For Some Strange Reason
The girl sat at the window watching the rain trickle down the pane and sighed. She turned, abruptly, at the noise from behind.
“Da dah!”
She stared at her brother.
“I am Fireman Sam and I have come to save you!” he declared with a serious face. “What do you think?”
Chloé looked at him, thoughtfully. “You look more like a tin man than a fireman and the silver wellingtons don’t help any.”
Evan pushed the cooking pot to the back of his head. “Well, I’m Tinman Tom then! Anyway, this is all I could find,” he replied as he adjusted his belt from which hung an assortment of large spoons and a couple of ladles. “I’m going upstairs!”
“There isn’t an upstairs. It’s a bungalow.”
“Then I’m not going upstairs,” he grinned and stuck his tongue out.
He disappeared into the hallway accompanied by various noises. “Karooomph! Bosh! Thwack!” as he fought his way to the living room.
She glared out of the window again.
“Does it ever stop raining here, Francis?” she asked the small, scruffy, grey teddy bear sat next to her.
He looked back at her with his little black beads for eyes and replied, matter of factly, “Oh yes. It’s Monday today. It usually rains on a Monday but tomorrow it’ll be nice and sunny. It shouldn’t have rained yesterday but it did for some strange reason.” He turned to the small grey elephant that was cuddled up next to him. She was his sister and the family resemblance was all in the eyes. “What do you say, Elle?”
In a quiet almost timorous voice she said, “I think you’re probably right. You usually are. That’s what you tell me anyway.”
“There you go! Tomorrow will definitely be sunny.” He smiled, not that anyone would have noticed because his little sewn on mouth was hidden beneath his fur.
She sighed once more. “Well, we can’t just sit here and watch water dribbling down the glass. It’s about time we did something. What do you do on a day like today, Francis?”
“We normally watch the telly. The World War Two channel’s my favourite. There’s lots of tanks and aeroplanes and explosions.” Chloé frowned.
“Sounds awful! What do you like to watch, Elle?”
She picked her up and held her to her ear because the rain outside was coming down hard and making an awful racket as it hit the metal gutters and roof.
“I’m not sure, really,” Elle whispered. “It’s not often I manage to get the clicker off Francis, to be honest.”
Chloé scowled down at the bear. “How could you be so thoughtless?”
He scowled back. “If I was thoughtless, I’d leave it lying around for her to get her mits on.”
Chloé huffed. “Right! I’m in charge of the control box,” she declared. “But before we do that, how about you sit nicely on the settee and I’ll show you my new dance routine. It’s very good.” She smiled sweetly.