Page 30 - Oasis in the Sky

Blue Norther

A black wall of clouds towered
in the northwest—as high
as any thunder head, stretching from
horizon to horizon—the biggest thing
we’d ever seen in West Texas skies.
A late winter day transformed from
ordinary to ominous.

Angry winds presaged the demon cloud’s arrival—
whipping, pushing, driving dust and debris
into a strangling maelstrom. As the
black wall descended, the temperature
dropped and plunged our world into a
frigid, wind-scourged nightmare.

Sleet fueled the wind’s fury as it
whipped an icy crust onto everything
in its path. Incredibly, the wind grew
wilder and the darkness darker. Lightning
lanced the sky, releasing a barrage of hail
that crashed down, pelting like gravel sprayed
from the side of the highway
as a tractor trailer thunders by.

Dashing across white ground seeking shelter,
we saw with each lightning flash an
inverted world—white below, black above.
Strangers might have thought it was the
beginning of the end, but for West Texas boys
it was just another afternoon of unpredictable weather—
just a blue norther blowing through.

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Oasis in the Sky
Oasis in the Sky