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■香港每逢雨季，馬路都會出現積水情況，行人狼狽不堪。資料圖片
Fai
At this moment, I am looking out of my window at the peak of the hill across the harbor from my apartment. I can see distinctly its silhouette(n.剪影)against the sky. The view is not always all this crystal clear. In fact, most of the time, I can also imagine the shape of the hill through a heavy shroud of smog. The air quality in H.K is dreadful, the result of humidity and pollution, and the only time I can see this far from my window is immediately after a heavy rainstorm.
That's what I drove through earlier today. There were ominous(adj.不祥的)thunders during the night but when I got out of the door in the morning, it was barely drizzling(v.下雨粉). Not long after I got on the road, the rain clouds quickly gathered. The street lamps had already gone out in the early morning light, but in the darkened sky, drivers had to turn the headlights back on, not so much to see where they were going, but to make sure that they could be seen by other drivers. Then all of the sudden, rain came. Drops as big and heavy as cherries splattered on the street and kicked up particles of sand. They hit the roof of the car and made a deafening din(n.噪音). I had my radio turned up to the loudest, and yet I could not hear anything.
I find driving in the rain exhilarating and nerve-rattling. I drove across almost all the way across the U.S many years ago, and noticed the changes in the terrain(n.地形、地勢)and climate from state to state. Iowa, for example, is known for its expansive(adj.廣闊的)cornfields. As I drove through it, I could see miles ahead of me. Nothing obstructed my view of the skyline, which seemed to surround me in a semi-circle. It was in the summer, the season for flash floods. The rain could come down so suddenly and heavily that in a matter of minutes, the roads could be submerged under water. But just as unexpectedly, the water would recede, leaving only puddles of water in the ditch(n.水渠)by the roadside.
I was caught in just one such rainstorm in Iowa. But before the rain came, I was treated to a light show by nature, which began with a bolt of lightning that started on the left-hand corner of the windshield and ended on the right, making a crackling sound as it zigzagged across the sky. After this prelude, the rest was just a jumble of(一堆)explosion of light and sound. Water poured down in bucketfuls. The wipers were not fast enough to push the water off the windshield, and I only managed to get intermittent(adj.間歇的)glimpses of the road. Like other drivers–luckily, there were not too many of them on the road–I first slowed down to a crawl, and then pulled over to the shoulder of the road and stopped. It would be plain stupid for me to continue to drive. I would just have to wait patiently for the rain to stop.
I waited for no more than 5 minutes, but it was 5 long minutes. I was all by myself with nothing to do in the car. Besides, the flashes of lightning were truly frightening. On a wide open highway, it felt as if some of them were only inches from me. It would be just my luck to be struck by lightning, I thought.
Then it passed. The rain stopped. The clouds cleared and the sky was blue again. I rolled down the window to peer around. Gingerly(adv.小心翼翼地), I started the engine and drove the car back onto the road. My heart was still racing. I was happy that the whole thing was over, badly shaken though I was. Little did I expect the drama would continue. Two miles down the road, I looked up, and saw a rainbow arched perfectly across the sky. I kept my eyes on it until it slowly faded out of sight. ■kingfaitam@gmail.com
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