The ice pellets were stinging my back when I ran onto the porch. I could hear the pellets crashing against the glass windows behind me like canister shots. Nevertheless, I stood there for a while, thinking of the little girl caught in the storm. I hoped she had found some safe spot to ride it out. Thrice I sprinted to the front gate hoping that she might be standing outside but rushed back to the house when a flurry of wind sent the leaves and twigs catapulting through the air. The wind also drove away the clouds and soon the storm let up a bit. I continued my watch from the porch before I opened the door. I couldn’t understand the nature of the storm and especially the ice pellets in such an unbearably hot place.
“You are becoming careless.” An imposingly tall man was standing before the
