The Girl with the Pink Umbrella

There she was, showing off her new pink umbrella. It wasn’t the prettiest or most fashionable umbrella around, but then, to her, it seemed as though it meant more than the world at that moment. Standing in one spot in the rain, as if just to hear the rain drops spatter on the umbrella. It was almost as though she was listening to some Beethoven or Mozart symphony. Her eyes were gleaming with joy, and her lips curved in a wide smile, mouth open, teeth showing, in absolute ecstasy. She had stood there for a few minutes now, without budging, or looking around. It was like there was absolutely nothing around her, and she was in some sort of world of her own, with only her umbrella and the rain. She wore a matching pink skirt as well, and white shoes which were probably drenched in the rain by now. But that didn’t seem to bother her either. Any one else would hate to have soggy feet, and would’ve run to a warm dry place. But not the girl with the pink umbrella.

And here I was staring at her and wondering what she found so wonderful. Even if it were a new umbrella, it didn’t look like it was worth so much joy and happiness. Had she never seen rain before? No, she looked about 12 years old, she must’ve seen rain before. Even if it were the rain that fascinated her so much, she wouldn’t be holding the umbrella to protect her from it now would she. She would much rather experience the rain without it. So that was probably not it…

Maybe she got some really good news and she suddenly thought about it and got lost in her thoughts. That’s a possibility. Something so amazing that you think about it, or look forward to it, that you don’t quite realize what’s happening around you for those moments. But it seemed to be happy for a bit too long for something like that, and its raining for gods sake, and her shoes are all soggy, you can’t continue the thought process with such distractions, seems almost impossible. So that is probably ruled out as well…

I had to ask her what this was all about, I couldn’t take it anymore. This had gone far enough, was she crazy??? So I approached her, in the pouring rain, I didn’t have an umbrella, and from my comfortable wooden seat in the local road side tea stall, I had to get drenched to find out what this girl was upto. By the time I took a few steps, I was drenched completely. For some strange reason, I chose to walk really slowly, maybe it was intrigue that kept me from walking any faster.

But when I was halfway there, she just turned and walked away. It didn’t seem like she had noticed me, or that she was walking away because of me, she just did. All this time, standing gleefully, she could’ve stood there longer, it was just my darn luck. I proceeded however to the very spot she was standing, just to see if I could figure out what was happening. But then…nothing, I was just getting really wet, and there really wasn’t anything special in that spot as well. So it probably was the umbrella then. Well anyway, I didn’t find the proper answer, I was quite disappointed, so I started heading back towards the tea stall.

I decided that since I was drenched anyway, I might as well walk home in the rain. So I proceeded to do the same. As I walked along I could see the girl with the pink umbrella in the distance. This time I walked a little faster, as I approached her, an elderly woman with an umbrella came, held the girls hand, and started walking towards a parked van. And while she did, I could see that the girl still had that beautiful smile, and absolute delight in her eyes which were still affixed on the umbrella.
I looked at the van, and on the side, it read “Mary’s school for mentally challenged kids”

And to think I thought to myself “was she crazy?”. How loosely we use that term…


The End