Caught by the river

The rain caught me off guard. It was eleven am and I was finishing up at the office, getting ready for a weekend off, getting off work early, as I always try to manage on Fridays. The sky was gray, revolting, angry. My boss laughed at me for wearing a sunhat to work, asking me if it moonlighted as a rain cap. I laughed with him, even though the joke wasn't funny, wondering quietly if the hat would tolerate being rained on. Some don't...

The huge windows, that take up one entire wall of the office building, offers a splendid view over the boring, dirty parking lot outside. Behind the parking lot is a low rocky slope, on top of which a nice, white picket fenced residential area is located. Suburbia - where they tear out the trees and name the streets after them.

Five to noon I was running down the stairs, minding my steps in the three inch wedges I had on for the sake of it being casual Friday. I stopped by the door, the glassed entrance, watching the summer day that had woken me up bright and early with birds chirping and sun shining turn into a water world. The streams of water ran down the front entrance like tiny little rivers...

I hoisted the door open and ran across the parking lot, holding onto my hat, car keys in hand, jumping in behind the steering wheel as quickly as I could. I slammed the door shut, sitting there, watching the water wash the windshield clean of yesterday's pollen. I finally turned the engine on, put the wipers on high speed and steered out from the office area, going home.

Somewhere down the road, the rain stopped. I was driving by the bakery, getting stuck in a long traffic line. It's graduation day, and there is no parking in the entire city. Even my prepaid parking lot was busy when I was pulling up, down my street, but when I turned and steered back, it was thankfully vacant again. People rush in and out of the florist, the bakery, the small gift-shops, getting last minutes errands in order before rushing to the next graduation...

I killed the engine, turning the wipers off and sat in the car, contemplating the weather forecasts. It's been hot like in a furnace not many days ago, and now, today, the entire world seems to be under water. Sitting in a glass and steel container that is the car, I felt out of place, like I was in an empty aquarium, with all the water outside of it.

I rushed home, realizing I could run very well in heels, even the geisha typed wedges, without breaking anything. It was amazing that I didn't break anything.

The rain stopped after maybe an hour or so, and I bravely went grocery shopping. I got there and home without getting wet. The usually gray, tarnished asphalt that covers the parking lot outside of my house shun in black and sparkling with water drops like diamonds as the sudden, unexpected and very brief rays of sun pushed through the dark clouds and hit the ground, spreading a cascade of sparkles.

When my mum called, asking if I'd go pick up a parcel with her, I didn't hesitate. The weather was improving and it looked like it would clear up any moment. The day was moving on, slowly, and I didn't want for it to continue without me.

Walking home from the post office, carrying the huge parcel for her, we were caught in the middle of a sudden and very real downpour. Out of nowhere, with the sun shining and not a single indication it would ever rain again, suddenly there it was. Catching us off guard, catching us in the middle of nowhere, on the street in a residential area with about ten more minutes walk home.

I was soaked. Top to toe, not a single piece of clothing had remained untouched by the rain. It came in short, brief, never-ending thrusts, like the sky had opened and someone was rapidly turning the tap off and on. Like I had been walking through a waterfall, reaching my hands out, stepping barefoot, gently over the polished rocks, trying not to slip. Like a river from the skies.

I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my entire life. Had I not been carrying a parcel, I might have started to dance.

That's the best time to dance - in the rain...