A Fool in the Rain

Let’s set the scene:  Here I am tapping away on my laptop, tip tap hunt peck yak yak and then…..Blackout.  Everything goes dark and I am left sitting by laptop light.  I light a few scented candles and continue my tapping..just in mid tap I hear a muffled guffaw followed by a high-pitched squeal…

I run to the open window and peer out, and what do my wondering eyes find?

Two lone figures in dark hoodies setting the bus stop on fire….well not the bus stop, exactly, but a pile of trash next to the bus stop.  They whooped and hollered and pranced around the tiny fire, feeding it bits of trash to keep it going in the dark breeze.  I had to laugh as one of them started to do a little dance.

This is the kind of incident typical of my crazy neighborhood, during a blackout, really anytime.  I enjoy these times as best I can and  I try to see the lighter side of whatever life throws my way.  This time it is two ghouls with a fire.

Soon I grow restless and decide to drum up some of my own fun in the dark…I retreat to the backyard and into the garden. I find comfort here in the dark, in the garden at night.

 The moon is full and bright tonight.  It hangs high above me. Ripples and streams of of indigo clouds drift past.  I take a deep breath and drink it all in….

The screams of the ghouls have died away and are replaced with nothing. A silence that is totally remarkable in its unremarkableness. I savor this silence.  My mind starts to wander as I drift through the tall cool grass. 

And it makes me wonder…As a Led Zep tune fills the night air. How fleeting silence can be..it was then the rain came on and picked up like a riot. I stood under it and just soaked it up..A fool in the rain. I stood there a few minutes more, at first feeling quite proud of my new-found “eccentricity” and then as the soaking continued I really started feeling the fool. I sloshed inside before anyone could notice…

My thoughts returned to my two “friends” the hooded ghouls and their what became of their little fire. I smiled as I thought of the cloudburst raining on their parade. I looked out the window once more and found that the ghouls were long gone, just a pile of wet debris left behind told the tale.

Just as well..One fool in the rain is enough, add to ghouls and now there’s three fools in the rain….and how was your night?

Strawberryindigo.