Tears of Rain

Silver had seen the girl come up from where the creek used to run. He figured she had probably been following the creek bed, hoping to run into people. He remembered when the creek ran with delicious, cold water. Well, those days were long gone. Silver watched one of the townswomen, Claire, take the girl to Reverend Shield. No one knew what to do with her.

After school, Silver ran home to the small house he shared with Granny June. Silver drew a pail of water from their well to take inside. Granny June said, “From what I heard, the girl that wandered into town said her parents are dead. She said she lived a few miles away from here, more likely she came much farther than that. Poor child, but this town has bigger problems than a stray girl. If we don’t get rain soon, it don’t look good.”

Silver tended to the chickens and cow, kissed Granny and went to bed. He knew she would stay up late, praying like she did every night.

After school the next day, Silver heard commotion on the street. He saw the girl running away from Claire, crying. Silver ran after her and found her under the scraggly tree outside of town. She was tired, crying, and holding onto the tree roots like they could save her. Her tears were running down under the tree. He carried her back to town.

The next day, the skies opened, and rain poured.