The Man in the Rain

The weather forecast did not get it wrong this time. It was in blissful ignorance and unfounded hope that I had made my way there for a jog. As I stood in the shelter, I could see the dark clouds hovering above the skyscrapers of Johor across the Johor Straits, clouds that produced the intermittent lightning to warn the human inhabitants of the impending torrent. The winds swayed the tress in front of me. Then I noticed that for the Malaysians, threat had turned to attack. It was no longer a question of if, but a question of when.

It started suddenly, as if the clouds on a whim had decided to let go of their contents. Malaysia disappeared from view as the rain hid it away like a curtain.I was stuck in the concrete shelter with a bunch of teenagers, one who had a loudspeaker which blared Malay rock to my annoyance. They were lost in their phones, some smoking away right in front of the 'No Smoking' signs. I waited for my friends to arrive and rescue me, diving my attention between my phone and the downpour in front of me.

Then I saw him in the distance. He was bald, tall and build heavily like a frequent gym goer, in black t-shirt and track pants. He was too far for me to make out his facial features, but I saw him walking steadily, like a WWE wrestler, towards the jetty that jutted out into the straits. He did not have an umbrella and his actions smacked of borderline insanity. But his steadiness symbolised a man who knew what he was doing. I watched him as a walked to the middle of the jetty, undeterred by the rain and unafraid of the flashes of lighting. It was as if nothing mattered to him, as if what was rain and lightning to a man who was going to end it all.

To my disappointment, he did not end it all. Instead he just stood in the middle of the jetty while the rain pelted him ceaselessly. I watched him out of sheer curiosity, wondering what were the sequence of events that would make a man of his stature choose the get wet here in the narrow strip between Singapore and Malaysia, instead of the shower in his gym. Did his girlfriend breakup with him because he had a dry sense of humor? Was he protesting the government's 30% water price hike? Or was he Aquaman?

I would not stay there long enough to find out. My friends would come and rescue me before the rain subsided. I took one last glance at the jetty before he left. He was still there. standing, staring at God knows what.

Yea, he had to be Aquaman.