Air Pockets, Sick Sacks, and Barrel Rolls

Big cumulonimbi up ahead. Better fasten the seat belts, Buckwheat; we're heading in. We're likely to roll over a few times when the big ones hit. Hatches closed, sails reefed, lines stowed. Try to remember a time when you were not afraid and hang onto that. Fill that out with sights, sounds, and smells: the shadow on the wall as you rode your bike along a wall in the rising sun, a carpet of yellow petals from the palo verde trees, the wafting scents of citrus blossoms. It was good, that first morning of freedom.