Excitement

Afternoon: Thunder crashes, lightening flashes, raindrops slam down against the metal roof of our office. The noise! Two small brown birds take refuge on the windowsill in our bathroom. They don’t hear me sneak up behind them – I take a photo with A’s camera. I cannot hear V as she attempts to speak to me from two feet away.

Together, we shove shut the glass door to our porch and twist the key in the lock. Hail flies everywhere, even through the crack between the door and the floor.

Rain drips onto my head and arm from the roof. I grab the bucket that we use to flush the toilet and stick it beneath the leak. It’s just a few drops but I snatch my laptop up and flee to A’s desk across our small office.

A new e-mail alert pops up in the lower right hand corner of my computer screen and I double-click the link. An itinerary. The procurement officer in the logs department has just confirmed my airplane booking for R&R. Three days until Uganda!

It’s the dry season there.