Demon

I know this is bizarre that I go for weeks without writing and inexplicably I write two posts in a day.  Perhaps life is just more exciting than usual.

I returned from town today to find Hadijah looking pretty bored.  It looked like she stopped to think right next to my verandah and she didn’t start up again.  She had been asking me for a week now to read with her (or just books rather, I think she enjoys the pictures more than the stories).  When I caught her staring into the nothingness, I suggested she come and read with me, which she did promptly.  We set up my two blue garden chairs in my backyard (I place I never sit, but being the afternoon that’s where the shade was).  I believe I was in the middle of asking her what sound a hen makes when she pointed at the sky and said, “Mary, look up.” 

A swirl of papers, plastic bags, leaves and other light objects were swirling in the sky, like a flock of birds.  It was just passing over, and the air around us was calm.  “What is that? Garbage?”  It was very eerie and reminded me of a scene (which is either an invented memory or this actually happened in the movie) from Birds where a young girl sees the crows in the distance, and a sense of imminent doom is established.  

“A demon!” she said, in probably one of the creepiest ways a little girl could--laughing. 

I looked around, no one was scared or moved hurriedly.  A few of my neighbor kids whom I never talk to also had gathered by my feet, and also weren’t in any terrible hurry.  Until the wind picked up a bit more--it was odd, I didn’t make the connection between swirling garbage and oh-my-goodness-where-did-this-wind-come-from?-there was no sense of urgency.  Before I knew it, dust was whipping around every which way, stinging my eyes.  I jumped out of the chair and tried to open the solid metal door to my room behind me.  With the gusts of wind, I lost hold and it flung open, knocking over one of the kids (no worries, no injuries).  I could hear the witch’s theme song from the Wizard of Oz play in my mind while this all progressed. 

“Get inside!” I yelled.  Hadijah and one of the neighbor kids did, the other three ran off back home.  I shut the door behind us, and Hadijah was still laughing.  “A demon!”  This must be what they call these psuedo-tornadoes.  It lasted perhaps 40 seconds all together (from the swirling garbage in the distance to the abrupt stop).  I went out my front down quickly, to watch the thing swirl away, and I saw a wandering vendor across from my door, brushing the dirt off him with a bit of a bewildered look on his face.  Not for long, however; he quickly returned to selling his socks, hankies and trousers. 

Wikipedia makes these things look pretty puny.  I would say perhaps this was a dust hurricane.  It wasn't terrifying at all, it was pretty cool.  Afterwards, we set up the chairs again and I returned to reading, thinking, “My god, I have to blog about that later.”