So I just worked a 16 hour shift...during which something really weird happened to me. I was out on patrol, when I emerged from one of my buildings to find a old-timer leaning against a wall. He was smoking, just being lazy in the vicious summer heat.
It was raining, but I had my sunglasses on. I had them on because despite the rain, it was sunny. A halo of ash colored clouds floated overhead--it framed the bright blue sky directly above us. Sorta like the "eye" of a hurricane. The precipitation was light, but more than a mere drizzle. I was getting wet, but the heat from the sun was drying me out.
I love it when it rains when the sun is out, the harder the better. For some reason it just seems magical. Like snow in the dessert. The old-timer seemed to like it too. He saw me and smiled.
"The Devil's beating his wife," he said to me as I approached.
What?
Now when I'm at work I expect to see and hear all kinds of strange/nonsensical things (what with all the vagrants and their alcoholism/drug addiction/mental illness)...but this stopped me in my tracks.
Did this guy just say something about the Devil beating his wife?
He repeated himself when he saw the puzzled look on my face.
"The Devil," he said. "He's beatin' his wife."
He looked up at the sky, as if it's dark edges were explanation enough.
"I don't get it."
"Ain't that what you called when it rained even though the sun was out? You know, when you was a kid?"
I laughed with relief, even though I had no idea what he was talking about--I knew he wasn't crazy. He seemed almost embarrassed, but not for himself...for me.
"I know I got a few more years than you do, but everyone knows that...it's a common saying."
Guess I must have missed that one. Anyway, I'm not sure if she deserves it--but I like it when the Devil beats his wife.
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4 comments:
I had heard of that one... I think it's a southern thing.
We had that happen a few evenings ago, where the back of the rainy zone moved east around sunset, so the sun's rays were slanting in under the clouds... Full arch rainbow, though with trees and buildings, I didn't get to see the whole thing at once.
I've never heard this saying--could be the seed of a story somewhere.
Well now I feel stupid, though I shouldn't be surprised that you'd heard that before. We had a full rainbow out here in Lee's Summit a few weeks ago...my mom snapped a pic, it was really pretty. She wondered what ancient people thought of rainbows. I told her they probably made them want to have gay sex.
I never thought about this being a story "seed" but I guess it could. The phrase is so strange...I never thought of the Devil as having a wife.
I'll admit, the first time I heard it, I was as baffled as you...
What direction were you planning with the story? (I think writing it from the battered wife's point of view could be neat.)
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