Trying to find his new home in the pouring rain, Bobby winds up falling into a mud puddle and is soaked from head to toe. A neighbor girl offers to takes Bobby home, where his rainy day adventure begins.

Bobby's Rainy Day Adventure

Copyright 2005 by Heather Rose Brown

CHAPTER I

As the school bus pulled away, I felt a moment of panic as I tried to remember where my new house was. I pulled the collar of my jean jacket up around my neck in a vain attempt to keep the pouring rain from soaking me to the skin.

"What's the matter, Bobby? You look kinda lost." I turned to the source of the vaguly familiar voice and saw a smiling, angular face surrounded by wavy, golden blonde hair peeking out from under a bright pink umbrella.

"Yeah," I said while trying to keep my teeth from chattering as the wind picked up. "I'm okay...Corina?"

"Wow! Got my name right on the first try." Corina stepped closer to me and held her umbrella out, protecting us both from the late afternoon shower. "But you're an awful liar. You better head home and change before you get sick."

Feeling a little uneasy being so close to a girl I'd only met yesterday, I took a couple of steps backwards. Unfortunately, there was a patch of slippery mud right behind me. The next thing I knew, I was flat on my back in a mud puddle with rain pouring down on my face. I laid there for a moment with my eyes closed, trying to catch my breath while waiting for Corina's laughter.

It never happened. Instead I felt the rain suddenly stop as a shadow fell across me. I opened my eyes to find Corina’s worried face inches from mine. "Gimme your hand," she said.

I felt a little embarrassed accepting help from a girl. And the fact that she was in fourth grade while I was in fifth didn't help much. Corina rolled her eyes as I hesitated, took my hand and helped me slowly get into a sitting position. Then she crouched down next to me. "You okay, Bobby?"

"Yeah, I think so." It wasn't exactly an honest answer, since I was seriously soaked now and shivering in the late afternoon breeze. Corina adjusted her umbrella and shuffled closer to me until the worst of the wind was blocked off. I managed to overcome my shyness enough to look up at her and smile my appreciation.

Corina's expression shifted from worry to relief. "You look like you'll be okay, although you're a bit of a mess. Let's get you home so you can get cleaned up and changed into something dry."

She then took both of my hands and helped me to stand up. Once I was on my feet, she led the way down one of the streets, grabbing my hand as if I were in kindergarten or something. But at least I was heading home and didn't have to wander around trying to remember where I lived. We finally wound up standing in front of a split level house with forest green aluminum siding. While most of the new houses in this neighborhood were very similar in design, I was sure mine had been a different color when I'd left it that morning.

"Could you hold this for me?" Corina asked as she handed me her umbrella. She smiled as I took the umbrella and held it over both of us. She then scooped a key from a pocket in her bright pink raincoat and fitted it into the lock on the front door.

"Wait a minute," I said. "What are we doing here? This ain't my house."

Something in Corina’s deep blue eyes laughed at me. But she only smiled when she said, "this is my house, not yours, silly." Before I could say anything, she opened the door, took my hand, pulled me into the house and shouted, "Mom! I'm home!"

"I'm upstairs in the kitchen, honey," a woman called. "And make sure you take off those muddy boots at the door before coming up here."

"Yeeeess Moommm," Corina said with a sigh as drew her foot back from the step she was about to climb. "Oh, I brought a friend home with me," she added as she struggled out of her boots.

"That's wonderful! What's her name?" The woman sounded like she was getting closer.

"Well, HIS name is Bobby. We met him and his mom at church yesterday."

Church....that's where I remembered the woman's voice from. It was the voice of 'Aunt Joan'. It had felt odd calling someone I just met my aunt. But she and my mom had been best friends when they were little, so it wasn't like she was a complete stranger, even though she was to me. Plus Aunt Joan had gone out of her way to make us feel welcome and introducing us to the rest of the congregation. As I was introduced to the other kids, I found most of them called her 'Aunt Joan' too, which made me feel a little less odd. Also, I really found it impossible to not like her. Calling her Aunt Joan seemed the least I could do.

Just then Aunt Joan appeared at the top of the steps. I'd remembered her being tall the first time I'd seen her. But standing at the top of the steps, she seemed like a giant. Actually, she looked a bit more like a lumberjack with green and black flannel shirt and sturdy jeans. "Oops! I'm sorry, Bobby. Welcome to our..." Her jaw dropped open. "Oh my god," she gasped as she came down the steps. "What in the world happened to you?"

Before I could answer, Corina jumped in. "He fell in that huge mud puddle where the bus drops us off."

"You poor thing. Did you get hurt when you fell?"

"Nah," I said, although I was feeling a bit scraped and bruised.

"Okay, Bobby. Does your mommy know you're here?" She asked as she brushed a loose strand of my muddy hair behind my ear.

I wondered how old she thought I was if she was asking about my 'mommy', but I decided to just answer the question rather than argue. "Actually, she don't," I said. "I really aughta get home before she starts worrying about me."

Aunt Joan nodded. "Wait right here while I get my keys and I'll drive you over," She began climbing the stairs. Just as she reached the top, a phone rang. Aunt Joan picked up a phone from an end table at the top of the steps. "Hello? Irene! I was just about to call you. Oh really? I'm so sorry to hear that. Yes, I know exactly what you're going through. No, you don't want to put him through any of that." She turned, took a few steps away, and lowered her voice, making it impossible to understand what she said.

Finally, she turned back. "Of course, I'd be happy to watch him. As a matter of fact, he just appeared on my doorstep a minute ago. Mmhmmm...oh sure." Aunt Joan turned to me and smiled, but there seemed to be a bit of sadness in her eyes. As she slowly walked down the steps with the phone to her ear, she said, "Sure. Not a problem at all. I have him right here." Handing the phone to me she said, "here you go, sweetie. Your mommy wants to ask you something."

I held the phone to my ear, pulling my muddy shoulder-length hair out of the way with my free hand in an attempt to avoid getting the phone dirty. "Hello?"

"Pumpkin, I need you to do something for me," she said, sounding rushed and upset. The old nickname barely registered when I heard the pain in her voice.

"Whatcha need?" I asked, doing my best to get the words past the lump in my throat.

"Would you mind staying with Joan for a while? I need to meet up with your father to work out something with the settlement. I may not be back home until late, and I'd rather not leave you all alone tonight."

"Sure Mom." Even though I felt old enough to be alone, I knew she would be worrying about me, and I didn't want her getting any more stressed out. "Something came up again with the divorce?"

"Yes, but nothing for you to worry about," she answered, the cheerfulness in her voice sounding forced. "Now I want you to promise me you'll behave and do as you're told while you're a guest there."

"I will, Mom." I stood there for a moment, wondering for the hundredth time if things would have been any better if my parents hadn't gotten married when my mom found out she was pregnant with me. I bit my lower lip and closed my eyes, trying to get my emotions back under control. Finally, I managed to whisper, "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, pumpkin," she said softly. "I really have to run now. I'll pick you up tonight when I get back."

After saying goodbye, I handed the phone back to Aunt Joan. She put an arm around my muddy shoulder. "Is everything all right?"

It took me a few seconds to shake the numbness enough to answer. "I think so," I said. "At least I hope so."

Aunt Joan smiled down at me, giving my shoulders a squeeze. "I'm sure they will be. In the mean time, we're going to need to get you cleaned up and out of these wet clothes before you catch a cold." She turned to Corina, handing the phone to her. "Would you put this away for me and get a bath started for Bobby?"

"Sure thing," Corina answered, taking the phone and then giggling as she bunny-hopped up the steps.

Aunt Joan then put her hands on my shoulders and steered me towards the steps leading downstairs. "We'll have to use the sink in the laundry room. I can't have you tracking mud across the carpets to get to the upstairs bathroom."

"You've got a sink in your laundry room?" I asked.

"It's really a bathroom," Corina shouted from the top of the steps, "but we've got the washer and dryer in there, so we call it the laundry room."

Whether it was a bath or launder room suddenly became much less important as Aunt Joan started to peel my jean jacket from my body. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Just getting you out of this muddy jacket, sweetie," she answered as she tossed it into the washing machine. "Looks like your top is soaked too. Okay now, arms up." Before I could figure out what she meant by my top, Aunt Joan had pulled my t-shirt up and over my head and tossed it into the washer as well. "My, you're looking halfway clean already! Let's take care of your hair next,"

She draped a fluffy peach-colored towel across my shoulders that almost went down to my knees. She then rolled up her long flannel sleeves, walked over to the sink and began running water in it while holding her fingers under the tap. "Come on over here sweetie and lean over the sink so I can get the mud out of your hair."

I just stood there, wondering how to explain that I knew how to wash my own hair.

When she saw me holding back, she smiled. "Don't worry sweetheart. I promise to be careful. But you're going to need to get that mud out before it dries and gets caked in there. It will be much harder getting it out then."

Seeing her standing there waiting, I found it hard to tell her what I was thinking. So I just smiled, walked over to where she was standing, and bent over the sink. Aunt Joan put one hand across my shoulders, the other on my forehead, then carefully moved my head under the tap.

As the warm water flowed over my head, I noticed something dark and brownish draining into the sink. "Blood?" I asked, wondering if I'd hit my head when I fell and just not felt it yet.

Aunt Joan's hand suddenly went from my shoulder to the back of my head, preventing me from drawing away from the sight. "Hold still, sweetie," she said as she slowly moved my head out from under the tap. "That's just mud you're seeing. Now I'm going to need you to keep your eyes closed so you don't get any soap in them."

Just as I closed my eyes, I felt something thick being poured on top of my head and caught a whiff of strawberries. Some of the tension I'd been feeling after talking to my mom began leaking away as she began lathering up my hair. Too soon, Aunt Joan lowered my head under the tap again, my hair was rinsed out, and something soft and fluffy was wrapped around my head.

"What's this for?" I asked, reaching up and finding what felt like a towel on my head.

"That's so your hair won't be dripping all over the place when you go upstairs to take the bath Corina started for you. Now I'm going to step outside so you can get the rest of your muddy clothes off. Just toss everything into the washer, including your sneakers. Then wrap a towel around yourself and I'll show you where the bathroom is." She walked out, closing the door behind her.

I felt a little nervous about taking all my clothes off in a stranger’s home, but the mud that had soaked into my pants was starting to feel itchy. I shivered as I stripped off the rest of my damp clothes and threw them into the washer. Then I took the towel that had been draped over my shoulders and wrapped it around my waist. But it was a bit too big and wound up dragging on the ground. As I stepped out the laundry room, I tripped on the towel and barely caught it before it slipped off my hips. Fortunately, Aunt Joan was there to catch me as I started to fall.

"Hold on," she said as she put me back on my feet. "You're not going to get very far dragging that towel around like that. Let me see if I can help." She pulled the towel around my waist up to chest level. Although the towel did feel odd in its new position, at least it wasn't dragging on the ground any more. "That should work much better," she said, smiling as she took my hand and lead me upstairs. I could see where Corina got that hand-holding thing.

When we reached the upstairs bathroom door, Aunt Joan said, "Go ahead and get washed up. I'm going to see about getting you clean clothes and then getting dinner started."

The first thing I noticed when I entered the bathroom was the smell of minty bubblegum. "Is that kiddie bubble bath?"

Corina’s face turned red. "Ahhh..." She looked to her mother.

"We don’t have any boys in our house, sweetie," Aunt Joan said. "I’m afraid the only other bubble bath we have is lavender scented. Would you have preferred that instead?"

It didn't take long to choose between smelling like bubble gum and flowers. "Oh no, the bubble gum is great. Thank you Aunt Joan and Corina."

I sighed with relief once Aunt Joan had finally lead Corina out of the bathroom. I had been starting to wonder if they were ever going to leave so I could take my bath. As I climbed into the tub I noticed something bobbing around in the thick bubbles and grinned when I realized it was a little yellow rubber duck. As silly as the idea felt, I was half tempted to play with it. But I was really tired from the move and unpacking over the weekend, not to mention surviving my first day at a new school.

Instead I slipped into the bath until the foam was up to my chin. The warmth from the water felt wonderful against my chilled skin. I closed my eyes, dreading the idea of leaving such a comfortable tub. As I began to doze off, I idly wondered what Aunt Joan had meant by getting me clean clothes.