My sleep was heavenly last night. The a.m. clock showed six. With seven undisturbed hours of tranquility I rise and shine with happy thoughts. The lowered window shades are keeping out the morning sun. The feel of my bare feet on the parquet floor is most refreshing. Hand over hand I raise the shade cord to the top and am stunned. I quickly turn on the t.v. to find out if I missed a tornado that is approaching. The sky is black, ebon black. There is no sign of a storm. The screen lights but there are no pictures on any channel, no voices, no news.
‘Molly, get up. Something is wrong. Get up!’ ‘It’s still dark.’ My wife begs me to let her sleep another hour. ‘No, get up now. The t.v. isn’t working. There’s almost no traffic. The few cars going towards the turnpike have their brights on. We’ve surely slept thru something. Get up.’
I put on my slippers that are next to the still warm bed and open the front door. The moon, a golden full moon is rising faster than usual and in the East. ‘Molly, look. Am I crazy? The moon is rising instead of the sun. What has happened to our sun?’ ‘Come on, Earl. Stop messing with my mind. It’s morning now. That can’t be the moon, can it?’ ‘Honest, Molly, that thing in the sky is not the sun. It’s supposed to be the sun but isn’t. I’m going to walk down the street and maybe find out what is going on. I’ll be back soon.’ I walk and see lights on in all the houses but no neighbors, no dogs. The garbage truck is coming. It stops at our gate but nobody gets out of the truck. It moves on to Joe Smythe’s.
There is no morning dew but the ground is soggy wet from rain. I go inside and see the t.v. flickering. Larry King is on. His red suspenders remind me of the lovely red sunrise we should be seeing. The sky is lightening. The moon is beginning to rise. There are stars in the cloudless sky. Not the slightest breeze ruffles a tree. ‘Molly, come see the miracle.’ ‘What’s the big to-do, Earl? I don’t know who or how but I think somebody drugged us last night. We must have slept twenty four hours. Let’s get dressed and go out for dinner.’ ‘You must be nuts, Woman. What’s happened to t.v., to the unmanned garbage truck? We’re arguing, guessing and the moon has moved so fast it is almost overhead. Did you ever see that before, Molly?’ Molly never did.
‘I’ll tell you what I think it is, Mol. I believe the Apocalypse is on its way. The world is ending.’ She replies, ‘I’ve always been so proud of you. You are the smartest man I know and am so glad you love me. Now that you have mentioned the Apocalypse, I am sure you are right. That is the moon overhead in the morning and the sun is nowhere. Do you feel what I feel? The temperature is dropping. I’m going inside to get my winter coat.’ ‘Don’t bring anything for me. If this is the end, we won’t need coats. I’ll come inside with you and we’ll lie in bed together and see what happens.’
We leave the window shade up and watch the moon float away. There is a rumble, louder than a hundred claps of thunder all at once. The sky turns red, yellow and then explodes.
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