SOLSC '25 Day Three: The drizzle didn't do

 

I am participating in The Two Writing Teachers' Slice of Life Story Challenge, writing every day during the month of March.  My theme this year is "Outdoors".

I put on the wrong jacket this morning.  There was a light mist falling as I walked to my car, so I turned around, unlocked the front door, and traded fleece for my raincoat.  Murphy's Law, you know.

If you know me, you know I work in what I affectionately call "The Bomb Shelter".  My library lies at the heart of the school, surrounded by hallways and other rooms; no natural light enters the space.  I am oblivious of the weather on most days, unless a downpour falls so hard that I can hear it on the roof.

I love it when I get the chance to have hallway duty outside of the library in the morning.  I make it a point to greet each student on their way to the third and fourth grade wings.  This morning, one stopped to inform me that we were going to be under a red flag warning for fire danger tomorrow.  I remarked that there was some drizzle on the way to work, so maybe the rain would mitigate the possibility.

I left work at five pm under the same gray, broody sky--but without any precipitation.  Home in just a few minutes, I tossed my raincoat on the chair in the study and headed back outside to sit on the front porch for some fresh air.  The breeze blew like yesterday, rolling those gray clouds on by, the sun trying shyly to push its way in.

But there was no rain to be had from those traveling puffs of water vapor.  One of my plants echoed the desperate need for water, 

while another is merrily making its way from covered pot to earth, little green florets defying the waving red flag.