Rainy Days

I looked out of the window, watching the rain drip off of the house. It had been raining for so long, I could barely remember the sun. Okay, take that back. It had only been raining for two days, but the temperature had dropped in those 48 hours. 

My cat stirred beside me. My dog snored on the rug at my feet. I looked back down at the book in my hands, staring blankly at the page. As I tried to find my place, Danny walked into the sitting room.

“Eve,” The three year old questioned.

“Yes Danny,” I asked back.

“I’m bored. Jenny won’t play with me, Edward won’t take off his headphones, and Georgia can’t step away from her puzzle for a minute,” My brother complained.

“I’m sorry.” I put my book down, “What do you want to do?” 

“I don’t know. That’s the problem!” Daniel exclaimed, throwing his small hands in the air. He was getting super frustrated with this whole situation. Since our parents were still working and it was the beginning of summer break, my four siblings and I were usually left alone in the house. On sunny days, Edward, Jennifer, and Georgia were usually in and out of the house, leaving me to tend to Daniel. Since it had started raining, Edward and Jenny were usually in their rooms while Georgia had her eyes glued to the pieces of a puzzle. This left me to again take care of the three year old little brother, making me the pro at entertaining. 

“Well, we could possibly make a fort,” I said slowly. Danny’s eyes lit up. 

“Yeah!” 

“It’s going to be a lot of work. Do you think you’re up for it?” I asked, as Danny’s head nodded vigorously, “The we are going to need a whole bunch of supplies.” I got up from the couch, and tore the cushion away from its frame. The Velcro came easy and I threw the cushion on the ground. Danny helped me take the other two off the couch, before we exited the room in search of other things to aid in the creation of our fort. 

“It's got to be big,” Danny stated as we grabbed pillows from our rooms. I nodded in agreement. 

After a few minutes of collecting, we both stood over the pile we had gathered. There were several dining chairs, the cushions from almost every chair in the house, numerous pillows, and many blankets and sheets rested at our feet. 

“Where do we start?” I asked, looking at my brother. 

“The chairs. Could we build it so that we can look out the window? Oh oh, and can we make it super tall? I want to be able to stand up in it,” Danny inquired. 

“Totally, but if it is going to be as grand as you say it's going to be, then we need to get started,” I replied. His height wouldn’t make much of a difference, considering he was a bit short for his age. Danny pumped his fists and began to build the fort. We arranged the chairs and cushions to be the major supports, stretching the perimeter of the structure to almost fill the entire room. 

Midway through the construction, I decided to take a break from the building. I grabbed one of the pillows. Instead of setting it back down, I whacked Danny in the back with it. I made sure it wasn’t a hard hit, one that wouldn’t hurt him just get him riled up. He spun around and shrieked, as he picked up a near-by pillow and hurled it at me. I let it hit me as I laughed and yelled. A few minutes later, Georgia appeared in the doorway. 

“What in the world is going on down here?” She asked. I smirked when I realized that she must have heard our yelling and thought something bad was happening. I was about to answer her, when a pillow whizzed passed my head and hit Georgia in the middle of hers. Georgia screamed, but as the pillow fell away, I saw her smiling. 

“We’re building a fort,” Danny said innocently, even though Georgia had already begun her approach. She walked slowly into the room and before I knew it, I was smashed in the shoulder with a pillow.

“I haven’t built a fort in ages,” She said, “Or had a pillow fight.”

“We weren’t having a pillow fight. We were taking a break,” I explained from where I sat on the floor. Danny nodded while Georgia looked skeptical, but wasn’t about to question us.

“What to help?” Danny asked brightly. I saw Georgia’s face change. I knew that she couldn’t say no. 

“Sure.” She was trying to act tough. I rolled my eyes in my head, not daring to do it in reality. 

“We are about to need a bunch of help. It's almost time to put the sheets on,” Danny explained. Georgia and I both smiled at his explanation. He was so much smaller than the rest of us that it was humbling to grow up with such an innocent mind. 

“You know what every fort needs?” Georgia asked. Danny shook his head. She knelt down and answered her own question in a small voice, “Cookies.” Danny’s smile broadened.

“I’ll go make some while you and Eve finish making the fort. That way when the fort is finished, we can eat the warm cookies in it,” Georgia continued. Danny nodded and she left for the kitchen. I turned back to the half completed fort. Danny and I began pulling the light-weight sheets on top of our frame. The fort was coming together. When we got to the big floor-to-ceiling bay window, I had a thought cross my mind that made me smile. 

“Danny, I have an idea. There is a Christmas tree stand in the hall closet. Can you go get it for me?” I asked. The little boy nodded and ran off. I went to the front door and walked outside. There was a long bamboo pole that my parents had used for some project a long time ago. I grabbed it and went back inside. When I went back inside, I found Edward and Jenny in the kitchen. They turned their heads and saw me.

“We smelled the cookies,” Edward explained. 

“Can we help with the fort?” Jenny asked. I walked closer to my siblings and saw Danny was also in the kitchen, the tree stand in his hands, “Danny has been telling us how great it is.”

“It isn’t up to me,” I said looking back at Danny. He agreed.  He led the way back into the sitting room, where the fort was nearly completed.

“Woah, this is a big fort,” Jenny exclaimed. Danny grinned at the complement. I was glad that he was no longer bored.

“Hey Eddie, could you help me hang this up?” I asked. Edward nodded and began to help me secure the sheet on the curtain rod of the window. Jenny and Danny went into the fort. Edward and I secured the last corner as the fort inflated when Jenny and Danny stood the pole up in the tree stand. 

From inside the fort, I heard Danny exclaim, “Woah!!!” We all laughed as Edward and I crawled into the fort. It was extremely spacious and held us all comfortably. The pole supported the middle of the sheet, giving it the appearance of a circus tent. We heard Georgia’s footsteps and the smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies hit our noses as she lifted one of the blankets. 

“Mmm… those smell good,” Jenny commented. The rest of us agreed. We beckoned Georgia into the fort. We began to eat the cookies, but a thought occurred to me that would make this whole thing better.

“How about we watch a movie? We could bring one of the laptops in here and watch something while we eat the cookies,” I suggested. Every one of my siblings agreed. Jenny hurried out of the fort and quickly returned with her laptop. She pulled up a movie we all enjoyed. Then we all leaned back on the pillows, eating cookies and watching a movie while the rain kept beating against the window. About midway through the movie, I looked down and saw that Danny had fallen asleep. The cookies had long ago been finished and the sound of the rain was soothing. I nudged Georgia, who looked down and noticed Danny instantly. She motioned to Jenny and Edward who in turn looked at our sleeping brother. It was then when I realized how sleepy I had become. 

Towards the end of the movie, Danny still was sound asleep on my arm. We heard the front door open and close. Our parents had returned from work. A moment later we all glanced up to see our mother and father lifting a corner of the sheet. When they saw us, they both smiled before lowering the sheet and walking out of the room. It was then that my eyes seemed to be made of weights. I tried to keep them open, knowing how close to the end of the movie we were, but couldn’t. Resting my head on top of Danny’s I closed my eyes and listened to the rain falling as I drifted off to sleep.