I have a new favorite activity. I love walking in the rain! I love staying under the shower till I'm all pruney and near-hypothermic and plodding in the rain with slow baby strides feels like being under a giant shower. There was a heavy downpour last night and with my sorority umbrella as refuge, I walked home from KFC. (Yes, my dinner last night came from KFC again) The difficult feat of walking on wet platforms did not bother me at all. I was even humming Don't Tread On Me under my breath.

I remembered...

One time, at LB, (Doesn't this make me sound like the band geek Michelle?) it was almost midnight and Bes and I almost got locked out of the dorm. It was raining heavily and we used Gue's mega-umbrella for shelter. We walked from the BE friends' house in Gonzales, through the dirt road which at that time was literally a dirt road still, passed by the post office, Palma Bridge and walked the perimeter of Freedom park. We reached Men's Dorm just as the guard was wrapping the chain around the gates.

Bes and I were a bit notorious in the dorm for perenially going home late. There came a point when the guards knew us too well that they let us in even without checking the late permit logbook. The dorm manager called us to his office one time and warned us of being evicted if we didn't start following the rules. We didn't care. It was the second sem and we were going to be evicted from the dorm for being upperclassmen the following semester anyway.

That night, we did not walk alone. A lonesome boy who got turned down by Bes for the nth time trodded behind us, oblivious to being soaked to the skin. It was Merky. He was wallowing in his defeat and crushed heart. I could never get Bes to give him her sweet yes. There came a point when Bes almost gave him a try, just because she trusted me too much but hey, that's my Bes! She wasn't one to enter a relationship out of pity. It would have been fantastic for my two best friends to be a couple. They're both happy now so all is good.

Astro was strangely affected by that night's events. It turned out he was wistful because while Merky shambled in the rain, Merky was wearing Astro's cowboy boots.

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*.* as if! @ 12:01:00 PM • • RBJ