Skip to content
Menu
Write Early, Write Often…Write Something!
  • home
  • what sits on my desk
  • what i read
  • about me
  • contact
Write Early, Write Often…Write Something!
08/21/2022

QUIET

We’ve been having a lot of rain.  Reminds me of Richard Harris as King Arthur in his singing/saying way, ‘the rain may never fall till after midnight, by eight, the morning fog must disappear….I know it gives a person pause, but in Camelot, those are the legal laws…’ sadly, in North Carolina the rain pours usually between 3 pm and 5pm and it comes down with the ferocity of a firehose making pond-szied puddles, felling  trees and creating lots of debris.

Last night  I was aware of a change-up,  thunder accompanied by rain and  lightening I suppose. It wasn’t the thunder that woke me, but  Keery flopping her head on my leg.  But when I awoke this morning it was quiet.

There are many quiets.   Quiet in a  church which I always feel as anticipation, hopefully of grace, but probably of forgiveness.  Or, the quiet of a night where you may hear a snap of a twig which may be scary. Or  the croak of a frog you might find comforting or just annoying.

There’s the quiet as in All Quiet on the Western Front which means a lull in the awfulness of war.

And, if you have been a parent, there  is the always impressive quiet you hear when your seven year old kid, with her five year old sister, is downstairs in the basement playroom and you know, with the certainty that you will have to pay taxes this year, that this is Not Good…but you wonder if you are up to actually even opening the door!

Then there is the quiet in the morning after, as when we were in Massachusetts,  of a huge blizzard before the chainsaws start, or, as in last night, of  a huge rainstorm.  As I move to wakefulness I have questions.  I listen to Keery snore or Tom ‘lol, breathe heavily’.  I personally LOVE this quiet. It’s not ominous. Nor is it benign.

It is speculative quiet.  What may be quiet. Story quiet.

Are we still on this planet? Are we floating in space inside a forcefield that holds atmosphere? Oh my gawd, will that atmosphere run out or  turn toxic?  What do they look like, these beings who were able to just lift our house out of the ground? Wil they be nice? Are we experiments?  Why us? I mean, we’re cool and all, but seriously? why us? Was it a mistake?  If not a mistake, what can we offer beings who could lift our house right off the planet?

There is that moment in this quiet where I hesitate. I don’t want Keery to stir.  I don’t want Tom to stop his rhythmic breathing. I want to stay right  here, snuggled in my blankets, surrounded by the familiar, the memories, the ordinary,  seeing the extraordinary in the quiet. I want my imagination to soar. I want to savor what is possible only in this quiet.

 

Musings from a reader first, lover of dark chocolate and Irish whiskey, tennis player and writer of mysteries, science fiction, and historical non-fiction.

Recent Posts

  • THE MISSIONS
  • NOT THE DOG
  • TIME
  • ONE WORD
  • In Praise of A Niece

Categories

  • Art & Craft
  • Musing
  • Reading
  • Writing The Past

My Favorite Places

SCBWI
SCBWI Carolinas
Sisters In Crime
SinC Triad Chapter Murder We Write

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • February 2019
  • March 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • June 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • December 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • August 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
©2023 Write Early, Write Often…Write Something! | Powered by WordPress and Superb Themes!