Summer Tempest
I woke up to the sound of lightning and the flash of thunder. At first, I just hid my head under the blankets. Then, I heard the ferocious sound of the rain pounding down from the angry skies. I opened one eye and then the other. The windows upstairs were all open. I switched on the bedside lamp and rushed to the room next to mine, barefoot. I quickly closed the windows. Next, I closed the windows in my room. The lights were on in Kelly’s room. I opened my bedroom door. He was closing windows on his end of the house. I glanced at the clock by the bed. Good! It was 4:30 – his usual time to get up, walk the dogs, and go to work. He was not losing any sleep. But the rain was still attacking the earth mercilessly, the winds howling. How were they going to walk in these conditions, I worried? I lay back in bed and began reading, waiting for them to leave the house. The winds calmed down, the thunder ceased, the rain eased, and I relaxed. Soon they came back, he dried them, fed them, and left. Please let him get to work before we get another bout of rain, I thought before falling asleep once more.
I fell into a deep slumber. The next thing I knew, it was 7 o’clock. I texted Kelly. “Are you okay? Are you dry?”
“Don’t worry, Mum. I am.”
The skies were still grey, stormy with frenzied rain. The dogs were asleep, the house quiet. My body yearned for more sleep, and I closed my eyes, drifting into a deep slumber feeling cradled on a loving cloud. When I next awoke, it was close to eleven in the morning. Behind the drawn curtains, a hint of an anemic sun peeped through. I shook my head in disbelief at how late it was. I showered, woke up, dressed, and went down to the kitchen for my cup of tea. “Picasso! Ebony,” I called, but they were lethargic, responding only to the clinking of the spoon in my tea cup.
Throughout the day, the weather couldn’t make up its mind – sun one moment, rain the next. The birds sang joyously when the sun was out, quiet when it rained. Watching the wind sway the leaves outside, Grandma Stella felt mellow and dreamy, not motivated to do much. At three o’clock, the dogs nudged her, reminding her it was past mealtime. Startled from her reverie, she fed them and prepared Kelly’s meal. Done with her tasks, she went upstairs with a cup of tea, sat on her recliner, and fell asleep once more. Such a day of indolence was perhaps a deserved rarity for everyone once in a blue moon, wouldn’t you agree?