TOO MUCH RAIN

Too much rain fell too fast, and now I am in serious trouble. I stand at the curb peering down into a river of curb-high rushing waters. Seeing the situation, I am fearful to cross the street now to get to my job across the street. I glance up to see Andrea waving to me from our office window on the second floor. She waves frantically, motioning me to get back.

        While desperately trying to back up and away from the curb, a throng of aggressive, impatient New Yorkers collect around and behind me bearing down tightly as we wait for the signal light to change from a hand to the image of a crossing man. I’m trapped.

         I look up sadly at Andrea. “Goodbye dear friend,” I mouth silently.

        I’m in a state of panic. And even though it’s near a freezing 40 degrees, I am sweating profusely, knowing what is to come. It’s happened so many times before, that I’ve lost count. But will I get away again safely this time too?

         Maybe I won’t get pushed into the street? I pray I will be allowed to stand firm while the rain-soaked crowd simply walk politely around me. However, this is one of the busiest downtown street sidewalks in New York City at morning rush hour. What do you think?

         The light changes. The crossing man figure appears and the eager crowd forges ahead carrying me with them against my will into the street. Constantly being pushed ahead, everyone walks briskly forward sloshing through the impeding water surging up and around their booted feet. Except me. My feet don’t sink into the water. No, my feet slide along the top of the water like a graceful skater on ice.

         “Hey! Lookie that!” A fellow crosser yells loudly while pointing like crazy at me, the woman skimming along. “She’s walking on water!”

         Everyone looks. Now it’s free for all of mass excited comments that all end in exclamation marks. Cameras phones are flashing. If the stir raised is like anything before, I have only seconds to hide from “them” and social media.

         Once on the other side of the street, I wiggle out of the entanglement of people closed in on me. I make a break for it. And luckily, I outrun everyone pursuing me.

         I’ve taken cover in a dark alley. But it’s only a matter of time until the hunters find me. Because I used my gift, I am not able to cloak into invisibility yet.  

         I’m startled by my ringing cell phone. I answer, but don’t speak.

         “Monica, I’m coming!”

         “I’m in the first alley. Please hurry Andrea!” Will she get here in time to help me? All I can do is hide and hope.

         Andrea appears moments later. She scoops me up and wraps us together inside her protective invisible cloak.

         “They’re coming Monica.” We share looks of fear and dread.

         “What if your cloaking magic isn’t strong enough to conceal us both? Then you’ll be doomed too.”

         “Stay very still Andrea. Your cloaking is getting dense.”

         “But will it be dense enough that they won’t see me?”

         Our attention is drawn to the end of the alley, by the sound of loud laughing and playful joking by three 15-year-old teen boys who turn into the alley where we are hiding. Coming closer, I venture a look at them. Just kids cutting through the alley on their way to their destination. Can’t be them. I wait until they pass by before sighing a sigh of relief.

         Suddenly, they stop. In unison, they turn. Gone are the faces of youth. Gone are the skateboards. Instead, we see three sinister-looking men in black holding sophisticated stun gun units. They walk confidently right up to us; purposeful looks in their evil black eyes. If we are captured, we will be taken back to the torturous research center, where we will be subjected to painful tests again in their evil attempts to discover why I can walk on water and why Andrea can fly.

          “They can’t see us, Monica. We’re both still invisible,” Andrea whispers.

         We watch as they each put on green-tinted glasses.

         “We know you’re here Fairies,” the tallest one says with a smirk. “You can come willingly, or we will use our stunners to take you. What will it be?”

         Can they really see us? Moving carefully and quietly we move two feet sideways. They don’t move a muscle.

         “Ok, we’ll do it the hard way”. They raise their stunners and fire at the vacant wall ahead of them where moments ago we both were crouch low to the ground.

         “Where are they?” The collectors spray the area left and right finding no targets.

         Positive we are safe from their fake glasses and stunners, for now, we race soundlessly to the end of the alley. Still invisible, we speedily continue to the crosswalk and anxiously wait for the light to change. Glancing over my shoulder, I see the hunters come out of the alley morphed back into skateboard carrying teens again. After briefly conferring, they head off in different directions looking for us. One comes our way.  

         “Are we going to get away from him before he’s able to catch us?”

         Suddenly, he stares at us with the same smirk as before. Just as he raises his skateboard to fire his morphed stunner right at us, the light changes to walk.

         Again wrapped together in Andrea’s cloak, she lifts us both up into the air and we are carried lightning fast over the top of the street-high water to the other side, where we duck into a nearby ally.

         “We don’t have much time until he finds us, Andrea, where shall we go from here? I chose New York City last time. Maybe not a great idea? Your turn.”

         “Let’s go someplace warm and sunny like Los Angeles,” replied Andrea. “We can get lost there hopefully forever. Besides, everyone knows it never rains in California.”

         Andrea nods smiling. And with that, she opens her huge Fairy wings and we fly away together.