Fireworks, indeed

Today I decided to see how long it would take me to walk to the airport, 2.5 miles away. I figured this would be good practice for the large amount of travel I plan on doing in the next 7 months. Why leave your car at the airport, or worse have to beg for rides when it really isn't that far away? So I set out into the partly-cloudy Fourth of July afternoon, armed with a house key and the clothes on my back. I returned 75 minutes later soaked to the bone with a newfound fear of thunderstorms to an apartment without electricity.

Really, I should have been a little bit smarter and turned back in the first five minutes when it started sprinkling, but it was still sunny, and obviously not going to keep raining. Besides, there was no lightening and it felt kind of good on a warm day. I should have started walking back when I noticed the approaching darkness in the west about 1/2 an hour into the walk, but the airport was so close and this was an experiment. At 40 minutes when I got to the airport and turned to go back, I realized that I had made the wrong choice. The darkness was closer and obviously drowning the countryside. Either way, I had to walk home. I had no money and no way to call anyone for a ride. I start back, worriedly monitoring the darkness closing in.

Cars start passing with their headlights on. Then the lightening starts, jagged and vivid in the sky, but still producing distant rumbles. At this point I start to think about getting struck by lightening. Walking through the rain is one thing, it's kind of romantic in a way (in theory), but now I realize that I'm a little more than 2 miles from my apartment walking through open countryside. It's all horse farm and me, no trees to attract the lightening away from me. I felt tall in a bad way. Seven minutes after turning around, the cars passing have windshield wipers going. The wind has died for a moment creating an uneasy calm before the storm. A minute later it starts, blowing horizontal and hard in my face.

Each raindrop hits with such velocity that they feel like fire ant bites, covering my arms and face. I can see nothing, navigating by feel, trying to brace myself for every car that passes, spraying me with even more water. I went from completely dry to entirely wet in less than a minute. Lightening crashes around me, unseen, but felt too keenly. Every time the rain backs off for a moment, it returns with more ferocity in a minute or two, allowing enough time for me to clear my eyes before attacking again. As I approach my neighborhood, the stoplights and streetlights go out with a sizzle. I make excellent time back to my apartment, but it's too late. I'm soaked and cold, in need of a hot bath and hot tea, neither of which I can have.

I spent the evening reading on the balcony. I think I saw enough fireworks today, thanks.