September Storm

Posted on September 20, 2005 in Weather

My hand gripped the pistol-shaped gas pump and pulled the long trigger. Fluid rushed through the rubber hose and into my truck. It felt like beebees jumping around inside the steel or like the bumpy undersides of the clouds which fronted the storm flowing in from the Pacific.

I was home eight minutes later. A big indigo burst of thunder sounded off somewhere to the east. Its echo poured out of Trabuco Canyon. I ditched my plans to attend a lecture in Orange and went inside to wait for Lynn.

It did not rain for four hours. I was up in the loft when it did. A dark blast shook the condo. Silence. Then the soft flutter of big drops on the bubble window in our roof brought Fiona up. She crouched beneath the window and craned her neck to watch the shower purge summer’s dust.