A Twist Of Noir 056 - John Weagly

SHOWERING IN A THUNDERSTORM - JOHN WEAGLY

Originally appeared at DZ Allen's MuzzleFlash, July 2007

I get confused about why you’re not supposed to shower during a thunderstorm. Is it dangerous? Poor etiquette? Is it bad luck? I can never remember.

I suppose danger makes the most sense, since threat and menace are everywhere and since electricity and water are such good friends. Lightning could hit the ground, crawl through the wet earth and climb out through your shower nozzle. Or maybe the lightning mixes with pollution in the H2O and turns it corrosive and then the water eats your skin. Or perhaps the lightning just sees you naked, falls in love and jumps through your bathroom window to give you a kiss.

It doesn’t matter. Sometimes you just have to get clean. It’s either take a shower or stand outside, letting the falling rain wash away the grime, the earth and the blood.

What I did I shouldn’t have done, with the knife and the screams and the soggy, shallow grave. But I’m also not supposed to shower in a thunderstorm.

BIO: John Weagly is a Derringer Award winning author with over 30 plays produced by theaters around the world and over 50 short stories and poems published in a variety of mediums. His fiction has appeared in such publications as “The Back Alley,” “Plots With Guns,” “Hardluck Stories,” “Blue Murder,” “Crimespree,” “Bullet,” “Demolition” and “Book of Dead Things.” The Undertow Of Small Town Dreams, a collection of his short stories, is available from Twilight Tales Publications. For more information about John, check out his website at www.johnweagly.com.