Rain in the City

 dVerse Prosery: Oh, Umbrellas 

For your prompt today, I’d like you to use the following lines in your Prosery:
“What will I do there
without my hands upon
your summer face?”

lines from the poem, Oh, Umbrellas, by Jeffrey Hermann
Write a piece of prosery of up to or exactly 144 words, including the given line in the order in which it has been given. You may add or change punctuation, but you may not add or delete words.

144 words

rainy city scene on newsprint, by Mary Pedri, in author's collection 

     Summer was ending. I was told I was going to go to school in the city. I didn’t want to go. For all the glitz and glamor my mother insisted I’d enjoy, I knew I wouldn’t. I hate the city. It was noisy in the city. I preferred the country. The country… melodies of meadowlarks… chirping of crickets at dusk… frogs in the pond (my brother called it The Lake) croaking to one another. In the city you couldn’t hear a bird to save your life. Traffic, horns, shouting, sirens… buses spewing black clouds of stinking exhaust at every stop.

     I ask my mother,
“What will I do there?
Without my hands upon
your summer face
I’ll perish. Freeze in the inhospitable city.”
     Her response?
     “Don’t be dramatic. It’s not forever, you’ll be back for winter break. Go pack. And don’t forget your umbrella.”

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