Archive for July, 2007

Cats and dogs, it was raining cats and dogs. And rain too, lots of rain. Puddles were increasing everywhere, the streets of Manhattan became more and more like Mangalore in Monsoon. There were two people walking around: smart ones (plastic boots on, bring it on, puddle! All I’ll do is splash someone else. I might look silly, but my wriggly toes remain dry) and athletic ones (HipHipHibbieSkipSkipBackflipHop).

I was neither.

A limping one with sneakers on. With one leg as functional as a brick and shoes that functioned remarkably well as a spunge, I was, as the youngsters put it nowadays, screwed. My first attempts were semi-successes, since I only got a bit wet, and I didn’t rerip anything inside my ankle. But it became clear quickly: I might have won one battle, I was absolutely going to loose this war. A smart one went straight through a red light, and more importantly, straight through a puddle and with these two steps ended the necessity of attempting to stay dry. Thank you mister gray business man with yellow plastic boots, thank you so much.

Nine more blocks. Two more avenues. Not a dry part left anywhere between my toes. The wet feeling finally makes me smile, realizing I just won last position in this round of SkipHopSmack. Only Smacking left for me then. With a busted ankle, dripping face, jeans glued to my legs, and a big smile I walked straight. Puddle or no puddle. Nothing could make me change my normal path of walking. Except for gray businessmen with yellow plastic boots, I would make a well-aimed exception for them.

I got home later that day, and threw away the shoes and socks, and promised myself to buy some plastic boots and an umbrella, which I naturally never did.