It was a warm Saturday afternoon. I was alone at home as my parents
had gone to visit my grandmother. I had just finished my school project and
decided to relax on the veranda outside my room. I looked up the clear,
blue sky and saw some white puffy clouds chasing one another. There was
no hint of rain although I felt sticky all over, despite the fan going on at full
blast earlier on.
Then I heard the rumble of thunder a great distance away. A small
squirrel scurried up the tree next to the veranda and I soon forgot about the
thunder. Gradually, the rumbling became more distinct. I went downstairs
and told the maid to collect the clothes, just in case it rained.
The sky suddenly turned black. Angry clouds were racing across the
sky. I was quite astonished by the speed at which the clouds turned colour.
A gust of cold wind whooshed towards me, hitting my cheeks. The wind
grew stronger, swirling and pushing against the blinds on the veranda.
As I was getting up to return to my room, a pale flash of lightning made
shadows flicker against the walls of the veranda. This was followed moments
later by another roar of the thunder. The whole room groaned as if unhappy
about the storm.
Looking out of the veranda, I was surprised to see a white curtain of rain
approaching. Before I knew it, it had arrived at the corrugated iron roof of
my house, sending it rattling and groaning.
The fury of the storm was incredible. The trees outside my garden swayed
with the rain. I saw my mother's prized flowers falling to the ground, unable
to withstand the wind and the rain. I decided to switch on my radio to kill
time. But the noise of the rain was so loud that it drowned the music and the
songs. I decided to lie on the bed, and wait for the thunderstorm to cease.
So for about an hour or so, the storm raged. Then as suddenly as it
came, the storm rained itself out. The downpour turned into a drizzle. The
black clouds slowly disappeared and the sky was blue once more.
I decided to go into the garden after the thunderstorm. Many of the
flowers were flattened. Some tree branches broke while the garden was
filled with puddles of water. I walked on the stone slabs in the garden,
breathing in the cool, crisp air. Everything smelled fresh and clean. It was as
if the curtain of rain had wiped off all the dirt and dust in the air.
I was about to peep into my neighbor's garden to see what damage
the thunderstorm had caused when I heard the shrill of the telephone.
My maid called me to the phone. It was my mother asking me whether
I was all right. |