The Forecast Calls for Rain

Heading out for work, I obediently checked the weather forecast, which called for a chance of rain. It didn't look much like rain, but I was proud of myself for thinking ahead, and dutifully carried the umbrella up to my high rise office in downtown Minneapolis.

Heading home a few hours later, I felt especially bright for having remembered to check the weather earlier. It was pouring. Just outside the big glass doors, under the protective awning above the sidewalk, I popped up my umbrella.

People were walking along the sidewalk across the street from me, but oddly, none had umbrellas. No one was huddled over or rushing along as you would expect of people who were out in the pouring rain.

Then I realized, it wasn't even raining on the other side of the street! I looked with disbelief through the heavy downpour and observed pedestrians standing at the bus stop not twenty feet away, but there was no rain! Ever felt like you were caught in a Twilight Zone episode?

As I cautiously held my open umbrella overhead to protect me from the rain pouring all around the entrance of my office building, and stepped out from under the awning into the pouring rain. I walked with a creepy sense of unease toward the bus stop. The pounding raindrops on my umbrella slowed into a patter, then stopped, as I approached the bus stop. I lowered my umbrella and tapped it on the dry sidewalk to shake off the water.

I looked up. The rain was pouring down at the entrance of my office tower. Looking up, several stories above the entrance were the window washers, spraying the upper windows clean with a hose.