The calm before the storm had always been a metaphor until I lived in Panama. Before then, my parents would start their arguments with thinned lips and muttered words. We would hide upstairs or outside so that we would not feel the wrath that came from their hands and lips.
We would hide.
Then I moved to Panama. My husband and I lived in a small area full of duplexes. We had seen many of these buildings being built, so we knew they were made of concrete blocks and small bits of mortar. Any large earthquake would cause our whole neighborhood to fall. We felt lucky that our small duplex was only two stories. If it were higher, we thought, we might not survive the coming storms.
In Panama, it was certain that the storms would come. After all, we saw 10-15 feet of water fall from the skies every year.
One day, at the end of dry season, I could feel the hard press against my chest. I could feel the calm. It was not calm. It felt like the calm before one of my parent's fights. I could not hear one bird as the sky pressed down upon my head.
The cat and I walked into the house. We went up stairs and sat on the middle of the bed. We waited.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The cat slid under the covers. I looked out the window. Giant lightening bolts struck the hills around our neighborhood. CRASH! BOOM!
The transformer that supplied electricity to our homes blew up. I watched the sparks out the window in the darkened room.
I crawled under the covers and cuddled with the cat. As the world blew up around us, we fell asleep.
Weekly Anamnesis
10 comments:
i'm terrified of many things,lighting/thunder being 2 of them. i am not scared of them, horrified is more the word:i shake and freak out and i feel my end comes soon...i feel the sorrow of all my sins, it works better than any confession. i was always scared but after living as a child through the civil war in Nicaragua it got worse, really worse. i can't handle it at all. somehow my mind has connected the loudness of the thunder/lightning thing to the flashes/noises/ of the bombs/guns etc.. i'm glad you had your cat to comfort you and i'm glad you were able to sleep.
hope you are well.
Chana.. you poor thing...
I also relate thunder/lightening to bombs and guns. Although I have never been in a way, I have been around guns... being a farm girl.
I have seen lightening kill. It was the most frightening sight--almost like a giant in ten league boots. :-)
Hi Cynthia,
There are some pretty awful things in this world. You wrote nicely about a couple of them. I was intrigued. Nice post.
Thank you belle... :-) How are things on your side of the country???
Very well written! I really liked this post.
I love a good storm, but I've never been in a life-threatening or building crushing event. I guess you could say I like them because I don't really understand their power.
Thank you proud mum...
Actually I did not realize how bad this storm was until afterwards. But many of the storms were of this magnitude. I remember trying not to flinch every time I heard the boom. ;-)
How well you describe the calm before the storm... When I lived in the SouthWest, I remember how quiet it would become just before a tornado came past.
I find myself intimidated by tornados and fighting people --- I loved having a basement shelter where I could wait out the storm>
Yes... both storms and fighting are intimidating to me too. I like my peace. :-)
And those tornados can be extremely scary. I have seen videos and pictures, but nothing on a live scale. (breathing a sigh of relief)
This opened my mind's eye, like the gods came and unscrewed the top of my head and poured in a beautiful cordial of pure poetry.
Excellent, EXCELLENT work.
-Don
Don.. you really make me happy :-)
"cordial of pure poetry" WOW
And if I can help your muse, I am all for it.
Post a Comment