Lightning Games

Zhor and I discovered a new game while dancing. The heat had finally died down, and I smiled as rain drops began to fall on my shoulders. Having tea and sitting just outside the overhand of the roof of the house, I was the first to notice. But it didn't take them long.

Soon I was laughing beneath Baba's jacket as Mama covered her and a sleeping Huda with a scarf, and Hiba, upon our comment to her that it was raining (the wandering two year old had not noticed) covered herself haphazardly with the towel.




And so we went outside, and Zhor and I danced. She spun, I dipped, and we trotted around in slow circles between galls of laughter (Hiba had decided to place her towel on the ground, and sit alone in the rain).

And then... Lightning.

I saw it first.
I jumped up and down as I saw it again and willed Zhor to look. When the bolt crashed, she shrieked and jumped back and I roared with laughter.

And then the game was formed.

One.
Two.
Three.
Lightning.

She was better than I was, probably more attuned to timing of strikes. Yet every time the lightning struck on the three, we cheered. We laughed, screamed, shrieked with delight. We probably woke the whole damn village.

But the game was ours.

I've often wished that for a few minutes, my brain would just stop. Its always seemed like something out of my control, like spinning wheels or ever distancing horizons that you just can't grasp.

I've found few things in my life that put my mind at ease, that hit my analytical off switch.

Playing with Zhor is one of them. Whether we're cooking, dancing, dressing up, or just chatting, our laughter generally drowns out the dialogue of my mind. With her I find peace. With her, I make lightning games.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:The village of Fariat