Chapter 58
It was late afternoon when we stepped out of my home, and opening the door I realized that plump dark clouds had crowded in the sky, suspending the burned summer air with the promise of a violent outburst of rain. I looked up smiling, enjoying the exhilarating feeling that precedes and follows summer storms, the strange expectation of some sort of revelation or unexpected change, the sense of freshness and freedom.
“It will probably start pouring while we are out”, Jack said
“Yes”, I agreed, still looking up
“And the idea of getting soaked under the summer rain attracts you so, doesn’t it?”, Jack asked, brushing me with a sly look
I laughed heartily spreading out my arms, palms upwards, eyes turned towards the turgid sky. Jack began laughing too, I knew he felt the way I did, and I loved him for that.
He started the truck and we drove in silence, sharing the earthly sensation of the moment and looking at each other now and then. I fluctuated between Jack’s smile and the landscape, leaning out from the window, the moist air flapping against my skin and sticking to it, warm and summer-scented.
“Let’s drive to your coast”, I said, remembering when Jack had driven me to the shore of the lake opposite to the one where I usually swam.
Jack turned to me and nodded, and after a while I recognized the unpaved path few hundred meters from the shore where he had brought me before. The trees surrounded us from both sides, twisted roots poking the earth, exuding their smell. We parked and the sky shook with a baritone bellowing, but still held the rain within itself. I ran towards the lake in the small trail in the woods, not waiting for Jack who was locking the truck
“Hey”, he yelled behind me, chasing me along and playfully, tugging my shirt when he caught up with me
I stopped and turned to him with a grin, then ran on towards the lake, giggling wildly. The view of the water opened in front of me after the tunnel between the trees like a surrealistic painting, the clouds dark and the water dark from their reflection, but the air in between the two masses of darkness strangely animated by some sort of unexplainable light.
We took off our shoes and sat on the rocks, thunders multiplying and lightning flashing at a distance, landing somewhere among the woods.
And then the rain broke. Plump drops thumping, dry grains flying off the ground, soil pierced by the drops, water penetrating the pores of the land, drops hitting the lake, water against water, drops thickening, streaming in rivulets from the sky. Water in our hair, clothing and body, our feet dipped down into the lake, our hands and faces upwards, our mouths and eyes open in laugher, drinking the pure refreshing outburst pouring on us like sobs of relief.
It probably last less than half an hour, and we took it all in, without ever thinking to leave. When the rain stopped we were soaked to the bones. It was then that I looked to the other shore, and saw Mirth walking towards the lake, opposite to our shore, the dog following her closely. She approached the water, and stood there for a moment, still, letting the rain soak her like we did, observing us. Then she raised her hand and waved, but before I could tell Jack that we should drive to the other coast and give her a ride back home she turned away, walking into the woods with the dog at her side.
Jack saw the surprise on my face, the touch of worry. He shrugged.
“All is fine. What about heading home?”, he said, and lead me to the truck, my hand into his.