All Shook Up

Believe it or not, we just had an earthquake -- not a big one, but enough of a shake to be convincing. I understand it was felt all up and down the east coast.

I had just driven into the driveway and turned the car off. It felt like the car continued to run -- well sort of. More like the car continued to shake violently. I was convinced the old ’85 Volvo was in its death throes.

But then my meteorologist neighbor who was outside picking figs just at the end of my driveway said with certainty, “We just had an earthquake.”

His dog was barking frantically, but then she often is. Jake was visibly upset but bewildered in his blind-deaf state.

I can’t seem to get any phone service, but other than that there is no sign that anything peculiar happened.

I flashed back to standing in the doorway of my pension in Lima, Peru, with the ground shaking and the building swaying. Any loss of equilibrium is unsettling.

This was nothing of great significance, but it was a reminder that no ground is sacred. Let’s just hope it’s not a foreshadowing of something more significant to come.