Fireworks
"Check out the fireworks," Randy said to call me over to the window. I expected to see sparklers from a neighbor's firework display. Instead, the entire sky was flashing silver light. It looked like a giant strobe light was lodged in a mushroom cloud. The cloud hovered ominously just above the neighborhood. Streaks of lightening shot out of the cloud into the sky in snake-like slithers. A medusa cloud. When a lightening streak caught the ground, it reverberated with a dangerous beauty. Even though a huge storm cloud hung in the distance, the air around us was still. We stepped out onto the porch to watch it lumber closer. We felt anticipation in the air--excitement even. The storm cloud might harbor tree-snapping winds. It might hide a twister. But we wanted it to come closer.

Randy ran around the house looking for a camera. Even with all the excitement, I felt the call of sleep and made my way to bed. Lying backwards on top of the covers, I watched the lightening approach though a bedroom window. In one overhead burst, three tentacles of light emanated from a single source. The wind picked up, and ran splattered the window. Randy rummaged around in the room next door, "Where's the #@$&$# film!" After snapping a few frames before the ran turned into a torrent, Randy joined me backwards in bed so we could watch the storm. As I fell asleep, lights flashed in my eyes.

- posted by Laurie @ 8:38 PM