Devonne Brown

Photographer unknown

“Look up there, Frank, what is that?” asked Bessie. “Is it the end of times?”

“O shit, Bessie, it ain’t the end of times, that’s a rainbow tornado. The old people said those things were good luck. Instead of sucking everything up, it’s raining down good energy.”

“You mean like letting Leprechauns loose all over the place? They’re tricky little folk, aren’t they?” Bessie was skeptical about the luck thing. She didn’t trust harbingers of luck. “Leprechauns might have pots of gold, and it might be lucky to find them, but you still have to catch one. Just because there’s been a bunch let loose, it doesn’t mean they brought good luck. It just makes a decent story.” 

Frank never took his eyes off the cloud. “I think we’re pretty damn lucky to see one of those things. Look how different the light is. I’m believing in the luck the old people talked about. It’s channeling magic from the air to the earth, Bessie, pure and simple, Not pesky leprechauns.” 

Bessie looked up. She wanted to believe Frank, the cloud, a swirling mass of iridescent cotton candy rainbow turned slowly in the sky. Hawks rode on thermals around it. It seemed to snag on the mountain tops and pull away, leaving tufts of rainbow mist  to dissolve into the forest. A herd of deer walked out from under the trees to watch it too.

“All this rain and heat brought it on is all. Ain’t no luck in that. Ain’t no such thing as luck,” grumbled Bessie. She picked up her laundry basket and headed into the house. Her white clothes looked whiter and brighter than they ever had before. Had she used more bleach this time? She wondered as she folded the skivvies and the towels, not a stain left on anything. 

She went back outside with the camera. Frank was still standing where she left him, staring up at the cloud. It was higher now, somehow brighter, its tendrils barely touching the ground. 

“It’s about done,” he said. “I wonder what kind of miracles it wrought?”

“I just hope it’s not the end of times. What does that mean anyway, Frank?”