Rainy Season

For the past couple of days, it has been raining in the capital after a long dry winter. The cabie I usually take home from work drove very slowly in the midst of brown rainwater rivers out of fear his car will die in the middle of the street. I put down my Garcia Marquez memoires which I usually read while in the car to avoid watching the streets and whatever is in them, and I just watched what the first day of rain did to everyone. Kids were peeing into the water, playing with floating garbage, and splashing around the water we rarely see. All the men had their clothes wrapped up all the way to their waists, exposing horros no one really wants to see. People were simply joyous because we never really have alot of rain and most people do not have enough water at home for kids to splash around in or for them to put their feet in and feel all fuzzy inside!

As children, my cousins and i would make small boats and have races in my gramma's yard where a huge lake would form after rains. One of my other rain memories is walking the streets in heavy rain with my two best college friends-one of them diseased now- soaked to the bones without a care in the world because all the nast men who would usually harrass us are hiding from the rain.

I guess witnessing all this made me nostalgic and stuff, but the cynic i am, I always think of what is wrong with this seemingly happy time. In reality, people so happy with the rain that will water our plants are not thinking right, because we do not have a proper rainwater system, which means all of this water will only serve as an alternative to taking the trash to the dump. Secondly, if we want to water the plants and all the amazing crops we have, we should first have crops or plants to water. The other sad thing about rainy days is that once we have a rain spell, the low-quality asphalt of the roads (mainly bad because the cost of important materials was pocketed by some big or small government official) is exposed, and after a week of rain, the roads are full of holes and cracks and traffic is even worse than before.

The rain also contributes greatly to the distruction of the old houses of working-class families that are barely standing. I remember reading this in one holy book or another, that rain may sometimes seem like a blessing when it is actually a curse. I am not sure whether to base my decision on the smiles of children swimming in the garbage-filled water, or on the tears of our neighbor looking for more pots for the rain drops pouring from her roof.

I will just read my book next time.