I
live in Arizona, near Phoenix, where storms have become more violent over the years. I never used to fear the storm, not in all my years... not even when a
micro-burst half destroyed my house over a decade ago. Of course, I was at work
at the time, not inside it. But last summer, I was driving on 59th
Avenue on a sunny Saturday afternoon, when one of those sudden monsoon storms
hit. Within minutes the sky darkened, like twilight in the middle of the day,
strong winds, dust, zero visibility, then rain.
Thick
walls of water like gray sails waved beyond the windshield, gusty side winds
carried large objects across the road and knocked them against hard surfaces
with loud bangs. Through the water curtain, I could see car lights in front and
in back of me. The wind whooshed like a turbine. The electric poles along the
street shook wildly. Lightning hit, close by. Light exploded all around, and
thunder cracked and boomed, echoing inside the car, inside my body like a deep
drum roll.
That’s
when fear set in. My heart beat faster than after running a 10K. Still, I
couldn’t panic. I had to think... and fast.
Although
the cars had slowed, stopping on the main road with traffic would be suicide.
Driving in this chaos would also be suicide as the electric poles swayed dangerously,
waving their array of thick power lines overhead. The street was flooding fast.
What to do?
Eyes
riveted to the right curb that quickly disappeared under the rising tide, I
spotted a faint driveway to the side, and remembered it must lead to the DMV
parking lot. Following the curb, I managed to get my car off the road and into
the wide open space... anywhere. I couldn’t see the white lines on the pavement
anyway. Other cars followed my tail lights and parked in a line next to me, as
if taking comfort in company. I felt their presence somewhat reassuring.
Were
we safe? Not really. There was no safe place to hide from the storm. The
flagpole overhead shook dangerously under the gusty winds flapping the flag,
and the ropes snapped against it with loud metallic knocks. Garbage cans,
branches, and large pieces of debris flew and swept across the open area with
unprecedented force. I feared at any moment the wind might lift my little car
and throw it against a concrete building.
Then,
as fast as it had come, although it seemed to last for hours, the storm moved
away, leaving me relieved and shaken at the sight of the destruction. In the
last spattering of rain, I could see fallen poles across the flooded street,
downed power lines sparking in flood water, traffic lights strewn in the middle
of the intersection, and fallen trees.
A
few hundred yards south of the DMV parking lot, on 59th Avenue, where
I would have been had I not turned, several electric poles had fallen. One had crushed a car,
trapping the driver inside, in the middle of a small lake. No way to get to the car to see if the person inside was dead or alive. It was a
woman, I learned later on the news. Rescued by the fire department, she was not seriously hurt, but I
felt guilty and glad at the same time. It could have been
me.
In
the aftermath of the storm, all the streets in the area were flooded or blocked
by debris, trees, branches, pieces of roofs. People stood on their front porch, staring at their destroyed
property, eyes wide, as if wondering how so much destruction could happen in so
little time. Emergency vehicles blared their sirens. After many detours and turnarounds, in dangerously
flooded streets and bumper to bumper traffic, it was dark, hours later, when I finally reached my small
apartment ten blocks away. I was never so glad to hug my
cat.
No
matter how strong or fearless we are, there is always something or someone
stronger than us, and Mother Nature is teaching us lessons at every turn. The
memories of this storm will stay with me forever, and I bet they will end up in
a book someday.
In
the meantime, you can read my latest contemporary romance with a hint of
suspense, set in Scottsdale, Arizona, and available in all eBook formats everywhere.
ASLEEP
IN SCOTTSDALE
When
Talia runs over billionaire Kyle Dormant with her bicycle in the dog park, she
considers their meeting a happy accident. He believes it is destiny, but her
physician's mind rebels at such notions. Their budding romance comes to a
grinding halt when Kyle won’t wake up from deep sleep... with no medical
explanation. Baffled and deeply concerned, Talia digs into his recent past for
a plausible cause. Instead, she uncovers dark family secrets. Convinced Kyle's
condition was induced, and someone wants him dead, she is anxious to save him,
but the closer she gets to the sordid truth… and a possible cure, the greater the
risk to both their lives.
Vijaya Schartz
Romance with a Kick
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