Facing Lightning
A storm is coming for Jim
Holding the stop/slow sign with little power, the flagger, Jim Charles, felt tired but relieved that his construction shift was almost over.
It was 2:30 pm on a warm Texas afternoon, an hour and twenty-five minutes away from Houston. The sky was partly cloudy, and there wasn’t a lot of traffic on the road at this time. Jim was listening to his soul music on his phone.
He saw Cain (his middle-aged co-worker) coming towards his side of the road in a rugged white truck. Cain was guiding the traffic through the messy construction area on the other side towards Jim’s side. The seven vehicles behind Cain began riding away after Cain rode off the road to let them go on to their destinations.
After the traffic was far gone, Cain turned, waved at Jim, and headed back on the other side of the street. Jim began to see a few dark clouds far away in the sky from his side of the road.
‘‘It’s nothing. Those clouds will pass away in no time,’’ Jim thought in his mind.
Thirty minutes had passed since then. Jim had noticed the dark clouds were growing and lengthening by the minute. Jim still wasn’t too worried.
‘‘By the time this weather gets worse, I’ll be in my ride heading back home to Houston,’’ Jim told himself.
Twenty minutes had passed by. Jim began to feel a breeze as the warm air was turning cooler. The dark clouds started to pick up speed. Jim was getting nervous. He didn’t like the feeling of how quickly the weather had changed.
The partly cloudy look around him was quickly disappearing, and dark clouds began to take over the sky above him. The wind had also picked up. Jim was trying his hardest to remain calm and professional. He started to see six vehicles approaching. Jim doesn’t want anyone to detect or see the nervous energy he feels inside.
The little traffic saw Jim’s bright red stop sign, slowed down their speed, and eventually stopped right beside Jim and his sign.
Cain was coming over to Jim’s side again in the truck. He didn’t have any vehicles behind him this time. He gave Jim a little nod, turned around, and waited for Jim to turn his sign to slow. Jim turned the sign. The traffic started following Cain to the other side.
The road was quiet again. Jim started to see a little lightning flashing a couple of miles away. He became terrified. Lightning had always scared him, ever since he was a kid. Those powerful thunderstorms he grew up hearing with his family had electric lightning that scared him so bad, he wouldn’t look anywhere near a window.
‘‘Okay, why are we still working?’’ he wondered. ‘‘It’s thundering and lightning outside. Are we doing overtime?’’ he asked himself.
Jim was confused.
‘‘Nobody informed me of doing extra time.’’
The rest of his construction crew was far away on the other side, where they couldn’t see him. The lightning was beginning to get close to him. Jim felt his fear consume his body.
He couldn’t believe he and his crew were still working in these conditions. Jim was wondering what was on his supervisor’s mind. Did he enjoy being crazy? Perhaps.
The lightning was getting more expressive in the sky. Jim looked at it in horror as it was in front of him. Jim had a horrifying thought; he felt that the lightning was going to strike him and that he was going to die from it.
Jim felt powerless while having to face one of his biggest fears.
He began praying to God. ‘‘Father, please let your creation pass by me safely, in your precious son’s name, Amen.’’
He wanted to put his sign down and run towards Cain and his truck. But, like a dedicated worker, he stayed in his spot and watched the lightning flash all around him.
He had ducked his head low to shield himself from the lightning. Lightning would flash every minute. Jim still couldn’t believe he was struck yet. Maybe God heard his cry. Rain began coming down on him. The rain was pouring down relentlessly. It didn’t take long for Jim to feel soaked. However, the lightning had stopped. It was just raining all around him with silent thunder booming in the sky.
His father, Cain, quickly drove to him in the company truck.
‘‘Jim, it’s over, come on, get inside, son.’’
Jim quickly put the sign in the back of the company’s truck and got in immediately. Once he got into his seat, he felt relieved and safe from the turbulent weather outside.
‘‘I’m sorry, son, we should have never been out here that long. I don’t know why Chris didn’t stop construction.’’
‘‘I’m just glad our day is done, Dad.’’ Jim sighed.
They both kept talking as they made their way to the main yard to get into Cain’s grey Nissan ride to head back to Houston.
Thanks for reading!
A cozy story! :)