THE TWIST

Cou cou’s Chocolade

My wife-Chocolade invited the neighbor's kid for a slice of cake in remembrance of our reuniting. As the kids enjoyed their treats, the little bundles rock-and-rolled my wife to narrate a story.

They tried to persuade her with their puppy dog eyes. But my wife used her charming smartness to turn all the heads assembled in our house towards me. Now you guys know what comes next. When I was about to decline, the kids attacked me with their ever-handy weapons. “POUTS! BUNCH OF POUTY LIPS BEFORE ME.”

So, here we go!

Hence, The story begins:

In a coastal week after the heavy downpour, the day after the rain, a new hay day dawned cloudy and cold with a scarce light train that chilled me after ten breaths. The cloudburst was over, but I could still hear the drops were still falling from the trees. Gently the sun begins to flower behind the ranging horizons with its flying tones in a pastel shadow. Rain on me feels refreshing but, the monsoon is a beloved season for the kids next door cause when it rains heavily throughout the day, they call it a Rainy Day.

On rainy days, the school remains closed, so they all have to stay back at home all day long. Though it has been raining heavily since morning. I listen to the pitter-patter. Along the side, I can also hear the children singing, itsy bitsy spider, it's raining, it's pouring with their voices blooming in the chorus. Herewith got me am sure to confirm that it is a ' rainy holiday'[ their words, not mine].

Likely when it rains, I remember all the times I have woken up to raindrops landing on my window. Tapping gently and then falling onto the outer window sill made of metal stank emitting the moist air. It reminds me of being safe in my room, or outside where it is lush and green, under a tree. Or in peat bogs. Afresh it feels secure.

Shaking off the rain in the doorway, I crisscrossed to the small booth near the bar that me and my Uncle, habitually shared. The street in front of our building was full of a pool. All the bicycles waded water as they went through the waterlogging road. Holding out my arm, I was fascinated to see the rain arc to avoid it.

The means for me to walk is to collect logs for the chimney. Before winter, I built a chimney and shingled the sides of my house that were already impervious to rain. With imperfect and sappy shingles made of the first slice of the log, whose edges I was obliged to straighten with only a plane!

To be said, it was a well-made day, sunny after rain, and the air was unusually pure. Suddenly the rain again splattered hard against the window panes, drawing my gaze to the glasses. Wind and rain slashed on me as I nearly reached the kitchen doorway. The rain trickled down the back of my neck, and I pulled up my hood, sloshing towards the house anew a little bit faster.

The scent prompts you of the first rain. The sound of the rain against different surfaces. The feel of raindrops of different sizes and frequencies. The taste of rain dripping into the mouth is an opportunity to awaken the senses in us. And here, the smell of rain makes me think of how my skin gets wet just by being exposed to the air, which is steeped with water vapor. I love how only an instantaneous downpour transforms the nature around our house.

It sometimes feels like I live in the middle of a rainforest with all those vibrant greens popping off the foliage. Many of us stay indoors when it is raining, but as you will see, there are plenty of activities happening beyond my walls. Of course, if there are high winds or electric storms, right now, the best thing for me is to stay indoors and watch the unusual force of nature through a glass shutter.

Rain plays for kids in ways of heading out for a walk in the rain by putting those rain boots to good use in search of partying with the soggy animals. And there, I can see a bunch of kids playing out in the rain, forgetting- trying to stay dry with some kids fully clothed, the rest are in swimmers, looking for animals that love the rain like frogs, ducks, and snails dome to my mind.

But I am sure you can think of more. Few kids wore old clothes to work better. So their mom did not have to think about scrubbing their clothes later. When it is warm and raining, it is pretty fun to go for a rain play. I can see kids painting their houses with mud pies, mud handprints, and muddy footprints on the pathway to their residence.

Whereas adults always tell kids to stay out of mud, retaining that ground in the dirt is quite challenging to get out of either the clothes or the surface of the walls. Nearby a series of laughter can be heard as the grasshoppers hop in the mud-tidal pool the kids built with their sticks.

When some supplements the leaves in the mud puddles, watch them get moved by the current flow they created. On seeing the jumping scarabs, the kids too started jumping over puddles. And fewer than jumping in the puddles tried to jump over them but ended up slipping and sliding on the mud and grasses from side to side.

Heeding the hopping figures in the muddy puddles, their respective mothers start scolding them, reasoning it had stopped raining. But a few drizzles are still going on.

Rather than listening, they shrugged their scolds like swiping the sweat beat out of their faces. And, the fear that twirled slightly in their faces vanished in a blink. The other kids hauled up into multiple groups for raindrop races, making dams around the house; stuck in the mud can be seen playing. Around the horizon, the best time to search for rainbows is just after it rains.

As I thought, I caught some children standing on the rooftop in search of rainbows. Pointing out to the sky, they start to draw an arch in the air with their little fingers as if that can make the rainbow appear.

And, later some time there it is…, made a broad smile on their faces, as they put their finger down. When I looked up, I could see a big rainbow, just like the one the girls drew, in the clear blue sky. They stayed on the terrace and kept watching the rainbow till it disappeared.

There was a cool breeze blowing through their hair as they stood watching the rainbow. After some time, they could not see the rainbow anymore. Cannot find any? Their faces dropped one by one like a drowning flower. Speaking of which, the sunlight and a light rain once in a while keep the flowers happy, growing, and fresh; on the contrary, flowers love water.

And they are never as beautiful as they are after the rain. After they have had their shower and drinks, their colors are renewed and look very beautiful. Beauty always captivates the hearts. Likely the buzz bees were busy on their way to carry on their work in progress which they left halfway through. Among them all, the earthy smell of the after rain fills every house around with a pleasant barrier of warmth.

The sound and smell of rain also bring me back to the morning after the night I had my first kiss. Somehow we fit in my bed, I think as it was 3 am, I did not want her to have to walk for an hour through town. It was also the first time I had cuddled with her. It was truly wondrous.

When we slowly swayed in each other's arms for a slow rain dance. As we draw, some nice tunes through a window and do a rain dance as it uplifts the mood swing of the people by making the atmosphere calm and serene. Considering it the rainy day comes as a musical surprise for all, and also brings a luscious climate and chilling weather.

It also brings me back to a specific memory as I captured the moments by bringing out a waterproof camera. Imagine the beautiful images you would get in the wet atmosphere! Cameras are just another way to help connect the world around them with a memory-lasting impact. I still love the sound of rain when I am in bed or just at home with my lover.

When we lived in another town, the preponderance of the house was constructed between the second half of the 20th century; we do go for midnight strolls on the humid summer nights. Sometimes it rained. It was amazing. We did go for a wet walk in the bush. The bush changes when it rains, and the greens are more vibrant.

And everything looks so much prettier. Taking our shoes and boots off, we like to squish our feet into the mud. I loved it when we kissed in the rain, at night, on empty streets with old yet renovated houses on both sides of the street as if you were back in time when they were as new as they look.

I love it when it rains, but she resents things immensely. When the moisture makes her naturally curled hair that she straightens using products to keep it straight, it re-curls up again and becomes rough. Some people feel the rain but some merely get wet in the process.

Like waves of the water in the creek and gutter flowing through my peripheral vision, I could see some nature boats floating with the current waving the flowing water slides. While some girls on the walk side twirl the umbrellas as they pass. Whirling with an umbrella is quite refreshing.

Some watch the white fluffy clouds as they pass on, wondering about the different shapes and why they look darker and denser. In the process, many let the water droplets fall on their tongue. Tasting the water that attains from the sky is usually something we naturally do when we are out in the rain anyway.

When I tried to figure out where these little bundles or piling up too. And get thrilled when they crowd around under a tree that holds lots of leaves and pull the tree, and wait for it…, a tree shower! While some blew bubbles into the rain shower and had bubble competition about which bubble lasts the longest before it pops.

Think of which, this is the best done on days when it is just spitting with rain. The elementary plays are enjoyable. But when it comes to the younger generation, I could see a clan of boys tossing rocks into puddles. Seeing and challenging who will last more tosses on the water surface. Young girls, on the other hand, draw in the wet sand.

The rain makes the whole muddy playground into their glorious canvas. After playing with dirt for hours, they all went for a swim, but it was raining. The truth is, sometimes you can be surprised at how warm the water is. When some stayed back, they brought their toys and action figures outside in the rain and built a small world around puddles and wet foliage, thereby having a rain shower.

Even some took the soap out in the rain and started lathering up! As the droplets slowed their pace, I knew that it would not rain anymore. Like the water, the collection of droplets from their earlier activities is now used to plant seeds in the field by their parents, who are now busy planting.

The perfect time to plant seeds is when it is raining. Best of all, they did not need to water them because the rain has done it for them! Using some large bricks or rocks, a couple of big poppas made a bridge over a big puddle for the pedestrians to walk on. While some passersby used them as a stepping stone to watch out for rainwater coming at them sideways.

As the parents and the passersby drown deep in their work hands, the kids become mud monsters by covering themselves with mud, leaves, and grass and therefore making the passer's hearts race in an ace up speed and some fall on the water with their frontier areas wetting in the process. When they achieve, all they have to do is to hose themselves off. A school of kids who went inside for a bath was now in search of Mushrooms.

Yes, it is, raining for a couple of days, so the prospects are that mushrooms will be popping up outside. The latter bunch retrieves to save some worms. Seeing the worms in puddles of water, they lift them out and put them on dry ground. And later, cover them with a leaf, so the birds do not get them!

Finally! I-the storyteller, hope I have made you excited for the next time it rains. And as per all the above happening sceneries falling around our hero-Cou Cou, let us see what happens on this very day inside Cou Cou's household. [Hearkening the tale, I'm narrating. All the heads with pearly eyes start nodding in approval].

Dreaming with Consy. Wow!

Cou Cou never did that thing, nor imagined anything which could feel so right despite the rain and cold. A few minutes ago, a stream of rain was splattering on the patio and then a bolt of lightning lit up his bedroom. And when such holes freeze and a shower succeeds eventually, new freezing forms a block of pristine smooth ice overall, looks beautifully mottled with internally dark figures, shaped somewhat like a spider's web. What do you call ice rosettes? by the channels of worn water flowing from all sides to a center.

Ere! The rain had stopped, and the landscape around the yard was with reflective pools. It was warm and sweet, like summer rain. The far-flung grass that cleared, before the heights of the passer-by, was veiled by a diaphanous curtain of slanting rain. And then suddenly spread out in the sunlight, far-distant objects could be perceived, glittering as though freshly varnished. Maybe it was the nearly inaudible buzz or the rain on the roof or Cou Cou's hyper imagination. But the thing is, Cou Cou napped, for about twenty minutes is all this the latter part-[Dreaming with conzy] is about.

Author’s Note:

Thank you for reading my story. It's just a children's book. And it's a refreshing change of genre. Just two chaps more. So, please re-visit! As I'll be posting soon.

Happy Readings! And do Give me a Like, Comments, and a Follow-up. Thanking you!!!