the rain in Manila...i loved walking in the rain. the last time i did, i had a new pair of shoes on and there was a heavy downpour. i didn't want my shoes to get wet so i took them off and walked from buendia avenue and through bel-air in makati to get to my apartment in pilillia ave. i forgot now the name of that street, i guess it was bel-air avenue. i could've taken a tricycle but it would've been a futile exercise anyway because i was already wet.
so shoes in hand, i walked on the paved sidewalk, under a canopy of trees, the pouring rain coming through the leaves, my hair heavy with the wetness and my office clothes clinging against my body, rainwater trickling down my arms like tiny rivers. i sang jose feliciano's "rain" song, not loud, only in my head. sometimes i kicked the water; at times i jumped and reached out for a tiny branch or pulled a leaf. i pushed my hair back with one hand, dripping pair of shoes in the other.
sometimes some passing cars honked, others offered a ride, some sped up where there was an accumulation of water on the street so that i'd get splashed. the honking, i don't know what it was about. the ride offers i never understood, although kudos to them because for sure they realized they give a ride to a wet person and their seats are going to be wet, too. now, the splashers, i usually gave them the finger. so you'd think, you're already wet, what difference would that make? my sisters asked. the difference was that i got wet on my own terms, and the water coming from above had got be cleaner than that which already accumulated on the ground.
when i got home, the rain was still pouring hard, so i went straight to the back where we do laundry and where we hung clothes. i took my shower in the pouring rain, shampoo and all. it was so liberating. it was my own way of communing with nature.
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