I woke up this morning screaming ‘IT’S RAINING’.
Why would someone wake up screaming that? But that’s my nightmare.
The fear of being swallowed by water scares the hell out of me; the sound of a drizzle causes my heart to flutter uncontrollably; the rush of an unexpected breeze paints pictures of flying trees in my mind. All my life this fear has lived with me.
I arose from bed frantic mumbling and cursing the heavens as the rain continued to fall oblivious of my tirade as I shout at myself ‘Where is my towel?’. I make a mad dash to the bathroom, brush my teeth hastily and shower in less than 5 minutes. I grab the first item I see in my wardrobe put it on and fly downstairs. 20 minutes total from waking to leaving home, that’s a new record. I silently salute myself.
As I approach the express I see the traffic then the flooded road, I begin to sob. There’s no choice but to dive in with the rest of the motor users. I make it to the main road after an hour of struggle but I realize the battle has only just begun. All this at 6am! God help me.
My feet feel wet and I look down and see the water sipping into my car, I begin to pray. ‘O Lord, this car cannot stop me here.’ I see other cars giving up the ghost in the rising water and I begin to feel a heart attack coming on. My car begins to jerk; my prayer becomes louder and more frantic. As I get to the end of the flood, the car stops.
No one is pulling over to assist and in all honesty I don’t blame them. The bonnet of the car is open and so are the doors and I’m patiently scoping out water and mumbling to myself. It was then it hit me. There’s something wrong with this picture – I usually have passengers on my way to work and it was odd that I was the only one shoveling out water.
The rain intensifies and I feel drowned. I shake off the water and look up just to see the source of the ‘rain’. I’m still in the shower and I just had a panic attack.
I turn off the water and I hear it, the sound of rain.
O boy!
