Drops
In the midst of insomnia, I got a loud bonus.
A crack of thunder, rumbling forever. It was magical. I didn’t see the lightning; wondered briefly if it was my sleepless imagination.
But I rolled up the window shade and the sky was completely obscured by clouds, something very rare for Fresno during the summer.
I told the sky, rain, dammit, and didn’t believe it would.
A few minutes later, I could hear the slight static that I hardly believed.
It rained.
I put on some shorts and stood outside for a few minutes. I barely got wet. It was a light sprinkle of rain, and the air smelled like melting crayons, wetting down the constantly-baked blacktop.
I know. I’m obsessed with rain now because I’m deprived of my summer thunderstorms. I’d been begging for it all summer. And I got it, even if it was a few miserable sprinkles.
I went back upstairs and I was finally able to drift off, happy to see the occasional flash of lightning in the sky, but alas, no more thunder.
Hey, the rain was fabulous. Was riding out while it was spitting. Then there was a downpour, or rather, the closest it gets to a downpour around here. I didn’t get soaked, as I had hoped, but it was still great to feel the rain on my skin.
“the air smelled like melting crayons.”
That line goes down in my list of all time favorites.
That line about melting crayons is very good. I may have to melt some of Brendan’s crayolas, just to get a sense of what you smell. Incidentally, there are few better smells in the world than new crayons. God, I could sit all day just opening and closing a box, smelling the smell of childhood and first school days.
Thanks!
The problem with crayons is that they get used. I like the look of fresh, crisp crayons untouched. Not worn down to a nub by me or others. Not carelessly broken. Not with other kid germs.
Mel, you’re right! The worn down, broken crayons are not as appealing as the fresh, crisp crayons. I feel more inspired with the brand-new crayons.
I’m sure that your family has told you, but, ironically, we have had very little rain out here as well. I spent most of yesterday driving up to Lansing, loading the car and limping home around 10 pm (a 13 hour day by its end). The first thing I noticed is that much of the grass I planted earlier in the year has totally died (some of those patches I have tried to grown each year of the four years we lived in that house!). There’s not a glimmer of green in some of those yellow patches. The same down here in OH. I’ve been dying for a good long storm, 2-3 inches would be nice.