It was a hot summer afternoon.
Lilato fanned herself.
“If only it could rain,” her brother, Mayamiko, said.
It was too hot to let the children play outside.
Ndo-ndo!
Lilato heard it first.
It sounded like a stone bouncing on the roof of the house. Lilato looked at Mayamiko, but he didn’t look at her.
She tiptoed to the window and looked up at the sky.
The sky was grey, almost black in colour.
Lilato started to sing the song her best friend, Mwansa, had taught her.
Wemfula isa isa
O rain come
Twangale na mainsa
So we can play in the rain
Wemfula isa isa
O rain come
Twangale na mainsa
So we can play in the rain
Lilato sang, rubbing her fingers together.
Ndo-ndo-ndo-ndo-ndo-ndo!
More raindrops fell from the sky.
“Maya! It’s raining!” Lilato yelled. “It’s raining!” They ran outside the house.
Mama was already putting buckets around the house to collect rainwater.
They ran to the road in front of their house and joined other children.
A chorus of wemfula isa isa twangale na mainsa, was heard all over the neighbourhood.
The sky opened and poured more rain, joining into the music of the day.
Credits
Originally published by Book Dash under a Creative Commons Licensed BY 4.0. This book can be read for free on https://bookdash.org/books/o-rain-come and was created by: Fiske Serah Nyirongo (Writer), Eidin Griffin (Illustrator), Margot Bertelsmann (Editor), Jennifer Jacobs (Designer)
