The Orchestrated Rain

Episode 3

The scene: a small town by the river, with high mountains looming over it. Evening, the sun is setting low and the river is glistening with reflected light.

Cobbled streets are mostly empty, just a few hurrying people and cars. Short buildings, done in European style, stand dark and silent. Shops and offices are closed for the day.

A lone woman slowly walks the central square. She looks haunted, exhausted. She stumbles. On her wrinkled face, aged too rapidly, there are signs of sleepless nights, emotional and physical struggle, and despair. She is carrying a child in her arms. Even a quick glance reveals that the boy is sick, very sick. His breath is heavy and frequent, his skin is pale as the full rising moon, his eyes are dark, absent.

The child's mother suddenly stops. Eyes, red from crying, fall on the man walking from the big white building, the town's hospital. By now she can barely hold the child. Her arms are trembling, the cloth is slipping off her bent body. All the remains of once noble posture are gone, and what is left is a slender, trembling body of a bagger. She looks broken, lost in her tragedy so deep, those rare people passing by pretending not to notice her. But the man does.

It takes him several moments to recognize her. Too much time had passed. Judging by his clothes, he is the town's doctor. A respected and quite wealthy man. His tall body casts a long shadow. In his bright clear but cold eyes sparks the intelligence. To him, it is of no difficulty to assess the situation and determine that the child has only flu, advanced case but nothing immediately dangerous. And this seems to be not why the woman is here, even though she is trying to convince everyone, even herself, that it is.

In the woman's eyes lurks a worm of hope. A deeply hidden desire for happiness in being near him sharing all his success and fame, maybe even in being his wife, his lover. Insane, she does not even begin to comprehend how ridiculous it is, how absurd. An old wife of the woodman, -- an insane hermit, the town's clown, -- she wants to be a princess.

The Doctor's eyes remain indifferent, cold as if he is reading the medical history of a terminal patient, whose destiny was predetermined at the beginning.

They first met decades ago, in middle school. That is when feelings sparked, at least in one of them. A classical situation, a naive little girl falling in love with an unreachable boy from the upper class, willing to sacrifice anything for him, believing that her life is bound to his. What a joke. A man of his caliber was looking for an equal, a challenge, a worthy companion and definitely not for some poor slave girl.

So the girl's feelings died in vain, as it happens to many of them at this age. But apparently that girl has not been able to move on. Something that once started as first love and first broken heart, has morphed into an ugly obsession, a mental fix.

She quit school, stopped caring about herself, married the lowest man in the town, and gave him a child. She resented every moment of her existence, convinced that this was all she deserved. At the same time, deep inside, she secretly hoped that the suffering would change something, that the universe would play fair and grant her happiness for all the hardships she has endured.

The doctor lets out a sigh of boredom, trying to count how many of these broken old girls he has met. But yes, he would help this one, -- he would cure the child and maybe even give that woman some false hopes. A little setup for a spectacular pay-off. A game to turn a seemingly good and righteous act into something that would break this woman's life, depriving her of even that little that she has.

The doctor approaches the two and pointing towards the hospital, starts in its direction.

The scene ends with them, walking into the tall building with white clean walls. The woman looks relieved. There is a hint of a smile on her face. It is a very particular smile. The one that predates tears.