No one goes to the park at 3:30 am when it’s raining, unless you’re someone as addled as me. That is why the man on the bench caught me off-guard. I could see the rain dance off of his hat, but I couldn’t quite make out more from how far away I was.
It’s not always a good idea to approach strangers, so I continued walking down the path. When I reached the bench, I found that the man was completely covered in rain. He was invisible, and I could only make out his figure through the rain under the park light.
“Oh, hello,” he said and turned towards me.
I was still frozen in my tracks.
“Don’t be afraid, pleasant day today,” he tipped his hat at me.
The clouds rumbled in the distance, and blue flashes lit up the sky. A denser sheet of rain came down, and the pattering on my umbrella grew louder. I took a few steps towards the man.
“You seem like an apprehensive sort,” the man remarked. “Won’t do to be like that. You need to be more assertive if you want to get ahead in life.”
I began to speak, but ended up croaking, so I cleared my throat first. “Are you for real?” was the best I could manage.
“No, are you?” the man replied without missing a beat.
I walked on, passing the man by. I looked behind my shoulder several times, but the man just sat there, under the yellow light, his silhouette only visible thanks to the rain.
On my second lap, I found the man was tapping his feet and nodding. I passed him by again.
On my third lap, I felt I couldn’t keep it in any longer. “Excuse me,” I said to him, “But do you realise that you’re invisible?”
“No, I don’t,” the man replied. “And what about you?”
“Do you realise that you’re invisible?”
“I’m not invisible,” I looked at my own body and my umbrella. Nothing invisible about me.
“Oh, good, then we’re kindred spirits,” the man said. “Aren’t you tired yet? Have a seat on the bench, rest your weary soles some.”
I approached the bench, but it was slick and wet. “I can’t sit here,” I said, “It’s wet. You do know it’s raining, right?”
“No, I don’t know that, actually,” the man said. “Do you?”
“Of course I know it’s raining,” I said. “I can feel it on my hand, here,” I held out my left hand out of the umbrella and watched it get drenched in drops of rainwater.
He held out his hand too, and the water bounced off of it. It was the only way I could tell that he had extended his hand at all.
“Are we still kindred spirits?” I asked. “We are, right? I don’t want to be alone.”
The man shook his head and laughed. “I told you, you’re too apprehensive for your own good! You need to be more assertive in life!”
