John dropped me off after we left Jose's, at close to 1:30 am. I wasn't ready to go in the house just yet, as I had been wanting to take a walk in the rain all day. I had no sooner started to walk around the block, enjoying the chill of the rain as it pelted my head, when a police car came around the corner and slowed down as it passed me.
The car stopped, and the officer behind the wheel trained the big spotlight on me. I stopped and looked at the car and waved. The cop rolled down the window and asked if everything was alright. I replied yes, everything was fine, I just like to take the occassional walk in the rain.
I couldn't see the expression on his face, but he must have been satisfied with my response because he said "Have a nice evening", shut off the spotlight, and drove on down the street.
I continued to walk in the rain, thinking that maybe I should go back for a heavier jacket because it was a little colder than I thought it would be, but I didn't heed my own advice and turn around to go get one, I just kept walking. I figured it was only a mile or so down to Garrison and then down and back up via Florida to Hoyt.
It had been raining on and off all day, and I had been wanting to take a walk in the rain for awhile. I had intended to go for a walk to Addenbrook while it was still light out, but John had called and invited me out to BW3's with Holly & Laura, and since I had not eaten since dinner the day before, I jumped at the invite.
BW3's is not exactly a step above Hooters in terms of food quality, but the beer was as good as any other place, and the company was nice. We went to Jose's afterward and met up with Tyler, Bridget, and the I've never-had-an-artist Colleen, but that's a story in itself that will have to wait for another day.
As I walked around the block I took in all the changes going on in the neighborhood. There seems to be quite a bit of ambitious landscaping activitiy underway - maybe rain makes people think of lawns, flowers, shrubs and trees a bit more than usual.
The rain was comig down pretty steadily as I walked towards Garrison, and the reflection of the streetlights in the myriad little potholes created what looked like little crash-landing UFO's all over the road. I stopped and looked at the water rushing in the flood control canal, and was amazed how clean it appeared. I think all the trash and debris must have already been flushed along by the heavy rains last week.
I heard the skizzzzhhhhh of cars as they hurried to get home. I imagined there were a few people behind the wheels of those cars that were in suspect condition to drive, but I hoped they would all get home safely, to people or pets happy to see them.
I headed towards Hoyt on Florida, then decided to walk past Hoyt and on up to Kipling. I was feeling good from the beers I'd had - a good, not weighty buzz that didn't dull any sensations. I decided to walk along Kipling and look at the rain hitting the resevoir.
My shoes got soaked as I walked through a few deeper-than-I-expected puddles. I didn't care too much. My feet began to squish-squish-squish in my shoes as I passed by the reservoir. I stood and watched the rain rat-a-tat-tat the water's surface, and I looked around for a small rock to skim across. I found a few, but I was too far up the embankment to get a good skip going.
As I stood looking at the water, an older woman bundled up in a Morton's Salt girl raincoat walked passed me on the bike path, with two little dogs that were also wearing little Morton Salt girl outfits. It was a very surreal moment - I mean, it was two- thirty or so in the morning, and raining, and this woman had to walk her dogs. I said "Good Evening", but she just kept her head down and walked briskly along, tugging at the dogs as they tried to stop to check me out.
I walked down to the corner of Kipling & Mississippi, keeping an eye on the occassional cars flying along the rain-soaked street, briefly imaging one of them hydro-planing out of control and careening up the embankment to plow into me.
As I turned the corner at Johnson Way, I became aware of how cold my feet were. Fortunately it was only about 200 or so yards to the house.
I rolled up the garage door and was greeted by the frenetic tail-wagging of the happy dog and the curious stare of the big cat. I rolled the garage door down and turned on the light, plugged in the heater, then sat on Tom's chair and removed my shoes. My feet were all wrinkly from being incased in cold, soaked shoes.
It took about twenty minutes in front of the parabolic heater for my feet to feel normal again. I had taken off all of my clothes by that time, so I was naked in the garage with the dog and the cat. I noticed the clock and it was nearly three o'clock. It was time for bed. I got up to go in the house and discovered the door to the house was locked. Bummer. Tom locks that door occassionally, for whatever reason.
The only key I had on me was to the front door, which meant I would have to put on my cold, soaking wet pants and go out in the cold rain to go through the front door. Bleah. I picked up the pants, then decided to hell with putting them on, I'd just roll up the garage door, dash naked around to the front door, and get inside as quick as I could. I figured I could do it in 10 seconds or so.
It was three in the morning, and the chances of anyone seeing me had to be a billion to one. So I rolled up the door, ducked out and rolled it back down in one motion, and dashed around the corner of the house key in hand. As I shivered from the cold, trying to get the key into the lock, of course a car drove right past the house. I had the door opened and was stepping inside as it passed, so I don't think anyone in the car could have seen me, but the thought that I might have mooned or flashed someone at three am had me laughing as I made my way upstairs to bed.
I toweled off and jumped into bed, too tired to put on my pjs.
