm's embrace, he ran back to the truck yelling in excitement and terror, "Telephoto lens! Where's my telephoto lens?!"

He tripped over a tree branch suddenly flung in his path by the wind and grunted in pain as he hit the ground hard on his shoulder. "Thank God!" he gasped when he saw he'd managed to hold his camera up safely.

Struggling upright, he limped over to his truck and fumbled with the handle. The wind fought him for control of the door, but finally he wrenched it ajar and climbed in.

He winced when he raised his arm to drag his equipment bag over. "Gonna leave a bruise," he muttered as he unzipped the bag and swapped out the lenses.

Pushing back out, he raced to the front of the truck, skidding to a stop when he saw that the storm, which had been miles away, was now only one.

"Holy mother of God," he whispered. His hair whipped around frantically, and he had to lock his legs to stop from being tugged forward.

Heart lodged in his throat, he fought the urge to run and raised his camera. He said to himself, "I'm an idiot, but just a few shots, just a few. Pulizter prize stuff this."

At the last second he saw a tree branch heading straight for his head and ducked. He turned when it crashed into the truck's windshield, but thankfully bounced off without breaking it.

"Hot damn!" he shouted and raced to the truck. It took all his strength to get the door open - and keep it open so he could climb inside without getting smashed. The wind shrieked by. The storm almost on top of him.

Jude cranked the key, and the engine roared to life. He slammed it into reverse and flung an arm along the bench seat to hold him twisted around while he drove backwards.

"Nooooo!" he screamed when his truck started to lift in the air, tilting forward to give him a sickening view of the ground directly below, instantly a hundred metres away.

Staring at the rapidly receding earth, calm descended over him. Acceptance. "I'm a idiot."

He grabbed a download cable from his bag and connected the camera to the phone to start uploading to his cloud.

He dialled his assistant, but unsurprisingly it went to voicemail. His voice shook as he spoke. "Dean, you won't believe the shots I'm sending in. It's been a pleasure working together, man. Kiss Mary for me."

Spinning wildly through the air, he continued clicking, tears streaming like rain, until he and his truck came screaming down to earth.