Power: UNDER THE RAINBOW

I hear their little voices singing, ‘Here we go round the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush. I watch them all fall down. I watch them all get up, dust off their panties, all except Laura. She is crying, ‘Mommie, Mommie, help me. I can’t get up. Mommie, my legs won’t move.  Mothers hurry to the child. They surround her. Cell phones appear like magic. Mother # 1 shows the group her cell and signals she will call 911. In a few minutes sirens chill the warm day. Medics quickly access the trouble, gently raise Laura onto a gurney. One medic blows up a red balloon, seals it with surgical tape, and gives it to the crying little girl. The ambulance, medics, mother and child drive to St. Agnes Children’s Hospital with their siren silent. There is nothing I can do but stand aside as the mother’s fret and talk and let them take their unharmed children home.

Thunder begins to rumble and I can see the ladies two blocks away start to run. The sky turns gray, a deep ugly gray. God is angry about things, a lot of things I guess. I feel helpless, useless. The rain pours around me, making a large circle. Not a drop of it touches me. As I pace the edges of my circle, it grows larger. I stop moving, stand very still and we cease moving as one entity. Am I its prisoner? The hair on my neck begins to tingle. I reach up and touch my hair. It is standing on end, straight, almost crispy. Tiny electric shocks prick my fingers.
What should I do?

Pray, woman, pray,’ I hear myself think. I look straight up into the gray sky and call to god. ‘God Almighty, let me go. Release me. I have work to do, children to watch over.’ I laugh, laugh at myself, my silly praying.
Silly? I am not so sure.

Far, far away in the distant sky, there is a small round yellow ball. It slowly starts to grow, The yellow extends to a deep orange, the orange becomes pink, red adds on and the ball is stretching thin. There is green, green as new mown grass, blue like a baby’s eyes, pink as her cheeks. The ball elongates into a semi-circle, a rainbow. I try to speak to god again, thank him for all the blessings he has bestowed on me. I pretend he hears me as there is no more lightning, no roaring thunder.

Taking a chance, I step out of my circle. Once more I talk to god. ‘I am going now to see the little girl in the hospital, touch her with the magic you have given me and together, you, I, Laura and her mother will cure her. Right, God?’

He answers with an extra loud clap of thunder. I turn over and see it is eight a.m. and there is an upside down rainbow outside my window.