Today, while driving on a freeway, it began to rain. The rain was no ordinary rain; it was loud and violent, like a stampede, and it was accompanied by heavy wind, making the car shake, and for a brief moment there was doubt as to the whether we could continue driving safely.

But then, as quickly as it came, as soon as I was about to suggest pulling over, the rain subsided. Within seconds, we were met with straight, dry roads and the sun came out to dance, as if awakening from slumber, and it felt as though we came out of a bad dream.

“That was crazy,” I said to my partner. “I’m sure it’ll be easy from here.”

“Touch wood,” she replied. “There’s clouds above.”

We enjoyed the dry roads for about five minutes before the rain came again, harsher this time. The previous episode was a nuisance, this one was an attack. The rain drops hit and exploded like bombs and the roads, as if injured by the assault, formed little puddles that unsteadied the wheels as we drove over. Our windscreen wipers were working at their highest level, clearing the rain, the cosmic graffiti, and even then, we could barely see outside.

But then, as quickly as it came, the rain subsided.

“Surely it’s fine from here,” I said. “There couldn’t be anything worse than that.”

“Touch wood,” she replied. “There’s still clouds above.”

The dry roads only lasted three minutes before the next onslaught began. This attack was the briefest but the fiercest and therefore the most terrifying of them all, like the previous two episodes combined into one final burst. We were hit by a meteor, an atomic bomb, and the car went from driving steadily to fighting for its life in a heartbeat. I wondered if the we could bear the pressure of the rainfall, for it felt like a cataclysm, the end of the world, and I half expected the cars around us to go flying in the air. It was impossible to see or hear anything other than the rain, and I thought back on what we could’ve done in a past life to deserve a fate like this.

And then, as quickly as it came, the rain subsided.

“Okay, surely…” I began. And stopped. I couldn’t tell what more adventures laid ahead. That cosmic assault could’ve been the last of it, or the start of it – we would never know. We could only continue on the dry road in front of us, bruised and humbled, waiting for whatever laid ahead.