My two daughters and I live in this big old house just outside of town. When I say big and old I'm not exaggerating. The place was a two story house plus attic plus basement and must have been over a hundred years old. I picked it up cheap a long time ago when it was in a fairly run-down condition. Well, to be accurate it was in a very run-down condition, at first glance, but only at first glance.
I looked the old place over very carefully and it underneath the disrepair was a fine old structure, well built with quality lumber and workmanship. All it needed was someone to pay some attention to it and it would be a very nice place. Being quite a handyman I thought I could supply the attention required.
I did, too, and over the years I'd improved the place. It's probably a bit big for me and the girls but we like the place. Once the girls move out I'll probably sell it and get myself something smaller, but I figure I'll make a mint when I do sell. The town has expanded somewhat since I first bought the house and I guess I'm now living in a prime residential property. Just the luck of the draw really. If the town had developed in a different direction I'd be living in a big old house too far out of town for most people.
One Friday evening I was at home when I got a call from the girls. They'd been visiting my parents and they called to let me know they'd be staying overnight because there was a thunderstorm on the loose and it was right over the town and they weren't driving in that, thank you very much.
I glanced out the window and I could see the black clouds and what looked like a wall of water moving rapidly in my direction, and I decided that you weren't going to be getting me out driving in that either. I gave them my love and said I'd see them tomorrow.
With the size of the storm coming I thought it would probably pay to make sure that all the windows around the place were shut so I did a quick tour of the place, finding several open windows, notably in the girls bedrooms. Those two were always forgetting to close their windows. That's the reason I went to the trouble of getting marine carpeting put down in their room. It saved me money in the long run.
Back downstairs I was about to go and watch some TV (Cable, fortunately) when I remembered another bad habit. One of mine, this time. I seem to be incapable of turning off a light when I leave a room, even when I know that I won't be going back to that room. I knew, I just knew, that I'd probably left all the lights on upstairs. A quick glance around showed that I had certainly done the same downstairs. I thought that perhaps I should nip upstairs and turn all those lights off but you know how it is. I could not be bothered. TV won over turning off lights.
I reached the family room and turned on the TV at the same time as lightning flared, thunder crashed, rain came pouring down, the doorbell rang, someone screamed, and someone started banging on the front door.
I strolled over to the front door and opened it and three young ladies came barging in, brushing straight past me in their eagerness to be inside. I could see their car in the driveway. I closed the door and followed the girls. They could hear the TV and had barrelled down the hall and into the family room and were now standing there looking around.
It registered on me that I knew these young ladies. They were all friends of my daughters and they'd actually been at my house before a number of times. The girls were Cheryl, Alice, and Jenny. They were all about the same age as my daughters but I couldn't be any more specific than that. Like all girls of around that age they were attractive and nicely built, being too full of energy to have any excessive weight. I had no complaints about having them around.
I did raise an eyebrow in their general direction, sort of indicating an explanation of their presence would be nice. Jenny was happy to start talking.
"Hi, Mr Monroe," she said. "Sorry to just barge in like that but that storm was scary. Cheryl turned eighteen a couple of months back, the last of our group to do so, and she's been trying to get her license ever since. She finally got it today and to celebrate we went for a drive, Cheryl driving, and she needs the practice."
Cheryl interjected a rude comment at this point but I won't repeat it. Jenny blandly ignored it and kept on talking.
"Anyway, we were heading back home and we saw the storm approaching. We were hoping to beat it but as we got near your place we could see what looked like a tidal wave moving in our direction and there was no way we were going into that. We saw your place and we just drove in and bolted for the door, reaching it just as the floods started. We were lucky you were home. We'll just run upstairs and say hullo to Kathy."
"Well, you can run upstairs, but if you want to say hullo to Kathy you'll have to speak awfully loudly. The girls are currently at their Grandmother's house and they won't be coming home in this weather."
The girls were a trifle disconcerted whereas I was just amused.
"I suggest that you ring up your parents and let them know that you're stuck here for the night. There's no way you're going to get home in that downpour and I don't care how good you think your driving is. Even I am not silly enough to go out in that."
That last bit was added because Cheryl looked as though she was about to say she could handle the weather,
"But what are we supposed to do?" Alice wailed.
"Well, I don't know. If you haven't had dinner feel free to cook yourselves a meal. Just make sure you tidy the kitchen afterwards. With the girls not here the TV and the computer are both free and you can use those. When you want to go to bed you can sleep in Kathy's room as she has a spare bed in there. Two of you would have to share. Alternatively you can have a bed apiece and the third young lady can sleep in the guest room. Please yourselves."
There was a bit of grumbling but I ignored it. It wasn't my fault the storm had descended and I actually thought they'd made the right call stopping and seeking shelter. I subtly let them know that I thought they'd made an intelligent and mature decision which helped them relax a little.
Despite having to explain that tidy the kitchen afterwards meant after dinner and not some nebulous time in the future things went smoothly. The girls had decided to grab a bed apiece and I left them to sort that out. I eventually said goodnight, dropping a non-subtle hint that if their antics kept me awake they'd regret it. They impolitely derided my threat but they did quieten down somewhat.
Silence eventually settled over the house and I assumed that the girls had also retired. The storm, I noted, was still going strong.
I woke up about one o'clock, jarred out of my sleep by a tremendous clap of thunder. I listened to see if the girls had been disturbed or woken but didn't hear anything. Then there was a second clap of thunder and a scream in the background. I considered getting up to go and see if one of the girls was overly upset but I didn't get a chance to.