This wasn’t some passive summer zephyr. No gentle breezes to ruffle our beach blankets, and tease the canvas umbrella. It was a tempest moving quickly towards shore.
A broken bar code of rain tumbled headlong across the horizon. Fishing boats struggled through the onslaught of boiling waves, rocking precariously upon the breakers.
Frantic schools of bait fish paced the shallows along the beach, scattering at the slightest ripple. Mantas, undersea leviathans, hovered just below the surface. Their leather wings quivering as lightning coursed through the water, sounding through their receptive skin.
As the wind picked up, salt and sand generously seasoned our skin, and twisted our hair into Palomar knots.
Behind the dunes, the sun, still burning bright and hot, took a stand against the storm. Defying thunderous howls and screeches of outrage, Sol pushed back, holding its ground.
Keeping its distance, feigning indifference, the tempest advanced no further. Giving a wide berth to the sun, it roared one last time then skidded east to intimidate the moon.
Beautiful. I miss the beach.
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“broken bar code of rain” what an incredible image. Spot on. Inspired.
I loved the “almost but not quite” feeling of this. I tasted the salt on my lips.
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I almost wanted the cloud and beach to have voices, like people. Well done.
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Love the way the clouds loiter at the beach. Hanging low, at the edge of the horizon. And the “bar code of rain”? Love that, too!
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I can see an animal face in the left hand cloud.
I love to watch the cloud formations.
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You had me a zephyr, one of my favorite words . . . A broken bar code of rain . . . One of those rare lines I am happy to chance upon where I think, wow, I wish I had thought of that :o)
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Lovely word play. Had to look up Palomar knot, though. Turns out I know how to tie one from back in my teenage fishing days. Huh.
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Very mythological sounding. I love the word embellishments that allow it to sound like I’m reading out of an anthology and not just a stand alone 100 words.
I would love to see you continue the piece future, perhaps even into a short story.
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