Unexpected Clouds

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Tina looked out the window and sighed. Heavy clouds hung over the sky like a cold, wet blanket. She checked the weather on her phone and confirmed her suspicions, the entire day would be mostly cloudy.

Just when she was about to put her phone away, it rang.

“Tina, hey, happy birthday,” Angela said in her hoarse morning voice.

“What’s going on?” Tina ask, already knowing the answer.

“We’re so sorry,” Angela said. “I think we have to cancel sunbathing today, as it’s very cloudy. I’m not feeling so well, and Iva just had something come up. Natalie says it’s too cold, and you know she catches every cold and flu that comes around.”

“Of course,” Tina said without much emotion. “I should have guessed.”

“We’re so sorry,” Angela said again. “Let us know if you do decide to do something in the evening, we may be able to make it.”

“Yeah, sure,” Tina said. “I probably won’t be going anywhere in this weather. Hope you feel better soon, Angela.”

“Thanks!” Angela said brightly and hung up.

Tina hated how much the seasons affect her moods. When the sun was shining, she was bright and cheerful like Angela. But on a dreary, cloudy day like today, she found herself moping around her apartment, not getting much done at all besides holding a silly grudge against her friends for making her spend this birthday alone. For the next hour, Tina found herself scrolling on her phone, looking at friends’ parenting pictures and feeling behind in life. She then put on a playlist of mellow, moody music. As the melody alternated between high and low notes, Tina allowed her mind to ruminate over all the activities she could not do when the sun was behind clouds. She gradually drifted off to sleep.

Tina started awake when she heard her dog Eager barking for his breakfast. Her mom was also calling, for her phone was ringing with her mom’s infamous ringtone—a recording of her mom singing “Mom is calling you”. Tina determined that one of her to-do list items today would be to change her mom’s ringtone, which has turned heads at the office for more times than she could count.

“Hi sweetheart,” her mom said in her most cheery, singsong voice. “Happy Birthday! How is sunbathing?”

“You know there’s no sun, mom,” Tina said, a little frustrated. “It was canceled, nobody except I could make it. Not even the sun made it.”

Tina’s mom laughed. “Well, your dad and I are thinking of taking you to lunch. Can you make it?”

Tina hesitated. Lunch with her parents was not on her schedule today, and going out in such weather felt to her like pulling teeth. She also knew that her mom had more in mind than just taking her out to lunch. Yet, she really had nothing planned, and doing something with her parents was better than doing nothing at all.

“Well, honey, I thought it would be good for you and Eager to visit the homeless shelter with me afterward,”