Saving Rain

by Kelsey Kingsley

Once the list of things to do in the trailer started getting shorter and more expensive, I was flying through books closer to my prison rate. Two or three books a week was my average, depending on the length of the story, and thankfully, the library was just a short walk from work. And thankfully, I had an in with the prettiest librarian. One day a week, my work schedule coincided with Ray’s, and on that day, we would go home together. Sometimes, if the weather was nice enough, we walked. On other days, we took her car and shoved my bike into the backseat. I always preferred the days we walked. The air in River Canyon was different from anywhere else I’d been. It was sweeter, lighter, like cotton candy without the stomachache. I couldn’t understand how, when it wasn’t far from larger cities or highways and the traffic wasn’t much unlike other towns. But maybe all I was smelling was hope. Or maybe it was just the pretty lady at my side.