Fiction | Rain
This is an excerpt of ‘Rain’, a short story first published in the Summer 2021 issue of New Contrast.
Mariam drew closer to the window, drowning out her father’s criticism and becoming an audience of one. She listened to the musician, trying to embrace the fullness of the music amongst the elements outside.
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She was faintly aware of a kind of tension inside of her, but unable to locate it in the spectrum of her emotions. Was it a yearning, she thought, or simply the desire to disrupt the structure of an average day? She wanted to be outside, taking shelter in the bulk of the building. She wanted to be the musician, maybe. Or be with him. To be serenaded. What a concept. Her job, her father — outside of these two constant demands she had little time for dating or companionship of any kind.
There was the night spent drinking cocktails and listening to a blind date — a friend of her colleague — talk about himself. He was a contrarian, he stated, and was fundamentally against whatever everyone else was for. Pop music, wellness trends, commercial film, current fashion — he had little interest in these things. They made people lazy and stupid, he said. Mariam nodded a lot and told him how this made sense, how she’d never really thought about it like that. Later that week, she surprised herself by feeling hurt when he declined her suggestion of a second date.
Her father had his own ideas about who she should end up with. Someone with a sensible career. Someone older, who’d had his days of drinking and dancing and chasing after women and was ready to leave all of that behind. Someone who would respect her willingness to work hard, but also someone who would care for her and allow her to leave her job and get on with the business of building a life together. Really, there would never be anyone good enough.
Heavy sheets of water crashed down in front of her. She moved away from the window and saw that her father was on the phone.
