026 - Rain, Rain, Go Away

[Archy]

Father Joan hated the rain. Living in a place where ten minutes of rain meant no work due to poor technology, he hated it because it made him feel useless. Outside of church matters, Father Joan did not have anything else to do. It was only seven in the morning, and he would have to wait a while until he could do something – breakfast was always prepared at eight in the villa.

He thought about anything that crossed his sight or mind – the woman getting soaked in the rain as she ran through the street; Rajiv Suresh, the cab driver; his sandal which he tore the other day, and many more. As he thought about Suresh, he began to think what made the man so willing to give his all in service. Greed? Father Joan turned that thought down, for when he met the man he seemed not to harbour thoughts of greed, unlike half the people the friar met these days in Spain. He continued his contemplation on the cab driver's life, until a knock on his door brought him back to reality.

“Father Zapata?”

“Yes? What is it?”

“A phone call from a certain Humphrey Jones.”

Father Joan's stomach lurched. He had not heard that name in a long time. Images of his past flooded through his memory – his father's corpse, drenched in blood... his mother's face hen the body was brought to their doorstep... a man, showing up days after the funeral, claiming that he had found the murderer... Joan himself, hand drenched in blood and standing upon the body of a masked man...

“Father?”

“... Oh. Yes. I'll answer the call.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------

On his third straight day of driving, Rajiv Suresh slowed down. Four towns away from the capital, he would've reached his hometown tomorrow morning if he kept up the pace. However, that did not seem likely to happen, as some commotion on the road hampered his path. Car screeching to a halt, he stepped out of his car, and looked at the long queue ahead, which reached the checkpoint to the next town. He was not just the only one, all around him people were stepping out of their cars, setting on foot towards the checkpoint. As he reached the border, he realized that the people weren't talking, nor did they seem to notice the traffic they caused. The one thing they all had in common was an awestruck look, all toward the direction of the road and onto the next town. Wondering what might possibly cause the holdup, Rajiv looked over to the next town, and was just as awestruck as the others. He did not believe what he was seeing.

Fire rained down the next town.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

“... so, I'm not saying you should help me, but it certainly is in your profession to have knowledge about these kinds of things, and I thought it foolish not to ask the one person I knew who could help.”

Father Joan sighed. “So what you're saying is I should leave Spain, fly to America, and help this guy out on matters pertaining to magic?”

“Er, yes, that was the message Mr. Croft wanted me to deliver. So will you help us?”

“Sigh... I guess I could lend a hand.”

“Great. I'll call you back later and send you details on travel and stuff. We''ll pay for your travel costs, so no need to worry about money. Thanks for agreeing to help us. I'll see you, I guess.”

“No problem. Yes, I guess you'll see me again.”

“And, Joan?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you, really.”

“Sure.” With that final word, Father Joan hung up. He looked outside his window and realized that it was still raining. Immediately blaming the first thing he thought of, he faulted the rain for the phone call – had it not rained, he would've been in the church and not answered the phone call, at all!

Now he really hated the rain.
_________________