High Summer Thunder

HIGH SUMMER THUNDER

         Like most of the August storms this one seemed to be coming up the river following the tide, turning a sultry sunny day into darkness in a few minutes.  The kind of change that sends you running through the house to close windows, first against the dust and dirt that the wind picks up and then the rain. 

         I like a thunderstorm.  I like feeling the power in the air.  It is no wonder that the superstitious ancients thought of gods in the sky! 

         The lightning was constant for a while giving an eerie brightness to the darkened earth while the rain hammered down on the roof above me.

         My poor dog, Gizmo,  who is brave as a lion most of the time, cowered beside me trembling and whistling through his nose.  He looked up at me as if imploring me to make it stop.  Dogs are like that, you know. They think we can do anything.

         The storm lifted away and traveled on, following the tide water up the river. Daylight returned. With it a rainbow was raised against the clearing sky as the sun emerged from hiding.  Gizmo looked at me as if I had something to do with stopping the storm and wanted to go out and play in the wet grass under the dripping trees. 

         We went out into a world  all fresh and green. The oppressive heat had gone away leaving a fragrant coolness.  I could still hear distant thunder, fading away into silence.  Birds came out from where they had been sheltering.  They say birds can see colors.  Dogs can’t so the rainbow was lost on Gizmo.  Did the birds see it and were they singing to it?

         I wanted to sing, too.