Chapter Twenty-Four: The First Rain

RAYMOND 

When the rain finally came, it was a beautiful and terrible thing. The skies grew dark and heavy, and then you could see it moving like a grey curtain, sweeping down over the mountains in the distance, and then moving slowly toward us over the impossibly flat landscape. Only it wasn’t truly flat, it sloped ever so slightly eastward toward the draw. The empty riverbeds filled up and became roaring streams. Aunt Morgan ran out of the house like a child, ready to play in the rain. She wanted to see how her swales and earthworks were performing. I grabbed a baseball cap and followed her. 

The air felt different in my lungs, and the rain hit like cold piercing needles despite the desert heat. It felt incredible, r……