Mengyao

13

The sun rose and everything fell. Light bulbs unscrewed from the ceiling and shattered on the floor, one crushing a patch of Ms. Plumpleberry’s prized “carrots” (Alex and most of the neighborhood were convinced that the misshapen brown lumps were potatoes, but considering Ms. Plumpleberry was just recently released from a mental facility, there was a mutual agreement to call them carrots). Pots and pans and vases slid off tabletops and onto the floor, making a surprisingly harmonious clatter. A particularly ugly jug Alex made in second grade also shattered (no complaints there, but he was sure his mother would be upset). A rather large wind chime slid off its hook and onto the head of the old tomcat that hissed at everyone as they walked by (Alex was sure that was karma). The overhead lamp that hung above Alex’s bed (and Alex’s head) also fell, waking him (Alex was sure that was NOT karma). Alex also decided that he preferred the alarm clock. Alex saw the shattered shards of glass and clay outside his window and around his bedroom and felt a growing sense of apprehension. He knew that his sister was a nightmare when she threw a temper tantrum, but wouldn’t he have heard her break all those things? (Note that Alex has no doubt that it was his sister that did this) He wondered what the house outside his room looked like (hoping that his report card from the day before had also been destroyed). Alex stared at the door handle and slowly turned the knob.