Just like the movies

In the movies, it always seems to rain at the most inopportune moment. Before today, I always thought that was so cheesy and fake. “Yeah, right!” I’d say, “Like it just started raining out of nowhere. And they all got soaked just to top it all off. Yeah, right.” Well, after today’s moving experience, I will never again think movie rain scenes are fake and cheesy.

The truck was one hour late. Crisis number one happened upon their arrival. “You need to buy a lock.” They said. “She won’t be there with the key in the new city to open the lock.” said my friend acting as translator. “She has to buy a lock.” they said. We went ‘round and ‘round in this fashion until they smiled, nodded and moved on to the next task: moving the stuff.

As the elevator descended to the 20th floor, the doors opened to reveal boxes upon boxes to the person already inside. The passenger did not deter the movers. They just blocked the door and tossed as much stuff as possible onto the lift around him. Embarrassed, I tossed a look that said “I’m so sorry” to the guy who unfortunately got stuck in the middle of my move. We picked up one more person on the way down and were greeted by 10 onlookers waiting to get on the elevator at the first floor.

Parting the crowd, the movers dragged the first load to the empty truck waiting outside. My job was to hold the front door open and count the boxes as they entered the truck. 3…7….9….12...I counted as I nervously looked up at the looming clouds overhead.

“Thunder?! No! Not now! It cannot rain right now.”

Sprinkle, sprinkle, splat, splot….raining!!!!!! Yes. It really did begin to rain at the most inopportune moment. Even worse, the truck was parked in the wind tunnel between two tall apartment buildings with the huge back doors propped wide open. It was raining INTO the truck! “No! Stop!” I shouted as the movers tried hauling mattresses out the door to the truck through the rain. “My stuff will get wet and then I’ll have to buy new stuff and that is expensive!” I shouted (that part was in Chinese according to my translator/friend). Somehow, they got the point and left the mattresses right at the door. I ran to the truck and helplessly tugged at the doors that wouldn’t budge. Rain continued to spray right into the truck. A shallow puddle was forming at the front, but hadn’t reached the stuff at the back yet. “If they had been on time my stuff would not be getting wet!” I either shouted or thought to myself (not sure which one). A doorman ran out of the building and braved the downpour to help me close the doors of the truck. God bless that man! The driver was now on-board and turned the truck around.

We convinced the movers to work on getting everything down to the lobby and wait for the torrential downpour to halt before continuing to load the truck. After 20 minutes or so, the rain stopped. The driver pulled the truck as close to the curb as he could because there was now a fast-moving stream flowing down the street. He tried sweeping the water out of the truck and then laid down some blankets as he smiled at me, trying to reassure me it would be alright. The truck was loaded in no time and the back doors were closed. But it wasn’t over.