FIRST BIG RAIN

FIRST BIG RAIN

The first big rain came on May 17, but then the next morning it felt as if it never happened.  Sunny skies, excruciating heat.  Forty-two degrees C, and one hundred percent humidity.   The red laterite soil baked hard as clay once again.  But then on the next day, May 19, a sudden storm hit late in the afternoon, and that I think marks the beginning of rainy season.  My view across the street of the tall palms bent at wild angles with wind and rain reminded me of watching hurricanes on the television.  The rain just poured and poured, for hours, eight, maybe more.  Everything was mud, streams of mud.  The eves on Pee's mother's house totally overflowed, and we were all soaked to the bone trying to damage control.  I think in everyone's mind, same as in my mind, was the realization that this was the first day of the next six months.  It's amazing how an environment changes so quickly so dramatically.