Monday, October 08, 2007

As the Thunder Rumbles

I'm having a hard time settling down to write on this dreary, rainy New Orleans Monday morning. Part of it is the distractions of the past few days--painting my mother's bedroom last Thursday and Friday, then going up to the lake over the weekend to work on that house (what kind of masochists try to renovate three houses at the same time?). But I suspect most of the blame lies with the thunder rumbling in the distance, the heavy gray cloud cover pressing down on me, the echoes of horror and despair that continue to whisper in my memory no matter how much I try to ignore them. The worst of our hurricane season is, thankfully, past. I know this is just a little squall. But I can't help it. I once loved the power of storms. Now, I hate storms.

Press hates them, too. Press is our half-feral foundling cat. He'll lay at my feet for hours, purring. But reach for him and he's gone. Which is why Press was left in our house--with lots of food and water--when we evacuated with the other cats for Katrina. We battled our way down to rescue him exactly one week after the hurricane hit. He was scared, but okay; we have a two-story house and we "only" got one foot of water. But to this day, at the first clap of thunder, Press leaps up off the floor onto the nearest sofa or chair. Which sort of answers our question about where exactly in the house he was when the water came sluicing in!

7 comments:

Steve Malley said...

Your post was touching, and thought-provoking, but I am rendered inarticulate this morning. Not enough coffee, maybe...

Shauna Roberts said...

After the May 8th flood, one of my cats was still trembling the next morning, and it took him years before he stopped running to hide at the first clap of thunder. I can't imagine that he would have survived the noise of Katrina. Hurrah for your cat for being brave and resourceful.

Lisa said...

After reading this today, I had to go back to Charles's blog about words and add thunder. To me, it's always been associated with a cozy summer rain shower in the afternoon, or a summer thunderstorm at night -- it's been almost a comforting sound. I will never think of thunder in the same way again, knowing what a different meaning it has to so many other people.

Charles Gramlich said...

I'm fortunate in that I had such a long association of thunder with good things, rain in the summer when we needed it, and sleeping snug with the thunder rumbling, that Katrina has not overcome the more pleasant resonance of thunder for me. I know some animals myself that have not overcome their trauma, though.

Nosjunkie said...

Hi there! Verry nice blog hunny
I come from South-Africa, the part of south-africa where we have summer thunder showers, the kind that is marked by the smell of sulfor in the air.
I love the storms because they are not destructive rather life giving.
However yesterday the whole province rushed home becasue there was a tornado warning and ther is an ice berg of the coast

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