Dorothy was a little girl. She lived in a small house in Kansas with her Uncle Henry and her Aunt Em. Kansas is a place on the great prairie (a large, flat land with grass but no trees). Uncle Henry was a farmer.
Their house was very small. It had only one room. In the room, there was a stove, a cupboard, a table, and some chairs. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed. Dorothy had a little bed in a corner. The house did not have a cellar (a room under the ground). But it had a small, secret hole under the floor. It was a cyclone cellar.
The world outside the house was not green or colorful. It was gray. There were no trees and no other houses. The sun made the ground hard and gray. The grass was also gray. Even the house was gray because the sun and rain washed the paint away.
Aunt Em was not happy. She was very thin and she never smiled. The sun and the wind made her face and her eyes look gray. Uncle Henry also never laughed. He worked hard every day. He was a very serious man and did not talk much. He was gray, too.
But Dorothy had Toto. Toto was her little black dog. He had soft hair and small, happy black eyes. Toto was not gray, and he made Dorothy laugh. Dorothy loved Toto very much. They played together all day.
One day, they were not playing. Uncle Henry stood outside and looked at the sky. The sky was grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in the door with Toto in her arms. She looked at the sky, too. Aunt Em was in the house. She was washing the dishes.
Suddenly, they heard the wind. They saw the long grass move. A big storm was coming. Uncle Henry stood up.
“A cyclone (a very strong, circular wind) is coming, Em!” he called to his wife. He ran to help the cows and horses.
Aunt Em came to the door. She saw the danger and she was very afraid. "Quick, Dorothy!" she screamed. "Run for the cellar!"
Toto was scared. He jumped from Dorothy’s arms and hid under the bed. Aunt Em opened the small door in the floor and went down the ladder into the dark hole. Dorothy wanted to follow her, but first she needed to get Toto.
Dorothy got Toto from under the bed. At that moment, the wind made a loud noise. The whole house started to shake. Dorothy fell down on the floor.
Then, a strange thing happened. The house turned around two or three times. Then it went slowly up, up, up into the air. Dorothy felt like she was in a balloon. The house was in the center of the cyclone. The wind carried the house for many miles.
It was very dark and the wind was very loud. But the house moved gently, like a baby's bed. Dorothy sat on the floor and waited. Toto did not like it. He ran around the room and barked.
At one point, Toto got too close to the open hole in the floor and he fell in! Dorothy was very scared. But then she saw one of his ears. The strong air from the wind was under Toto, so he could not fall down. Dorothy carefully got Toto and pulled him back into the room. Then she closed the door to the hole.
Hours passed. Dorothy was not scared anymore, but she felt very lonely. The wind was so loud. At last, she went to her bed and lay down. Toto came and lay down next to her. Soon, Dorothy closed her eyes and went to sleep.