And the rain fell. It landed noisly on the tile roofs of the three story wharehouses lining the alley that led, from the lower east commons, into the heart of the port district. It rushed down the algea covered tiles and slammed into massive cast iron gutters, only to flow over their edge and plummet earth bound once more. The water poured more than fell the fifty foot drop from guttering to ground. It splashed noisily into a dirty puddle that had already began to form