The Magnetic Girl

Who would have thought the storm would come

So soon, from a pale blue sky,

When the weather man said, ‘Fine til noon,

And the afternoon, quite dry.’

But moisture fell in a feathery squall

On the morning of that day,

Blown from the top of an anvil cloud

Some twenty miles away.

 

By two o’clock, the cumulonimbus

Cloud had drifted in,

Its anvil top like a dreadful shroud

As black as the darkest sin,

And lightning crackled within that cloud

Before it was given birth,

And loosed in chains with the driving rains

As it found its way to earth.

 

We pulled the blanket off the beach

And we closed the hamper top,

As the wind picked the umbrella up

And bowled it, til it dropped,

While Helen stood with her hands on hips,

Stared balefully at the sky,

‘Thanks, you ruined our picnic,

With never a warning, why?’

 

As if in answer to Helen’s taunt

The lightning struck her tongue,

Her face lit up in a brilliant glow

As bright as the morning sun,

She stood for a moment, paralysed

Then she toppled onto her face,

I’d never seen anyone crash to earth

Face down, with such little grace.

 

I rolled her over the sand, face up

And I gave her mouth to mouth,

Her head was facing magnetic north

And her feet were pointing south,

Her lips were black as the weirdest Goth

And her cheeks were pale and white,

I managed to get her breathing then

But something wasn’t right.

 

She stared at me with her purple eyes

That before, I’m sure were blue,

And lightning sparked in her retina

As she said, ‘Thank God for you!’

She wouldn’t go to the hospital,

She staggered back to the car,

And said, ‘I’m needing a drink, for sure,

Let’s find the nearest bar.’

 

I took her home in an hour or two

And I put her straight to bed,

She said her stomach was rumbling,

There was lightning in her head,

She slept right though to the early hours

And got up before the dawn,

She stood and stared out the window, then,

‘I think I’ve just been born!’

 

I heard her go to the kitchen then,

Where she said that coffee called,

Then heard the clatter of cutlery

Went down, and was appalled,

For spoons were sliding along the bench

Each time that she waved her hand,

When the coffee pot spun off its top

She said, ‘Now ain’t this grand!’

 

‘That lightning’s made you magnetic,

I don’t know what we’re going to do,

For all things loose and metallic now

Are turning to follow you.’

I called a friend who was trained in this,

I thought he was more than wise,

‘We’ll have to construct a Growler, but

It has to be oversize.’

 

A Growler’s simply an A/C coil

That you drop the magnet in,

It only takes a moment or so

To reverse that power within,

It took him over a day to make,

We stood her inside the coil,

I turned my back when he switched it on

And listened to Midnight Oil.

 

She blew every circuit in that thing

The coil was glowing red,

And lightning was flashing in her eyes

While thunder burst from her head,

She was twice as strong as she’d been before

And everything metal stuck,

We peeled the spanners off at the door

While Helen just ran amuck.

 

She went to live on a mountain top

Away from the bustle and pace

She said she couldn’t come back to me,

Nor even the human race,

There’s nothing metallic up there, she says

So lives up close to the sky,

And hopes to be struck by lightning, once,

She says that it’s worth a try!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Marie]

Oh my! I see this as a movie. The girl is magnetized, only a little at first.THen the firld gets stronger and stronger. WHen the Growler doesnt' work, she turns into a magnetic monster, causing cars to crash, buldings to topple...

They'd have loved this back in the 60's...

[MomzillaNC]

Her magnetic personality really dropped her in it, didn't it? She should've gone for a job at the local utility company, powering the turbines!

[icelandicblue]

There are just some things you can't foresee and I would imagine that living away from civilization was her only option. I do enjoy your tales with their jaunty rhyme and creative story lines. I myself will stay clear of lightening when I can. I work in a school and would be covered in paper clips in an instant were this to happen to me. I think it is the only prudent choice.

[Barbz]

It goes to show that at the times, when everything looks so bright.....a cloud of dark and ugly, can cast away that light. And bring forth another type of glow of growl and then strike...that wreaks havoc on your body and messes up your psyche. It's at this time it comes to you that changing your direction might disconnect all things that cling, but then upon reflection.................Barbz