Jersey Devil

As the full brunt of the storm hit, Regan closed the door and retreated to the confines of the house. Sitting at the kitchen counter, he listened to the driven rain that lashed at the roof and windows. The lights in the house flickered as power lines swung into one another and slapped against tree limbs. Lightning continued ripping across the sky in jagged flashes like tears in a photograph. Deafening thunder exploded repeatedly in the electrified sky.

Regan stared blankly across the kitchen at a calendar hanging from a pushpin on the wall. The picture on the calendar, a serene lake surrounded by trees and dwarfed by young thrusting mountains, began to fade. Images of a thundering and roiling sky became more prevalent as he drifted in a dreamlike flow to the sky above.

Nearing crashes of thunder caused Regan’s body to shudder as ripping shards of lightning traced the black sky. The serene lake, the trees and the mountains faded further as he floated deeper into a trancelike state. When reality totally ebbed he felt he had been transported high above in the torrents of wind and eclipsing light that danced from one stormy fortress of clouds to the next. He felt the power of the storm as if his blood had been charged with the power of ages and the electricity that crackled in the air around him.

Glancing left and right, he noted the unmoving leathery wings that were revealed in the strobes of light far below. Sprites from the lightning flashes in the clouds rose before him in quick eruptions. He sensed he was riding the rising currents of air above the tempest. A series of lightning strikes allowed him to glimpse the powerful claws that were held against his body. Feeling no repulsion at the image, he became absorbed with interest as they flexed and gripped like coiled serpents.

Regan abruptly felt the sensation of descent as his dream apparition dove through the upper layers of turbulence into the inky darkness of the clouds. The heightening violence of the storm raged about him as he continued to dive. Bright flashes of lightning raced about him and thunder, certainly sounding like the hammer of Thor striking an anvil, crashed repeatedly. The wings that supported him in flight slapped loudly as they were tucked closer to the body. The descent became a harrowing tumble through a turbulence of rising rain and falling hail. Ice began to form in layers on the long claws at the ends of the huge hands.

The din of thunder echoed far above Regan as he continued the dive. Even in the blackness he could discern he was falling rapidly, but with no bearings to gauge the rate of descent he had no idea of how fast he plummeted toward the earth. The rising wind tore harder at the leathery wings with a steady roar. In the midst of the tempest rain and hail became a blinding blur revealed by the increasing lightning strikes.

The wings unfolded and flared. An explosion of air was forced from the leathery flaps and the descent slowed. Regan could feel the wings tilting as they adjusted to the lashing air currents. Rain fell in sheets as Regan’s eyes were able to penetrate the blackness, assisted by distant slashing streaks of lightning. The wings, now charged with static and glowing with a blue aura, moved with perpetual twists and tucks against the currents of wind to maintain a vigil. Looking about in awe, Regan realized he was hovering in the turbulent winds above Charles Hammond’s house.

A bolt of lightning raced from the sky and struck a transmission line suspended from steel structures. The lightning danced wildly on the high cable before it found a path to the ground and a flaming blue ball arced to the metal tower. An explosion sent molten metal falling to the ground. The neighborhood in Regan’s vision glowed brightly in successive pulses before falling into darkness.

Scant light from flashlights and candles soon glowed from windows as residents tried to push the blackness back and regain control of the night. In the lapse of a few minutes the flicker of menial lights began to waver as residents, resolved to their fate, wandered off to bed.

Charles Hammond went into the garage to retrieve a flashlight while his wife, Sara, groped in a kitchen drawer for candles. She seemed almost delighted that the frenzied pace of the day had come to an end as her fingers located the long tapers and a small box of matches. But she could hear Charles as he raged against the darkness and cursed the storm.

Sara had lighted two candles and held them in her hands when Charles exited the garage. Even in the dim glow she could see the flushed expression he wore.

“I think this is nice,” Sara smiled in the glow of the tiny flames.

“Well, I really think it sucks. I have work to do.”

The heavy rain that had lagged behind the electrical storm swept over the neighborhood and pummeled the roof and the windows at the rear of Hammond’s house. Curtains decorating a window above the sink that had been left slightly ajar suddenly rose with the newfound force of the wind.

“Damn it!” Charles stomped across the room to slam the window shut. He noticed, in the streaks of lightning moving farther from the house as the storm coursed eastward, that a neighbor’s huge hickory tree was leaning dangerously in the wind. “If that damned tree falls on our house I’m going to sue the hell out of our neighbor and the builder.”

“You know what, Charles? You seem to find fault in everyone and everything. You love the shade of that tree in the summer but now it’s a threat and you brandish your hate toward the neighbors. I’m going to bed.” Sara spun on her heels and went down the hallway to the bedroom, slowing only when the candle flames threatened to leap from their wicks.

Charles stood in the room, lit only by the flashlight in his hand, gritting his teeth and shaking his head. His eyes followed the beam of light to a small office. The dark screen of a computer monitor dully reflected the light. “Nothing I can do,” he muttered to himself as he followed his wife down the hallway.

“Listen, Sara, it’s just that I - -” his voice trailed off. The reflections of the candles danced in moist eyes as she stared at the stammering man. Charles tossed the flashlight on the bed and shrugged. He started around the edge of the bed to be near her. “What the hell, we’ll just make the best of a bad situation.” He smiled at her and stroked her hair.

Sara nestled closer to his hand, and managed a tremulous smile. Wind and rain su