Back in the day, (and now I have to admit those days have become years and those years DECADES), when summertime tossed around the hot humid air of Pittsburgh in July and August, and the kids on our street played outside from sunrise to the bright beacons of the streetlights shedding their yellowish alarm, that day is done, and monsters may soon appear; life was full of our IMAGINATION, limitless and lingering. Few restrictions, for the kids on our block, as long as we stayed within shouting distance, to be reminded it was lunchtime, move out of the way if one of the older neighbors was trying to pass by, and be careful of the one or two really awful drivers who lived on our street because they unintentionally could run you over. Time never existed back then, in the form of exact hours; more so in which new game would we play, and whose turn was it to be the boss. (We had the BIG kids, my contemporaries, and our younger siblings…the LITTLE kids and the rules were simple, the BIG kids chose the game and one of them was the boss). The only exception to ANY summer day was the advent of a Pittsburgh summer-time THUNDERSTORM. Every morning, our TV sets would be tuned onto KDKA, (black and white TV back then) some parent would listen to the Weather Man in the morning (Yep no women allowed to talk about cumulus clouds in the 1950s), then call the other parents and decide how safe it might be to play outside. FEAR THE THUNDERSTORM was a prevalent and common ailment for the mothers on our street. The thing about Pittsburgh and summer and storms back then was, WE could actually smell the rain in the air as if it was a 20-minute warning that a REALLY OMINOUS run for cover deluge was on its way!
I write about BACK IN THE DAY, because, TODAY, the skies in North Truro, are clicking and clacking with gusts of wind seemingly churning the bulky, bad-ass clouds and moving them as if they were doing a Square Dance. If the wind was not so loud, I imagine I could hear the clouds making the same noise as a Pin Ball Machine. I was walking our dog, Chance, and a sudden sense of smell, approached my nostrils almost addressing my brain at the same time, saying, remember when this happened way too many years ago, and you knew it was NOW or NEVER to seek shelter. Summer, Thunder, Lightning, Rain, Humidity, made sense THAN, but somehow NOW, I wonder what kind of sense WE will make as the Climate Changes?
Too much to worry about I suppose, from ANARCHY, TREASON, INSURRECTION, BIGOTRY, RACISM, POLITICS OF DECEIT, GRIFFTING, and GRAFT in GOVERNMENT… all of that is enough to bring on angst, anger, and anxiety…BUT now, right in our faces and for many, either their heat-soaked and stroked bodies, or water-logged living spaces, CLIMATE CHANGE has already changed our days and nights…BUT somehow, all we do is still talk about it…when in FACT…SOMETHING REALLY OMINOUS is on its way!
