🌈 Rainy autumn in Odense 💙💙

Chapter 1

This story is licensed. The story is legally protected by copyright. We prohibit its copying and distribution on other resources! You can find the licenses via the link in the author's profile!

***

"They are predicting rain today."

The phrase, which had become a ritual, sounded in the warehouse of a small convenience store just before eleven fifteen.

Herr Helm, a lean old man with lush gray hair and a pleasant, wrinkled face, was habitually repeating the weather forecast he had heard on the radio.

"The wind is relentless. This weather is dreadful. This cursed drizzle will soak you through, and the biting wind is just the ticket to catch a cold," grumbled the old man softly.

He took boxes from a pallet and placed them on the racks, making appropriate notes in a thick notebook.

Tobias stood beside him and silently sorted the merchandise on the shelves, trying not to be sidetracked from his assigned task.

He had been working at this store for several months, but this was the first time he had been entrusted with such an important task.

Toby knew that the only reason he had been «promoted» was because none of the staff wanted to work with Grumpy. But he nevertheless felt a little self- satisfied.

"But tourists aren't bothered by bad weather at all! Ugh! If it were up to me, I'd send them all away! They're everywhere, strolling around with their mouths wide open, chattering nonsense, and savoring it all like fools. Have you seen their foolish expressions? What could possibly fascinate them? Streets are just streets, houses are just houses. Yet, they sigh, applaud, and marvel. Idiots," Herr Helm continued to rant.

Tobias smiled. He didn't know why he liked listening to the old man, but these endless indignations and laments about tourists genuinely made him laugh and cheered him up.

Herr Helm's rants continued unabated: "If I had a time machine, I would go back in time and kick the storyteller's mother out, let her give birth in Ringe. It would be quieter here."

Toby put the box on one of the top shelves and turned to his boss, wiping his sweaty forehead with his hand.

"Why in Ringe?" he asked, stepping closer to the old man and taking up the boxes next to him.

Herr Helm offered an explanation with a sly grin, "My mother-in-law lived there. Oh, what a formidable woman she was! She outlived three husbands, and she spared no effort to try and drive a wedge between my wife and me. But her schemes fell flat. I proved to be quite unyielding."

The old man smiled sadly and gently.

"My wife was just like her. The same face, the same temper. She was as beautiful as a she-devil and as fiery as a witch. But once I slapped her on the ass and tucked her into bed, that was it! She would immediately become malleable; she purred and snuggled like a cat. Ah... I miss her."

Tears welled up in the man's faded eyes, and he turned away. Suddenly, Toby felt a pang of guilt. He hadn't meant to upset the old man, but his question must have inadvertently hurt him.

"I'm sorry," Toby quickly apologized, feeling uncomfortable.

But Herr Helm merely waved his hand and, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, returned to work.

"It's raining again," the old man sighed and wrote something in his notebook. "Do you have an umbrella?"

"Yes," Toby lied and looked down.

"That's good," Herr Helm nodded. "Go home. Your work shift is already over."

Tobias looked at the wall clock, the hands of which had long since passed eleven.