{"id":278,"date":"2023-08-26T19:00:06","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T19:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/?page_id=278"},"modified":"2023-08-26T19:00:06","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T19:00:06","slug":"cloud-cover","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/?page_id=278","title":{"rendered":"Cloud Cover"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Every six days, clouds settle on our part of town.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Not the whole town, just the 6 blocks north and the 6 blocks west of where I live.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I believe the common-folk call this \u201cpea soup.\u201d\u00a0 Except, this isn\u2019t fog.\u00a0 Sure, in an academic sense, clouds are high-flying fog and fog is low-lying clouds.\u00a0 But let\u2019s not argue scientific semantics.\u00a0 Anyway, these clouds don\u2019t work like that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The clouds we have?\u00a0 You can move them yourself..<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Less than solid, but more than gas.\u00a0 Shape it, squeeze it, it can spring back. It is malleable and breathable<\/span><\/p>\n

Ponder that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Of course, we don\u2019t <\/span>want<\/span><\/i> to put it in our lungs. But we have to. There is no getting around it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I mean that literally.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 You must move the clouds aside to walk anywhere. They provide a kind of resistance. Not gelatinous, per se, but viscous.\u00a0 Yet, it does not make our hands wet.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Kids? We endure it. Play with it. Tease about it. Laugh at its regularity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 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.\u00a0 Maybe there is some risk.\u00a0 We don\u2019t trust it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Worse?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 We get the sense it does not trust us. The cloud cover.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 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.\u00a0 Like a day of rest.\u00a0 More like a day of avoidance. Preservation and safety by closing up windows, pulling shades, shutting out the day. <\/span><\/p>\n

Life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Then, the next day, it is gone. Rolled away like car wash foam, Squeegeed from the sky and the air.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 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? <\/span><\/p>\n

Veneer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Local hooligans, amateur scientists and hacks are beginning to theorize. This is all we need.\u00a0 Word leaking out.\u00a0 That means we are only days from professional yahoos on tour; installing themselves in town but, conveniently, staying just outside the zone.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 No one her really knows why the cloud cover appears, why it leaves.\u00a0 How it knows\u2013at least that much we agree on\u2013to stay just under 24 hours. No one else really talks about what else is missing when it leaves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nothing tangible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 All the people, our pets, possessions, all free-standing structures (and anchored structures to boot) are present and accounted for.\u00a0 But, something feels off. Something is missing, but no one can describe what it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Maybe we will find out next time. <\/span><\/p>\n

I hope.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Every six days, clouds settle on our part of town. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Not the whole town, just the 6 blocks north and the 6 blocks west of where I live. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I believe the common-folk call this \u201cpea soup.\u201d\u00a0 Except, this isn\u2019t fog.\u00a0 Sure,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":191,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-278","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279,"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/278\/revisions\/279"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.314stories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}