When It Rains: The Umbrella Collection

by Prudence Hayes

  I opened the doors to my closet and perused my selections. I eventually opted for a purple long sleeve tight dress and a pair of black stockings to wear with my knee high black boots. After getting changed I went and threw my hair up in a ponytail and put on some mascara and eyeliner. All the while dancing to some tunes.

  I headed downstairs to wait for everyone to come over. There was a football game on today that everyone was excited to watch. I was mostly excited because I bet Evan the Birds were going to win and if he lost, he had to take me shopping for a new outfit. I walked into the kitchen and was immediately handed a mug full of Hazelnut coffee from the hands of Pops.

  “Here it’s still hot.”

  “Thanks Pops!” I cheerfully said as I sat at the center island and Pops leaned up against the refrigerator sipping his Orange Juice.

  The front door opened and the sound footsteps got louder as they got closer to the kitchen. It was John and Mike carrying grocery bags and cases of beer. And, Mike handed me the morning newspaper that I asked him to get. I began to open the paper as they busied themselves putting the groceries away.

  I was examining the print when the front door opened again. Alex and Evan arrived and right behind them everyone else. I mumbled, “Hello,” to everyone as I couldn’t break my concentration. I was an inch from the table with my finger trailing each sentence that was printed, searching for the one thing I was looking for.

  “What is she doing?” Elijah asked everyone as he entered the kitchen carrying a football in one hand and a bottle of soda in the other.

  “Who knows,” Brian said as he shrugged his shoulders.

  “Hey, did you guys hear about Mr. Garrison?” Colin asked. My head lifted quickly from the paper and I said I haven’t heard anything.

  “We were at Marty’s and he said that Jack got arrested last night for beating the shit out of Miranda.”

  “Oh my God. Mom was right.”

  “What?” John asked.

  “My mom always said that there was something about Mr. Garrison that she didn’t like and she hated how he treated Miranda. That bastard! How is Miranda doing?”

  “She is out of the hospital and she pressed charges against him. Sounds like this has been going on for a while.”

  I was sullen as I went back to perusing the newspaper and everyone continued on with getting the food and things ready for the game.

  “Aha!” I screamed and pointed to the page with a grin on my face due to my accomplishment.

  “What?” most everyone said as their heads twisted towards my outburst and they stopped what they were doing.

  “I found it! Ahem, and I quote, “Molly J. Swanson of Market Avenue was arrested for trespassing at 5:30 the morning of the 15th. Ms. Swanson was released on a $1,000 bond.” My face lit up as I finished reading and faced Pops who, at this point was shaking his head and giggling. At the same time everyone burst with delightful chuckles. Teasing is our way of living.

  “Alright, alright. I’m going to stop seeing her now. She is a bit too off her rocker for me.”

  I ripped out the blurb in the paper and hung it up on the refrigerator with a magnet for all to see and to remind Pops to stay away. We didn’t need any more crazy around here. We all have that taken care of.

  “Hey, Guys. Come here,” John yelled from the family room and like a herd of cows we all ran to the yelling voice. He stood there holding the remote control in one hand and pointing at the television with the other. As we all went into the room, one by one we all turned our attention to the screen where there was a newscaster with the headline beside her head that read, “Dui Crash. Driver Dead.” As she kept talking my heart began to beat and a feeling of detachment was occurring. But, I fought it and listened to her speak as they played a video of a crime scene with a crumpled up maroon colored SUV.

  “A crash on Fairview Street last night took the life of one person, the driver of the SUV. The driver ‘Darren Levington’ of Adler Avenue died at the scene. We are told he was drinking at O’Reilly’s Bar until 2 a.m” I didn’t hear anything else she said the name and that he was drinking. Anger flowed through my veins once again; it twisting and turning within my body as I thought how he didn’t learn his lesson the first time. He took the lives of others and destroyed an entire family in the wake of his absentmindedness and now took his own life with the same amount of consideration. Karma is the only thing that popped to mind.

  “Poor Darren. You should have shot him while you had the chance,” the voice spoke. I closed my eyes and silently sang to myself, where troubles melt like lemon drops. High above the chimney tops. That’s where you’ll find me. Somewhere over the rainbow, and it disappeared. Darren is gone and in my morbid mind he got want he deserved. The voice doesn’t need to tell me that.

  An hour went by and memories of my parents, Darren and the past few months popped into my mind. There are obviously things I regret, but with each step forward I am making a change within myself. I want to live and enjoy life; embrace the beauty and shield myself from the darkness.

  I was sitting next to Alex on the couch while we all sat in the living room watching the game. He had placed his cell phone on his thigh so he could see when someone called. Around the third quarter the phone lit up and vibrated, but he was entranced by a play on the TV that I took a peek. It was a new text message from a “David”.

  “Who’s David?” I whispered to him knocking him out of his football trance and he grabbed his phone.”

  “He is a friend of mine,” he said sheepishly.

  “A friend or a friend?” the last word I emphasized and made my eyebrows dance up and down.

  He shooed me aside and replied that he was just a friend and as he was typing away on the phone writing a message I noticed the beaming smile on his face.

  “So, when’s the date?” I asked him a little too loud.

  Everyone looked at him as he moved his head up away from his phone to look at me. At first he hesitated then he replied, “Its tonight,” and everyone in the room cheered. Mike who was sitting on the other side of him gave him a playful shove.

  “It’s about time” Mike said.

  As the cheering subsided I remembered, “Oh, it’s supposed to rain tonight. Make sure you bring an umbrel...,” I started and then paused and finished, “Eh, nevermind.”

  The rain still bothered me, but not as bad as before. Dr. Rosenberg has taught me that I don’t have to shield everyone from my fears. They are mine and no one else’s and I have been working on that. But, as I looked around at the most important people in my life and the thought of losing them like I did my parents ran through my mind, I retracted my statement. I tapped Alex on the leg to grab his attention.

  “I change my mind. Take an umbrella, just in case,” I said.

  Hey, I’m still working on things.