Sounds of Rain

It only took a week or so before I’d exhausted all possible activities in Funny River. I’d explored the small town, I’d been to the tiny movie theatre several times and now…I’d done everything. There were several signs dotted around pointing towards Skilak Lake and, after doing some research online, I found out that it wasn’t too far away. Driving, yeah, that would take over an hour and a half, but that was only because there was no road direct to the lake. If I wanted to walk, however, I could cut the 50 mile drive down to just 7 miles.

Early one Saturday morning, I set out. I was planning to follow the river, which was only a minute away from our house, back to the large lake. It took longer than I was expecting it to, but I still got there in less than 2 hours, which wasn’t too bad, really.

The lake was larger than I was expecting it to be. I could barely make out the opposite side. I wandered along the bank, the pebbles and the stones clinking beneath my feet. It was quite a nice area – there was a forest surrounding the whole of the lake which was green and lush. For a second, I considered walking around the whole lake, but then, out of nowhere, the heavens seemed to open and rain poured down. I cursed to myself and ran to the shelter of the trees, but even then, most of the rain was getting through. In a matter of seconds, I was soaked through and shivering. I huddled close to a large tree trunk but it did no good – the rain was still getting through the leaves and reaching me. Wrapping my arms around myself, I tried to stay as warm as possible, but it was very hard to do.

I peeked out from my pretty useless shelter and towards the lake. The water, which had been still only a moment ago, was jumping all over the place as the large droplets hit it. Doing the 2 hour long walk back home in this weather was stupid, so I just had to wait it out. Rather than stay where I was – it wasn’t keeping me that dry anyway – I wandered through the forest, making sure to keep the lake in my sights so I didn’t get lost. There must but a cave or thicker clumps of trees around somewhere.

After walking for almost half an hour, I stumbled into a clearing. The rain was just as heavy here as it was standing next to the lake. But just the other side of the clearing was a small wooden house. I stared at it for a second, looking at the sheltered porch area, and then decided to go for it. Surely whoever lives there wouldn’t be too angry if I just stand under the porch? I wouldn’t be doing any harm.

I sprinted across the clearing – not that it mattered, I was already soaked through – and jumped up the 3 steps leading to the porch. I sighed as I finally got out of the heavy rain, which had been pummelling me. I looked at my hands and saw they were bright red, and I was pretty sure my face was a similar colour. I watched as the large rain drops hit the grass in the clearing and bounced up again slightly. If I ducked a bit, I could still see the rain hitting the water violently, leaving the water chopping.

A second later, the front door to the house burst open, making me jump almost out of my skin. “What are you doing?” a voice said from the doorway. I turned properly to the man, and felt my breath catch for a second.
“Um,” I stammered, caught off guard and unsure what to say. “It’s raining.” The guy smirked and nodded as his eyes swept over my drenched body. A shiver ran down my spine and I bit my lip.
“Come on,” he said, motioning to his house and opening his door further. “You’ll freeze if you stay out here in those clothes.” He was inviting me inside, I knew, but I was kind of reluctant. I was in the middle of nowhere with a stranger asking me into his house. Alarm bells ought to have been going off in my head but, for whatever reason, they weren’t.
“Thanks,” I smiled shyly, slipping past him into his house.

It was a small house, the kitchen and living room were completely open and there were 3 doors into adjoining rooms – I’m guessing one was a bathroom and another was a bedroom. I stood, unsure what to do, by the front door. The guy – who, now that I could see him properly, looked about my age or a year or 2 older – went through one of the doors and came back a minute later with a towel. He passed it to me with a gentle smile. “Thanks,” I said gently, taking it from him.
“So what’s your name?” he asked as I towel dried my dripping hair.
“Oh,” I smiled. “Ireland. You?”
“Ireland? That’s a cool name,” he smiled at me and I blushed. “I’m Parker.” I smiled and nodded.
“Do you, um, live on your own out here?” I asked him and he nodded.
“I like it that way,” he said. I nodded even though I didn’t really understand. Surely out here he wouldn’t get any human contact at all – except when stupid people like me get caught in torrential rain. “What about you, do you live around here?”
“Um, I live about 2 hours walk away with my mum. We moved here about 2 weeks ago,” I told him, looking up into his eyes, which were the colour of the forest around his home. Parker smiled and nodded in response.
“And do you like it here so far?” he asked. I felt like saying no, I didn’t really like it, but I couldn’t because suddenly, it wasn’t so bad.
“It’s growing on me,” I told him honestly. “It’s a little quieter than what I’m used to.”
“Where are you from?” he asked as he went into the kitchen and filled the kettle with water before switching it on.
“All over, but I just moved from Arizona.”
“All over?” he asked as he took two mugs from a cupboard. “Tea? Coffee?”
“Coffee please,” I answered with a grateful smile. “My mum likes to move a lot.” Parker just nodded as he poured the two coffees.
“You don’t like it?” he asked as he passed me the steaming mug.
“Um, well she’s my mum,” I shrugged, slightly uncomfortable with how personal the conversation had suddenly become. Parker nodded, as though he realised I didn’t want to talk about it, and then went back through a door and came out with a pair of sweats.
“Here,” he said, handing them to me. “Change into these and I’ll dump your stuff in the wash.” I smiled gratefully.
“Um, bathroom?” I asked him and he smiled before motioning to a second door. I went through the door and closed it behind me. I quickly peeled my water-logged clothes off and dropped them in a pile on the linoleum floor before pulling Parker’s grey sweats on. They were a bit too big for me, but I just tightened the drawstring and they were fine. I realised then that he hadn’t given me a shirt to wear, but didn’t dwell on it. I was self-conscious of my body. I gathered up the wet clothes and then went back to the living room to find Parker. He smiled warmly at me as he took my clothes from my arms and chucked them in the machine.
“You mind if I do a couple things along with yours?” he asked after thinking for a second.
“Oh, course,” I said with a nod. He smiled once again and I realised that he had probably the most enchanting smile I’d ever seen. I watched him closely, just waiting for that smile to reappear. I watched as he brought his shirt up to his nose and inhaled briefly, before pulling it over his head and chucking it into the machine as well. I tried to be subtle as I lowered my gaze and let my eyes run across his chest, but I’m not sure I managed it, as I saw Parker grin once again. I blushed and turned my gaze out of the window, where the rain was still bombarading the glass. “How long do you think it’ll last?” I asked him, turning my attention back to him.
“It looks like it’s set in,” he said, looking out the window as well. “Could last for hours.”
“Well, as soon as it gets lighter I’ll head home,” I told him. “I don’t want to intrude or anything. I’ll get out of your way as soon as the rain lets up a bit.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Parker smiled as he turned the machine on and then sat on the sofa heavily. “It’s no intrusion, honestly. I don’t get all that many visitors out here, so you’re more than welcome.” I hesitated for a second before smiling and nodding. He seemed genuine and I didn’t really have reason not to believe him.
“So, what do you do? Do you work?” I asked, sitting on the small sofa beside him.
“I’m a teacher at the Primary school in Sterling,” he said and I nodded. Sterling was about half an hour away from Funny River, about half way between my house and this lake. “What about you?”
“I just finished school, I’m not really doing anything at the moment,” I told him. “I wouldn’t really know where to get started.” Parker smiled again and nodded.
“I know that feeling,” he said softly.
“So, how come you live all the way out here?” I asked after a second of silence.
“I like the quiet,” he told me and I nodded. “I come from New York – that’s where my parents live – but I just wanted something peaceful, you know?”
“Yeah,” I said with a gentle smile. “But don’t you get lonely?”
“Sometimes,” he shrugged. “But I’m working with people all week, so the weekends are a nice reprise, really.”
“What about friends or anything?” I asked, suddenly realising how intrusive my question was.
“I have friends,” he smiled. “And I’m not too far away to meet up with them. I just like living out here, surrounded by nature.” I nodded with a smile and then looked around the room. It didn’t seem like he was sacrificing anything just because he was living so far from everyone else. He still had a television, a laptop, telephones.

“Give me your hand,” he said a second later. I hesitated, but then raised my hand between us as I turned to face him, crossing my legs on the cushions. He took my hand on his and flipped it so it was palm up. “My mum’s something of a psychic,” he told me and I raised my eyes away from his light touches on my palm to meet his gaze. “She taught me to read palms.” I continued to gaze into his enchanting green eyes and then lowered my gaze to my palm, where the index finger of his right hand was tracing the lines.
“What does mine say?” I whispered. Parker smiled and then turned to face me, bringing his legs up onto the sofa as well. He bent over my hand for a second, before running his finger lightly over the lines, tickling slightly.
“This is your life line,” he said, tracing the curving line nearest my thumb. “See how it goes from your wrist and almost to your finger? That’s a very long life. This line here is your heart line,” he traced along the curving line below my fingers. “This shows how emotional you are, and that you have quite a high standard for your partner.” I glanced up at him and he met my gaze before smiling lightly and lowered his gaze back to my palm. “This is a love line,” he said, pointing at a short line under my pinky.
“It’s really short,” I said quietly, worried.
“The length isn’t really important,” he smiled at me. “The number of lines indicate the number of significant relationships in your life.”
“I only have one,” I said, telling him what he already knew.
“Do you, um, have a, um, partner?” he asked. I looked up into his eyes and blushed.
“No,” I said softly. “No boyfriend.” I waited nervously to see how he’d take that, but he just smiled once again.
“Well, you will find someone soon who will be very important to you,” he said. I wanted to say something, like ‘I think I just have’, but I chickened out. “You don’t have any child lines,” Parker continued and I looked back down at my hand. “But, um, they usually indicate biological children. So, say, if you adopted, your palm lines wouldn’t show it.” My heart was suddenly racing. I gave up looking down at my hand and just looked at Parker, watching him as he studied my palm. “You have no health line, which is good. That means health won’t really be an issue for you. These rings around your wrist indicate a long life, you have 4 bracelets, which is a very long, happy life. You don’t have any travel lines, so you’d rather stay in one place than move around.” I bit my lip, somewhat guiltily. My palm had just answered his questions from earlier about me travelling with my mum. “There isn’t all that much else here,” he said, still running his fingers over my skin. “But, if I were you, I’d be pretty happy.” He looked up at me and before I realised what I’d done, I leant forward and pressed my lips against his. It only lasted a second before I pulled back, shocked at what I’d done.
“Um, I’m sorry, I, um-“ But Parker didn’t wait for me to stop babbling, just pressed his lips back to mine, initiating a much deep, more passionate kiss. I smiled against his lips and raised my free hand – the hand that Parker wasn’t holding onto - and rested it on the side of his neck.

We were interrupted a moment later, when the washing machine beeped, alerting us that it had finished. I backed away slowly, my cheeks turning a bright red. “Um, I’ll just put that in the dryer,” he said and I nodded, while biting my lip to stop myself from grinning. I sank down on the sofa once Parker had disappeared behind me and lost the battle against my smile.

I heard a second machine start up and then Parker was sitting next to me again. There was an awkward pause when neither of us really knew what to say. “Can I have your number?” he asked and I grinned and nodded. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to me. I quickly entered my name and number before saving it and handing it back to him.
“Can I, um, come back and see you again?” I asked nervously and he grinned.
“I was kind of hoping you would,” he replied and I smiled shyly. I looked down at my palm, at the life line, the love line, and then smiled to myself. Yeah, I think I could get used to living in Funny River.