In yesterday evening’s blog post, I mentioned a young woman – an unusually early arrival for the hurricane season – named Chantal. I noted that Tropical Storm Chantal was expected to brush past Jamaica, with a flutter of her skirts – maybe a little rain.
Well, the “remnants” of Chantal proved rather unkind, overnight. Perhaps out of spite – having been downgraded to a mere tropical wave – Chantal roused herself and put on a fearsome display over Kingston between three and five in the morning. The sky lit up like a strobe light with almost continuous flashes of lightning, illuminating the sky with an unearthly grey-white glow. Three deafening crashes of thunder reduced me and our two dogs to trembling nervous wrecks. My husband, being the man of the house, put on a brave face.
At four o’clock we got up. I had a cup of tea, my husband cocoa, and we demolished the rock bun we had been saving until today. Food, and light, is comforting. I logged on to Twitter and found that most of my Kingston timeline was up too, and wide awake. My friends were also tweeting about food – hominy porridge, oven pizza, red pea soup, chick peas, chocolate milk, chicken nuggets, and more. “It brought out the child in a lot of us just now,” someone commented.
Yes, Chantal was a mean girl. You remember? The kind of horrid little girl at school who walks past you with a smile, but gives you a sharp dig in the ribs as she passes.
And then there was the Petchary. Yes, the real Petchary, or to give it its proper name, the Gray Kingbird. Through the most violent part of the storm, in between the huge rolls of thunder, we heard him. He was out there, his shrill voice piercing the darkness. It’s not surprising that he is sometimes called the storm bird. As you may know, the Petchary is a summer visitor from South America. Somehow he is drawn to the season of storms in the Caribbean Basin, which begins in June and ends (officially) on December 1, although it’s usually over by November.
The Petchary is unafraid. He defies the storm with his fierce cry. And of course, “he” could be a female. I hope to live up to the name, one day!
Related articles
Tropical Storm Chantal claims victim (bbc.co.uk)
- Tropical Storm Chantal weakens to tropical wave (sacbee.com)
Petchary's Blog 
Dangerous weather can be strangely fabulous. Mother Nature reminding us of who’s really the boss.
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Yes. It can be really awesome (an over-used word of course these days, but literally meaning that it fills you with awe). Last night’s light show was certainly showing us who was in charge…
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