Remembering Calm

Splat, splat, splat, splat, splat, splat, splat, splat... like the tick of a clock. My butt is cool through my jeans, pressed against the concrete. I sling my slightly damp bangs from my face, watching my mom's stupid cat shudder under a flying droplet. Maybe my hair is wetter than I thought. I reach and touch it, bring my wet hand to my face, examining it, and wipe it on my shirt.

 

I can feel the moisture on my shoulders. I walked past the dripping gutter to get down the stairs and rest under the deck, where minimal amounts of rain can reach me. "Mohw," Lily says, looking up at me, praying I'll rub her back. "Pssst!" I reply loudly, and she runs off, frightened. I hate that cat. I hate all cats.

 

I watch the branches of my mother's Bradford Pear trees bob their heads to the rhythm of the rainfall. I haven't done this in so long. I wonder why. Lily comes back from her hiding place under a bush, obviously forgetting our whole horrifying episode. She turns her head and rubs it against the back of my hand. "Go away!" I'm frustrated. "I don't even like you!!" She rubs her body along the length of my arm until, somehow, I am wearing a Lily-tail bracelet. I stand, too irritated to contend with her.

 

I leave the safety and cover of the "underdeck" and clank my way through the chain-link fence that encompasses my backyard. Standing on the driveway, I hear a car about to pass, but I don't listen to it. It's just one of the many sounds that fills my ears. Before I know it, my clothes are soaked, and my hair has rushed down over my ears. Lily wouldn't dare follow me out here.

 

The sounds and smells of this experience are sucking me in. I love it; being this in-tune with the rain is a dream come true. I remember my 9th grade English teacher's words. "You know, I don't think I've ever met a 14-year-old boy with such a fascination with nature!" Is that still true, Mrs. Huey? It has been three years. What about 17-year-old boys?

 

Since I've been standing here, the rain has picked up and dropped off over and over, and frogs have started chanting back and forth to each other from underneath the edge rims of my swimming pool. I even, somehow, notice Lily, as dark as she is, under the deck persuing a mosquito.

 

I sit down on the driveway, feeling the squish of jeans, underwear, butt, and oil remnants as I do so. I see Lily pounce and smack at her mosquito, but she appears unsuccessful.

 

The rain picks up mightily, and I lie down on my back, letting it pound me until I think I will dissolve and flow down the driveway until traces of me are trickling over lumps of waterhose and soaking the grass of the backyard.

 

I sit up after a few moments and realize I am violently shivering. It's barely springtime and it's 9:15 p.m. I need to go inside and change into dry clothes before Mom gets home. The random bark of a neighborhood dog encourages me to pick up the pace as I ascend the stairs, turning at the landings, and enter my house. I rub my skinny arms, trying vainly to create friction between my wet hands and wet arms.

 

I shiver and tremble, stripping my clothes off all the way to my room, leaving a trail. When I get there, I grab some dry clothes and jump in the shower, washing off all connection with nature. I won't get it back until I go outside on a rainy or breezy night again and let myself go. Who knows when that will be?

Author's Note

It's based on something I do often... The character is NOT me. He's a boy.

Reviews

[...]

Ahahhaa! Lily! XD

Wow! I liked this! :] As you know, I've been semi-obsessed with rain the past few days--because it's been raining SO much here in Germany--so this is really relevant to things I've been thinking lately. XD

Actually, not just thinking, doing! I actually went and laid down in the rain yesterday! Haha...
It's like you read my mind! XP

Anyway, very nice write! ^^

[Claire P.]

very good! i use to do this all the time, and always look forward to days like that, especialy here in florida, or whenever im in france. of course i always feel conected to nature when im in france and let every moment of it seep into my soul. anyway as far as im concerned a rainy day is a happy day.

[Crystal Lynn]

I really like this. You have a knack for writing details without getting boring. Althought it wasn't exactly right for my contest, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Thank you for sharing.

[None]

You've got a great gift for telling a story so very well. Most enjoyable!

[{Angel Redd}[Formerly A..]

Wonderful. I felt like this character was so alive, maybe as a result of what the rain does to him. It makes me awestruck and a little envious to see him to enraptured and entwined with nature's shower.

[zee]

I really like this. It is something I have done many times as a teen. For some reason at first I picture a girl, I think because of the bangs. Then when you mentioned the boy part... I saw a somewhat awkward boy, a bit too skinny and a loner. Great details in this.

[Kristin Brecoe]

Wow. That was amazing. I really loved that. Honestly.
I think I'll read it once more later. Maybe that time I'll notice typos or something. The first time through I was just stuck so much with what the words painted for me. It was cool. But telling me that it was a boy who experience it, and how it was something you do...I pictured a girl the whole way through...trying to convince myself to see a guy.

The only parts I was stopped by were the mentionings of oil and the word mightily. It's different. But the pronuciation seems kinda awkward to me.

Adoration,
MEEEEEE

[Kristin Brecoe]

Wow. That was amazing. I really loved that. Honestly.
I think I'll read it once more later. Maybe that time I'll notice typos or something. The first time through I was just stuck so much with what the words painted for me. It was cool. But telling me that it was a boy who experience it, and how it was something you do...I pictured a girl the whole way through...trying to convince myself to see a guy.

The only parts I was stopped by were the mentionings of oil and the word mightily. It's different. But the pronuciation seems kinda awkward to me.

Adoration,
MEEEEEE