Beauty in The Rain

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July 8th, 2019
Back Beauty in The Rain

The tropical rainstorms in the Caribbean were unforgettable!

I was driving down the main island road on the Dutch side of St. Maarten in a tropical downpour when I saw HER.

It was evening. She was walking barefoot along the road in shorts and a yellow blouse and she was soaking wet. I stopped and asked if she would like a ride.

She accepted the lift and said her name was Luana. As we drove beneath the pouring warm rain...

...she asked if I had any wine at my house. When I said I did, she said, "Let's go there."

The downpour was slowing down as we arrived at my place. Lightning flashed over the ocean and the evening was turning into a beautiful tropical night. Down the beach, I could hear the sound of steel drums.

I poured us two glasses of chardonnay wine and we saluted each other with a sip.

"I am a dancer," Luana said. "I need to go to the beach and dance for a reggae group. We are doing a show at Bamboo Bernie's."

"That's close to the Atlantis Casino where I play poker," I said. "Do they pay you?"

"Sometimes," she said.

We had another glass of wine and she said she had to go. She promised to return when the rehearsal was over and joked:

"But only if you have food. I will be hungry."

I assured her that my casa was her casa and that I would have food. She smiled and waved at me as she left the house.

Around midnight there was a soft knock at the door. It was Luana! The rain had stopped. I heated up some tomato soup and made us sandwiches. When she was finished eating, she asked if I had a girlfriend.

"Not yet," I told her. "I have only been on St. Maarten for a couple of weeks. I work as a reporter for Today newspapers."

"If you like, I will be your girlfriend," she said. I smiled and said, "I accept your offer."

For the next couple of months, Luana and I were a couple. I watched her performance at Bamboo Bernie's with the reggae group and even wrote a review about it.

She took an interest in my poker and accompanied me to the Atlantis and Hollywood Casinos when I played. I would give her money to play the slot machines.

Jack Parker, an Arizona transplant who owned a popular seafood restaurant on the island called Peg Leg Pub, told me:

"I don't know how you did it but you hit the jackpot with that girl. She's a beauty."

"I picked her up in the rain," I said, slipping an arm around her. "She was drowning."

One of the other players was Archie, a wealthy Englishman who lived aboard his yacht. Archie was a soft-spoken man who drank a lot. With his owlish spectacles, he reminded me of the movie character Austin Powers.

One night Archie invited Luana and me to board his yacht. He had a room where he showed movies and ht put on an African comedy that made all of us laugh while we smoked Archie's hand-rolled ganja cigarettes.

A couple of weeks passed. One day while Luana and I were having lunch at a restaurant she told me Archie wanted her to move in with him.

"He loves me and wants to marry me," she said. "He promised to help out my family with money. I told him I would talk to you first."

I asked if she loved him. She wasn't sure, she said, but he was very kind to her and her family.

"Then go to him," I said. "You and your family will benefit and it will make Archie happy. He seems to be a very lonely man."

As she and I left the restaurant, she leaned her head on my arm.

"I will miss you," she said.

"When it rains and the thunder rolls, think of me," I said.

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