Summer Showers

Consolation prize winner of the
Summer Surprises Contest,
written by -Nynaeve

The hot wind wailed, trailing dry mud in its wake. The brown leaves sagged as another wave of dust covered their leaves, the green turning more sepia as summer dragged by. The brown earth was broken and dark cracks ran across its face. Dusty afternoons were the norm, where life almost came to a standstill, the heat stifling movements. 

Summers where she live were always so; hot, dry and dusty. The days torrid and long, the nights warm and short, with almost everyone counting the days to monsoons. But then nature did not appear to be relenting, not with the prediction of a delayed and scanty rainfall. Her tiny garden with its dying plants was a mess, but then humans are optimistic creatures of hope and in the last week of May, despite signs that the Meteorological department was right, she dug up the soil, turned it over, broke up the clumps and planted the dried bulbs of rain lilies, of red, white, pink and yellow hues. 

Summer dragged beyond May, and June came as dry as May had been. Her rain lilies did not sprout, despite her zealous watering and tending, apparently there would be no rain. Nor was there any respite from the heat. Her hopes turned to despair, as she gave up on her rain lilies.

Without warning, the burning sky turned overcast in minutes as dark clouds spun, heavy and low. There was lightning, a pale zigzag and a distant echo of rumbling thunder as rain drops pelted the parched earth. A furious frenzy of water falling, a desperate soaking by the arid land and the waft of rich moist soil rose into the misty air, petrichor, the smell of the first rain.

It lasted less than fifteen minutes, that sudden shower in the never ending summer, a precipitous precipitation, that left the Earth and its people thirstier than before. The rain stopped and summer continued, making her wonder why Nature would play with them, raise hopes for a minute before slipping into the heat and dryness. 

One week later, the lily beds were covered with tiny green shoots, the rain lilies knew that monsoon was round the corner. And soon her little garden would be a profusion of colours and the hot summer would melt into the soft rains.

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