Ethan first noticed the umbrella repairman on a Tuesday when it was pouring rain.
That day, he had just botched the biggest proposal of the year and been thoroughly berated by his boss in the conference room. As he walked out of the office building, a gust of wind snapped the ribs of his cheap folding umbrella. Standing under the eaves, Ethan looked up at the gloomy sky and felt as though he were just like that broken umbrella—casually discarded by life.
It was then that he spotted the old man.
The old man was sitting outside a long-closed dry cleaner’s on the street corner, with a faded blue cloth spread out before him, on which several long-handled black umbrellas were neatly stacked. He had no sign; just a piece of cardboard propped up beside him, on which was written in marker: “Umbrella Repairs. Rainy Days Only.”
Ethan found himself walking over as if drawn by some unseen force.
“Can you fix this?” he asked, handing over the twisted umbrella.
The old man looked up, the brim of his hat pulled down low, revealing only a pair of cloudy yet calm eyes. He said nothing, but took the umbrella and ran his fingers gently over the broken ribs, as if taking a pulse.
“The ribs aren’t broken,” the old man’s voice sounded like sandpaper scraping across a tabletop. “The joints are rusted solid. You’ve stretched it too tight; it won’t give, so it’s actually more likely to snap.”
He pulled a tiny brass hammer from his toolbox and tapped the joints of the umbrella ribs three times: “thud, thud, thud.” The sound was muffled, yet it had a strange rhythm, like a heartbeat.
“All done.” The old man handed the umbrella back.
Ethan tried to open it, and the canopy snapped open with a “thud,” gliding open with unbelievable smoothness. He instinctively reached for his pocket, only to discover his phone was dead and he’d left his wallet at the office.
“I don’t have any money…” Ethan blushed with embarrassment.
“I don’t want any money.” The old man lowered his head again and began wiping down an old umbrella. “As long as it’s still raining, the umbrella is useful. Once the rain stops, there’s no need for an umbrella repairman.”
Ethan was taken aback. He stepped out into the rain, holding the repaired umbrella. Strangely, the raindrops that had stung his face before now felt gentle as they fell on the umbrella’s canopy. He suddenly realized it had been a long time since he’d truly listened to the sound of rain—his mind had been filled with KPIs, mortgage payments, and those never-ending emails.
After that day, Ethan began to look forward to the rain.
Whenever the sky grew overcast, he would deliberately take a detour to that street corner. But strangely, no matter how hard he looked, the umbrella repairman never appeared again. The entrance to the dry cleaner’s was deserted; even the piece of cardboard was gone.
It wasn’t until one evening three months later that a sudden sunshower broke out.
As Ethan passed that street corner, he saw the dry cleaner’s owner clearing away the clutter piled up at the entrance. The owner rolled up a faded blue cloth and casually tossed it into the trash can.
“Sir,” Ethan couldn’t help but ask, “what happened to the old man who used to sit here repairing umbrellas? Why hasn’t he been coming around lately?”
The owner paused for a moment, staring at him as if he were an alien: “ An umbrella repairman? That spot’s been empty for three years. Before that, there was a pancake vendor; before that, a homeless man—but there’s never been an umbrella repairman here.”
Ethan froze in his tracks.
He abruptly opened the old umbrella in his hand. The ribs were still intact; at the joints, he could even see faint brass-colored marks left by hammering.
The rain was still falling; fine threads of rain pierced the sunlight, weaving a web before his eyes.
Ethan stood there, suddenly feeling the umbrella in his hand incredibly light. He recalled the old man’s words—“If you hold it too tightly and refuse to loosen your grip, it’s more likely to break.”
He slowly raised his head and looked up at the gray, overcast sky. For the first time, it seemed to him that this rain would never stop—and yet, it also seemed as though it didn’t need to stop at all.
