I Feel Cold

Yemenat

*Hasan Barın

I feel a little cold outside, but inside, I feel a strange joy at having made it safely through another year.

Sunlight shyly comes through the dark clouds, as if to say, “I’m here,” while the breeze gently touches my skin, announcing the rain, which says, “I’ll be there shortly.”

And the moment the first raindrop lands on the tip of my nose, I feel a pleasant little tickle!

In the blink of an eye, a tiny pool forms on the little bump on the left side of my nose, no bigger than a raindrop. Then another tiny pool forms beside it, making me even happier.

I’m glad I’ve found two companions to end my brief loneliness.

Overcome with excitement, I say aloud, loud enough for the person standing next to me to hear, “Bullseye! Two out of two!”

As for the raindrops that miss my nose, I first see them at eye level, then watch them fall to the ground.

I notice that the puddles on the ground are bigger than those on my nose.

I remember the children who, when I was a teacher, used to hold hands in the schoolyard and jump from one puddle to another in front of me, shouting, “Wheee!” I remember how I used to warn them not to do it.

I say to myself, “Why shouldn’t I do it too, even if I don’t have a friend to hold hands with?”

“Besides, there’s no teacher around to tell me not to do it or try to stop me.”

I look around and choose the biggest puddle.

After one last check to make sure there’s no one around who might say, “He was crazy already, but now he’s even crazier!”, I stretch my arms out to either side, as though