Unforeseen Events on a Blustery Day

The clouds, a distance away, were thickening and taking on an ominous appearance. The rain, now dribbling down, started to come together over the lake to brainstorm some plan. The wind shouldn't be getting mixed up with the ocean and the rain. The three together caused much havoc; today, however, just a little mayhem was perhaps what the wind needed. The rain danced beautifully on the deep blue seas, and wind raced off to join it, dropping from the top of the cliff.

At first, the wind flowed over the sea only, experiencing the ocean's ever-increasing waves as they reached into the sky. The rains were spinning in all ways as the wind swept through them. The dance progressively became more and more violent, as the wind sent the water up to smash against the rain, twisting the droplets together in large wet torpedoes that crashed into the dark sea. Wind spiraled, jumping far into the air, slamming upon waves as it raced. The rain continued to pour down, trying to somehow catch the wind, as if by the slams onto the lake below. When the rain finally caught the tail of the wind, it was no longer condemned to fall monotonously in one direction. Droplets cut through the air, dancing around each other with ever-increasing speed. The wind howled in delight, whirling in dizzy circles. The ocean leaped into the air with immense anticipation, clinging to the wind for as long as it could before pounding back into the water. Raindrops were swallowed up by the waves in great gulps as they arose nearly as high as the clouds.

Unaware that the small ship was having issues keeping up with them, the three continued to rage. Rain came first, splattering so forcefully over the deck and sails that it tore a hole in the white billowing linen. Ocean teasingly taunted the wind with his new plaything, lifting the ship high into the air only to let it fall roughly. Those aboard yelled in fear as the wind rushed down over the hull. Wrapping around the topmast, it snapped with a shaking rupture that sent the top half plunging down into the ocean. Greedily, the water grabbed down the mast, lighting its thirst for more with only the start given to them.

The wind refused to let go of the new wealth, and the sea began to reach its greedy tentacles across the sides of the ship. It yanked on the wooden bobble to tug it out of the grasp of the ocean. However, the ship was pounded by rain that made it slippery and too heavy for the wind to hold for very long, and as soon as it sank back into the sea, the waves clutched it tighter. The wind shrieked in anger, heaving furiously on the ship. Water crashing over the top swept horrified men off the deck and in to be taken completely. Rain was pushed down on the ship, filling it with water and weighing it down, so the ocean could take it into its belly with more ease. As fast as rain might pour into the vessel, wind swept over its rim, pouring the water off its flanks. The ocean clung to its catch, tearing it from the wind's embrace and flinging it violently aside while the wind, all its force brought to bear, whirled around the wooden keel, heaving it up forty feet aloft. As the water started embracing the spacecraft with its tentacles, drawing it below the surface, the wind hastened to save the toy. In one last desperate attempt, the wind fiercely jerked at the surface of the water, sending the waves swirling in all directions, but the ship was out of the reach of the wind.

Ocean was satiated with this sumptuous feast and retired to its afternoon siesta. Raindrops seemed to lose strength, fell slackly upon the water surface, and ignored the wind while it whirled around. The wind was left free to soar over the sleeping ocean waves as rain finally slept too.

Six wet, exhausted people, huddled together in a small boat, were being attacked by the wind. There was nothing but water as far as the eye could see in every direction. The wind whistled by them and then cycled around to build up speed and dive down to push the boat across the still waves until they could see shoreline. The water wasn't going to have leftovers anytime soon. The wearied wind sighed a long, wailing sigh, climbed the sky again, and fell over the edge of the cliff. As before, there was nothing to do—and worse, no urge to do it—without the rain and the sea.