WINDY

It was a dark and stormy night…

It was, and it remains to be a cold, cloudy, chilly day, with a nasty brisk wind more suited to winter than the middle of August. As I drove the kids to day camp, I saw fallen small branches at the side of the road and a large fluffy white cat, also fallen at the side of the road. Nothing like shitty weather and a dead pet to start your day.

But now I sit here, in the Other Other Good Coffee Place, warmed by a latte and their pleasant lighting scheme, fully illuminating the shop because it is SO DAMN DARK outside. I nom on a piece of banana/chocolate chip bread and an actual banana as well and feel my potassium levels are pretty set for the day. I have already heard The Dandy Warhols, Silversun Pickups, Ra Ra Riot, Vampire Weekend, and Radiohead since I walked in the door, which brings some tiny smiles to my lips. As I look out the window, the small trees in the parking lot bend and sway, only me watching their dance.

Who's peekin' out from under a stairway
Calling a name that's lighter than air
Who's bending down to give me a rainbow
Everyone knows it's Windy

What an annoying song. I liked it, of course, when I was a kid, but it also confused me. I didn’t know any girls called Windy, just a Wendy. She sounded kind of hyper, Windy, and I wasn’t really sure if she had superpowers or if lyrical metaphor was in effect:

And Windy has stor-my eyes
That flash at the sound of lies
And Windy has wings to fly
Above the clouds (above the clouds)
Above the clouds (above the clouds)

She sounded like a weirdo, really. Come to think of it, so did her song-sister, Stormy:

Yesterday's love was like a warm summer breeze
But, like the weather ya changed
Now things are dreary, baby
And it's windy and cold
And I stand alone in the rain
Callin' your name
Oh Stormy, oh Stormy
Bring back that sunny day

I sure as hell didn’t know anyone named Stormy, either. AND FOR THAT MATTER, I didn’t know anyone named Sunny:

Sunny, yesterday my life was filled with rain
Sunny, you smiled at me and really eased the pain
The dark days are done
The bright days are here
My sunny one shines so sincere
Sunny one so true
Sunny one so true
Sunny one so true
I love you

Windy, Stormy, Sunny, Latte, Bananabread, whatever.

A black Mini Cooper drives past, and I remember riding in one in London with a very reckless rock star driver, his 10-year-old child on my lap. It was windy and chilly that day, in the spring.

Three firefighters now have pulled up in their shiny red fire truck. No emergency, just a coffee run. They are superhuman, unlike that damn nit Windy, and I think I might ask them if they can do something about getting rid of this obscene weather pattern, and if they can pick up the dead cat so I don’t cry on the way back to pick up the kids.