Day: April 4, 2017

“The roof is leaking again,” Mom said.

Jeff rushed into the kitchen to see. A steady drip drip drip was falling from the edge of the ceiling. Mom sighed and went out to the garage. While she was gone, Dad came in and looked up.

“Hmmm.   That’s strange,” he said.

Mom came back in and plopped a bucket under the drip. It sounded a lot louder and echoey as it continued to drip. “I thought this was fixed two weeks ago,” she said.

“So did I,” Dad said. “They replaced this part of the roof.”

“Well, you’d better call them to come and fix it again,” Mom said. “And they’d better not charge us any more. It cost a lot of money last time and the problem still isn’t fixed.”

“Well, they won’t come while it’s still raining,” Dad said. “Maybe I should go up and see if I see anything.”

That sounded like fun. “Can I climb on the roof too?” Jeff asked. “I’ll wear my jacket with the hood.”

“Of course not,” Mom said. “And Dad’s not going either. The last thing we need is to have someone fall off the roof.”

They all looked at the water drip in the bucket. It was making a splashing sound now. Rain blew against the window, and then the power went out. The room was dark.   Light came in through the window faintly. The dripping sounded even louder.

“I’ll get the matches and candles,” Mom said. “I think we’ll have tuna sandwiches for dinner tonight.”

“With chips?” Dad asked.

“I think I might have a bag up in the cupboard,” Mom said. She climbed on a chair and took the candles and matches from a high cupboard. “I bought some chips to top a casserole, but I didn’t end up making it.” She handed the candles and matches down to Dad and opened another cupboard.

“I love chips and tuna fish,” Dad said. “The only thing better is if we had peas too.” He lit the candles and put them on the table.

“Sorry,” Mom said.   She found the chips and stepped down off the chair. “We only have frozen peas, and the power is out. So, we can’t cook them.”

“That’s okay,” Dad said.

Jeff helped make the tuna filling for the sandwiches. Dad showed him how to add chips to his sandwich to make it extra crunchy. When the power came on halfway through dinner, he was a little disappointed.

The storm was ending, but the water kept dripping. Mom looked in the bucket. It was halfway full. “Do you think that there’s a lot of water damage in the attic now?” Mom asked.   “It looked fine a week ago, but this is a lot of water.”

“I’ll go check,” Dad said. “Don’t worry, there’s safer footing in the attic. I’ll be fine.”

“Haha,” Mom said.   Dad laughed.

“If it’s safe, can I come too?” Jeff asked.

“All right,” Mom said. “You’ll both need flashlights.”

“I have them in the garage,” Dad said. “Let’s go, Jeff.”

They took the flashlights and pulled down the secret steps to the attic. Jeff would finally get to see what was up there.   Dad went up the stairs first.   “Hmmm,” he said. “That’s a little unusual.”

“What is it?” Jeff asked. “Can I see?”

“Why don’t you go get your mom first,” Dad said.

Jeff rushed into the kitchen. Mom was loading the dishwasher. “What is it Jeff? Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Dad said to come see, but I don’t know what it is,” Jeff said. “Come on, I have to go get you before I can go up and see.”

Mom followed as Jeff raced back to the ladder and finally got to climb up into the attic.   Dad was standing by the ladder, watching a small black cloud that was pressed against the opposite wall and raining.

“What is that?” Mom asked from behind Jeff.

“It looks like a stray rain cloud got trapped in here recently. It’s been living in our attic,” Dad said.

“Well, let’s open the window and shoo it out,” Mom said.

“All right,” Dad said. The cloud rumbled a bit as Dad came closer. Dad opened the window quickly and backed up again. They worked together to herd the cloud towards the window. It grumbled and crackled a little, but finally it drifted right in front of the window.

They slowly walked forward. Mom was making shooing motions with her hands. Dad kept saying, “Go on, go on, go on, go out the window little guy.”

Jeff mostly hid behind Dad, just in case the cloud decided to shock somebody. Finally, the cloud backed up and squeezed itself out the window. They watched it drift up, up, and away. Jeff waved goodbye.

“We’re going to have to get the kitchen ceiling fixed now,” Mom said. “And the attic floor.”

“Let’s storm-proof the attic first,” Dad said. “So we don’t have this problem again.

“Good plan,” Mom said.