Heavy Weather In The Third Kind Of Water

I didn’t see the tree fall on her car
but I saw the flash of lightning and heard
the immediate crack from the thunder
and I suspected lightning hit nearby.

When the rain stopped I walked around the block
and found the woman crying by her car.

The thick tree trunk fell across the windshield
and must have hit a so-called crumple zone
because from driver-to-passenger side
the heavy tree pinched the car almost flat.

“I didn’t even see the rain,” she said.
“I was taking a shower. Just relaxing.
When I was drying myself my phone rang.
My neighbor asked me if I had been hurt.
I didn’t know why she was asking that.
She told me to look out my front window.
I couldn’t believe it. Look at my car.
I’ve got insurance and everything but
no one can fix that, right? Look at my car.”

I couldn’t stop thinking about water.

There had been rain pouring down from the sky.
Also water spraying down from her shower.
Now there were tears streaming down from her eyes.

The woman extended a shaking hand
in front of her. She said, “Look at my car.”

But all I could see was the reflection
of a street light glinting against a tear
on her cheek, flashing, like silent lightning.

The lightning in the third kind of water
struck something that fell on me, knocked me flat.