
True story…
Sitting on the hotel bed, editing a photo on my phone, and getting ready to write a blog post, I suddenly felt the bed sway as the headboard began to rattle, what in the world, I thought and looked over at my mom, who had begun to snore. A few seconds later, the swaying and rattling stopped, what the hell was that, I wondered, although the thought did occur but, somehow, it felt preposterous at the moment.
The next morning, I was shook awake by my mom, “Earthquake,” she said, and suddenly, I noticed the bed’s headboard was rattling again, louder this time. An alert lit up my phone, “Earthquake alert,” it read and it got me thinking, was that also an earthquake the night before?
It turned out, yes, there was an earthquake the night before, except with lower magnitude, another earthquake would come later that morning, except the magnitude would be so low that I wouldn’t feel it. Ugh, I thought, that’s the last time I visit Kumamoto, Japan.
Written for Six Sentence Story. The prompt is “Rattle”.

We had an earthquake in Feb 2008, shortly after we’d moved to Lincolnshire.
I was also in NZ when the earthquakes struck South Island. It wasn’t too bad when I visited Christchurch, but when I was back in the UK they had a really big one there and the hostel I was staying in was badly damaged. Everyone there was OK though.
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I didn’t know there are earthquakes in the UK. Glad no one was hurt during that earthquake.
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They are usually very slight tremors, though when I was working for the bank, one shook the office!!
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In the town I grew up in (near San Francisco CA)we felt earthquakes too. Most were very little but I will never forget the time we had a 7.1 it was really scary.
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Oh wow! That’s a huge earthquake.
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Thankfully I’ve never experienced an earthquake. I am amazed that you can edit a photo on your phone.
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Good for you. I bet you’re one of the handful of people who gets to say you’ve never experienced an earthquake.
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Not something I’ve experienced – nor do I wish to!
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I can’t imagine the fear that would bring, having never experienced an earthquake. I hope that is an experience I never have.
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No earthquakes here in south Louisiana, either, although we have a fault line not far from our house. It’s not the kind to shift suddenly, it just moves slowly enough to eventually, after decades, tear up the roads and make us have to rebuild them.
Instead, we get hurricanes, but at least we know when they are coming and can be prepared or leave.
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I feel like that would be worse than the one that shakes. I can’t imagine living in such a place.
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