I have arrived safely at the beach - actually I arrived yesterday afternoon with my family. We decided to unpack the car and have dinner before heading out to the ocean, which turned out to be a very bad idea.
Yes, we saw the gigantic storm cloud that covered 3/4 of the sky and was pretty much jet black. Yes, we were aware that going to the beach during a storm is a bad idea. And yes, we were stubborn. So, yes, we were idiots and drove to the beach.
The thing about this island where we're staying is that everyone has golf carts even though no one plays golf. It's just the way you get around without getting sand and salt all over your fancy expensive car that goes with your fancy expensive beach house (in our case this is a minivan and a rented house). Anyway golf carts are great fun. I tried to keep this in mind an hour after we left the safety of the tranquil house.
It took us about 10 minutes to find the beach when it should have taken about 3 because my dad thought the beach was in the other direction... That was a failure. As soon as we did find the beach, we unpacked all our beach stuff with great excitement (you all know how it is, the first day of vacation) and walked through the sand dunes towards the waves with the now HUMONGOUS storm cloud practically overhead.
We even made it to the water before the sky turned yellow and we finally saw lightning - about 100 yards down the beach from where we were standing!!! It was terrifying, and the thunder that followed was unbelievable. I thought my ears were goners for sure. Needless to say we ran to the golf cart, loaded everything back up, and drove off.
Quick side note: By this time it was pouring rain. A shower can't provide as much water as that cloud did. And I was stuck in the part of the golf car that has no roof - there is only a roof for the front two seats, and my sister was on my mom's lap, scared, while I was in the back, cowering under a towel and praying to anyone who was listening that I wouldn't get electrocuted. ("I'm too young to die! Billy Bob hasn't had a chance to kiss me yet!!! OH NO. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!") So anyway I was all alone in my rainy, stormy misery, literally.
Then, as if this ordeal wasn't bad enough already, our golf cart broke down halfway home. There was a shortage or something in the battery when it got wet...? Or something, my dad explained it but I didn't understand it really. The point is, we were no longer on our way to safety. We were stuck on the side of the road. My sister is the only one who enjoyed this next part. She got to sit at the steering wheel while I had to get off the cart with my parents and push the bloody thing for the last mile and a half! It was miserable. It was raining so hard I couldn't see anything in front of my face even though we were walking, and all of a sudden the road was flooded with huge puddles. I was afraid I would drown, either in a puddle or by breathing.
We did make it home, finally. I took a very long, extravagant hot shower and everything was sort of better, but it kept storming for the remainder of the night. Whenever I heard thunder I jumped. It was terrible; usually I like storms and have no problem with them whatsoever. Yesterday, however, it seems the universe was out to get me... What else is new?
--Dido
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