Me and a woman

first page

Fall leaves shrivel. Covering a bench on the north side of a park not far from a road. The road never left my sight. The pine trees that were no taller than cherry trees yesterday have long been cut down. The wood is still there, next to the garden entrance which has a sky blue bamboo gate. Since then the wind has been blowing fiercely. The leaves that were still perched on the ends of the branches finally came off. The flowers which when I arrived were still neatly lined up to form the words 'Glass Garden' are now limp and disorderly.

On the western side of the sky, many hanging clouds were clustered. The color is gray. The sun, which previously seemed to be grinning hotly, is now covered by clouds which might bring news that a storm will come tonight. The wind grew stronger. The water began to fall slowly. Irrigation channels are back to their original work. I went across the road in front of the park to take shelter in front of a plastic goods shop. I'm surprised, in weather like this there are still people traveling. Including me. The road is now soaking wet. Lots of puddles here and there.

I intend to wait for someone I call Eshter. I always waited for him in the park every time the television reported that heavy rain was coming. This morning, television on channel thirteen reported that there would be a fairly big storm in this city. The temperature recorded on the thermometer shows 23°C. My body feels cold. My clothes were soaked with water splashed by a car passing from the west.

Suddenly a girl wearing round glasses took shelter next to me. His clothes were soaked after being hit by the rain that had just fallen. The black tote bag made of velvet fabric was also wet. The girl was lucky, the contents of the bag didn't get wet.

"Excuse me sir. May I take shelter here with you?" The girl asked suddenly making me wake up from my daydream about Eshter.

"That's fine, miss. This eaves can still accommodate the two of us.” I shifted slightly to the left, gesturing to the girl to take cover next to me.

I looked back at the road. I have a feeling that it will rain for quite a while

"It's starting to rain heavily," I opened the conversation after we were both silent for about ten minutes.



Sure enough, the rain fell harder. The sound of the water flowing onto our roof was grumbling. The sky seems to be very sad. I don't know if it's because of the drought or other reasons. This is how it was when the rain poured down, I was free and became a prisoner locked up in the raindrops that had been evaporated by the sun this afternoon.

We chatted like people who had just met and were just getting to know each other. He told me about what he was busy doing. I was the same, I told you a little about my activities in writing books.

Suddenly. The girl asked a question that made me so confused.

“What do you think about rain?” a series of questioning sentences emerged from between the girl's lips

"I don't really like rain. Rain always makes me calculate time," I answered with a confused face

"For me, rain is too cruel," a statement came out of the girl's mouth as she untied her wet hair. Her hair covered her shoulders which were not wide enough. He now moved the velvet bag to his lap while taking out the cloth he was using to clean his glasses which were foggy from the rain.

“Yeah, that's what rain is like. He always comes when least expected. The birds don't like it either," I said

I don't really understand why the girl thinks rain is something cruel. Is there something he's hiding from me about the rain?

We fell silent again in the sound of the rain.