The clouds were gathering, and it meant one thing to the Ground Folk, trouble.

The more clouds, the darker they got meant rain and rain was the trouble they feared.

When the ground was your habitat when you depended on what you found on the ground for survival the rain put so much of your existence in jeopardy. Raincoats and umbrellas were one thing, but when the ground became soaked and the going just too soggy to get anywhere, then life became harder than the usual grind.

The Ground Folk had not learned to climb trees or build anything above ground. It was, they agreed, a quality they could have done something about but failed to do so having the blasé attitude that tomorrow would be soon enough and why upset a good day with hard work let alone thinking about hard work.

So when the clouds gathered, and the threat of rain loomed they started to plan, but as always it was too late. Down came the rain and in some cases so much rain it forced them to move their village to higher ground or perish, which sadly happened to many who refused to move, believing the gods would protect them. As it was the gods in question usually went on holiday when the rain came as they were not very keen about getting their feet wet and so found a tropical beach to hang out on until the weather cleared up.

The first drops of rain threw the Ground Folk into a panic, and there was rapid packing up, loading up of carts and barrows and a steady stream of unhappy wet Ground Folk heading towards the safety of higher ground. It never occurred to the Ground Folk to move permanently to the higher ground as once the rain stopped and the wetness subsided they moved back to where they had come from. It had a lot to do with territory as it turned out.

So they annual trek to the hill took place, each Ground Folk knowing that within a week or so they would trek back down and once down wonder why they hadn’t stayed up the hill out of harm’s way.

But as stated earlier, they loved to plan, to think, to discuss but felt most ideas would just as easily be formulated tomorrow and so the cycle of life amongst the Ground Folk continued.

Written for: https://scvincent.com/2018/12/27/thursday-photo-prompt-clouds-writephoto/