Prophets of the Rain

July 18, 2007, 10:15 am; posted by
Filed under Articles, Chloe  | 1 Comment

I won’t waste your time telling about the rain. You know the rain, its monotonous drip, drip, drip, its messy puddles and leaks. The rain is boring. It’s the oracles that are so alluring and stunning, the way they turn the storm into an electrical mess that muddles your senses and leaves you waiting for something both life-threatening and satisfying.

They come in the evenings, when it’s finally cool enough to go outside and work. If there’s a shed to be painted, a deck to be oiled, or lumber to haul, I can count on the clouds that hover like an alien ship to come crawling over the mountains in the south. These clouds aren’t blankets, oh, no. They are mountain ranges, arroyos, Grand Canyons flipped upside-down to create a skyscape that looms overhead and promises quite the show.

That’s how it starts, with the clouds. And then the birds begin to sing. I’ve heard that birds are most active before a storm, and the ruckus reminds me of an out-of-control high school class.

After the birds come the wind that, when it blows through the pine boughs, sounds like the tide on the wet sand. The wind brings with it the scent of the rain, that dusty metallic aroma of ozone. Then the air changes, an electrical charge that starts the birds off at a whole new decibel and pulls me further outside to feel the coming of the storm. Now the air is a rosy brown like old pictures and the wind chimes sing something familiar in the key of G and any moment now, any moment now, any…

The first drop is teasing, as if the clouds are demanding proof that I really want this deluge they’ve been dangling in front of me all evening. I reply with a shiver that can only come to a person who has been glorying in three-digit temperatures. Another drop falls and the old picture fades into a fog as that strange sheet comes tearing across the valley straight for me.

I won’t waste your time telling you about the rain. It is a disappointment, ten minutes of downpour that will evaporate in half the time. It wasn’t the rain I came out to see, though. It was the prophets of the rain.


Comments

1 Comment to “Prophets of the Rain”

  1. David on July 18th, 2007 10:40 am

    Beautiful.

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