Pouring reactions

I stick to my rather stringent fitness regime, come rain or shine. I prefer sprinting to speed-walking, since itsaves time. Thanks to sustained stamina, strongly built over several decades. But a few days back, just when I had set out running, the severe drizzles stymied and sabotaged my routine. As I started walking, I realised that I was indeed in for an unexpected treat. The walk opened a window to a raft of rain-related reactions by a range of folks, which I’d invariably miss had I sprinted by.

“I love rain,” a teenage girl, who was traipsing around with her rather tall beau, was trilling, with some excitement. The guy appeared totally tongue-tied, seemed tangled in his own thoughts. Suddenly, I heard him spewing: “I’d rather work from home tomorrow than wade through those waterlogged areas with vehicles going all wobbly. What with those woeful traffic snarls.”

Then, I saw two women, walking closely, clasping each other at the crook of their arms. One of them, with a rolling gait, began ranting: “Whenever it rains, the water comes cascading through a chink in the bedroom ceiling, and onto the curtains. Repugnant rains, really.” The other lady, sounding equally sullen, sighed, “My fusty-smelling sofa-backs, hung outside for sun-drying today, would all be soaking wet now.”

Slowly, my gaze shifted toward a small child in his school uniform. After wilfully hopping into a slushy puddle, and having the slime sploshed all over his dress, he skittishly squealed, “Ma, I can’t go to school looking like this! Seeing this soiled dress, my teacher would surely be mad!”

Next, there was a middle-aged man, in a sort of mauve Macintosh, telling his mate, “Our slothful domestic help is such a slacker, just slight showers, and lo! she takes the day off, saddling me with extra chores.” The other man warbled, “This unhealthy weather is already making me feel under the weather. Imagine all the money I have to shell out on the doctor’s prescriptions...ugh! And, that despicable newspaper delivery guy, simply tosses our ‘daily’ at the doorstep, making it all damp.”

And then, there was a couple, probably newlyweds, going by lots of luminous bangles on the lass’s wrists. While the girl seemed to enjoy the rain, the man declared, “These despicable rains dare not deep-six our plans of having that hockey match this weekend.”

As I was treading back home, in the still tenacious drizzles, I began thinking, “Hope the terrible rains don’t make the jogging tracks treacherously slippery, to torpedo my running chances tomorrow, too.” Well, different folks, different strokes!