Story-A-Day #82: Droplets

DROPLETS

The leaf curled up slightly towards the edges to form a perfect bowl of silky green life. Within that bowl were sixty droplets of water; perfect globes of water that gave clarity to leaf on which they rested. In that little cup, there were sixty tiny droplets that wobbled ever so slightly in the gentle spring breeze.

Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance, a low grumble that I could feel within me as much as around. It had been a violent storm, sudden and aggressive, and then it had vanished. I could not tell whether that thunder meant that the storm was returning for another round, or fading off into the distance, but I knew that it contained power.

There was a sudden shift in the barometric pressure, one that was almost imperceptible. The air grew suddenly colder and thicker. The smell of ozone filled the air; an smell that was electric and exciting all at once.

I took a long drag from my cigarette, and followed it with a cold swig of beer. I could see myself in the droplets before me, sixty tiny faces grinning back at the one who originated them.

I glanced away for a moment, up towards the tops of the poplars that ringed the clearing where the cottage was nestled. The leaves were tossing about wildly, turned up to the sky in an ecstatic plea for liquid nourishment. There was a soft music in their rustling, a hushed whisper of devotion.

High above, against the ominous grey clouds that raced across the heavens, I could see a large drop of water falling from the sky. I watched as it distorted in the air, spreading out and snapping back in; yet never losing its ultimate consistency. It landed in my outstretched hand and exploded into a million indiscernible particles.

The thunder grumbled again, a long drawn out vibration. The storm was definitely building, working itself up for another round of fury.

I glanced back towards the bowl shaped leaf and watched it rock back and forth in the steadily building breeze. The droplets held their ground for a moment, before slowly pooling in the middle and draining off down the leaf’s stem.

Another drop hit me, this time in the neck, and I shuddered as the cool water ran down the collar of my shirt. A sudden flash of lightning illuminated the darkening afternoon and I watched as the thin fingers of electricity forked across the dark grey sky.

The air exploded almost instantly, a huge crash that shook me to the bone, and seemingly tore a hole in the sky. The rain fell suddenly and with force; great, fat drops that smashed their way into the earth and battered the very leaves that had moments before plead for their watery embrace.

I stood their for a moment in the pounding deluge and watched as my clothes darkened in a splotch work of rain drops that quickly became one uniform shade of darkened wetness.

I tossed my cigarette butt to the ground, and quickly retreated into the cottage. It was going to be a good one.