One Page #3

The rain did not fall on her. All around her the rain fell, drops tumbling to the ground eager to find surface and rest. All around her the rain fell, but it did not fall on her. She stood under an awning on the bustling street, black umbrellas marching back and forth in front of her spraying water in arcs. Boots stomped by, splashing in puddles, disturbing the raindrops that had made it to the pavement. Pant legs sopped up the rain, soaking in puddles which were quickly replenished with new raindrops falling. The woman stood under the red awning and watched the people pass by, watched the umbrellas and boots and pant legs, watched the rain falling, but did not get a single drop on her. It was as if she were invisible, or waterproof, or the water simply did not want to be near her, on her, around her, soaking her pant legs which stood in easy reach of the puddles lengthening and broadening. The woman reached a hand out from under the awning, reached toward the raindrops falling, reached toward the umbrellas and boots. But her hand did not get wet. Her hand did not collect rain drops in her palm as she expected. She reached out her other hand, and now stood under the awning, both arms outstretched, reaching toward the falling rain. But neither hand got wet. People continued to walk by, umbrellas pulled low overhead, boots stomping, but not one person saw this woman under the awning, arms outstretched, reaching toward the rain that would not touch her. As everyone else scurried to get out of the rain, trying to stay as dry as possible, the woman under the awning could not get wet no matter how hard she tried. She stuck first one boot out, and then the other (unable to stick both boots out at the same time without moving her whole body), but neither boot got wet. The rain seemed to fall in every inch surrounding the woman under the awning, and she could see nothing but rain clouds releasing rain drops as far as she could see, over and around the buildings that held her in, but not a single rain drop would fall on her. Finally, she stood out from under the red awning, her whole body exposed to the weather, the falling rain. Her hair blew in the wind slapping across her face, and her coat hugged her tightly in the gusts, but she still did not get wet. She remained as dry as she had been inside the store with the red awning where she had been when the rain began. She became enraged. She wanted to be wet; she wanted to the rain to fall on her face, she wanted her boots to splash in puddles and her umbrella to deflect the water. But she remained dry, perfectly dry with not a single discoloration on her jacket from the rain.