Cold Wind to Valhalla

In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin, where those that die in combat travel to upon death.  It was the heaven of the Vikings, much like Sto'Vo'Kor is to the Klingons or Aman is to the Elves of Middle-Earth. 

You don't expect a true cold wind in June.  Yet, here in the Pacific Northwest, I continue to be surprised by the rapid changes in the weather, the fluctuation in temperature, the fleeting sun even during summer.  Today is no exception.  The bright warm-ish sun of yesterday has given way to a continuous cold blast, an oppressively gray sky, chilling to the bone.

In Ray Bradbury’s “The Cold Wind and the Warm,” the Royal Hibernian Hotel in Dublin is having a dull winter, until a group of “Martians” checks in.  As the story continues, you realize the “Martians” are not aliens at all, but instead homosexuals, whose very presence shocks the locals.  The locals discover an unexpected affinity and both groups move towards understanding each other.

Bradbury, along with Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein and countless other authors, created stories that expanded my vocabulary, exercised my mind, exposed to to science fiction and, the greatest gift of all, gave me an appreciation of the written word.  For that, I am forever thankful.

And while the weather may not cooperate, the mind can imagine the brilliance of a summer day, the colors of the Martian landscape or a robotic grandmother, and the heart warms.