Chapter 1: Rolf

I met Rain when she was dancing in the streets of Seattle, unfettered and free, arms flung out wide as she spun around and around, and tossed her head back, giggling as she twirled.

It was pouring down with rain. I remember it well.

She made me smile and forget about everything I was thinking at that moment. I thought I glimpsed a fairy flitting between flowers. She had short pixie-style blonde hair.

People walked by her, hidden under the safety of their umbrellas; some giving her the side-eye, but most avoiding eye contact, so they didn’t get pulled into her craziness.

The girl was least bothered about the fact whether someone was watching her, or not. She was in her own world.

The dancing girl took a long turn and collided with my chest. She giggled and looked at me curiously. I felt that her sparkling eyes were looking inside me, somehow.

She offered me a hand and asked, “Dance with me, kind sir?”

I looked around. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“For a start, it’s raining hard, and there is no music,” was the first lame excuse that came to my mind.

She shook her head, as a mother does to a child.

“Rain is a blessing ... and not to be rained upon, is not to be blessed,” she said, in a matter-of-factly tone.

“And there is music. You just have to listen,” she whispered, and she opened her arms to include everything around us.

She took my hand and pulled me out of my shelter and into dance position without giving me time to think.

“It’s a waltz,” she said with a wink.

I’m not entirely sure why, but I decided to dance with her in the rain. Perhaps, it was simply that she was beautiful. Perhaps because I had lived my entire life, letting what others might think of me, take control of the way I acted. Maybe her madness was contagious.

So we waltzed around and around, oblivious to anything except each other.

When the music playing in Rain’s head stopped, she kissed me on my cheek and said, “Thank you for the pleasure of your company, fine gentleman.”

And she curtsied.

I shrugged, took a bow and answered, “The pleasure was all mine, my lady. Let me buy you a cup of coffee.”

I was soaking wet, and shivering with cold.

She smiled and took my arm, “I accept your invitation. Lead the way.”

We walked arm in arm to the nearest cafe.

I sat there trying to dry myself off with some paper towels I got from the toilet.

“I must look like a bedraggled mess.”

“Not at all, you look lovely,” she objected.

We looked at each other long enough for it to get awkward.

“Why do you like the rain so much?”

She smiled at me and said, “I’ll give you a hint. My name is Rain.”

Suddenly everything made sense.

“I am Rolf, well, my real name is Rudolf, but everyone calls me Rolf. Nice to meet you.”

“So ... tell me, Rolf, do you like rain?”

“That’s a tricky question. Your name is Rain, are you talking about yourself, or the rain, itself?”

She tilted her head to the side, curiosity evident in her expression.

“I suppose I could make it easy on you, and say I like both.”

“I am glad to hear it,” Rain said, wringing the water out of her short hair. “So what do you do for a living, Rolf?”

“I am a digital technology and culture major, which is a fancy way of saying I want to start in web design and eventually tell other web designers what to do. Oh, and I want to be successful enough at it, that I’m not working on porn websites. What about you?”