My First Novel: Chapter 10

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10

It began to rain as soon as I entered my room, after finishing my dinner. My heart was still beating vigorously. It became faster as the raindrops beat harder on the roof. I sat on the bed for a moment looking out of the window. I realized the fact that the windows were open and the rain was coming in after a long time. I got up quickly and shut the gaping window close. Then I went for the other two windows – one on the opposite wall looking at the backyard below, and the other overlooking the balcony. Then I lunged for the balcony door from where a steady brook of rainwater was flowing into the room, as it lacked a threshold.

I caught hold of the door, but I suddenly stopped doing what I was doing. My eyes were fixed outside at the rain. I stood there for a moment. Then I left the door as it was and stepped outside into the balcony.

The balcony had a metal railing but no shade. The rain was pouring into the balcony and it was slowly being converted into a pool – the small outlet along the side of the balcony was inefficient.

My feet made a splashing sound on the collected water as I slowly walked towards the railing. I held onto the wet railing, looked up at the pouring sky and closed my eyes.

The raindrops began washing my face … my body …… my soul.

Then I lowered my face and looked around. The rain was touching everything in sight. The rainwater drained from the top of the cottages, sliding down as small rivulets along the sides of the roofs and splashed against the road beneath in a brief ‘waterfall’. The streetlights seemed dimmer than usual as the glass panes covering the electric bulbs were coated with a thin covering of water. The asphalt road was clean of everything – men and cars – but was smeared by a thin sheet of rainwater. The scenery was beautiful!

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE RAIN?” someone shouted at me from behind. I turned around to see my mother, as I had expected, standing in front of the door. And before I could utter a word, I was sitting wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of steaming coffee in my hand in front of the fireplace, my hair just blown dry by the hair dryer.

Well, I didn’t have to wait long to get company. Soon father was also sitting in front of the fireplace in the same outfit as me, who had been welcomed home with a shriek as soon as my mother answered the doorbell. At first, I felt embarrassed but I realized that father was much more embarrassed than I was; that made me feel better.

Sipping from our coffee cups, we discussed how our days had gone. Father told me that today he just got a small glimpse of how much work is to done. He also said that it was not possible to say how long it might take to get the new branch up and about. I told him that I went about the village and saw the place a little and I liked it. I didn’t mention about Lisa. I didn’t know why.

Later, mother called us and after giving us a good five-minute lecture asked us to finish the dinner fast and go to bed quickly. So we finished our dinner quite fast, as we didn’t need another dose of mother’s lecture.