It was eight o'clock in the morning and time for me to go to work. I looked out of the window. It was raining hard. "You will get wet through if you go out now," said my mother. "No, I won't," I answered, "I shall take an umbrella." We have five umbrellas in the house, but when I wanted to take one, I found that there was not one that I could use: they all were torn or broken. So I took them all and carried them to the umbrella maker, saying that I would call for the umbrellas on my way home in the evening. When I went to have lunch in the afternoon, it was still raining very hard. I went to the nearest cafe, and sat down at a table. A few minutes later a young woman came in...