It's just weather

This place is a theater of sound. Louder in the darkness and ever-present in daylight. All the creatures are out of sight.

The afternoon sky grew dark, fast, heavy with clouds. The day had been clear, and this shadowy sky came on fast. I wished for rain to cool us off. Then it began. A few big drops, and then the sky opened up and poured warm rain on the driveway. Steam drifted up and evaporated. I went out and stood in the rain and smelled the wet dirt. It felt warm, not what I was expecting, but it was wet, and that was welcoming. The rain showered me until I was soaked, and the lightning began a dramatic display branching out through the clouds. You get used to the thunder in East Texas. It rolls, growls and hums like music from the earth. On this day, it boomed, startled, and shuddered the windows and walls. Sarah and I just started watching our evening DVD. We watched a movie every evening and looked forward to it, taking turns choosing a title. It was my turn. Out of Africa was my choice on this night. Sarah and I both big Meryl Streep fans. Jack was reading a western in his room. We ignored the thunder but still glanced outside toward the porch to see the pouring rain. Meryl Streep just arrived in Africa when our power went out.

 Sarah said, "That's unusual, the electricity hardly goes out here." We gathered candles and oil lamps and centered them on the card table, where we began reading our books, holding them close to the light. The lightning started to strobe like a crazy nineteen seventies disco. Sarah went outside to go check the water pump, which stopped at the wrong point. If she didn't set it right, it could burn out, and she would have to get a new pump.

The ground vibrated, and the walls shook when a powerful bolt hit a nearby tree. It was a tremendous boom. We all jumped. The cats pricked up their ears. I wondered if this was normal. Sarah and Jack seemed unfazed, so I followed their lead, thinking, "Well, this must be weather in East Texas."

She worked on that pump until after two a.m. Her flashlight was weak, flickering, and unreliable. I made a note in my mind to somehow get her replacements. I kept staring out the kitchen window to the pump house. The powerful wind and strobing sky making me fearful of tornados. Jack stood by. Ever watchful, but outwardly calm. His frame skeletal from emphysema.

Sarah came in and out of the house for tools, swearing with frustration. She would have to go to Tractor Supply in the morning to replace the motor.

We all finally went to bed. I laid on my bed in the dark, watching the sky flash over and over. Listening for that loud train sound that a tornado is supposed to make when it's near. It never came. But then I thought this probably isn't unusual. Neither Sarah or Jack seemed alarmed by the weather.

The sun was out in the morning, power still out. Sarah received a call from Geraldine that there was a tornado warning last night, and five tornados touched ground. Lives lost, homes gone lives changed forever.

Jack came in the kitchen that morning, " That was some electrical storm we had last night." 

A few days later, we found out our neighbor's 95-year-old father died when the tree was struck with lightning. Heart attack.

~kao

Video is for creature SOUND only- no image