The girl with the umbrella (preview)

 Below is an excerpt from chapter 2 of my upcoming short stories book...Still haven't picked a name for the main character(he's still called "DUDE"  but I hope you enjoy! -Juan

C

offeeville was a small shore town and like most towns that are near the ocean, there was a lighthouse.  DUDE figured that it was his last opportunity to catch up on his book before the afternoon began to darken and then be forced to go home.

“But people will probably be at the beach.” –he thought as he was walking up the street.

“If only I could read here, it would seem the only place without people is the street!”

“Wait, that’s it! There must be a bench here somewhere!” and there it was, a nice small bench just waiting for DUDE to sit and begin to read his book.  Once again, he immersed himself in the novel and forgot he was sitting in a bench.

            It had begun to rain. The huge drops rattled the tin roof with a loud, unrhythmic noise. It was not yet three in the afternoon, but the storm had blackened the sky.

<Drip>

The drop had broken his concentration.  What’s worse, not only did it interrupt his reading but it actually looked like it was about to rain.

“Really universe, you are just going to rain on my day, really? This is just what I needed, et tu brute?!” –he said as he looked at the sky while leaning forward to cover his book from the impending rain. Looking into the horizon he saw lightning, followed by the sound of thunder.

“Not today, please not today…I didn’t even bring an umbrella!”

<Plop>

His shoe was now starting to get wet with the raindrops. However, DUDE was still complaining about the rain and not noticing his surroundings.

<Drip, drop, drip, plop>

“It will only be a little drizzle, I know it will. There was no forecast for rain today so it will only be a little drizzle, it will be over soon enough.”

The rain poured down heavily.

Eyes closed, he arched back and yelled: “WHY DO YOU HATE ME UNIVERSE!!!!”

Now we have all heard the expression “swearing like a sailor” but with the amount of swearing that DUDE did for that half hour of rain, he could very well host a seminar for sailors to take notes on new ways of swearing that they would never have imagined in their wildest dreams!

           

 All of a sudden, he no longer felt the drops of rain falling on him. Yet, it got darker and he could still hear the rain drops fall.

“You’re welcome.”  

Were the words that came from the voice of a woman, a woman he knew; Kathy.

He opened his eyes (this whole time he had been swearing with his eyes closed) and looked at Kathy. She seemed happy to see him and she was actually holding an umbrella over both of them with a smile that could make any mans day.

“What do you want Kathy?”

“Sheesh! Can’t you a least be a little happy and thankful that I am here?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, weren't you yelling about how you didn't have an umbrella and that the universe hated you, blah, blah, blah?”

“Yeah, so what’s your point?”

“SO MEAN! Thanks to me, you won’t be getting sick! Aren't you happy about that?”

“Well yeah but I was actually worried about my book getting wet and—I”

“Are you serious right now?  Okay, let me get this straight, you were mad at the universe, THE UNIVERSE! Not because you were getting wet, no, but because your books might get wet?!

A word to the wise, never piss off a woman that just came to help you out. It never will end well for you.

Once again, if you thought sailors could swear or if you believed DUDE had raised the bar. Neither of them could hold a candle to the verbal beat down Kathy unleashed on DUDE.  Not to sound cliché but the words have been omitted due to possible lawsuits and or fear that the publisher would not even allow the book to be published had I included this in the story, nonetheless, DUDE seemed unaffected by the whole event and just got up and began to walk away.

“Wait! Where are you going DUDE?”

“Home, where else would I be going?”

“Can I come?”

“No.”

Of course, regardless of what he responded, Kathy was still going to follow him. She always did. Sometimes people don’t realize what they have out in front of them and DUDE was no exception to this. DUDE may be excellent at interpreting works of literature and complex formulas, but he was an amateur at best when it came to interpreting the woman that loved him; A real shame.