So you probably heard about the booksigning we’d planned for Nikki Hardin, founder and publisher of Skirt!, last night at Davis Kidd. Bad news for us: The tornado that came through town happened to appear at the exact hour of the booksigning. The whole Skirt! staff, plus a few die-hard fans, were at the bookstore the whole time, though we moved the party to the basement, which turned out to be nearly as much fun.
Apologies to those of you who wanted to come and couldn’t get there. The book is really funny, though, and I happen to know Davis Kidd has plenty of copies!
Any other good storm stories you want to share?
Responses to “We didn’t sign many books, but had fun anyway.”
February 6th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
We’re in Hickory Hill; my husband plotted the damage to the neighborhood, and it appears that the same tornado that struck the mall came within 117 yards of our house. Yikes! The funny thing is we didn’t hear anything that sounded like a big storm. There were high winds, and a little rain, and we lost power for a few minutes, but that’s it. Meanwhile a stone wall behind our house was getting knocked down for about a 100 foot stretch, and trees at the apartment complex were ripped out of the ground.
The mall’s insulation was all over our street. We saved a chunk of it to show my mom.
My husband pulled up Google Earth and put dots on the map everywhere we had seen damage in the neighborhood. It makes a perfect mathematical curve all the way from Raines road, through the mall, to where we are and past onto Riverdale.
I was a little worried about the Chao Praya restaurant and grocery next to it, which the map showed were in the direct path. I like the restaurant and I’ve known those people so long I feel like I know the owner and his family, but apparently they’re okay, although they had some damage.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Oh – and sorry to hear about the disastrous booksigning! My mom once had one during a Memphis snowstorm and I think it was basically just members of our family who showed up. Glad you had fun anyway.
February 7th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I live directly behind the Hickory Ridge Mall and we are still without power. There are chunks of the mall all over my apartment complex parking lot. Hickory Ridge Elementary School is still without power. My sons were home when it hit. I was stuck at work (Nike) also without power. Cell phone usage was limited for a while and of course my battery died when I needed it the most! The electronic gate where we park would not open of course, but finally security got it open and I was able to leave to go home to check on my boys since I could not reach them on the phone. I didn’t get into panic mode until I got home because I didn’t realize just how lucky and blessed me and my children were! My son…thank God is not a panicky type person and nothing seems to faze him so that helped a lot.
The logistics company where the three employees died is also not very far from where I live, so it seems like the tornado touched down right in front of us and right behind us.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Welcome to Tennessee!