Here Comes the Sun!

My first warning that something was terribly wrong on Monday was when I opened my garage door yesterday morning on the way to get the paper. I stopped in mid-step. Something was not right, but what? Quickly, I realized that the driveway was dry. We have had so many nasty, cool, wet days lately that rain just seemed normal. Our somewhat strange neighbors, the Noah’s, had gleefully removed the gigantic tarps covering their strange boat, and resumed construction of their huge watercraft.

“Well,” I thought, “I guess the driveway being dry is really odd, but isn’t too alarming.” I stepped outside, and glanced up. The early morning sky was a very strange color. But what color is that? The sky should be a leaden, cold grey, and there should be moisture coming from it. I searched my memory. Yes, that’s it – blue. The color is blue. That's not right! My sense of foreboding grew – something is seriously amiss.

Trembling a bit, I walked towards the newspaper box, and froze in fear. There, to the east, was a strange orange-pink glow in the sky. I studied it cautiously. What should I do? Should I alert my neighbors? At first, I thought that maybe this was just an oddity, but the glow got brighter and brighter. I was starting to approach a state of near panic. Suddenly, a glowing fiery orange-yellow ball appeared, low in the sky. I screamed! It got a little higher. What the hell is that thing? Is the earth under attack from aliens from the Blennobian Nebula? Without warning, the terrifying orb rose completely above the horizon and seemed to just hang there, glowing ever brighter! “This is really, really bad,” I said out loud as a sense of terror overcame me. I turned and started to run, and tripped over my own feet. As I sprawled out in the driveway, I had this sense that I was doomed, and just curled up into as small a ball as I could form myself into.

Just at that point, my neighbor, Shirley, came walking by. “Run!” I screamed to her. “Save yourself! Don’t worry about me!” With amazing courage, she just continued walking calmly towards me. “Art, what’s wrong?” she asked. I raised my hand and pointed to the eastern sky, pointing with quivering finger. “L-l-l-l-look,” I stammered, with a quaver in my voice. “What?” she asked, her gaze following my finger. “Oh, that! That’s just the sun,” she said. “The sun?” I replied, in confusion. “Yes, the sun. Remember? We saw it a week or two ago. Now, it’s back. Calm down! Everything is OK.” She held her hand out, and helped me to my feet. I felt rather foolish as the memory of sunny days slowly returned to me. “Yes, the sun – now I remember,” I said with a sigh of relief. My pulse returned to normal, and my fear quickly left me.

I got the paper and returned to the house, opening the paper to page 2. Weather forecast – bright sunshine, high of 70. Yes, the sun – welcome back, old friend! Where in the world have you been lately?