26/10/2016
Today's words at creative writing class were:- Car, crash, tree, water, thunder, storm, blue, teddy bear, metallic and vicar and here is my short story....
Granville was driving his metallic blue jalopy westwards along the highway. His eyes were mysteriously drawn to the sky. As he looked up through the windscreen, he saw the greyest, blackest clouds he had ever seen. They looked beyond angry and as he looked closer he was sure that they were going to erupt at any moment. It was going to be a drencher.
Emily sat in the back of the car animatedly engaging with her life long teddy bear, who she had affectionately named Ralph. "Ralph want some water?...No? want orin juice instead?...OK, here you go. I'm gonna be a beenareena when I grow up Ralphie. Yes I am!" As she continued to chatter away to her inanimate toy, the thunder started to roll, enraged, across the sky. The sound was deafening and startled poor little Emily from her imaginary conversation. Her eyes opened wide in fear and wonderment and her eyeballs protruded further than they had ever done before. Granville had spotted his daughter's reaction in the rear view mirror. "It's ok Ems, it's just God shouting at the naughty angels in heaven." Relieved that the world was not about to end and that her and Ralph would be safe she returned to her conversation.
Then, by god, did the heavens open, torrential rain fell in bucketloads from the sky. "See Ems, that's the angels crying because god shouted at them. It's called a thunder storm down here."
It was getting dangerous to drive. Granville had precious cargo in the back so he just crawled along, barely going 10 miles an hour. The road was just a huge big puddle of water.
The windscreen wipers were on full pelt. Granville could barely see the road in front of him. The driving rain was obscuring so much from his view. But then, his peripheral vision picked out a figure at the side of the road. He appeared to be a man of the cloth...a vicar perhaps with his black robes and white dog collar...maybe a priest. More to the point, why was he standing under a tree, in the pi***ng thundering rain?
Granville pulled his car over and wound down his window as he was assaulted by the horizontal downpour. He asked the man if he was ok. The man replied "I'm absolutely fine. It's not every day you get to bathe in the tears of angels. I'm feeling very blessed right now but thank you for your concern kind sir."
Granville shook his head in slight disbelief at the madness of an apparently intelligent individual. "Each to their own." he said to himself "Each to their own." as he continued on his slow moving journey to the west.
His view was getting increasingly obscured by the blankets of rain that were falling relentlessly. And then, BANG!, CRASH!, WALLOP! someone rear ended his beloved car turning it into a giant spinning top. Round and round, swirling across the lake of water. Emily's wide eyes returned for the second time during the journey.
Slowly the car came to rest...like a ballerina finishing her final pirouette. All occupants, including Ralph were still intact. There and then Granville decided he was driving no further, angel tears or no angel tears.
© Louise Hillman 2016
