Outside My Apartment

My washing machine is spinning rapidly, creating a loud sound that makes it sound like it's about to take off and fly out my kitchen window.

So when a heard another loud sound, I turned to Anita (a friend staying with me for a few days) and said, "Do you hear that?" She did.

It, (thankfully), was not the rat.

It was the wind. Outside. Howling.

A fine and dandy sound--one of my favorites, actually--if you live somewhere where wind howls. Here it does not howl. And it is howling!

We jumped up and went to the kitchen window to look outside. What would normally be called a humid haze from the heat was hanging over the expansive view from my window. But with this wind, we knew it was no humid haze. We turned and looked at each other, eyes big.

"SAND STORM!!!"

I ran to the balcony, and Anita came as quickly as she could on her crutches (she's here recovering from reconstructive knee surgery), and slowly pushed the door open. The wind had begun to sound like a cat had blown onto the balcony and was slowly, painfully dying from its injuries. Out on the balcony, we looked outside at the blur through the sand blowing in the air. We felt the sand filled air for a moment before our contacts burned in our eyes, and our throats itched and tickled.

Now we're shut back up in my apartment, enjoying the sound of the wind spinning around outside. Oh yeah, that's right...I'm writing from my apartment. The internet man finally came today--2 months and 3 days after I signed up for it. Luckily he made it into my building before the storm hit...