The wind howls while the drops rain down. Lightning strikes in the distance. Thunder roars. You're trapped just as you were about to go out. To make your way to town now means risking squeezing buckets of water from your jeans and walking in squishy squashy shoes. You grumble and wish you had left earlier. You look for any signs of the sun but all you see are massive clusters of dark clouds blanketing the sky - no gaps between them; no hint of the sun coming out any time soon. The storm is going to last for awhile.
So you plop down on your sofa deciding to wait it out. You switch on the television and flip channels, groaning aloud that each program is a bore. There's nothing to watch. And then like a ray of hope, you stumble upon an interesting show. You put the remote down only to see the end credits roll and hear the theme song play. So you sigh and reach for the remote once more and flip again. There still isn't anything worth your time. Eventually you settle for the least boring program - a cooking show perhaps.
And just as you settle in, one eye still scanning the gloom for any hope that the rain could be easing up, the power trips. The culprit: a lightning strike. The TV immediately flicks off with a cracking pop in imitation of the lightning that struck. You let out an expletive. Stumbling out of the sofa and looking for the circuit breaker, you know fully well that if you don't reset the breaker you're going to be eating slimy ham and drinking soured milk for breakfast tomorrow. It's a good thing you didn't go out.
You find the circuit breaker, pry open the panel and reset the switch. The TV remains cold and black-faced, its standby light lit red - a sign of mechanical life. You stroll back to the sofa but decide to walk over to your balcony instead. You want to assess the outdoor situation.
People are scuttling across the roads. The lucky ones are armed with umbrellas. The rest make mad dashes from one shelter to another. Cars plow about a little slower than normal, their windshield wipers waving from side to side as if signaling the scuttling crowd to get out of the way. A driver emphasizes with a crescendo of horn blasts.
Another lightning bolt races across the sky, caressing the clouds that hang heavy and weeping. You can't help but be startled at the sudden onset of intense neon blue across grey. The violent luminosity burns a sharp shearing image into your mind's eye that you repeatedly see each time you blink. The deafening roar of thunder follows. Thankfully, you're still left with your ability to hear. You conclude that the storm isn't going to break any time soon and stand resigned that your plan to head to town is ruined.
As you continue looking out over the balcony, your mind begins to drift. Unaware, you relax. You think about recent happenings. You think about issues left unthought from your busy week, maybe month. You start to daydream. Things you wanted to say but didn't and things you wanted to do but couldn't swim through your mind. Soon, you forget you're standing. Your train of thoughts break at the unexpected yet amusing sight of the occasional dog running for shelter with his master.
The lightning strikes yet again. An uncanny resemblance to what the roots of plants must look like below the soil. You can't help but admire it - even wishing it would last longer so you could scrutinize all its intricacies. It's majestic. You are awed by it. A miracle of nature. You think of taking a picture of it and run to grab your DSLR camera or whip out your iPhone. You position yourself. And you wait for the next one - impatiently this time.
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Do you admire lightning storms when they occur like me or are you indifferent? Have you ever found yourself in this situation before or experienced something similar? What was it like? Share you story below in the comment section or feel free to leave any feedback.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers,
~Kerry
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