the rain

It was about nine o’clock in the morning and the rain continue to fall… it was pouring since the night before …I ran to work late last night yet it was considerably too early for my shift … I needed to get to the workplace before it gets too cold … the shift has ended now I must walk home again … the rain does not seem to end its task not another one whole day.

I pulled on my hood and tried to cover my head, my hands were getting stiff as the wind turned chilly cold. It was winter and here I was, under the rain …last night my workmate told me … this is the time of the season when the cold goes into you and not around you … wear something appropriate against the cold …

Playing under the rain is one of the fond memories I have in childhood… it brought back cherished memories with my granny. In childhood I used to sweat too much and grew rashes that I usually went around with my cotton sleeveless and undies. every time the rain comes I would rushed outside jumping and enjoying the raindrops .

Granny would call out to me … come inside and dry yourself … hear the thunder and know that something is wrong up above … hide yourself … the angels are taking pictures of naughty tots down on earth … flashes of lightning are from heaven’s camera and they are taking photographs.

Those lines surely make no sense to me now, but the essence of the effort to convince me to get myself off the cold clearly meant some tender loving care. Now there is no more croaking voice to call on my senses … from the long graveyard shift I would rather keep myself dry and warm but I am left with no choice … I have to walk home under the chilly winter frost.


Thoughts raised with self pity inside my head…oh I am just depressed I tried to tell myself. It felt too odd and the tears simply fell. I missed my grandma … though she died a very long time ago … looking around me I realized I am left with nobody … no one cares and I must survive with the fact that I am alone. I remembered a friend … oh he was extremely kind when he needed something … now he is gone when everything was done.

THE CAT WHO TAUGHT ME TO MOVE ON

I was on my way to Sabbath service when the cat snuggled round my feet. I almost tripped over, yet I remembered reading somewhere that a cat comes near a person that is rather warm and friendly. I stopped to consider, I am not exactly what the article said but that very moment I was lonely and i asked myself is the cat lonely like me? I stopped for a short time but really I need to hurry or I will miss the bus, but the cat kept catching up with my boots. I was caught between exasperation and amazement anyway I had to head my way or cancel the thing i have specially set for the morning.

The next day, as I opened the curtains of the glass walls of my room, the cat was outside lying on its side. It made me wonder, cats and dogs do not stray in this part of the world. Where could this cat's owner be, or was the cat really looking for me? i was tempted to let the cat in, but i never had so much affinity with such creatures and i decided against the impulse.

days after then, i saw the cat again. i tried to touched its belly with my foot. maybe it was the fact that i was alone and yearning for company that somehow drove my feelings to the animal. what, if the cat was a human being? will i learn to love it despite all the prejudices stacked in my thoughts? days passed and one summer morning i walked down the familiar road when i saw the cat lifeless on the street. my heart seem to come up to my throat ... poor thing ... had i cared and made friends with the cat ... could i have spared it from the fate ??? if we shared some warm and lovely moments together will it be still alive?.

i come to think of how sometimes we care for people who never even care a bit about us in return ... of how they just take and even ask for what we have and never even feel any gratitude for the goodwill they get ... to everyone i come across ... i tend to treasure and cherish even felt pain for their absence or loss. now was a friendly cat that came to me which i never spared enough time.

somehow the cat made me realized how it feels to disregard friendship ... i did shed some tears for friendship that cheated me which i do not regret ... if people do not value me as one i know it does not make me a lesser than human ... i felt guilty for the cat ... but the opportunity to love had gone and lost forever ... the cat is dead but now i must move on.