Summer Storms

Alison- Your (beautiful) post reminded me of the short blurb I wrote in the dark the other day after the power went out.

So here's "Summer Storms"

                I sat comfortably on the worm polyester seat, the seatbelt pressing lightly across my chest as I felt the pickup’s engine thrum beneath me. I breathed in the strange air, the indescribable sensation of coolness and humidity at once, at odds, that is only present during the moments after a summer storm. This one had been fierce, during its short life it had torn limbs from some of the trees nearby and left in its wake a layer of reflective warm water on the ground, the puddles and newly rechristened asphalt bouncing the neon lights of the storefronts  and bright lines from the streetlights and stop lights back into the air. It looked like nighttime on Route Nine, the dark clouds blocking out the sun as they struggled behind the quickly moving storm.

                We turned west onto a side street, the neon and cement soon replaced by weighty vegetation, wetness still dripping from the newly hydrated bright green leaves. Just then the sun came out, its setting orange hues bouncing around this new house of mirrors. It bathed the sopping street in its glow, newly brilliant in the face of the receding darkness. I felt its weak warmth on my cheeks through the still present wet humidity. Another turn and I could see the pale sky, glorious in peaches and golds, the edges of the parting clouds stained with the promise of a lighter world behind them, and so far above. It is in these moments that I think I can see a glimpse of Heaven. Surely this is why, long ago in the land of nomads and primitive cave sketches, the ancestors chose to place Paradise there, in that hidden world atop the golden ridged clouds.

                By the time gravel crunched and the old pickup tilted in its familiar dance toward home, the atmosphere had achieved an uneasy equilibrium. The bright sunlight submitted to the storm’s strange aftermath, filtering through the thick air and shedding an eerie glow on the world. Yes, I thought as the door slammed, echoing slightly in the heavy atmosphere, I loved summer storms.

I'll do a real post soon,

~Leigh