Even the birds seemed to have moved out,

taking the neighbor’s barking dogs with them.

Revving engines, honking horns, squeaky brakes: silenced.

Was school in session?

Perhaps that explained the absence of basketballs bouncing against garage doors and shrieks of little girls playing.

The magnolia trees’ subtle-sweet fragrance  was the only trace of normalcy.

How I loved the scent, and often imagined what they must look like!

The air seemed dense, yet strangely vacant–as if Nature was holding her breath.

Waiting.
Waiting for what?
The radio would have alerted me to the hurricane’s approach, if I’d turned it on.

The Daily Post