billy joe and bobbi sue

By the time I took Jack to school this morning, the rain had stopped and a colorful morning sky was glowing with remnant rays. Everything was moist and shiny. It didn’t take long to kick back in though. The morning held several hours of strong rain and an occasional crack of thunder, sometimes very close. The kids lost electricity at school and there was hail at the elementary school. There were several tornadoes around the area and several houses destroyed, but not near us. Most of the day for us was wet, but pleasant.
The thing about this storm is that its name is Bonnie. I know from a lifetime of experience that Bonnie is less to be feared than respected. So true to form, after a period of drenching showers, she was overcome by compassion and smiled her lovely smile upon that which had been enriched even in her fury. Bonnie has been moody all day. Periods of rain followed by periods of soft, moist sunshine. The grass is once again green and growing.
So all in all, an aptly named tropical storm. The problem is that Bonnie is paired with another storm. A hurricane even. So just as Bonnie’s anger subsides, enter round two. A “wait until your dad gets home” sort of scenario. The dad half of the equation is always worse.
I think Chris is right when he says that storms are probably named by computers, how else can you explain this major faux pas in storm nomenclature? For years the namers seem to have done quite well. Remember Floyd, who mumbled his away across the southeast on his way to Mount Pilot? Remember Hugo, who took out most of our state and gave us two arrogantly shabby Pawley’s Islands? Well who could have missed such a rare chance at naming the storm to follow Bonnie? Had this storm, now a category 2 hurricane, been named Clyde, the attitudes of everyone in the southeast would have been very different. We would have greeted them with excitement, would have stood along evacuation routes hoping to get autographs. Would be less surprised at the destruction in their path. But as it is, it sounds like the names were licensed and royalties were too high to use real names. Or maybe the two are still out there evading capture and the names have been changed to protect them. Anyway, we’ve got a shoot’em up movie with a knock-off rebel couple hiding out on either side of Florida, poised to meet up somewhere up the coast. No doubt they’ll hit a couple banks on their way and keep us all on the edge of our seats. Already, those who’ve seen them coming are boarding up their windows and heading inside.
Like we’ve done with Hugo and Floyd, years from now, we’ll say remember when Bonnie and Charley came shooting their way through town?