WHEN THE ROOF LEAKED

It started to rain hard that afternoon. Soon there were little puddles standing all around in the yard. More rain fell into the puddles. Jenny thought the bigger rain drops looked like duck’s feet as they splashed into the puddles. Sometimes they looked like corn flakes.

Drip drip plip plop. The roof was leaking onto the floor by the stove. Mother set the dishpan under the leaking place. Now it went, ”Plink plink plank. Drip drop plip plop. Mother got another pan. Now there were two plink plink planks. Drip drip plop plink plink plank. The drips and planks made music in the kitchen. Mother got more pans, kettles and buckets until the kitchen floor was nearly covered with things to hold the water that leaked through the kitchen roof. There had been a bad hail storm about a week ago.

“I told you you should have fixed that roof last week,” Mother said to Daddy. “Now it’s leaking like a sieve.”

They moved the kitchen furniture into the into the adjoining bedroom and the dining room. Mother put on an old raincoat and boots as she moved from pantry to kitchen to bedroom. Jenny and Margaret were milling around in the dining room and the kitchen. Daddy made coffee on the dining room heating stove. Mother put plates and cups and silverware and a bowl of cold baked beans and a big plate of bologna sandwiches on the table. It was crowded, but they still managed to squeeze around the table in the bedroom for supper. As Jenny sat in her high chair eating her bologna sandwich, she thought the meal tasted extra good tonight.

Jenny could hear the frogs singing in the draw. They always sang after a big rain. Sometimes they sounded like lots of water rushing. There was lots of water in the kitchen.

“It sure is nice,” Jenny thought happily to herself, “when the roof leaks and you have to eat in the bedroom.”