In the Rainbow

The room was dark.

I sat there with legos with my sister and was
Unhappy.

At any given moment my heart would pulse, and my head would pulse
I'd suck in my breath and tell myself to keep laughing.
If you keep laughing, everything will be okay.

During the summer, it's just my mom my sister my dog and me. 
Infinite possibilites
You might be thinking.
Maybe not.
We've had some fun times, of course. 
But we've also found ourselves stuck with nothing to do.

The rain was pounding outside.
My head was pounding.

I rolled over on the floor and heard
First the rain, then the rain pouring through the gutters.
And somehow that triggered my body to look outside the window.

And it was sunny.

A rainbow! said my mom. Let's go look for a rainbow!

My sister and I just sat there, doing nothing. We were too lazy just then to get up.
Apparently, there was no rainbow in sight. But that's when I had my idea.
Hey I said to my sister, let's go dance in the rain. 

Of course her immediate answer was, no no way why would we do something like that-
But I jumped up and grabbed my mom's phone for some music.
C'mon I begged, it'll be fun. 

My mom and I somehow convinced her to get up and go out with us. 
When I stepped outside, everything changed.

I saw the bright sky and felt the sun warm my shoulders.
The rain mixed with the sun, creating falling lines and droplets of river water.
Steam rose from the streets, making misty foams of walls...
And I looked over to the East and saw the mountains towering over our little valley, making a shelter for all the people who live here.

I pressed play on the music and a Stevie Wonder song came on. 
This time I really smiled, and I ran out onto the street barefoot, the newly cut wet grass sticking to my feet until I got to the pavement,
Where it was rough and black, but also somehow smooth in the places where tires ran over it day after day. 

I laughed a really happy laugh, and twirled around in the shorts and tshirt I was wearing. 
Then my sister started dancing too, reluctantly at first, but eventually we were twirling around in the street,
And my mom was dragging around our little dog,
And even though there was no rainbow,
I felt like I was living in one myself.