When It Rains: The Umbrella Collection Read Online Free PDF Page A

décor inside was decorated by an interior designer that Pops dated a while back.  I believe her name was Kathleen or was it Mildred?  No, Mildred was the nurse that called Pops at odd hours of the night because she worked night shift.  Kathleen was the truck driver that came over only when she was driving through.  The interior designer, now that I remember, was Geraldine.  See, Pops gets around; it’s hard to keep track.  Geraldine decorated the house in the country theme and mid way through she caught Pops at the movies with some other lady and got angry.  Then she came over to the house and took everything she could.  The rooster was too high for her to reach and she couldn’t take the plaid wallpaper that was already glued to the walls in the kitchen.  Kind of wished she could have taken that, though.  So, instead of redecorating; Pops decorated around those things.  
    I followed the melody of voices and plastic ba gs being carried then flung on a counter.  It brought me into the kitchen where Pops, Brian, Mike, Elijah and Drew began removing the items from the shopping bags with goodies for a get together for my twentieth birthday. 
    “Hey, birthday girl!” Mike shouted making everyone stop what they were doing and repeat the same gesture.
    “Thanks, guys,” I dejectedly replied
    “Uh uh,” Pops began, “No way. Wipe that attitude away.   We bought all this food and we have that game you wanted to play.  Cheer up.”
    “If it was that easy I would have done it by now.   Don’t you think?” I mumbled while I peeked inside of a bag that wasn’t emptied of its contents, yet.
    “What?”  Pops asked
    “Nothing.   Where is everyone else?”
    “Evan, Brady and Colin went to get the sodas we forgot.   Alex is outside starting the grill, or at least trying to,” Pops said as he peered out the window above the sink.  He spied on Alex on the back porch fidgeting with the knobs, “and John is at work.  He should be home any minute.  Are Skylar and Lauren coming?”
    “Skylar and Scott are coming.   Lauren isn’t, though.”
    “Everything alright?” he asked
    “Yeah,” I responded.
    But, the voice had a different answer, “Liar!  Tell him how much of a fucking bitch she is.”  I quickly shook my head trying to rid it of the junk it spewed.
      “Yeah, everything is fine.  I just haven’t talked to her in a while.” I finished up perusing the groceries and headed out the French doors out onto the porch to see if Alex needed help. 
    “Hey, need any help ?” I asked as I walked nearer to Alex.  He looked rather dressed up for the occasion, but come to think of it I have never seen him look untidy or disheveled.  He wore a pair of high-end blue jeans and a white T-shirt with a dark gray vest over it, along with his leather shoes that he gets made.  His hair was long and sandy blonde that formed curls at the ends.  He looked handsome, even though he had a half unpleasant, half calm grimace upon his face, as if he was trying to hide the fact that he knew nothing about what he was supposed to do.
      “Um, no.  I think I got it,” he said as he fiddled around with some more knobs.
    “Oh, really?” I asked as I back pedaled to the door, “Well, let me know when you push that big red start button on the side there and get that thing fired up.” and I walked back inside letting Alex decide when he would swallow his pride and just hit the button.
    A minute passed as I stood there by the door, “Aha, I got it working everyone. “ Alex bellowed loudly.
    “How did your pride taste?”   I questioned as I poked my head out the doors and Alex turned and gave me a nasty look.
    The next hour was filled with Alex burning food on the grill, everyone sitting around the large teal painted picnic table laughing at him as he constantly muttered, “Oh, shit,” as he tossed another burnt hotdog in the trash can beside him and Pops yelling at Drew to get his hands out of the food