The Rescuer

Out the window a light flickered in the distance. He stopped and watched. Someone was in the barn.
Stephan hunched his shoulders, his jacket lifted high to protect his head from the pounding hail and rain. Mud clung to his boots. A small river now ran across the yard, covering the walkway... The light, if that was what he had seen, was gone...
He reached the barn as the first lightning flashed and thunder rolled instantaneously overhead. He pulled the door open. A man slammed into him. They tumbled back, hitting the ground with a splash. Stephan grabbed at coarse fabric of the coat smashed into his face and tried to shove the intruder off him. The smell of sweat and desperation clung to the man, and a weight pressed against Stephan's chest trying to keep him down on the ground...
The man was gone...
Stephan wearily pushed himself to his feet. What a way to end a miserable day... (This passage was from Dee Henderson's book, "The Rescuer".)

Since I know what happened during the rest of his day, I can say that it had been miserable. If I had been in his place, I would have said the same thing. I would be upset, standing in the rain, now beat up, and realizing that someone was going through my stuff, looking for something. I would stand at the entrance of the barn, dripping from the violent rain, and look up into the night sky and say something like, "Could this day get any worse?" I sympathize with Stephan. I really do. But, the story only gets better from there.