Dear Wigleaf,

Last night there was a derecho, which always sounds like a type of dance to me, one with a lot of snapping and stomping, but the air pressure was all wrong and the temperature felt off, and we all had this sense of dread, so we went through the curtain of rarely worn winter gear-trench coats, puffy vests, long wool jackets with receipts in the pockets-into the closet under the stairs, and we sat on the floor and on plastic totes full of summer clothing and old costumes listening to what sounded like the storm just tearing it up out there. You know we thought it must be a tornado at the time, because we could hear the storm outside, and then it went so quiet, no thunder, or branches scratching, and then for what seemed like the longest time, there was the sustained sound of a train going by, even though there are no trains out here and our house was vibrating and I couldn't take a deep breath and I thought I might really panic.

And then it was over.

For an hour or so there was a firetruck by the end of our street, and we heard sirens swell one after the other, but once they ended we slid a window open and all we could hear were frogs and peepers, a few birds, and even with the threat of another storm, the sunset sure was something.

Ani King