The
aurora borealis took my breath away tonight.
I'm not that far north: Edmonton, Alberta. Because I'm in a city, the natural light does take away from the natural beauty of the nighttime sky. It's unfortunate, but I can still see the stars and constellations I used to imagine flying through. When the northern lights do show themselves, it's rarely any more than a green-orange throb in the sky. This evening, 10:00 PM or so, was much different. A friend had just left here, after we created a couple of characters for Rifts. He was out the door maybe twenty seconds when I heard him knock again. He came in, and said in an urgent voice: "You've got to come see this."
I looked north, and I saw the normal green. Then, I looked northwest.
The sky was red, like blood, as far as I could see. It was not the average sort of purplish light the city gives off. It was an iridescent red, swirling and ebbing like a tide in the sky. The heavens were bleeding, it seemed, casting a strange red glow to everything. The houses in my neighbourhood were red, the back of the corner store was red, my storm door was red.
By the time Trina was off the phone, it was gone. I was disappointed I couldn't share it with her. I hope it's there again tomorrow night.