SCWC SD09 Topic Contest: Rain

Because of storm approaching {gasp!} San Diego, MSG quickly settled on "rain" as the topic of the 250-word Topic Contest. Any homonym of 'rain' qualified. I don't general spend (or waste) my effort, time or creative juice on these contests. But this one leaked into my bilge and wouldn't let itself go unwritten. Here it is:

SCWC SD09 Topic Contest Topic: Rain (or reign, rein, homonyms) "Over Me" by Christopher P. Simmons He should’ve been ready. He’d seen it coming. Over his left shoulder, a dry-land hurricane bore down on him. He twisted the throttle harder. While in a gas station, walking past repellant wipes, the vertical tsunami hit. Too late, he dove out. He donned his rubber duck gear, but the cold monsoon had already funneled down the drain of his turtleneck. The torrent drowned the sound of his iron steed, but not his will to get home, nor the memory that precipitated this power dive. Over the thunder of bikes on the dry and dusty road, he heard her voice on a telephone say "separation." A decade of drizzle, shower and storms had eroded her now-leaking dam. The Amazonian forest humidity fogged his visor. Riding blind, the sky wept with him. Highway became canal in the inundation. His wake at typhoon speed made him hydroplane. "All those moments, lost in time, like tears…" he quoted. Resigned, the leather knight let go, letting his steed run, unbridled. He dared the storm to kill him. Begged it. But it only let him wallow in sorrow; His queen had abdicated. He slogged on, layers of leather and cotton became sponge, boots squished when he shifted, handlebar grips became cannelloni. Defiant, he crashed through the leading crest of the front, and fled, daring not to stop. Cold and exhausted, a toll booth forced his brake lights. The attendant sweltered in the Ante-Diluvian humidity. "What’s the temperature out there?" "74." He stripped to the waist. As if born into a new skin, he swaddled himself in one last dry t-shirt. Thirsting for anything but water, he drank in the dry air as he rode off.

Pop Quiz:

• How many times did I NOT say 'rain'?
• What song do you have stuck in your head now?
• Why did I almost allude to the band "Our Lady, Peace"?
• Do you want to read The Winner?