Weather or Not
By: White Feather
Tags: Nature, Short Story, Weather, Fiction, Humor

Margorie and Franklin had their afternoon tea out on Marjorie’s balcony. What made this unusual is that it was the middle of winter when normally it would be far too cold to sit outside. But the thermometer attached to the walll next to the sliding glass doors read eighty degrees (Fahrenheit).

Sipping then setting down her tea, Marjorie spoke, “I feel I should send a gift to that cheerful weather girl on channel seven thanking her for this glorious weather.”

Scratching his beard stubble, Franklin replied, “I know you’re joking since that weather girl doesn’t decide what the weather will be like. But I agree that we should be thankful but instead of thanking the weather girl we should be thanking Ma Nature. She’s the girl who has blessed us with this wonderful weather. And we’re smart to be enjoying it because in another week it’s gonna be very different.”

“Oh? This morning I saw the 5-day extended forecast and it showed this nice weather continuing. Where did you hear about upcoming changes?”

“From Ma Nature, of course. As you know, I had my TV and internet turned off over six months ago. I haven’t seen a single weather report since then. One of the benefits of that is that I have become more attuned to nature and the world around me as well as my own body. I can sense things better now.”

“Franklin took a sip of tea then continued, “Animals and plants can sense upcoming changes in the weather and humans have that same ability except that we never use that ability so it has atrophied. How do you think birds know when it’s time to head south for the winter? They don’t rely on TV weather reports. Humans lived for tens of thousands of years without TV weather reports but now we won’t even go outside without first checking the weather reports that we pay cable companies and internet companies tons of money to provide us with.”

“Oh Franklin, you old Luddite…”

“It’s also about plain ole common sense. Everyone knows that it always gets warmer before it gets colder and it always gets colder before it gets warmer. Scientific research shows that every ice age this fantastic planet has had was preceded by a period of global warming and followed by a return to warmer temperatures. Back and forth. It’s cuckoo to think that this nice weather we’re having today will last for long at this time of year. Trust me, this time next week the ground will be covered with snow.”

“Oh dear, I don’t wanna hear that. More tea?”

“Yes please. You’ve never served this kind of tea before. What is it?”

“It’s jasmine blueberry ginseng tea. I got it from Amazon.”

“Of course you did. Well, I can’t wait for springtime so that I can wild harvest dandelions so that I can make dandelion tea.”

“Oh yuck! You brought some of that over last April, remember? I didn’t really care for it. I like the exotic stuff I can order online.”

“What about the wild rose hip and mulberry tea I brought over last summer?”

“Oh yeah. That was pretty good except it ruined one of my favorite blouses when I spilled some on it. That never happens with store-bought tea.”

As birdsong filled the air Marjorie and Franklin continued sipping their tea and talking about whatever came to mind. Both of them grew tired of the predictable conversation and it was not long before Franklin excused himself and went home where he proceeded to get out his snow shovel.