Mimi’s Corner: I Don’t Think I’m in Kansas Anymore

This has been a spring to remember: a spring with more tornados and tornado warnings in this part of Ohio than I can remember. One such warning last week had us scrambling for dog leashes, flashlights, wallets, all the items that should be easily accessible but sometimes are, um, misplaced.  

Fortunately, the storm bypassed us.

Once we were safe, I got to thinking about my dad. When I was a wee lass, he told me that I needn’t worry about tornados because we lived in an area with many hills. I guess I was to assume that such storms are broken up by hilly terrain. I believed him and put worries out of my mind. That ended in 1974, when a deadly tornado devastated Xenia, killing 32 and injuring hundreds.

I think I’ll blame The Wizard of Oz for my original fear of tornados. Who can honestly claim to have seen that movie as a child and not been scared by the storm scene? There’s poor Dorothy Gale and her little dog Toto, running down a country lane trying to get back to their farmhouse, storm clouds skidding across the sky, thunder booming, wind howling, hair whipping across her face. When she finally arrives home, she’s unable to open the storm cellar, gets bashed on the bean by flying debris, and whisked from unconsciousness into the Land of Oz!

I’m still scared by that part of the movie!

Upon landing in Oz’s Munchkinland, poor Dorothy finds that she has accidentally killed a witch and (understandably) angered her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West. The Wicked Witch threatens Dorothy (and her little dog, too). But with help from the Munchkins and the good witch Glinda, Dorothy travels to find the Wizard of Oz, who supposedly can help her return to Kansas (a very flat state, hence the prevalent tornados, right, Dad?). She picks up a cast of oddballs along the way who help her evade the Wicked Witch who, naturally, has a squadron of flying monkeys.

After enduring many travails — most importantly dispatching the Wicked Witch — Dorothy finds her way to Oz, only to learn that the wizard is a fraud, who can’t help her get home at all! Plot twist: Glinda arrives in a magic bubble to tell Dorothy that she has had the power to get herself home all along! Just click your heels three times, Glinda says, and chant, “There’s no place like home.”

Cripes! I mean, what was the moral of the story, anyway?

Oh, well, it’s still a wonderful movie, even with a confusing moral and the fact that I’m still scared by it. I, who am of a certain age, am not afraid to admit that The Wizard of Oz movie scares me. Every time I watch it. And I’ll watch it every chance I get.