Every six days, clouds settle on our part of town.
Not the whole town, just the 6 blocks north and the 6 blocks west of where I live.
I believe the common-folk call this “pea soup.” Except, this isn’t fog. Sure, in an academic sense, clouds are high-flying fog and fog is low-lying clouds. But let’s not argue scientific semantics. Anyway, these clouds don’t work like that.
The clouds we have? You can move them yourself..
Less than solid, but more than gas. Shape it, squeeze it, it can spring back. It is malleable and breathable
Ponder that.
Of course, we don’t want to put it in our lungs. But we have to. There is no getting around it.
I mean that literally.
You must move the clouds aside to walk anywhere. They provide a kind of resistance. Not gelatinous, per se, but viscous. Yet, it does not make our hands wet.
Kids? We endure it. Play with it. Tease about it. Laugh at its regularity.
But, we fear it when out of its earshot; behind the walls of our safe places. No one really wants to talk about it. Like we are taking unnecessary chances. Maybe there is some risk. We don’t trust it.
Worse?
We get the sense it does not trust us. The cloud cover.
It lingers for that day. No sun shining through. It is not solid, so we should be able to see light. But, no. you see fewer people that day. Like a day of rest. More like a day of avoidance. Preservation and safety by closing up windows, pulling shades, shutting out the day.
Life.
Then, the next day, it is gone. Rolled away like car wash foam, Squeegeed from the sky and the air.
That new day smells cleaner than ever. Looks sharper than before. Does that cloud cover do something? Scrape the weathered surface of the sky, leave better polish?
Veneer.
Local hooligans, amateur scientists and hacks are beginning to theorize. This is all we need. Word leaking out. That means we are only days from professional yahoos on tour; installing themselves in town but, conveniently, staying just outside the zone.
No one her really knows why the cloud cover appears, why it leaves. How it knows–at least that much we agree on–to stay just under 24 hours. No one else really talks about what else is missing when it leaves.
Nothing tangible.
All the people, our pets, possessions, all free-standing structures (and anchored structures to boot) are present and accounted for. But, something feels off. Something is missing, but no one can describe what it is.
Maybe we will find out next time.
I hope.