Torcano!

INT. TV STUDIO

TV weatherman, MARTY FLUFF, is giving the weather report.  He stands in front of a map of Maynard County.

MARTY FLUFF

And you might want to head for the basement, if you’ve got one folks.  Funnel clouds have been sighted in Western Maynard County.

He produces a clown squeeze horn and HONKS it.

TELEVISION SCREEN

Marty Fluff places a large tornado magnet on the map.

MARTY FLUFF (CONT’D)

Which give me no choice but to put Maynard County on a Wacky Weather Advisory!

He squeezes the HORN again.

LIVING ROOM

The West family is gathered around their humble living room watching the weather report.  Candles are lit.

DOROTHY

Should we go down to the basement now, mommy?

DEBORAH

We don’t have one, sweetheart.

DOROTHY

Can Graciela come inside?

DEBORAH

Graciela is an outdoor cow, honey.

DOROTHY

What if a tornado blows down the barn?

PETE

Ain’t no tornado going to come.  They always say that stuff.  It helps them sell more news.

HENRY

Well, Pete, you have to take these things seriously.  The possibility is there.

EXT. FIELD

Debris is blown by a strong wind.  A funnel cloud reaches down from the canopy of dark clouds.

LIVING ROOM

DEBORAH

Henry!  You’re going to scare the children.

HENRY

Pete’s almost a man now.  Dorothy too.  They’re going to have to learn.

FIELD

A fully formed tornado ravages the landscape.  Crops are torn from the earth and sucked into the tornado.  A fence is destroyed.

LIVING ROOM

HENRY

Even if everything we own is blown down, we’ll survive.  We’re a family and that’s what families do.

NEAR LAVA LAKE

The tornado approaches Lava Lake.

LIVING ROOM

HENRY

Besides, there’s worse things out there than tornados.

PETE

Like what, pa?

LAVA LAKE

The tornado twists over Lava Lake, sucking up all of the burning lava.  The tornado is now a Torcano, a flaming red funnel of lava that burns as it destroys!

LIVING ROOM

HENRY

I don’t know, son.  But they’re out there.

(beat)

Worse things are out there.