It was the morning rush hour. I was hurrying down to the gate where we wait for the school bus. I was trying to hang on to the mobile phone, the house keys, two bags (which the kids begged me to carry since they wanted to race to the gate) and two sweaters (which they refused to wear). All the while I have to have one eye out for incoming vehicles, another one at the gate looking out for the bus and at least two more to keep track of the kids as they race through their preferred short cuts … no wonder I was feeling light headed. It’s at times like this that I envy the Gods with their multiple arms and Mad Eye Moody for his eye. Anyway .. I digress.In the middle of all this chaos “BHAI! RAINBOW” yelled N. I got just as excited as the kids (rainbows do that to me) and looked up at the dull grey sky but all I saw was a thick mass of black clouds. I looked back at N. She was jumping excitedly and counting.. “…. four, five, six rainbows. Mama look so many rainbows”.
“But how come they’re on the ground?” wondered the son.. “Maybe it’s a shadow of a real rainbow,” he reasoned squinting up only to find nothing. He then looked around wondering aloud, “Where did they come from?”
“I think it’s just magic,” said the daughter, eyes shining.
Feeling like a bit of a spoilsport I told them about oil spilling on wet ground and breaking up into colours.
I’m still wondering if I did right in taking away the magic from those rainbows.
