Rainstorm

罗一川

The wind was blowing fiercely，crushing all the clouds in the sky and casting a great deal of shade onto ground;the oriental planes alongside the street quivered，with deformed canopies and waving branches;the whistling of the blustery wind violently penetrated my home through windows leaving ajar.

Suddenly，someone shouted，”It’s gonna be a strong rainstorm！”，in a voice that definitely could be heard by residents five kilometers away.

Almost immediately，like avalanches triggered by the shout，people，as they for the first time realized the situation，or as they fortunately heard someone voiced their fear out，started to panic，then quickly calmed down. The crowd in the street at this point bore much similarity to a crowd of wasp disturbed by its predators fallen from sky.

With the toothbrush still in my mouth and water tap still opened，I，at my highest speed ever，rushed to shut all the windows in the house and took my runners back from the balcony，with the sense that an imminent heavy rain would pour off in less than a second. In fact，a gust of wind was so strong that it successfully made me to cough most of my toothpaste foam onto my shirt.

Standing inside the dry and warm building and waiting for the rainstorm in front of a large French window，with the same old toothbrush in my mouth and same old foams on my shirt，I looked down to the street：

I saw a woman in pinkish with a huge flocky fox fur scarf covering her neck and shoulders. She dashed out of the car-washing garage，took a quick glimpse of the gray gloomy sky and fiercely swaying shade trees，and at once dashed into the garage. Maybe within less than a second，I saw the woman already drove her pinkish red limousine hastily out with a side door still half opened. She grumbled loudly and violently about the weather，about the inaccuracy of weather forecast，and about the careless decision of washing her car on such a miserable day. Even heard afar and aloft，there is a big chance of mine that with both of my eyes covered，I could easily recognize the source of those abuse just in front of me with less than a meter.

Up to now，the pinkish woman and her pinkish car rushed frantically on the street，even with her windscreen wipers working frantically in vain. She pressed the horn impatiently and made a great deal of noise to one or maybe two hurried pedestrians on her way and even poked her head out of the window and started to throw bitter words towards everything in maximum volume. Not for long，I saw her car roared down the street and disappeared at a turn，even，still till then，with a car door half-opened.

At the turn of the road where the pinkish woman and her pinkish car disappeared and rushed to her home，I saw a very old and weak man in a ragged old-fashioned coat. He was so anxious to drag his handcart onto the steps of the entrance of a building that I could see his sweated collar even with such a great distance. There were some old and dark-brown wood planks on the old man’s handcart，and I swore these ragged planks could not be light at all. He might be a   decoration worker of one of the apartments，who would then use these wood planks for backplates or floors or something else.

I could not bear the toothbrush in my mouth anymore and those almost solidified foams on my shirt，so I went back to the bathroom. When I had handled myself and changed a new shirt，I hesitated on whether I should focus on my works. However，a mysterious interest abruptly summoned in my mind slowly drew my footsteps to the previous window and encouraged me to continue on my previous observations，so I shrugged and happily accepted this proposal.

I bet it took only five minutes at most to change the shirt，but what I saw was an empty，lonely street with quivering trees and soaring plastic bags and no human at all！ Wait a moment;the only human within sight was the old guy still endeavoring to pull up the handcart with just more sweat on his collar. In such a great a distance，I could hardly see anything in detail，but I supposed that it must be that one of the wheels got stuck between the steps and might fall into soft soil beneath staircase. A little bit of sympathy emerged secretly inside my heart but was mysteriously counteracted by a sordid urge to watch the tragedy of others. I despised myself for a moment，but then got uncontrollably terrified by the tiny inner despicable joy emerged in my mind. With a slight sigh，I made a cup of hot coffee for myself and sit in front of the large French window as if nothing has happened.

The predicament of the man hadn’t change much when I saw a fashion young man in a trendy punk jacket and a pair of very cool red sneaker suddenly emerged from the other side of the turn. Obviously，I can almost see those mixed emotions of anxiety and urgency came into reality and transformed into two large 30-meter-long wings that could take the cool young man to his house and rescue，say，thirty pairs of his favourite sneakers on the balcony under imminent rainstorm. Surprisingly，he stopped at the entrance of the apartment building，hesitately watching the arduous task of the old laborer. Was he wondering that why such a frail old man would do such an ordeal under such an imminent exceptionally heavy rainstorm？ Or instead did he just happen to get into the building at the entrance of which he irritately found someone on his way？ As I was wondering，the trendy guy was acting，for which I decided to despise myself even more for my malicious suspicion. He，as if an angel was inside him，squatted down and gently observed the part of wheel stuck in the mud or something I couldn’t see clearly. He asked whether he could do the frail man a helping hand，and I could almost managed to see the tears streaming down the elderly’s eyes，which conjured a sense of guilty in my mind and some admiration towards the young man.

Just as the young man pulled and pushed the handcart laboriously，a powerful thunder bursted in the sky and left wobbling tinnitus in my ears. The footsteps of the rainstorm was getting closer than ever！ At this time，from somewhere I failed to see emerged an unhumanly beautiful woman who dashed to the entrance of the building wearing a pair of red shoes that might have the highest heels I had ever seen，which successfully reminded me of a somewhat dance queen expressing herself ebulliently in a party. However，her hair now curled in a messy style and some smudges blossoms on her red dress，and her exquisite face was now filled with anxiety，the exact same kind of which now appeared increasingly intense on the trendy young man’s face. At the entrance of the building，she paid little or no attention to what happened on the steps and what stuck in the mud，striding across the mess and went dirctly upstairs. It seemed that there were enough reasons for me to condemn her behavior，but I have no such intention to do so although her rapid pace actually reminded the past experience of mine of catching a train with great effort. The young man stared at the direction of the woman’s disappearance，in a body shape very similar to a gargoyle. Was he bemoaning？ Or was he condemning？ Neither！ He offered a quite surprising answer to me for he immediately stood up，ran upstairs and dismissed the imploring eyes of the frail elderly. With a  leap and a swift stride，he just then disappeared at the entrance and went upstairs to his apartment，leaving the old man and his handcart alone in an imminent rainstorm. An fragile old man and his fragile old handcart alone.

What a selfish egotist！

Is it？ Immediately I felt surprised and ashamed，but in fact I was not so surprised and ashamed deep inside my heart. A secret voice surreptitiously told me that it was what it should have been，and that I bore no difference with him. That we have the same nature，the same egotism，and the same solidified cold-blooded heart. I finally withdrew my eyesight from the scene，and had some very mixed feelings towards it and myself alike. Under the wind，every branches of trees frantically swayed，with the maximum magnitude of force that could almost beat hard and intense enough to make some sonic booms directly. It was the exact appropriate scene that matched every bit of my hysterical emotions now，which compelled me to stand outside in the balcony and felt completely every hard beat of the wind. I heard the rustling sound of my new shirt，and even felt the continuous pain of my body whipped by the furious wind，which kind of making me feel sad about the extent of the enduring ordeal of that frail man standing desperately in front of the steps. I tortured my soul and nothing finally came out. I didn’t know whether it was appropriate and righteous for the trendy man’s behavior，for mine neither，but I did know that it would make me feel extremely uncomfortable to continue my observation of the poor man while having hot coffee and in cozy house. It shouldn’t continue on for another one second. Enough，enough！

I felt guilty，and at the same time，I felt just all right for what had happened. Without any interest at all，the mysterious urge retreated and I forced myself not to think about the man anymore.

When I got to my window for the next time，I saw no sign of fierce wind anymore，and I saw the poor old man disappeared，and I saw there was no sign of raining surprisingly.

The weather forecast was right：there wasn’t any rainstorm indeed.

No rainstorm at all！