Rain - 3. Chapter 3

Granite dropped to the ground.

Granite collected the wind in its bowels and sang through the tallest snow capped peaks.

A cloud below the cliffs rippled out forever.

The chopper came in on a patch of ground behind the main house. Two medics dressed in white dustcoats alighted, while inside, another passed them a stretcher and gently lifted Rain out of the chopper.

The estate had been looked after by Josiah, a trusted farm hand and his young family who lived a kilometre down the road. Barefoot picannins helped carry Rain into a warm living room.

Colin said,“I’ve set the place up so that you’ll be comfortable. Well, actually Josia prepared everything. I see he's set you up in the lounge.”

Several large oil paintings depicting Drakensburg Mountain scenery adorned the slasto walls. A fireplace with a tall metal chimney went straight up through the ceiling. Rain's bed faced rolling grass plains, the cliffs and peaks not too far away. On a sunny day they would open the sliding doors leading onto the patio for Rain to devour nature as only God intended it.

He stopped talking and walked to the kitchen.

Colin turned to Josia and pinched his nose, 'What's that smell?'

Josia smiled heartily, 'I know master is hungry from the journey. It is fresh vegetable soup from my very own garden.'

Colin breathed in deeply, 'It smells fabulous. How can I thank you, Jos. You think of everything.'

Rain enjoyed listening to them, he smiled, knowing they possessed a deep bond, master and servant.

'Well then, shall we eat. We can sort out the rest of the details later on.' He guided the gurney into the kitchen.

“This is the kitchen where I live whenever I’m here. The munchies you know. I’m an impulsive eater. Toilet over there beside the staircase, and bathroom and shower inside it. I live upstairs. Sometimes you may hear me moving and shifting about. The floors are made of wood. It makes a noise.'

Josia served the soup and held a bowl up to Rain's mouth. Colin shook his head, took the bowl and began to feed Rain one spoonful at a time. He had flashbacks of spoon feeding Kyle when Kyle was a baby. This was no different. Rain would have to learn all these things for himself, and Colin didn't seem to mind that he would be the teacher. With each mouthful, he smiled and congratulated Rain when he swallowed. The spoon became a train, a jet aircraft, a helicopter and a speeding car screaching to a halt. Rain laughed like a baby.

The journey would be long and exhausting, he knew. Colin checked him every four hours for the next week and began therapy on the fifth day. He administered drugs that allowed Rain's body to get well and decreased the dosages on a daily basis.

The first few days were long and Colin feared he might go crazy from burnout. He'd stand on the patio and take in the view of Kaylin’s majestic falls. The water had formed long spears of ice that dropped to the icy water below. His heaven – always there. No one could take that away from him. During summer, the rush of the waterfall was God's music to his ears.

Every morning he massaged Rain's hands and feet, filled a tub with warm water and bathed him. Josia set the table for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and in-between washed Rain's clothes and soiled bed linen. Colin set out a rigid excercise program that meant Rain would spend many hours in the gymnasium, a cordoned off area in the barn, about two hundred metres from the house.

The first time Colin helped Rain out of bed and onto the floor, Rain was a rubbery glob with hands and feet and arms and neck and head all heading in different directions. Now, eight days later, Rain's motor functions were stable, his body rigid and sturdy.

Josia walked him up and down the stairs daily and within three weeks Rain could walk upright, with a limp. Colin taught him to read the alphabet. He pronounced T’s for S’s and held in his breath for a long time.

He was overjoyed, four weeks later, when he walked onto the patio and found a pen between rain's fingers. He bent over his shoulders and checked the sheet of paper.

“What are you trying to write? Looks like Shakespeare.”

Rain smiled and nodded his head. Shakespearean literature in Colin's possession was limited to Romeo and Juliet. He left the room and returned with the book.

From the moment Rain read the first page it was clear that Colin’s project might end sooner than expected. Those thou's and thee’s and wherefores worked wonders for his speech, and, within a few days Rain was talking without the stilted, hard breathing. He still mispronounced the S, using a T instead.

Mid-winter hushed the rustle of the last leaves. The soft glow of the fireplace warmed the rough, icy air. Outside, the wind howled and whistled through the fir trees.

Without Josia's help, Rain made use of the stairs by running up and down three to four times a day. He managed to negotiate the two hundred meter walk to the gymnasium in the barn and spent hours there, making sure he kept to Colin's plan. He helped with the housework wherever he could. Dusting and wiping surfaces, tidying the study every morning before Colin came in to work on his thesis.

And then, one month into his schedule, Rain saw it. A St.Giles calendar on Colin's desk. He glared at the date and blinked.

He took another look.

13 JUNE 2005

He flipped through the calendar quickly to see if he were imagining it. Could it be? Impossible!

It was 1990, not 2005.

He stumbled and fell, knocking the calendar off the desk.

Colin heard the fall and ran to help. Rain waved him away and he struggled to find his feet. He reached for the calendar and handed it to Colin.

“You didn' tell me we be in two thoutend and five? You didn't tell me! Why?”

Colin stepped forward, hoping an embrace would lighten the shock. “Rain…”

“No! Don’t touch.'

Colin stepped back, hands on his forehead.

'Did you think I would never find out? Do you think I’m tupid? If you keep it away from me I would forever live in 1990, hey? You write about me in your notepad, how well I am doing, you tay whatever you want becaute I’m living back then when I wat happy with Jonathan, true?”

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know how to tell you. I placed the calendar on the desk hoping you’d see it.”

Rain slumped into the black leather chair and swivelled to face a picture on the desk of Kyle dressed in gloves and earmuffs, against the backdrop of the waterfall.

Caution directed Colin towards him. He touched his head.

'I trutted you Colin. I thought you were my friend. I wanted to look up to you. You taved me. Why?'

'I...I'm truly sorry Rain. I should have told you. I should have. Silly, stupid mistake. But things have changed. For the better. 1990 was a terrible year...'

“I want what be mine before the coma. I need to tee Jonathan.”

“Is Jonathan so important to you?”

The tears streamed down Rain's face. “I love him.”

Colin stepped forward and extended his arm, hugging the tears away.

“To me he be more than life. Why won't he come for me? He gave me love. Why won't he come for me?”

“You should concentrate on getting well. As it is you've progressed beyond my wildest hopes.”

“Without Jonathan, I am nothing.'

'I'll try to find him. I promise.'