City Streets - A Collection of Short Stories, Done by Me

City Streets 1 - The Rain

In deep thought, I pushed passed the ever moving colony of working humans who rushed to everywhere. The foul smell of smoked cigars filled the air along with the stench of clogged up sewers. It was a busy night in the small, crowded street. Business was good despite the growing economic breakdown, yet no one seems to give it a bother. Money was spent like water; going to the street's famous bars, ordering the best beers in town to drunk themselves and have a good time. They did so was to rid of their daily troubles - everyone was doing the same thing.

I was doing the same thing as well. I was pushing pass everyone I was coming across as if I was pushing pass my own troubles. They would turn round to look at me, some curious and some clearly offended. I slowly moved in close to the stores to avoid colliding with people, once I felt satisfied.

It began to rain, and I forgot to bring my umbrella. Umbrellas began to pop out, one after another. The scrumptious scent of vegetable dumplings came in gentle yet pleasant wafts, and it made my tummy rumble. As it turned out, I ended up at a small, well-to-do food stall. Should've moved in a little later, I thought. My tummy rumbled again, clearly wanting to have those golden-coloured dumplings digested. Don't go having those thoughts now, I told my tummy sternly. The weather grew increasingly cold and I held myself tightly together. I pulled up my jacket's hoodie and looked up to the sky. I squinted my eyes as I tried to peer through the rainy sky and thought "Ah... It's the rain again".

Moments later, I felt a strange sensation of something rubbing against my legs. I was wearing jeans, and the rough surface of it brushed up and down against my bruised and tender skin. I looked down, only to find an adorable adolescent white cat. It looked up at me and meowed. I could only smile and meowed back affectionately towards it. I knew well it wanted food, but I had to save my money for later. But it had such a look in its eyes that I found it hard to deny. I looked around to see if there was any stall selling food appropriate for this lovely cat. It took me a while as I squinted my eyes to look past the blurred scene of rain to see the opposite side of the street. I caught sight of a stall selling steamed fish.

"Hold on", I told it. I crossed the street without much trouble, as everyone had quickly moved indoors to get shelter from the rain. Normally, people would head to the nearest restaurant opened. All would sit down together regardless of status while waiting to be served warm, cooked food. The food was all free, but it was only available during such rainy seasons. Even beggars get a chance to have these food served to them, the rain was their blessing. Everyone became family at the table, and it doesn't take much effort for one to catch up on the conversation that was going on.

"My mother said that if I don't get myself a wife within a year, she'd set me up for one!" A young businessman cried in utter misery.

"But isn't that what you actually want?" A young fellow said incredulously.

"Oh, no, for heaven's sake, don't even joke about it!" the young businessman replied.

"So it would mean that we'd be expecting to be invited to your wedding anytime soon?" A statesman chuckled.

"But it ain't fair!" the young businessman protested. "She's always like this!"

 Another fella chipped in and said "At least your mother bothers to look for one for ya. My mother said that I was so ugly, I'd scare the girls away and I'd be better off doing puppet shows cuz' I don't have to show my face!"

"Aww. But you're not as bad-looking as you say." The statesman comforted. The young businessman turned to look at the statesman with a look that implied "What?"

I giggled as I left the stall with my packed fish food. I've always enjoyed eavesdropping on conversations, especially conversations of this sort of season. They were special in every way. Many interesting stories tend to surface during these conversations, and they were fun and entertaining to listen to. I turned back and smiled and crossed the street. I was soaking wet from the downpour, and my shoes were all soggy. But the weather has calmed fairly and it was now almost a mere drizzle. People still remained in their seats and just enjoyed the night together - savouring delicious food while chatting all the way, and having the bother to ask about someone's day.

It remained where I had left it, just beside the dumpling stall. It stood eagerly waiting for its meal to arrive, served by its servant (me). I arrived, being greeted with those glittering eyes that said "My Food!". It meowed at me eagerly and I said "alright, alright". I unpacked the food, nodding as I did, as it kept meowing at me. It happily devoured away its meal, completely ignoring my existence, and all I could do was looked on as it ate. I gently patted it on the head and thankfully enough, it seemed to enjoy it. I smiled and thought 'not all hope on earthly creatures are lost'.

As it finished, it was also time for me to go. "You take good care of yourself, ok?" I told it. Not like it understood what I said, but I didn't bother. I stood up and was about to leave, but the cat came over my legs and rubbed its head against them. It looked up at me and meowed again. It clearly wanted attention. "Aww. But I have to leave," I firmly told it. The cat seemed to be upset, and it broke my heart a little to see it. The number of people on the streets were increasing again, and there were people bumping into me from the sides and shouted "Don't block the way!".

I made a quick apology, then turned round to face the cat and said: "I have to go. There's someone waiting for me and I can't keep them waiting." I said. I patted the cat one last time before I departed from the spot, leaving the dumpling stall behind me.

I entered the crowded streets once more, and the rain had stopped. People were coming from all sides and were resuming to their usual life. The tar was damp from the downpour and the air was thick and suffocating with condensed water and lack of oxygen. I pushed passed people as I did before, simplicity resuming as my thought, and picked up where I left off before.

(END)