Torrential downfall. Like the sky decided in a lightning flash that it needed to open up whatever gates hold back the rain and let it all out at once. Like when firefighters test fire hydrants to ensure they are working properly. One second the valve keeps all the water in. Then, with one turn of a giant pipe wrench the water is gushing, droplets racing for the exit, pushing and shoving for a front row seat, seeing which one will reach the ground first.

I love rain and the sound it makes, but I’d prefer to be inside when it comes down like it did yesterday, especially when I was ready to go for a long walk. It was time. I’d been putting it off most of the morning and thought the dark clouds on the horizon were warning signs, not omens of the upcoming precipitation.

Smiling, I was enjoying the temperature cooling off, toning down the sticky humid feeling in the air. I took a few pictures of the clouds, not thinking much of them, sending them to Alissa.

I think I made it ten minutes from the house when I saw the sheets of rain moving in my direction. I’ve run in worse. But this? This was different. The temperature cooled another ten degrees, meaning the moisture was not warm, but icy cold. And it soaked me before I could find cover in the men’s room between the baseball fields. Thankfully it was warm inside the restroom, paper towels readily available.

Five minutes earlier we were texting.

“If you need a pick up lmk.”

“I will. I think it’s going to blow over.”

Drying off my sunglasses and phone in the shelter of the bathroom, I text Alissa.

“Come get me.”

“On my way,” she replied.

Standing inside I was trying to look out the door, but between the wind and the sideways rain, holding the door open was almost impossible. Across the street from the bathrooms was a small covered picnic table two couples were using as a shelter. Not that it was doing much good with the sideways rain.

I snapped a picture of where I was standing, giving Alissa the perfect locator, as I watched her drive right by me! So I called.

“Hi Joe.” Ramsie answered her phone.

“Hello?”

“Yeah. Mom left her phone. She was coming to get you.”

Oh. Well. Dang it.

Five minutes later, after she turned around at Wibbs, she found me. “I almost made it to the convention center,” Alissa said, grinning. 

From the bathroom to the parking lot was less than fifteen feet. But I was soaked when I got there. The rain hadn’t let up at all.

The air-conditioner in the Subaru was on, freezing me. And, this was the frustrating part. By the time we got home? It slowed down. When I got out of the shower? It stopped completely.

Of course it did.