rain — contactIt never rains in Summerlandia, but it was raining the day Johnny couldn't get on the Greyhound. The bus station was full of desperate people with sullen stares and the air smelt of wet clothes and old tobacco. So he decided to go down the street to Winchell's donut house. The rain was heavy and the Monkey Boy was blinking water out of his eyes. His shoes got wet in a deep puddle as he went to cross the street. Then he was across the street and scurrying down the sidewalk with his backpacks. His feet made splooshy sounds as he walked. The donut shop was brighter than the bus station. Strange people were in there though, also hiding from the rain. Johnny got a coffee and sat behind a crazy guy who shrugged with a weird energy at the window and the rain. The old crazy man mumbled things that Johnny couldn't hear and sometimes pointed at things that Johnny couldn't see. He sighed. He drank some coffee. Soon he wanted a cigarette. So Johnny left Winchell's donut house and ran over by a dry cleaner's with an overhang that stopped the rain. He walked past a bum who was also using the space as shelter. He stood by the building's corner and lit a cigarette. He hoped the people in the building wouldn't tell him to go away. In the corner of the building's parking lot was a flower stand. A girl stood at its counter and she looked over at Johnny and smiled. Johnny smiled back, then looked away. And then it suddenly began to rain like crazy. Giant raindrops beat against the pavement and street. It was so heavy that Johnny couldn't even see a couple blocks down the street. The girl at the flower stand shrieked in delighted laughter. Her eyes found Johnny's again because she wanted to share her joy at the moment with someone. She yelled out something in Spanish and held her arms wide like a bird and the rain was making a sound like static. Johnny smiled at her, liking her in that moment because she was crazy. Everything was crazy. Then the sky got an Atlantic Ocean green hue to it in this vast patch. Johnny wondered if it was going to lightning out. And then a helicopter came into view - like a magic trick. It banked sharply, a grey shadow which Johnny thought was too close to the ground. He wondered if it was going to crash. Then it passed out of view. Johnny flicked his cigarette butt out into the rapids flowing down the gutter. Then he went back to Winchell's donut house. He sat down at a free table by the crazy guy. "Did you see that pterodactyl!?!" the crazy man shrieked and pointed out to the electric sky. "It's coming to get us! Duck!" And everyone ignored him. And Johnny wondered if it was the rain that let everyone feel good to share their craziness, or the part of town he was in. He wished that he had some craziness to let out too. And then it rained and rained and rained and rained. After a long time Johnny the Monkey Boy went back across the street to get the next bus. 
|
|
||
| Copyright © 1999 – 2024 Juked |
|
