CLOUDBURST

“It looks like a pretty bad storm is coming,” I said to both my boys. We were in our car running errands when I looked up in the Northern sky.

“It probably won't hit us for a while.” Max said. “Can we stop at Taco Bell? I'm starving!”

“I really think we should get home before it starts to pour.” I said.

“Can we pick up my laptop first?” Alex asked. “They finally got rid of the virus and I haven't had it for days.”

“I guess we can squeeze in one last stop.” I knew that not having his laptop was almost painful to him.

“Thanks,” Alex said.

“Hey!” Max cried. “Why can you run another errand for Alex and not for me?”

“Taco Bell isn't an errand,” I told Max. “Besides, we're going to have dinner soon.”

“We'll still eat dinner, right Alex?” Max looked over at his brother. “Taco Bell isn't a meal. It's more like a snack.”

I looked over at Alex as he shrugged his shoulders. “I could always eat.” he said.

“While we waited in the drive-thru line I could hear the rumbling of thunder in the distance.

“I just know we're going to get caught in this storm.” I complained as I got the bag of food and handed it to the boys.

They were both happily munching on tacos as the quick stop for the laptop turned out to be longer than I expected.

Now I felt as if we were racing the storm clouds home. The sky go darker, the thunder got louder, and we could see the lightning strikes. Soon big drops of rain began to hit the windshield.

“I knew we should have gone home earlier.” I complained as I turned on my headlights and put the wipers one.

We pulled up to the house just in time for a true cloudburst to hit. We looked over at our front door, which was only thirty feet away, but you could barely see it through the sheets of rain coming down.

“Maybe we should wait in the car until it lets up a bit.” I suggested.

“That could be hours.” Alex said.

“Let's make a run for it.” Max said.

So we did. Slipping and sliding through the ankle-high water, we made it to the front door looking as if someone had turned a garden hose on us.

“Stay here while I get some towels.” I said, leaving the boys dripping in our foyer.

In the few moemtns it took me to come back with the towels, I could see that the rain had stopped and the sun was peeking through the clouds.

“I guess we could have waited in the car for a few minutes.” Alex said as he reached for the towel and waited for me to start complaining about the wet floors.

I did look down at the huge puddle we were all standing in, all three of us drying ourselves off. “I have to admit I haven't been caught in a downpour like that in a long time.” I said and then began to smile. “That was so much fun!”