(Sep. 20, 2024) 

(Four days after Typhoon Bebinca made landfall in Shanghai, China, becoming the strongest  typhoon to hit the city since 1949. One night after Tropical Storm Pulasan made landfall in  Shanghai.) 

~ 

The girl jumped out of the car, the sound of the car door slamming shut echoing in the garage.  Under the few dim lights that hung from the low ceiling and illuminated the space, the garage air  enveloped everything in a heavy, humid and hot smell of gas. She wiped her hands quickly on her t shirt (they were wet from the rain-washed car door), “Mom! I’m going to take some photos! I’ll meet  you guys at the elevator!” Her mom answered, and she ran towards the exit for bicycles and  motorcycles. 

~~ 

The cat was a cat. A few months ago, he was a kitten, just born into this world, mewling and  pawing for milk, but on this day, he was a cat. His mother no longer took care of him, and he was  trying to find a place to keep out of the rain. It was not cold yet, but he disliked being wet (which is  very unfortunate, given that it seems to rain almost year-round). Thinking of his mother made the cat  rather uncomfortable. A few days ago, the winds had picked up at great speed, roaring and attacking  everything with great force – greater than anything he had ever seen in his life. His mother, no, their  mother – the cat had siblings too – had taken the cat and his siblings and led them to this underground  hole made by humans. The ground was hard and wet, but their mother insisted that they stay there.  She regularly made trips to get them food from the food-spots that the old female human placed under  some bushes. Then, one day, when the winds raged and even the underground hole of the humans with  its hard walls and floor seemed to tremble and shake, their mother went out to get food again. She had  not returned yet. 

~~~ 

The guard was grumbling as he trudged through the complex in his stuffy raincoat and long  rainboots, umbrella in hand. Five days after the biggest winds and rain, this day was yet another day  of pouring rain. It was not as bad as the previous one four days ago – something as big as that was  unlikely to occur again until many years later – or maybe just next year. However, the lasting effects  of the storm had not been weak, and the workers had been working day and night to clear the road of  the huge branches and trunks that were mercilessly torn off from the trees. It is said that a new storm  had made landfall today, and it sure looked like it. Presently, he came across another jagged branch and stepped over it, speaking into his walkie-talkie and telling his colleagues to “get another blasted branch cleaned from that blasted road”. He cursed under his breath as a strong wind tried to wrestle  his umbrella from his hand. 

~ 

The girl was in a good mood. Even though there was constant rain, she still liked it. The wet,  humid winds provided some relief from the remains of summer heat. Besides, typhoon days like this  day meant a rare day of school off – on a Friday! She was quite pleased when she woke up in the  morning and saw the Teams message. The girl had heard about snow days in colder regions, but an  actual typhoon day was unexpected – but very much welcome. It’s true that they just came back from  Mid-Autumn Festival break... but the typhoon made the break a lot more uneventful, and she had lots  of homework to do anyways. Her school was quite rigorous, so she wasn’t going to complain about a  long weekend. The exit of the garage slants upwards. It should provide a nice frame for a photo of the  rain outside, she thought as she hurried to the exit, her footsteps echoing in the grey, cavernous,  concrete structure. 

~~ 

The cat and his siblings waited for a day. They mewled and yowled when their mewling wasn’t  answered by the responding call of their mother, trying to convey the distress they were in, the hunger,  the discomfort, the cold and the wet in their fur. Eventually, they stopped as they never heard the  familiar response. His siblings debated whether they should go out for food, and decided that the three of them would go, leaving him to stay in the hideout. The cat was the weakest kitten among his litter,  and “probably wouldn’t last in the rain”, as his siblings noted. The cat wanted to go out too; their  hideout smelled like a mix of mildew, dust and the cars that humans go into and move around. His  pink nose was sensitive, and the smell was irritating. However, he knew that they were right. From the  moment he was born, he was weaker than the others – smaller by a circle, competing for milk but  never quite succeeding in growing big enough, shorter by an ear when they stand side by side. He  twitched his nose and ears, then lay back down on his (not very) dry spot on the cold concrete floor. 

~~~ 

The guard had felt the shaking of the old apartment building he lived in four days ago. He had  seen the thick curtains of rain that fell, battering his dirty windowpanes, and the winds too. Yes, it was  actually possible to see the ferocious winds that ripped through the skies, taking shape as they literally  moved the rain. The guard shuddered at the memory. He wasn’t scared, no, but the winds were  extremely powerful on that day, and his windows were leaking. That was the worst part, he thought  bitterly and shuddered again as he recalled how he had rushed from window to window, from the  cramped, musty kitchen to the small, dark bedroom to the small, dimly lit space that was a combined  living room and dining room. It was all a frantic mess – water leaked in from every corner of the  apartment, every thin crack and miniature hole that he had no idea existed before this, before they started to leak. Water oozed onto the cold windowsills, gathered into small, muddy pools, then  overflowed down the barely-white, peeling walls covered with splotches of mildew and mold (he  wasn’t sure which one) onto the cheap, creaky wooden floorboards that were glossy from paint but  gradually peeling as well. He mopped the floors again and again and used all the dishcloths and rags  he had to soak up the water from the leaking windows. It was a horrible morning four days ago. He  hoped today would be better. 

~ 

The girl stood at the lower end of the sloped exit; a chilly gust blew in from the opening end of  the slope. She looked up and out at the grey, the green and the rain, framed by the dark grey concrete  ceiling and walls of the exit, which extended into a sloped floor with thin stairs on the two sides and a  ledged slope in the center. Conveniently, there was a bicycle parked at the top of the slope, which  added to the feeling of the photo. She studied the photo on her phone and was satisfied with the way it  captured the rain outside; the leafy green trees complemented the grey sky, and a slight adjustment in  the contrast emphasized the reflection on the slope, implying the rainwater on it. The girl was about to  head to the elevator when her eyes captured movement, and she turned to see a flash of dirty white  and orange and a flick of a matted, muddy tail. 

~~ 

The moment the cat stepped into the open and the wind, he rethought his decision. There was a  reason why he was left behind. Yet somewhere in him, a twinge of rebellion and unwillingness rose  up. Why should I be left behind? Why is it always me? I deserve the right to escape this musty  concrete structure too! With that in mind, he mustered up the will to walk into the pouring rain – and  regretted it instantly. It was a downpour outside and quite literally so, as if water from a pond spilled  over the clouds and just splashed down the sky. He could feel the rain sinking into the depth of his fur,  reaching into the furry bits and chilling his skin. He shivered and tried to shake himself dry, but to no  effect. The rain was too thick, and soon he was soaked to the core. The cat gave a short, quiet yowl of  protest, which was muffled by the swishing and thudding of rain. He jerked his tail from a muddy  puddle, now feeling the weight of the water on his tail too. He hastily decided to head back into the  hideout, hoping he would be dry by the time his siblings came back. Turning, he froze for a second as  he glimpsed a young female human at the lower end of the long passage that led back to his safe spot.  Then, he sprinted into the nearest bush, his mother’s voice sounding in his head: don’t get close to  humans easily and never trust them completely. He stayed crouched and shivering in the bush until he  heard the footsteps of the human fading into the distance, each step echoing in the tall structure. 

~~~ 

The guard was still grumbling as his colleague arrived. “Only you?” he grunted, “This branch  will take more than two of us to move.” His colleague had not caught up with his bad mood yet, and laughed, “Oh don’t worry about that, other people will be coming soon, and besides your shift if over.  Anyways, horrible weather today again. What did they call that one? The one four days ago –”  “Bebinca,” the guard answered dryly as he fumbled with the large chain of keys in his raincoat  pocket. “– yes, right, Bebinca! A monster, that one was,” he shook his head and tried to light a  cigarette. When he failed to do so, he looked at the guard hopefully, “Any chance of a light?”  Keychain in hand, the guard then proceeded to procure a lighter with some difficulty, “You do done  speaking?” “Ah, don’t be so impatient, old buddy! Anyways, did I tell you about the dead cat I saw?”  Seeing that the guard was going to cut him off, he decided to cut him off first, and proceeded into  almost a rap, “well you know how we were clearing them trees off the road and there were a bunch of  branches and trunks and leaves and poles and uh lights all just in a tangled mess – here you go thanks  for the light” The guard puts his lighter back in his pocket and gives his colleague a look, telling him  to hurry up. “Okay okay I’ll be quick alright so there were all this mess and junk on the roads and  stuff and then when we were clearing them like we had been for the past few days we lifted one of the  larger trunks and guess what we found?” He looked in anticipation at the guard, who replied shortly,  “A dead cat.” “Right! The poor thing was probably out and about on the day of that nasty uh what was  it called yes right Bebinca and got hit by one of the falling branches even though I don’t see why it  would go out on such a horrible day I mean even we got a day off ha-ha! Anyways I see you’re getting  impatient so hand me those keys and be on your happy way back home. Man, these shifts sure are  boring, except when you see a dead cat or something but yes yes I’ll take your keys and happy end-of shift! Bye-bye!” The guard hands over the keychains without a second thought and hurries home,  throwing all that “stupid conversation” to the back of his mind, hoping for a hot mug of tea and a nice  relaxing nap on his rickety armchair. 

~ 

The grey elevator doors opened with a bit of a jerky movement. The girl shook her umbrella dry  before opening the front door. “Mom, I’m back.” “Done taking photos?” “Yeah, I only took one  though... But it’s good. Well, at least I’m quite satisfied with it.” “Well, that’s good.” “Yeah, and I saw  one of the cats that lives beneath our apartment building. I think it’s the smallest one, you know which  one I’m talking about?” “Uh-huh.” “It looked kind of sad, poor thing is probably soaked in the rain. I  wonder if they took shelter in the garage. Do you think we could feed them? I don’t think they can  find food easily in this weather...” “Hmm... I’ll check the fridge later. Meanwhile, I think you have  homework to do, don’t you.” The girl pouts at the reminder. “Yes...” she sighs and takes one last look  at the photo she just took, then drags her unwilling body to her desk. She takes out her homework, but  instead of writing the reading report, she stared at the window and the sky outside. It was still raining,  but the sky was getting lighter, and what was a curtain just now had thinned into a shower. I wonder  where the cat’s siblings were? With their mother, perhaps? Ah, I must focus on my homework now.  Focus. Focus. Focus...

~~ 

The cat was close to dozing off when his siblings came back. They all smell like the rain and the  fresh air, he thought enviously, his nose twitching again. There wasn’t much to bring back – some  soggy kibbles, wet and slightly muddy on the outside but still hard at the core. However, the cat could  just barely detect the scent of fish – tuna? Or was it some sort of white fish? He didn’t remember. He  was too absorbed in the taste of actual food in his mouth to care. His siblings seemed to have eaten  before they came back and now watched in amusement as their smallest sibling ate, ravenously devouring the small kibbles in seconds. The cat licked his nose and managed to squeeze out a small  purr. His siblings tell him that they still haven’t seen their mother. His ears drooped visibly, and he  gave a low flick of his tail. They came up to him and surrounded him, all four of them cuddling  together, and the cat’s ears relaxed somewhat. The warmth of their bodies made him drowsy again,  and his eyelids fluttered. I will go outside and play on the green grass behind those Azalea bushes  when it stops raining outside... and maybe chase some sparrows or a magpie... 

~~~ 

The guard gave a sigh of relief as he shut the grey metal door of his old apartment behind him,  blocking out most of the howling wind (he could still feel a few gusts sneaking into the room from the  sides of the old door though). He hangs his heavy raincoat on a plastic peg on the door, then slides his  feet out of the stuffy rainboots and into his plastic slippers. The kettle was full but cold, so he flipped  on the switch and turned to get some tea leaves from a tin can which used to hold chocolates.  Someone the guard doesn’t remember gave the chocolates to him, but he threw them away after trying  one because they were too sweet. He kept the can though, thinking it would be useful. He silently  praised himself for his foresight – it was a great can to put tea leaves in. With a few leaves of green  tea in his mug, he goes back to the kitchen to the kettle which now contains hot water. Now with a  mug of hot tea in hand, the guard was satisfied and about to slouch into his armchair when he recalled  the events of the previous days. I need to check for leaks. If those windows leak again, my floorboards  are going to be ruined too! Setting the mug back down on the table reluctantly, he hurried to the  nearest window and checked the edges for leaks. It was leaking. A string of curses sprang from his  mouth as he reached for a dishcloth and blocked the leak. He ran to the next room, almost knocking  over his mug, and checked the bedroom window. Leaking. Another string of curses proceeded to  come from him. Many dishcloths and a mop were grabbed as the guard made a desperate attempt for  the hundredth time this week to save his soggy floorboards. Curse this blasted weather and all this  stupid rain! “Happy end-of-shift” indeed. Ha. One can’t even get some rest in one’s own home  without having to deal with the rain. The cursed rain! I hate this rainy season. 

~~~~