Heavenly Hosts

“OOooo! That one looks like a train! Do you see it?” Grandma said pointing at the sky. “Yea, and grandma, look! That one looks like a cat!” I said joining in to grandmother’s excitement. We were in the car, on our way to grandma’s house, after a long day at home I was happy to be going somewhere else. 

The car was very familiar to behold, the same scents hanging on the mirror that she changed each month, the same white sun visor which sat in the middle console. The way grandma wore her sunglasses while driving. The need for safety, but always making time to look at the clouds anyway. Every weekend grandma had at least one child in her car. She loved the company since she lived alone, other than her dog Rex and her cat of course. 

Rex was a spoiled puppy, or well, he wasn’t quite a puppy anymore. He was almost my age, 10, while I was 12. Grandma likes to tell me how she got him. I like to believe I remember it, but I probably don’t,  since I was only two when it happened. I think I just have a good idea on it because of how many different people have told me about it. Although, I was technically there, so who knows. 

Each time my grandma fed Rex she had to mix in some human food otherwise he would not eat it at all. Usually she just gave him leftovers from whatever meal she had just eaten, since it was the easiest, she didn’t eat too much anyway, since she was a little lady. 

Whenever we went over it gave her an excuse to cook. I'm told she used to cook large grand meals for the whole family to eat, especially when there were 12 people in her house each weekend. My dad tells me the first time he had a lot of different foods were when grandma made them for him. She was a really good cook and I always enjoyed her food. I guess she had the magic touch after 60 years of cooking, 30 of which for family. 

Despite turning 77 that year she was very active and insisted on picking me up, since her job wasn’t too far anyway. She worked as a nurse, a lovely one too, she always had the best intentions for everyone. Recently she has been mass vaccinating a lot of different people for Covid. 

I was woken from my trance of thought when we turned onto her road, I could see her house in the distance, seeing the trees flowing around and the dog wagging its tail in the front yard. Soon, I spotted the cat walking on the porch to greet us as well. 

We pulled in and I got out, I was greeted immediately by Rex when he came up for me to pet him. He was such a good dog! Then next I went and found the cat, picking them up and giving them some pets too, although they weren’t the happiest.

I went back to the car and my grandma was smiling, she had grabbed my stuff out of the back and said, “I see you’ve already greeted the animals, spoiled things they are.” I chuckled, “yes grandma, but they’re cute ones!” 

She beamed wider, I grabbed my stuff from her and we went inside. The smell of her house greeted me lovingly. I welcomed it as I went to the den to set my stuff down. Coming back out grandma was rummaging through her fridge, it seemed she always was. “Is there anything you want to eat? We’ll do the work tomorrow, let's just relax tonight.” 

I wasn’t hungry, but I knew not to say no, so I responded craftily, “I’ll have something small later, maybe we could have a campfire and make some s’mores?” 

She looked at me and closed the fridge, “Oh that’s a wonderful idea! It’s not too windy, we’ll have to have a quick one though, it’s going to storm later.” 

I sighed, I hate storms, “Alright, I’m good with that, for now let's just go sit down.” 

“How about we light it now? We could sit outside while it’s still nice.” She responded. 

“Sure,” I smiled and we walked out the door, greeted by Rex and the cat yet again. 

The cat’s name was Diego, he was a wild little kitty, very different from either of my grandma’s older cats. They were named Penny and Bob, Bob was an orange tomcat who roamed outside and did whatever he pleased. Penny on the other hand though, was a groomed white cat with gray ears, paws and tail. Sophisticated, she thought of herself. I loved that cat with all my heart, and despite her being an old grumpy cat, (20 years old when she died) she loved me back. Although she continuously scratched and hated my siblings.  

Bob was just a sweetheart, he wasn’t that fond of when you would carry him around, but he enjoyed company and got along with the dog just well. He was 13 when he ran away. Now grandma’s got Diego. Diego is still very young, and was saved from our hayloft when he was trapped in a net. My grandma took him since she had no cats at the moment. She always loved cats. 

While we were sitting there Diego began to play with Rex’s tail, attacking him wildly, the poor dog, he had no clue what was going on or why. He was looking at us swinging on the bench begging for us to shoo him away. Grandma told him to bite the cat if he wanted something done, but he just pleaded with his puppy eyes. Sooner or later I nudged the cat to leave and he ran and climbed a tree being chaotic like always. Grandma and I sat in front of the fire talking, it really was a nice day. 

“Sucks that it’s going to storm later.” I said aloud. 

My grandma nodded, still looking at the fire, “Yea, it does, hopefully we welcome a colorful spring though, can’t do that without a good storm.” She said, soon she stood up and poked at the fire with her trusty stick. 

A long time ago we found a large enough tree branch that it wouldn’t easily burn when we poked at the fire with it. We could stand a good distance away and still make sure the fire was nice, the stick had been saved year throughout year. I had no clue how old it was at this point, but it still was held together perfectly. Maybe the end was a little messed up, but it was still usable. Once she was done poking around she set it on the ground beside her and joined me at the swing again. My grandma had an old white porch swing which we dragged out to the firepit every year so we could sit at it. It didn’t swing very far but it was enjoyable anyway, everything at my grandma’s house was enjoyable. 

“Did anyone grab things for s’mores before we came out?” I ask suddenly. 

“No, I don’t think anyone did, you grab the roasters from the camper and I’ll get the other stuff from inside the house, we’ll meet back here.” She responded, using the stick to stand up. 

“Alright,” I agreed with her plan, but I figured I’d get inside before she had grabbed everything. 

I started walking with grandma to the house, I went inside and grabbed the camper key from the utility room, before heading out into the garage. A few seconds pass as I weave my way through the garage to the door, heading outside, I notice the pressure had changed slightly, that means the storm is getting closer I thought. 

With a small amount of urgentness and a little anxiety I quickly got into the camper and grabbed the roasting sticks. Got out the door and back into the garage, if anything happened, I’d rather be inside.

When I got inside grandma was almost ready, she was rummaging through the fridge again, this time for chocolate, she kept that in the fridge so it wouldn’t melt, since she had no AC or heating in her house. 

“Come on, let’s get some s’mores before the pressure becomes unbearable.” I said to her once she closed the fridge door. 

“Oh! Addi, you scared me. Yes, let’s go.” She said, smiling at my excitement. 

We were out the door and got marshmallows on the sticks fast, dangling them over the fire. Grandma always said hers had to be perfectly golden brown, but for me, I honestly didn’t care. Usually I would get them a light golden brown, then stick it in and set it on fire until it was blackened. I found that the easiest way to have the best of both worlds. 

We both got our marshmallows onto graham crackers and chocolate by the time the wind started to pick up. 

I watched the trees start to sway in it, after a few moments the small dance-like sway had turned into a frantic move like running away.

Aw wonderful as my s’more was I decided it was about time to go inside. My grandma had thought the same as she picked up the things we used and dumped some sand on the fire pit. “Come on, let’s go before it rains.” She said.

I nodded and wiped my hands off a little before standing up to help her. As we were walking back I caught a glimpse of the sky behind her house, storms usually came from the south west and headed north east or so. Her backyard had a perfect view of the storm coming our way. 

Looking at it I paused for a moment. Things like these always made me catch my breath. When you can see the dark clouds piled on top of each other, the lightning flashing through them even from a distance could send a shiver down your spine. It was something that had always scared me, because it was storms like these which usually brought tornadoes into the mix. In fear of spotting a funnel cloud I quickly turned away and headed into the house. 

By the time I had actually got to the house my grandma was waiting just inside the door for me, it was getting really windy at this point and she could barely stand out in the wind, so she had waited inside, where she could see me. 

We heard our first rumble of thunder from a distance, I counted, 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi, lightning. The storm was approximately three miles away. Which was really close, but the rate it was moving, it seemed it could start raining any moment. 

I got in the door by miracle and fought against the winds to pull it closed. The wind had really picked up at this point and could’ve been 100 mph for all we knew. I doubt it was though. 

We closed the storm doors and made sure all the windows were latched, we unplugged a few major appliances we knew we wouldn’t need. If lightning struck the building they would go out, and nobody wanted that to happen. 

While I was doing a few other small things my grandma went to the garage to open the basement door, we hadn’t needed to go down there in ages, but the thought of having to do that now chilled me. “Hopefully not.” I whispered, crossing my fingers. 

Grandma walked in as another roll of thunder sharply erupted, I flinched at the sudden sound and she saw it. “Don’t worry, remember what I always said?” 

I remembered a lot of things she always said, but shook my head no. 

She smiled reassuringly, leading me into the living room, “Remember, thunder is just the Angel’s bowling. They’re having a good time up there in heaven. One day we will too.”

I smiled, “Yea.” I had remembered this very well, although I felt it always sounded better in the tones of her voice when she told me. She had a way with words and everybody knew it. 

She started walking over to the glass sliding doors and looked outside. “You see that cloud?” Grandma asked pointing at a cloud faraway in the sky. 

I nodded my head yes. 

“What do you see in it?” Grandma asked me.

I looked hard, it was always just a cloud to me, I had never seen too much in clouds, but I tried to describe it in relation to something else. “Well, it looks like wings on someone's back.” 

“Which is usually referred to as what?” 

“An angel?” 

Grandma smiled, “Yes. An angel. We are reminded daily about what protection we are given by those who watch over us, the angels only bowl with thunder, the sound is never going to hurt you. The lightning is rage, but controlled by one thing, even so we are protected, and the rain is nutrients to feed our soil, without it nothing would grow. So calm yourself, and enjoy a nice storm with me.” 

…

3 years later, 2022. 

I sighed as I looked at the clouds hanging low across the horizon to the south west. I still hated storms, and anytime it was about to I cringed, it was a hard experience for me. My grandmother had always told me I was protected in all that I do, by someone who watched over me. I wasn’t sure I believed that, but I had enjoyed what my grandma had to say anyway.

Now though, 3 years later, she had passed, and I no longer had her to look for comfort in a storm. I sat through whatever would happen outside, trying not to make it too hard for myself. Now looking out the window it was impossibly hard, I had it slightly cracked open and my wind chime was swaying as the breeze picked up. So was grandpa’s sun catcher. Both gleaming in my eyes, I kept them where they were and didn’t close the window. 

I stood up and went to my other window, one which had nothing hanging in it, and peered out. I could see the clouds darkening and them becoming taller and closer as the moments passed. 

I tried to look for some joy in this, some comfort, but couldn’t find any in such a sight, so I went back to my bed beside the opened window. 

I looked out, thinking that any minute now it would start, and I’d have to close my window since it would splash in quickly, especially since the winds were facing towards it. 

I heard thunder and counted 1 Mississippi- lightning. Only a mile away. I grimaced, reaching up to close it, I noticed something. A bird. A cardinal, no two cardinals. Sitting on the ledge right outside my window, and a cloud behind them. A winged cloud, one that looked like a dove instead of an angel. I paused. I looked at the cardinals, one male, one female. Not too old either, I tentatively reached towards the screen of the window. They didn’t move away. Instead the female came closer, I rested my fingers on the screen. She nudged me with her head softly and chirped. 

“Someones always watching over you, you are protected.” I whispered, remembering her words. 

I felt my eyes start to water, my vision slowly blurring. 

The female bird waddled back and the male came over, he flapped his wings and gave me a playful headbutt. 

“Do not be afraid.” I whispered. Words from grandpa, “Time will come. When you never will be again.” 

I felt my hand drop involuntarily, I looked at them through the vision I barely had, and a rumble of thunder and lightning scared them away before I could say more. 

I looked at the sky, at the dove cloud that had been behind them, I smiled wistfully, “I love you guys.” 

Then I closed my window as the storm began, before leaning back to close my eyes. “Goodbye.” I whispered.