Incident Along Fantasy Way 
                          Weather Music

Nobody really CARED about the weather in Sector 47
Forty miles from nowhere
In an obscure corner of the Empire
But the Law was the Law
So they had a Weather Control Station
Anyway.

Now the weather was supposed to be managed
"For the benefit of the People"
But since the only people in the Sector were the station crew
They did pretty much as they pleased.

For instance,
They had friends who were musicians in the city
And who would come in once or twice a month to visit
And have jam sessions.

I was at one once --
It started out fairly normal,
Just people making music.
But along toward midnight
As things were building
They joined in with the elements:
At first with simple things like moaning wind
For a song about the desert
Or gentle steady rain
For a ballad of aching loneliness.
Then, to a pounding rock beat, the climax --
Hard driving rain, even a little hail,
Howling feedback and screaming wind,
Crashing chords mixed with thunder and lightning
(With the thunder right on the beat)
Giving way at last
To silence
And moonlight. 

                                        Thomas G. Digby
                                        written 0315 hr 10/27/74
                                        entered 2220 hr  4/12/92