The foreign man nearly tripped on the slippery rubber. Losing his balance, he leaned against the stone wall and scraped his elbow. He winced. Only the woman who had lived there for a long time was sitting in front of the padel court, smoking a cigarette. The foreign man put his backpack on the bench and began to warm up, thoroughly stretching his limbs. The woman watched indifferently. She never warmed up. She believed that the walk from her house to the court was enough exercise.
The coach arrived a minute before the session was set to begin. He shook his head as he ran his hand over the court surface.
“There was a big rain here yesterday.”
The longtime resident woman raised her head.
“It didn’t rain!”
“Oh, come on! Don’t tell me! Everything is soaked.”
“Of course, it’s humid.”
The coach rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, so much humidity that everything is drenched by morning.”
“I’m telling you, it didn’t rain. I live here.”
“I’ve been coming here for ten years. I’ve held morning sessions countless times, and I’m telling you, mist has never caused this before.”
“I believe you, but there was no rain here. My car window was left open all night, and the inside stayed dry. Besides, when it rains, water pours from the gutter into our garden.”
The coach handed the padel ball to the foreign man after bouncing it a few times on the court.
“Feel that? It’s wet!”
The foreign man nodded. The ball was indeed soaked through.
“So, we agree it rained, right?” the coach looked deeply into the man’s eyes.
“We live a few villages away, and the weather is completely different there,” the foreign man dodged the question.
The local resident arrived. The longtime resident didn’t even wait for greetings.
“Did it rain here yesterday?”
“No, why?”
The coach snorted, annoyed.
“Don’t start with this, you too!”
“It’s just the mist.”
“This?”
The coach jumped up angrily and ran his hand across the glass wall, which was so misted over that you couldn’t see through it.
“And you think this is just morning mist?”
The local resident slowly shrugged.
“I left everything open last night, and nothing got wet.”
“I’ve been coming here to hold morning sessions for ten years,” the coach started again.
“Today, everything is particularly misty. I walked here, and one part of the sidewalk was wet, while the other was completely dry. If it had rained, everything would be wet,” explained the local resident.
“Is there going to be a session?” the foreign man quietly asked the longtime resident.
“I don’t think so.”
“I saw a puddle in the neighboring town,” the coach suddenly exclaimed, pleased to have remembered another important piece of evidence.
The three waiting players smiled at each other.
“The balls will get ruined if they soak up the water,” the coach grumbled.
“I don’t care,” the longtime resident said firmly. “Let’s go get a coffee and have a warm croissant.”
“Could it be that it only rained over the court?” the foreign man asked with a wide grin, finally managing to piece together the joke with the help of a translator app, ensuring it was grammatically correct. The coach gave him a fleeting, disdainful glance. The two women didn’t understand what the foreigner was trying to say or why he was talking nonsense. At that moment, the perpetually late foreign woman arrived, surprised that she was on time.
“When are we starting?”
“We’re not,” the local resident replied quietly. “The coach says it’s dangerous.”
“I don’t care; we can start, but we’ll just have to be careful. If you fall, it’s not my responsibility. And anyway, the balls are going to get ruined…”
“Okay, let’s go home,” the longtime resident gave in.
“Excuse me, just a moment. The sports center manager is calling me back. I tried reaching him earlier to ask what we should do, but he didn’t answer.”
The coach quickly walked to his car so the others wouldn’t overhear the conversation. The four players chuckled.
“He was hoping he wouldn’t have to hold the session.”
“It’s fine; I have things to do at home. Though it would’ve been better to have a good game.”
The coach returned from the car with the rackets and balls.
“The boss said it didn’t rain. Does everyone have a racket? If anyone needs one, grab one from the bag. We’ll be playing on Court A.”