This week’s story was written by Phil Yeats.
Last fall, he published The Souring Seas, the first volume in a
precautionary tale about the hazards of ignoring human-induced climate change.
The second volume, Building Houses of Cards, appeared in May 2022.
For information about these books, visit his website–https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/
*****
Singing in the Rain
by Phil Yeats
On a humid summer afternoon, I enjoyed a pub
lunch with an oceanographer, an old colleague from my working days. I stayed
for another beer after he returned to work. Then, I headed home.
A few minutes into my half-hour-long
walk, the heavens opened. Torrential rain, like I often encountered years
earlier during my university days in Ontario, was almost unheard of on Canada’s
east coast. My colleague would say global warming brought more continental
weather to our normally fog-bound shores.
Within seconds, I was soaked to the
skin. For some perverse reason, I remembered an iconic old movie from the days
of my youth. Singing in the Rain was a musical comedy romance from the
1950s, starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds. I didn’t remember much about
it, but the tune of the film’s title song came back to me. I began humming it,
rather loudly, I suspect because the rain was making an awful din, as I marched
along the often-flooded sidewalk.
About half way home, I encountered a
group of young people dancing in the street. They were hooting and hollering,
making enough noise to challenge the rain for din-making superiority.
One girl waved, encouraging me to join
them, but I remained on the sidewalk. I entertained them with a complete
rendition of my song from the initial doo dah doo di doo until the final I’m
singin’ and dancin’ in the rain.
She stared before returning to her
dancing in the rain. Was she too young to recognize my old song, or was my
rendition too dreadful for words? Or maybe she just couldn’t hear me. I raised
my cane, saluting the enthusiasm of youth, and sloshed the rest of the way home
through the ever-expanding rivers of water.
*****
Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/
Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/
Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/
Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/
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