There is a thunderstorm rolling in. The rumble is in the distance, but it is nonetheless on its way. There is a threat of rain and I keep looking out the window to see what will happen. Do I shut my windows and doors before it hits? Or do I let the breeze come in and enjoy the air that is blowing in from the storm that is brewing? Yet the thunder rolls and becomes louder and I wonder how long I should wait before “ shutting up shop. “
The lightening is just a flash of light on the horizon and the rain merely a scatter. But the storm is coming. And I am unprepared.
I can feel the tension in the air and it makes me wonder if I am about to get a downpour. Am I seeing the start of a storm that no window or door, no fence or lock can resist? I feel that a storm is upon us and it is gathering strength.
Many years ago, I sat on a porch in the middle of the Australian Outback. It was about 2am and it was 48 degrees celcius. Hot. Unbelievably hot. About 118 in Fahrenheit. I had a CD playing – Garth Brooks. “ The Thunder Rolls “. I couldn’t sleep. I sat on that step with no air conditioning and wondered how the hell I would survive the heat and the sheer exhaustion of being where I was, when I was and why I was there. Mostly why I was there.
No rain fell. The next day, a dust storm rolled in. It was a massive red wave of roaring fury that sped toward my home and I saw everything choked in a fine talcum powder of red dust. All the linens, the food, the furniture – everything. Not too many days later, we had a plague of locusts. We had screens on our windows, and they swarmed, eating and gnawing on the gauze and they ate everything outside. Including my one and only tree. Not too long afterwards, we had some rain and the mice came and they ate, ran and scampered. I am of course abbreviating a time frame – but, nonetheless, I saw all of those things and thought that the world was about to end. But it was and is just the way it is.
