Rain Cafe

“Hell yeah. It's raining.”

Denna was ready to tear off her ponytail when the air grew musty. A good sign for business, she stared at the wet pavement. Pedestrians hid their faces under bright umbrellas. A few of them showed distress and hurried inside the cafe. None of them ordered. 

“Welcome to Rain Cafe,” said Denna, smoothing her bangs to the right. “Are you ready to order?”

The pedestrians shook their heads. Their trousers dyed into a darker color.

“It's okay.” Denna signaled the pedestrians to wait and ran inside the cafe. "You are welcome to have a little sip if you want to return the umbrellas." 

A few seconds later, umbrellas with the cafe's logo blossomed in the cold streets.

This morning, Denna waved goodbye to the restaurant owner and the salon owner. Recession kicked the shops in the chest and watched them fall. The last thing Denna wanted to hear was Sparta.

“Boss, caramel latte for the pretty lady. Table six,” said the new barista. 

“On it...” said Denna, searching for the barista's name tag. Rain. Denna squinted at the plastic pin for the tenth time. “... Rain.”

“C'mon, Boss. We had two groups in total today,” said Rain. “It may be a good sign.” He went on to run the register. Denna watched his sneakers skipped with the bebop beat.

“We had three yesterday.”

Rain Cafe used to have five employees before the recession. Denna acknowledged them by their jobs — Cashier, Barista one, two and three, and Part-timer whose face kept changing. They used to eat pastries together in the cafe after closing hours. Sometimes they invited Denna to their table. She would decline and blast music from her phone, letting the white noise take over. Even after they parted, Denna would wave without calling their names when they crossed paths.

Denna only hired Rain because he was too unique for a barista— the same name with the cafe, red hair, butterfly arm tattoos, a foot taller than Denna — and it was hard to find such a bright smile during the fallen end of the business cycle. So far, everything was perfect, expect Rain insisted Denna call his name.

“We are closing early today,” said Denna. Groups of customer voices echoed the cafe. They were all going to vanish when she said abracadabra.

“You're the man, Boss.”

***

“We are shutting down the cafe,” said Denna. Her hands squeezed the heat from the mug. 

The chairs became quiet. The cafe lights stole the view and the room got brighter. She closed her eyes, yearning the darkness for comfort. Raindrops kept tapping on the glass windows like a bomb, ticking for her rising death. 

Three... Two... One.

“Rain,” said Denna. “We are shutting down Rain Cafe.”

“For-for good?” said Rain.

For good, Denna felt her lungs squeezed out all the air. The recession had been ongoing for half a year.  

Denna hadn't known fear ever since 2008. From the Supreme Mortgage Crisis to the Madoff Scandal, she kept the four digits locked in her memory.

The sky rained men while blank stock certificates flooded the asphalt roads. Television lights flickered at night. Her mother arrived early from work. The black dress lay on the bed after her father did parachuting on the rooftop in 2009. 

“At least, he learned the name of his murderer,” said Denna. “The man whom he trusted but never met.” The soil swallowed her father's photo whole. Denna felt the pain in her neck for facing the gloomy clouds too long during her father's funeral. 

“For good.” Denna took a sip of her coffee. She stared at the dark liquid. 

“But Boss, the raining season is here.”

Rain stood tall with his hands gripping on the table edge. Denna's neck pained just from looking at him. 

“I wish I was joking.”

“But the rain...”

“I know, I know... There are enough umbrellas... People will come to borrow umbrellas and return them with cash inside their pockets...” said Denna. She emptied her cup and leaned back. Denna wasn't sure if she was talking to herself or Rain anymore. “We can't afford the loans and taxes after the cash buffer magic wears out. No response from the emergency loan program either.”

“I'm sure our cafe will be approved for the loan.”

She shrugged and chewed her lips. 

“How long will the cash buffer last?” asked Rain. "A month or two?”

“Nah, 28 days.”

The rain was gentle. Denna heard thunder but the cafe dimmed without any sudden lightning. Her toes curled; the pressure increased bit by bit. Her head succumbed to the stress and lowered. Denna didn't know when Rain sat in front of her until his sneakers bumped with hers. His focus was on the floor.

“Boss,” he said. “Do you know why I want to work here?”

“I don't think there are any touching stories involved during your interview,” said Denna. “But I do remember something about college fees.”

“I lied,” said Rain with a tinted blush on his cheeks. “I was an umbrella borrower before. I wish to return the favor by working here.”

The umbrella lending idea was Denna's brainchild. One soak day out of five sunny days, this town was known for its thick grey sheets of rain and its slippery streets. Yet, this town was known for its people's forgetfulness as well. Denna saw annoyed people covering their precious hair after the pit-pat on the roof became constant. This was when she took out her old umbrellas and started pasting the cafe's logo on each of them. When umbrella borrowers filled the cafe with chatting and laughing, the cafe's social page changed its name with the rain.

The umbrella lending system was solely for business. Denna was quite amused when Rain came in on his first day with more colorful umbrellas. 

“You got a knack for business, Barista... Rain,” she said, patting on Rain's shoulder.

Rain grinned and shook his head. Denna viewed it as a sign of modesty.

“It's for forgetful people like me, Boss.”

The umbrella lending system was another world for Rain. Rain was another alien for Denna. But the seat arrangement kept changing and the pastries kept selling out so she never bothered.

"That day was special to me.” Rain moved the chair forward. Denna could see the rain outside showering white like meteor stars in his eyes. “Because I had my hair dyed red for the first time.”

“I want the cafe to stay,” said Rain. “And you, Boss.”

Denna's watch created a new noise for the downpour. 8:00p.m. The cafe outside was the same, except the rain turned vulgar. 

“Let's hope our cafe gets the emergency loan so the cafe won't shut down for good,” said Denna. “If it goes sideways... then we are starting the delivery business.”

Rain knocked down his chair and extended his arms. Denna heard the rhythm pumping inside the chest as they hugged. She guessed that was what her employee wanted to hear all day. She made a note to add his salary with a bonus later.

“It's getting late, Rain.” Denna didn't stare at her employee's name for the first time. "Do you want to borrow the umbrella from the cafe?”

“Oh, I did forget to bring my umbrella today. Thanks, Boss.” Rain laughed.

“You are welcome to have a little sip if you want to return the umbrella after the shutdown, Rain.”

“I can't wait to return it any time soon, Boss.”