Rain pattered softly on the windows, leaving blurred rivulets running down the glass. The grey sky lit up momentarily and a deep growl of thunder rolled across the treetops, penetrating all the way into the earth itself.
Butters sighed and fought back a yawn. Rain was always so relaxing to him – so much so that he usually managed to fall asleep in the middle of a thunderstorm. The only thing that this particular storm lacked was that he couldn't go out and walk in the rain like his legs were itching to do.
"It's really too bad they won't let us outside," Butter said out loud, if only for Bradley's benefit. He seemed to be fairly lonely, hiding under the covers of his bed. "When it's raining, you can find all sorts 'a stuff that other people miss."
The dark blue comforter shifted to reveal a sliver of Bradley's face, a sudden bolt of lightning flashing to illuminate it. He whimpered at the crash of sudden thunder that made the windows vibrate and said in a muffled voice, "I can understand finding beauty in anything, but a storm?"
"You shouldn't be talking with your thumb in your mouth, or else you're gunna bite it off one day," Butters scolded softly, smiling to show he meant no real menace. "And why can't storms be beautiful? You can never find that shade of grey anywhere else but the clouds and the lightning never appears the same way twice and even the thunder sounds different every time." He smiled over at the lump of blankets that was Bradley. "What I can't understand is why you don't like 'em much."
"'For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.' Genesis 7:4," Bradley mumbled, mostly to himself. "Besides, the thunder is… scary."
"Aw, but Bradley, what's so scary about thunder?" Butters pouted.
As though to accent, or possibly even contradict, the blonde child's words, lightning flared and thunder crashed so violently and suddenly it was like God Himself had whipped the Earth.
Bradley threw himself deeper into the covers and began to shake. Butters frowned at the window, chastising the storm for scaring the other boy, and then quickly padded over to the bunk bed. He sat himself down on the not-very-comfortable mattress and wrapped his arms around the blanket-covered Bradley, feeling him shake even through the bedspread.
"Don't be scared, Bradley," Butters said to what he hoped was Bradley's face, or at least his head. "Thunder is just the angels playing bowling."
Bradley stopped shaking and, after a moment of fighting with the covers, removed them just enough so that he could look at Butters with confusion. "Bowling? Where in the Bible does it say that?"
"Somewhere in the back I think," Butters responded. "But when it gets dark, the angels decide to go bowling and every time you hear thunder, its them knocking down all the pins. The rain is the confetti and the lightning is the lighting in the bowling alley. It's not really that good, cause the manager doesn't pay his bills on time and so they keep trying to cut off his power, which is why it's all flashy all the time." Butter smiled and kissed the still lost-looking Bradley on the forehead. "So you see? Thunder is nothing to be afraid of."
"I guess so," Bradley mumbled, nibbling his thumbnail absently. Lightning flared and he leaned into Butters just before the thunder roared again.
But this time, feeling safe in the other blonde's arms, it wasn't as scary as it usually was.
It's amazing the things you remember from third grade at midnight, running on nothing but tea and mashed potatoes, isn't it?
But, anyway, I don't own South Park or even that little story about angel's bowling. So, till next time!