Muddy dawn sunlight woke me; tangled sheets embraced me. Above, a steady patter of spring raindrops collided with shingles, a muted snare drum marching a rooftop parade. Beside me, Munkie lay, her right arm thrown carelessly above her head upon the pillows, fingers curled, smiling faintly in dream. The sheets revealed her simple pink nightgown tantalizingly obscuring beautiful breasts rising and falling with her steady breathing.

Nestled under warm covers, I listened to cascading rain, mind wandering to carefree childhood times: an untroubled cabin, mossy oak forests, haunting loon calls, wholesome rains rippling upon a still lake. Mild melancholy suffused me, longing for the simplicity of a largely forgotten childhood. I traced my soft lips, warm tongue emerging to taste morning fingertips. Nerves tingled and shivered. My digits traced from my mouth, across cheeks, down my jawline, descending my throat, bumping across my clavicle to my bare breasts and erect nipples tucked beneath the bedding. I sighed softly.

A sudden bright flare of light flooded the bedroom, momentarily blinding me. I closed my eyes, flashes of iridescent colour floating eerily behind my lids. Moments later, an insistent rumble rolled over the quiet house, rattling a glass somewhere downstairs. Munkie roused with the thunder, sleepily murmuring.

“Shhhh. It’s only thunder,” I whispered, smoothing a wisp of hair from Munkie’s eyes. “Go back to sleep.” I kissed Munkie’s cheek gently.

Munkie smiled, sighed and pulled the sheets back up to her chin, returning her arm above her. Rain playing on the roof soothed her as sometimes my morning shower did; Munkie’s breathing returned to peaceful sleep. Subsequent thunder and raindrops failed to awaken her.

I lazily laid listening to the rain and the thunder, in no hurry to leave the warm comfort of the sheets. My fingers wandered illicitly over sensitive skin: breasts, tummy, sex. I sighed softly, my breath quickening. I wanted Munkie, but Munkie’s face, so angelic in sleep, dissuaded me from disturbing her. I smiled and pulled my fingers from between my legs, instead tracing sensually the erogenous zone below my breasts. I patiently listened to rain cascade and thunder rumble, content to leisurely waken to the storm’s song.

As the lightning and the thunder passed and the downpour diminished, I exhaled gently, pushed the covers away and swung my bare legs from the bed. I glanced at Munkie, so peaceful beneath the sheets, sleeping. Lord, I loved her.

Outside the rain-speckled window the world looked fresh and renewed, a drenched clean day dawning.

My storm departed, I padded to the shower, content.