In a navy blue minivan with no seats in the back, two girls heard Sophia's story for the first time. They thought of it often - even after they grew apart as friends, even after they both moved away - they remembered it. They looked for Sophia every year after they heard the story and every year they found nothing but the memory of this night:

Mr. Black, a big man with a soothing voice and a reckless manner, drove the minivan down the dark streets. His daughter, Lauren, and her friend, Ashley, rode in the back. The three had been to a movie and were heading home. The girls liked riding without the seats and spent every trip giggling and falling down on purpose. Tonight though, they grew tired of this pastime and began to bother their driver.

"Dad, we're bored."

"Yeah, Mr. Black, can we do a Chinese fire drill?"

Mr. Black looked around. It was still before ten and too many cars were on the road for him to let the girls out, even at a red light. "How about if I tell you a story?" he offered. He heard the two girls whisper. Ashley would be apprehensive about this idea. She had been on enough family vacations to develop a mistrust of his stories. However, he knew Lauren would convince her in the end. Lauren always did.

"Okay," Lauren piped up, after their quick discussion. "We're ready."

So, driving through the narrow streets, Mr. Black began to tell the story.

"You know the high school?" he asked, waiting to see their heads nod in the rearview mirror. "That school is over 100 years old and this story takes place about fifty years ago, when a freshman girl named Sophia fell in love.

Sophia was quiet and introverted. Her baggy clothes made her look like she had no body, only a dress full of air. She walked the halls of school with her head down and her long black hair hiding her crystal green eyes. But one fated Friday she looked up and saw the senior boy, Richard, for the first time. Sophia fell in love, even though she knew she would never win his heart. In one glance, she had blown him up in her mind to be a blonde haired, blue-eyed god and she wondered how she could she ever be equal to him. But Sophia had a wild, wild imagination."

Mr. Black stopped at a stop sign and turned in his seat to check on the girls who had grown quiet during his tale. Ashley was shivering in the corner, legs drawn to her chest, chin on her knees, but Lauren, with her blue eyes wide, was waiting for more. She had her legs sprawled in front of her. She leaned back on one hand while the other yanked at her short, dark ponytail. He continued in a lower, drawling voice.

"Sophia started to have dreams about talking to Richard, about strolling down the halls, with her head up and him carrying her books. Soon, she began to dream about Richard when she awake too. She would see them walking hand in hand in front of her very eyes. She smiled absently during her classes and practically floated past the lockers.

But it got out of hand very soon. Sophia couldn't separate what was real from what wasn't anymore. She imagined Richard asking her to the senior dance. In her mind, he brought her bright yellow roses. She curtseyed in thanks. After it was all over, people from her class remembered her curtseying in the hall to no one at all.

At home, she started to sew a beautiful dress out of the curtains in her bedroom. When her mother asked what she was doing, Sophia told her about Richard and the senior dance. How could her mother know Sophia was going crazy?"

Instead of turning down the street that would take them home, Mr. Black had a new destination in mind. He looked back again at the next red light to see how the girls were doing. Only the top of Ashley's blonde head and her brown eyes could be seen over her knees anymore. Ashley knew something awful was coming; Ashley always expected something awful to be coming. Lauren, Mr. Black was sure, was imagining herself as Sophia. She would be putting on that dress and marching up to Richard, who would, of course, fall in love with her. Lauren never considered the worst possibility. Mr. Black went on with his story when the light turned green.

"So, with her mother's help, Sophia continued to sew her green dress and when it was almost done, she put it on and twirled around. Her measurements had been perfect and the dress looked wonderful. She finished hemming on the morning of the dance and, after her mother ironed her hair straight, she walked the few blocks to the school.

Sophia entered the gymnasium with her head held high. She was sure Richard would be waiting for her beside the punch bowl. The gym had candles on every table making it more romantic. The jazz music played and Sophia strolled to it. Seniors in her path stared and parted to let her by. 'They must think I'm beautiful,' Sophia thought.

By coincidence, Richard was by the punch bowl. He was ladling punch into his own cup when Sophia approached. 'Hello, Richard,' she said. Richard looked at her.

'I'm sorry. Do I know you?' he asked.

Sophia's brow wrinkled. 'Yes, we were supposed to meet here,' she said. 'For the dance.'

'I'm sorry. I'm sure you're mistaken,' Richard said.

'But,' Sophia started. She was confused. What had happened to her plan?

A girl walked around the table and stood beside Richard. He put a hand on her back. Sophia's chest began to hurt and she left the gym, ignoring Richard's cry to wait.

Outside it had started raining. 'He two-timed me,' Sophia thought. She saw a ladder connected to the wall on her left and started to climb it, the rain pouring down her back and soaking her dress. The curtain material grew heavier but she managed to pull herself up each wrung. Her black hair went wild in the humidity and strands of it went in every direction, like snakes stretching for their prey. Her eyes flickered. She heard people below her. She looked down to see Richard taking off his jacket to follow her up."

Mr. Black paused to check on the girls again. All but the top of Ashley's head had disappeared. Even Lauren had curled into a ball and backed into a corner. Mr. Black knew he would catch hell from his wife when the girls wouldn't sleep but he continued.
"Sophia got to the top with Richard close behind. They stood on the roof staring at each other. 'You cheated on me,' Sophia said.
'Just come on down,' Richard said. 'We can talk about it, can't we?' Richard didn't know what to make of this girl. He thought he had never seen her in his life. 'What's your name?'

'My name?' Sophia cried. 'My name?' She grew hysteric. Everything was crashing down around her - the rain, her dreams. 'How can you not know my name? You invited me here tonight. I made this dress to impress you.'

'It's a nice dress,' Richard said, feebly. Sophia was backing farther and farther away, closer and closer to the edge.

'Tell me,' she said. 'Prove you know me at all. What color were the roses?'

Richard swallowed. 'Red?' And there, in the rain, with her jaw set, her eyes watery with tears, and her face streaked with rain,

Sophia jumped off the three-story building, her body hitting ground below."

Ashley gasped. "But," Lauren said, protesting an ending she didn't like.
"Look," Mr. Black said, pointing up out of the car. He had taken them to the high school, to the back of the gymnasium where his father had taken him when he was ten years old. "There's the yellow rose bush where Sophia landed, no gardener has ever been able to kill it. And if you look, you can still see her on the roof, watering the bush with her tears."

Ashley screamed when she realized where they were. She buried her head in her hands. Even Lauren couldn't handle it. She covered her eyes, too. "Leave, Daddy," she said. "Take us home."

So Mr. Black drove them home in silence. It was different for him, now that he had passed on the story. It was different because this time he swore he saw her, standing on top of the school in her long green dress, the shadows of snakes in the backdrop and the flicker of her green eyes - tears like rain, tears like rain.

comments?