A Catastrophe in The Basement
"Snowfall warning issued for parts of southern Toronto with many areas expecting up to 40cm." "Two rounds of precipitation are expected Monday into Tuesday morning across portions of southern Toronto." These were the headlines broadcasted on every channel, "Snow depth exceeding 30 cm especially in southern region may cave the roofs of some homes and can cause loss of electricity."
It was early and Mr. Martin was sitting on his moon chair sipping tea as per schedule, Mrs. Martin was in the kitchen prepping for breakfast that was always two loafs of bread and butter, poached eggs, grilled tomatoes, lettuce and baked beans as a sideline with sausages smothered in brown sauce and freshly squeezed orange juice.
"Emily, we do have the groceries, right? A blizzard will hit Toronto this evening" Mr. Martin called out.
"No David dear, we are going low on eggs, bread, milk and orange juice also tortilla, bacon and sausages." She called back naming every single grocery as she entered the dining room, expertly balancing two massive trays pilled with food.
She put a tray down, on the table, "Martin, why are on a moon chair, come have a seat. And also I am heading out for groceries; remember to unplug my phone after it's fully charged."
"Blimey, her list of chores would take an eternity to finish. She's wasting my precious peace time which I thought of spending reading the newspaper."
His chain of thoughts was broken by, "Are you listening Martin."
"Of course, yes, I just have to leave out your phone to thaw and unplug the chicken, I am listening." She said in his monotonous rough tone, shrugging casually.
Mrs. Martin, speechless, at his psychotic attitude, and him being an atrocious listener, said nothing but gave him a deathly stare of hers, and left.
"Hurry back." He called out from behind, though he didn't at all mean that.
Mr. Martin sighed, as he got up, limping he proceeded towards the table. He was a strong man despite that he never failed to dutifully do everything Mrs. Martin ordered him to. The world feared him, partially because he was highly formidable and partially for his intelligence, for he soon understood that no good ever comes from disagreeing with a wife.
The knock was getting fiercer by the moment. At last the deafening noise woke Tom up he went to answer the door muttering, why does James always disturbs me while I am having the sweetest of the dreams. Turned out it wasn't James, rather Mr. Martin who was furious for having to wait 15 minutes holding the scalding tray, he handed the tray to Tom and said coldly, "I am the landlord not your servant." With that he stomped away.
Tom looked at the tray then his gaze travelled towards his bed where he saw James lying in an awkward position snoring like a grizzly bear. Tom went to him; his ten minutes went vain in the efforts of waking James up. After a while of trying every technique, even bringing the tuba to make most obnoxious noise, James continued to snore. He could now only think of something pure evil but James left him with no choice.
James, with a jerk woke up, screaming, "No, please not my hair. I love it the most." What he did notice after a while was that he was dripping wet. Another wave of frigid water drenched him before flowing in a stream making its way through the extravagantly thick rug, as he sat on his bed gasping for fresh air. He then looked at Tom who innocently was holding a jug that was once filled to the brim with gelid water that had been emptied upon James. With a slight smirk on his face.
"What do you think you are doing?" James gasped.
"Belle told us to take out Halloween decorations, remember." Tom recalled.
"Yeah." James said in a tone that clearly suggested that he forgot.
They both hustled down the dark basement steps, unable to catch a glimpse of anything; Tom missed a step and tripped over, James who was following behind stumbled over Tom's back, which caused mayhem in the darkness. Tom after pulling himself up found the light switch, things were more visible now. Due to their naive acts, a mouse catcher caught onto James foot. He let out a shrill squeal which startled Tom and he tripped yet again.
They finally managed to keep their balance, until when they reached to where the dust encrusted boxes were kept. After nearly an eternity of opening each box and peeking inside they finally found the one that had all sorts of horrifying décor. From eyeballs to ghosts and even dead mice, it had everything in it. They soon gathered the decorative material they collected and went on with a tedious task of cleaning the mess they made in finding the ornaments. It was almost an hour when they finished with the cleaning and at that point of time all they wanted was a bed to lay down on.
Upon every step they climbed all that came out of their mouths was the painful phrases of Ah! and Oh! Tom when reached his room burst the door open and pounced on his bed, engulfing himself in the quilt.