Chapter 15It rained the next morning.
It rained hard, too--a full-fledged storm with thunder and thick clouds. Across the city, people abandoned their short-sleeved shirts and spring clothes and struggled into jackets and raincoats. Umbrellas were suddenly everywhere, floating down the sidewalks, folding and unfolding at dripping doorways.
In the alley where Joe and Crank slept, much of the downpour was blocked by the buildings on either side, caught by wide rainspouts and overhangs to pour in the street and cascade into sewer grates. The two men were covered with cardboard boxes and newspapers, which kept off some of the rain that got through to them there in their crevice. For a while after the rain had started, they slept on, sunk in oblivious twin stupors and boxed away from the wors
