“Close the windows before you come to bed,” Sherry said. “That thunderstorm is going to break any minute.”
“I’ll close them when I finish taking a shower,” I told her.
When I hurried out of the shower lightning was flashing and thunder was already booming. I rushed around closing windows and from the front window I noticed the big patio umbrella was still open on the deck.
“I forgot to bring in the big umbrella,” I said. “I’d better go close it up.”
“Get some clothes on before you go out there,” Sherry said.
“I’m still wrapped in my towel,” I said. “I’ll be fine.”
The wind picked up as soon as I set foot outside the door. I got a hand on the huge patio umbrella just as the wind gusted up and yanked it from the hole in the table.
“Oh, no!”
I grabbed for the pole and the towel fell. The wind picked up the umbrella and it went sailing over the driveway twelve feet above the ground. I clung to the pole stark naked, as lightening flashed around me and lit up the yard. The wind died and I dropped to the ground, scrambling for the front door.
“O.K., I’ll tell him,” Sherry said to someone on the phone as I stumbled into the house.
“Tell him what?”
“That was Ms. Rodriguez from across the street,” she said to me. “They’re having a huge birthday party for her mother over there and they wanted us to let Mary Poppins know how much they enjoyed the show.”
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