A Rainy Day

It rained all morning, so Omar stayed inside with his grandmother. They drank ginger tea and listened to the rain on the roof. Grandmother told stories about her childhood, when streets flooded and children sailed paper boats. Omar made a boat from newspaper and floated it in a basin of water. After lunch the rain stopped and a rainbow crossed the sky. Omar ran outside, jumped over puddles, and counted seven colours. He drew the rainbow in his notebook and wrote: rain brings stories, boats, and colours. In the evening Grandmother cooked rice with lentils and lemon. Omar set the table and told her about the rainbow. She said that in her village people believed a rainbow was a bridge for kind spirits. Omar asked why rain smells so good. Grandmother explained that plants and dry earth release oils when the first drops fall. He wrote that in his notebook too. Before bed he put his paper boat on the shelf to dry. Tomorrow, if the sun shines, he will take it to the canal and sail it again. Rain, he decided, is not a day lost but a day spent indoors with stories. He fell asleep to the sound of drops on the window and dreamed of sailing his paper boat down the canal.