Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Blue (10/08/09)
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TITLE: His Time, His Mercy | Previous Challenge Entry
By Vickie Buchanan
10/14/09 -
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It was raining. Again. For the fifth day in a row. Claire was feeling drained and depressed. She hadn’t been able to work in her garden all week. Worse, the seeds she planted two weeks ago were being washed away, sailing down little rivulets of muddy slush. There went her plans for having fresh veggies at her fingertips all winter long. There was so much hard, dirty work to be done.
The Southern California summer had been brutal, temperatures well over 100* for weeks. Then came the winds, the Santa Anas, covering everything with gritty sand until you believed you were chewing it. Still more grief as the winds fueled wildfires in forests and rural hillsides, burning an alarming amount of acreage and coming frighteningly close to homes. Sometimes the homes were lost, consumed in raging, slashing flames that gave way to no one.
On one particular acre of land sat Claire and Bill’s dream house. Theirs was one of the lucky ones that were saved, though it was so scorched and blackened it looked like a gray, ghostly haunted house. Smoke had created havoc with the furnishings. Many had to be discarded. The clean-up was going to take months, and now, of all times, came the autumn rain California so desperately needed. Instead of helping to quench the monster blaze, it came after the fires were out, when the vegetation was toasted to mere crumbs and could not retain the soil. As the rain pelted the ground, day after day, black mud flowed into places mud was not welcome. Soot and ashes mixed with uncontrolled dirt, creating a liquid adobe. The mud would change the landscape and possibly wash away support for foundations all through the hilly neighborhood where Bill and Claire lived.
She plodded across the drenched patio to place several more sandbags at the edge of the hill that bordered her back yard. If the mud got into the pool the cost to clean it would be horrific. She couldn’t bear much more cost; there were many losses that would not be covered by insurance. Bill was racing against time and nature in front of the house. More sandbags and shoveling were beginning to redirect the stream that came from the arroyo and threatened to flow into the home. Bill feared it would enter their front door like an unwanted guest, adding further devastation to the floors and furnishings. The rain had to stop, the ground just couldn’t take any more. Three years of drought had nearly turned the land to impenetrable concrete.
Back in the house, stealing a moment of rest, they sat silently at the kitchen table, exhausted. Neither knew what to say, it had all been said. Bill reached across the table and took Claire’s hand, squeezing a little. The gesture squeezed a tear from the raw edge of her emotions.
“Let’s get back to work,” he said. “We need a lot more sandbags across the driveway.”
She nodded and followed. She closed the front door with effort; it was badly warped from extreme heat. Her pot of clematis that adorned the entry was tipped on its side, leaves and petals trampled beyond recognition. Wearily, she picked up a shovel and began filling bags.
Suddenly she sensed a change in temperature. A warm sensation flowed across her shoulders like soothing lotion. The daylight became brighter and shadows began to form. The sun was coming out! The rain had stopped. She turned and looked toward the western sky. The clouds, so dark at the bottom where rain loomed, were separating, letting hints of blue sky show through. A high and merciful wind was blowing them to the north. They traveled rapidly, in a hurry to drench the next town, the next thirsty hills.
“Bill, look!” she cried. “It’s stopped. There’s actually blue sky showing.”
“Thank God,” answered Bill. Realizing what he had said he added, “Really, let’s thank God. He knew just the right time to bring relief. We shouldn’t have doubted, Claire. He always knows when the time is right for His mercy.”
Claire leaned her head against his shoulder in relief. Together they looked up as the blue expanse widened. “Of course He does,” she murmured.
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